So my roommate pissed off a republican today

[Occulus]

He went to Meijer to buy some things and cashed a check while he was there. Now, for those of you who don't know about how they do this, part of the cashing procedure is to put a thumprint on a little sticker they give you, which is then affixed to the back of the check.

While he was doing this, the clerk told him that soon Meijer would be getting a new system which will store your thumbprint on file on their computer network- making it available to every Meijer location nationwide.

He didn't much like this, and said as much, to which the clerk replied, "Well, if you haven't done anything wrong, you don't have anything to hide!"

:eyes:

So, (punchline time) he looked at her and deadpanned it:

Don: "What's your last name, then?"

Clerk: "Well, I don't think you need to know that."

Don: "Well... when's the last time you had sex?"

Clerk: *stammer* *stammer* *stalk off* *door slam*

And the other clerk quietly chuckled. I guess the first one must have had something to hide...

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

1. These Stereotype Posts Are So Silly To Me.

You know she was a republican how now? So so silly. :rofl:

[Occulus]

4. This was the giveaway for him

"Well, if you haven't done anything wrong, you don't have anything to hide!"

People who haven't had Kool-aid know better I guess? :shrug:

I wasn't there, so I can't comment on whether she had unwashed jowls and Cheeto crumbs on her fingers...

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

7. That's Called Ignorant Stereotyping And Is Amazingly Silly In This Context.

To determine one is a republican merely by speaking that simple phrase is just amazingly silly. Sorry.

[Occulus]

13. Perhaps to you. I've found it accurate more often than not.

And yes... I ask.

[JuniperLea]

20. If it walks, talks, smells like a RWNutJob... n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

36. Awww....

:nopity:

[d_b]

55. I think it was OxyRush

who created that one.

[hwmnbn]

6. She used the standard freeper talking point.....

about if you don't have anything to hide. That is the repug rationalization for surrendering their rights. They do it all the time and I guess that statement was the tip-off to the roomate as to the cashier's political affiliation.

I agree with the roomate's assessment.

[seriousstan]

8. Funny, I heard this line used constantly about Monica Goodling.

Pot meet kettle.

[Beaverhausen]

9. Throwing the line back in their faces.

It is totally a RW talking point.

[Zensea]

29. Freeper's also don't know how to spell, correct?

Let me be clear, I am not saying you are a freeper but the word is spelled roommate, not roomate (which is the way you spelled it).
See how stereotypes can be wrong?

[Occulus]

33. Ugh. No, that's not right either.

For it to be 100% vintage Freepspeek(tm), it needs to look something like this:

"THEY do it al the thyme and I gues that statment was the tipoff (not like basketball) tothe roomate asto the cashiers pollitical afilliation.

I agree with the roomate's assesment!!1!"

See, Freepspeek(tm) requires multiple spelling and punctuation errors. A missing 'm'? Eh, it's just a missing 'm'.

:D

[Zensea]

34. Guess you have a point

:evilfrown:

[treestar]

37. At this point only a repuke would say the line about having

nothing to hide. In fact, not all repukes even do it!

Only the kool-aid drinking proto-fascists.

LOL, you think it remotely possible that clerk was a Democrat? :rofl:

Now it's possible the clerk was not a republican. It is possible the clerk is a fascist, or a totalitarian.

:rofl:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

46. So Amazingly Silly In Premise. It Really Is. But Lord Knows I Can't Stop Some From

engaging in such ignorant conclusion jumping. Instead, I'll just sit back and laugh at it I guess. :rofl:

[KarenS]

2. ohhhhhhh,,,,

:rofl:

[stirlingsliver]

3. Good On Don

Good on your roommate Don for taking a stand against the ever-encroaching data base.

Good on your roommate Don for showing how the "If you haven't done anything wrong" mime is just so much BS.

We deserve to have our privacy protected against the government and against Big Business.

We all ought to be speaking out against this sort of thing.

