Andrew Wells

Okay, so this happened today. Let me disclose that I know that taking photos in a store isn’t always okay. It’s not that big of a deal though.

Today, in my case, I came across this completely new store in town called NEXT. I was excited to find a new store in Akron, because it’s always great to see small businesses pop up. I stopped in, looked around, made small talk with one of the employees, and found the wall of shoes. There were so many great pairs of shoes that I had to take a picture. I stopped, took a snapshot, and then left the store.
I was near my car across the street from the store, when I heard a girl yell to me, beckoning me back over towards the store. I walked over thinking that she had a question, or there was something I could do to help her. When I made it back across the street, this is what went down:

Her (heatedly): What were you taking pictures in my store for? I’m the store manager!
Me: I liked the shoes.
Her: WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?
Me: Ha, what?
Her: I SAID WHO DO YOU WORK FOR? You can’t take pictures in MY store!
Me: Uh, the competition?…. Ha
Her: What competition? Who do you fucking work for?
Me: Are you serious? I take pictures of stuff that I want to take pictures of.
Her: YOU CAN”T TAKE PICTURES IN MY FUCKING STORE!
My Camera: *SNAP*
Her: Don’t take my fucking picture. You’re not allowed to take my picture or pictures of my store!
Me: Well, I’m standing in the middle of this public street, so legally I can take pictures of whatever I’d like.
Her: Aw, hell no. I’m gonna get your license plate number right now. I’m calling the cops. You can’t take my fucking picture. [She starts to cross the street towards my car]
My Camera: *SNAP*
Her: Did you just take another fucking picture? I’ll break your fucking camera!
Me: I’m on a public street, I can take pictures of whatever I’d like. Don’t touch me or my camera.
Her: I’m calling the police. They’re going to be looking for you. I got your plates!
Me: I’m sure the Akron PD have much better things to do than to look for someone who took a picture of some shoes. Shut up.
She takes a picture of my car as I near the driver side door to get in. As she walks back towards her store I take another snapshot of her. She hears the shutter…
Her: I TOLD YOU NOT TO TAKE MY FUCKING PICTURE. I’M GOING TO BREAK YOUR FUCKING CAMERA!
At this point she lunges towards my car and opened my passenger door to grab and break my camera, apparently. My doors don’t lock from the inside, so I pulled the door shut as she yelled obscenities towards me, calling me a “creepy mother fucker.”
I drove away laughing hysterically, but terribly offended.

I went into that store as a future customer. I took a picture of some shoes. Nothing would have been said had I used an iPhone or other phone camera. The fact that the manager of this store couldn’t manager herself enough to simply say, “Excuse me, could you please not take pictures in my store? It’s against company policy.” But proceeded to act in such an ignorant way towards me by yelling obscenities at me, makes me never, ever want to shop at this establishment. I’d like to urge my friends and the internet to do the same.

Normally I wouldn’t go out of my way to disparage an establishment like this, but I was completely offended that I could be treated in such a way. So, there you have it. A waste of space in Akron, Ohio that I only hope can lose business and shutter as soon as possible.