[Sherman A1]

5. Might be time to contact Meijer main office

and give them a little feedback on this upcoming invasion of privacy program and the incident with the clerk. Sometimes telling a company that you are taking your business down the street to their competitor works wonders, along with a few friends doing the same thing and a well placed LTTE.

[quiet.american]

10. How long do you wager it'd take before someone walks off with the entire Meijer thumbprint database?

Add to that, how long before they give unfettered access to it to the gub'ment?

[Occulus]

14. That's EXACTLY what I thought of when he told me the story

Whose laptop will this information end up on???

[madeline_con]

11. This is a security measure...

taken to be an itrusion into the cardholder's personal life.

Those who don't want the government and businesses to know what they're doing in regard to debit and credit cards (which they absolutely do) should deal only in cash.

[Sapere aude]

16. I can see the day where you won't be able to use cash to make sure there is a record.

What gets me, no matter what the political leaning this person was, how willing we are to give up some freedom yet we call ourselves the freedom loving people who live in the most free country on earth. We are getting closer and closer to the life styles we were told the Russian people lived back when I was a kid. We use to pride ourselves that we were not like them.

[Occulus]

22. Yes.

Exactly.

[bbgrunt]

21. well they're trying to disappear cash too. I don't

see how this escalating invasion of privacy really serves as a security measure at all. If they want to fingerprint you when you write a check, that is one thing. But using that fingerprint in a stored data base smacks of more than security. I am sure that if it is in the company data base it will also eventually be in the police data base. What next? Do we all have to have our dna on file?

[madeline_con]

64. Don't the words "the store data base" mean....

the company data base?

When I use my debit card, I thank the store clerk who asks for I.D. Someone could be spending all my hard earned cash without my knowledge. They still don't know who I sleep with or who I might be hanging around with.

[JuniperLea]

25. There are tiny things in the paper money...

Just like the tiny identifiers they are putting in clothing and other goods to keep them from being stollen... those big bulky beep producing devices pinned to items now will soon be a thing of the past.

There was a very big discussion on this here not long ago. The embedded, dot-sized device in money can be read with reading devices many feet away. They know. They always know.

[madeline_con]

63. "They" only know you're carrying it, if it's cash....

and they're looking at it with their x ray cameras. They don't know where you bought your breakfast once it leaves your wallet. :eyes:

[walldude]

12. I was in line at the customer service counter in a Kroger

in Nashville last week. The woman in front of me was cashing a check. That particular Kroger already had the fingerprint database installed. It took about 20 minutes for them to cash this lady's check. Myself and the 7 people behind me were getting pretty annoyed. Anyone here work in a grocery store? Are they getting so many bad checks that they need to do this?

[treestar]

38. That's part of it, too

the lack of cost-effectiveness of it - we have this view that everything should go perfectly all the time.

i would say fine, thumbprint for checks over a certain dollar amount, or put chips in goods of a certain value - why do we worry about every, single, itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiny thing in this country!

Crime will always be. We have to live with that reality. We can't punish it all, let alone prevent it all.

[Sherman A1]

60. Grocery Guy Here!

Yes, bad checks are a problem, have always been a problem... become more of one when things get tight for folks (but, hey we have a GREAT Economy.....). The chain I work for hasn't gone to the thumbprint thing as far as I know none of our local competitors have as of yet either. It's one method among others. I suspect that checks themselves will be fading as a form of payment in any event within the next 5 - 10 years. It most likely will be all debit, credit cards or whatever new technology comes along.

[AllegroRondo]

15. My standard answer to "If you havent done anything wrong..."

you dont have anything to hide"

"So, you wont mind if I look through your purse, then?"

[Initech]

18. If I encounter these idiots online, my first reaction is...

Them: "Oh we don't have anything to hide."

Me: "OK, then you won't mind posting your name, age, gender, hometown, and social security number."

Them: "STFU!!!"

[Initech]

17. It's WAY too easy to counter that stupid argument!

And it always ends with them cupping their ears and screaming "LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA"

This is one of the funnier ones I've ever heard though!

[Occulus]

26. It strikes to the heart of the "sex is icky" mentality, too, with a

"Let's talk about sex acts. Specifically, yours."

They can't ever seem to handle that, can they?

[Initech]

61. Nope. They're trained to spew all these crappy talking points at us...

But when it comes back to bite them in the ass, they cant handle it!

[JuniperLea]

19. They always say that...

If you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.

They can dish it out but can't take it.

Try this one on for size: If Republicans haven't done anything wrong, they have nothing to fear about testifying under oath!

[Catherine Vincent]

23. If that really happened, that was PRICELESS.

Wish I was there. :)

[ComerPerro]

24. your friend was out of line, IMO. This is standard for payroll check cashing

[Catherine Vincent]

27. Imo, the friend was not out of line.

The Kroger employee said: "Well, if you haven't done anything wrong, you don't have anything to hide!"

The friend only responded in kind.

[ComerPerro]

28. there's no pride in wtfpwning a cashier

[Occulus]

45. And there's no maturity in your ZOMGWTFASLBBQ... n/t

[ComerPerro]

49. that was exactly my point

its immature to do an "in your face" to someone just doing a job.

"so then I told that stupid WalMart door greeter toolbox to fuck off, becuase WalMart is republican!"

I mean, come on. Threads like this are why people think some liberals are elitist. There is nothing funny to me about "laying the smack down" on someone who, if they want to keep their job, can't do anything but eat your shit.

[Catherine Vincent]

59. The cashier shouldn't have made that kind of comment in the first place.

She dished it but couldn't take it. If the guy was complaining about the thumbprint database rule, she should have said something like "well that's the store policy" and left it at that.

[ScreamingWhisper]

30. Interesting...and a tad misguided, imo

If the thumbprint process is such an intrusion in your roommate's privacy, why cash a check there? Go to a bank. Probably because it's more convenient? Well guess what...that store and chain have every right to protect themselves from potentially fraudulent entities. It's the same concept of installed security cameras above the cashier. Do you like knowing that your face is (at least temporarily) stored in someone's video library? Would you want that camera removed as an invasion issue, or should it remain for the store's staff and security. Same issue, different context. Each serve as a deterrent to those who wish to do ill.

At the personal level, it seems to me that the cashier was only imparting a friendly FYI to your roommate. Your roommate is the one who did wrong when he made it a personal encroach upon the cashier, embarrassing her in a public, open fashion. She personally had done nothing offensive to your roommate except impart some general knowledge, he made it a personal attack.

As far as the "Well, if you haven't done anything wrong, you don't have anything to hide!" nonsense, I've heard many of both sides of the aisle say that same phrase in varying context. More times than not, it's coming from the same mouths of an older person than me trying to share a little knowledge my way.

[jackster]

31. let the games begin.....

:popcorn:

[Occulus]

32. Wrong. She *implied* he was less than honest.

This is how these types think:

"If you're not doing anything wrong, you don't have anything to hide. However, because you take exception to the policy, it's prima facia evidence that you in fact do have something to hide. Thus, I have to watch you extra super special careful because now I know you have something to hide, which means you're doing something wrong, or want to."

No, it's not right, nor is it even logical. Nonetheless, that's how they think... and they usually like to act on it to see if they're right. The only time they fold up and blow away is when it's turned around on them.

This lady folded up... and blew away.

[ScreamingWhisper]

35. Sounds like the roommate inferred

an insult to me, where none was evident or intended. Again only speculative as even you were not there, so who knows what other cues were evident when she made her statement...body language, curl of her lip as she spat the statement, or that shrewd squint of her eyes and brows as she knows she's making a guilty person squirm... see how silly that sounds?
If the roommate doesn't like the practice of the thumbprinting, then don't go there. If they step thru the door, they have to play by the store's rules...and victimizing an employee makes no one's point valid.
She didn't blow away, she ran away when a TOTAL STRANGER starts asking her for her name and level of sexual activity.

[ComerPerro]

51. I have a feeling you're right, was probably the cashier's way of saying

that the store has no intention of doing anything with the thumbprint as long as the check is valid and clears.

[treestar]

39. I like that response. It actually worked. let the right wingnut

see that they have a RIGHT to hide some things, and that they really don't want others being intrusive.

i always wanted to do a documentary having one of those wingnuts volunteer to have a cop do a search of his/her home. Even if nothing was found, the experience and the questions have to be uncomfortable. These remarks show how lacking in imagination right wingers are.

[treestar]

40. delete

[fishnfla]

41. If some guy talked to one of my female coworkers that way

He'd find one boot up his ass and the other stomping his neck. There would be a line of every other guy in our workplace behind me waiting a turn

I cant believe your in here bragging this guy up like he's tough.

I bet he does have something to hide. I bet it be real small.

[treestar]

42. He was responding to the point of having nothing to hide

A freep who says that can take the consequences.

Your threats are more in line with right wing thinking too. You'll solve it by violence as a first resort.

[Occulus]

43. IF your female coworkers are toughened up enough to tolerate that sort of behavior out of you

my guess is they wouldn't be all that offended by what he said.

But no, feel free to ignore the object lesson she got out of it in favor of bragging about how macho you are.

:eyes:

[ScreamingWhisper]

48. What lesson did she learn...a potential sexual pervert is asking her name

and she should just stand there.
I've said nicely to this point...but the roommate was at the least over-sensitve, and at worst a real jackass.

[Marie26]

44. I hate these posts

Ooohh, I was rude to a minimum-wage employee & then came to DU to brag about it. So cool. :eyes:

[Occulus]

47. Way to make it me that did it

What I hate? People who don't bother to read carefully.

And somehow, relating what happened when I wasn't there doesn't strike me as "bragging". It's telling, though, that the people in here saying I'm "bragging" about this are also the ones taking the strongest exception to it!

Imaaaaagine that.

[Marie26]

54. I never said it was you

I'm stating that this post fits the well-known pattern of people posting w/pride about how rude they/their friend/their family was to get the accolades & high-fives at DU. IMO, it's just sophomoric. I don't why this is anything to be proud of, or anything to brag about. And this was bragging - ha ha, put that Freeper in her place! I really doubt you posted this to get critical feedback & evaluation of the check system. It was just a attempt to pander to the crowd & laugh at a put-down.

I wouldn't even care if you were putting down a real Republican, a politician, or a big shot. But I doubt that many high-school minimum wage cashiers are Republicans. She was probably just repeating something she'd heard from her parents, or TV, and wasn't trying to be rude. The roommate was the one who was rude & personally offensive. And for what? A brief feeling of superiority? The power of managing to anger & embarrass a cashier? Like Molly Ivins said - "Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful. I only aim at the powerful. When satire is aimed at the powerless, it is not only cruel -- it's vulgar."

[Occulus]

57. You are FAR too serious for everybody else's good. n/t

[Marie26]

58. LOL!

I just don't like bullies very much. It's a character flaw.

[ComerPerro]

50. I know, its pretty pathetic

[Occulus]

52. deleted

nevermind

[ScreamingWhisper]

53. ...and on that enlightened note, I head for a bar. Good night folks! n/t

[magellan]

56. She opened herself up for it by parroting that lame and thoughtless line

"Well, if you haven't done anything wrong, you don't have anything to hide!"

Had it been me, I would have laughed when your roommate started asking me those personal questions, totally getting his point. But then I would never say what the clerk did in the first place, because anyone who's thought about it already knows it's a crap excuse for what amounts to a growing and dangerous invasion of privacy.

I wonder what security standards places like Meijer will have for their database of fingerprints and other personal information, and what guarantees they'll offer their customers that the data won't be shared, lost or stolen.

[and-justice-for-all]

62. Brilliant! nt