"You can't do that here"

[BRoth]

Aside from all the wonderful stories that line may suggest, here's a good one from today.

Was out and about doing a man-on-the-street Q and A when I stopped in a local mom and pop coffee shop. There were a couple people hanging out at a table and I thought I would see if they wanted to take part.

I ask them, they give the OK and I start talking to them when the owner comes up to me and says "You can't do that here."

I reply: "I just wanted to do a Q and A for the local paper, I'll be gone in less than a minute."

Answer: "You can't do that here."

Reply: "I'm just trying to do my job and they said they'd be OK."

Answer: "You can't do that here."

So I took the answers and left.

The small town I cover is generally full of alright people ... rich, but alright. I was a little pissed off about it, but wanted to see if others had similar experiences when trying to do their reporting duties.

 

[Ace]

Aside from all the wonderful stories that line may suggest, here's a good one from today.

Was out and about doing a man-on-the-street Q and A when I stopped in a local mom and pop coffee shop. There were a couple people hanging out at a table and I thought I would see if they wanted to take part.

I ask them, they give the OK and I start talking to them when the owner comes up to me and says "You can't do that here."

I reply: "I just wanted to do a Q and A for the local paper, I'll be gone in less than a minute."

Answer: "You can't do that here."

Reply: "I'm just trying to do my job and they said they'd be OK."

Answer: "You can't do that here."

So I took the answers and left.

The small town I cover is generally full of alright people ... rich, but alright. I was a little pissed off about it, but wanted to see if others had similar experiences when trying to do their reporting duties.

Some corporate types are anal about not allowing media in to talk to customers or staff. Wouldn't think that at a mom and pop coffee shop.

 

[mike311gd]

I've got $20 that says mom and pop aren't even a mom and pop. They probably just want your shoes.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

BRoth,
Before we send anyone to do a "man on the street," the reporter has to call the owner or manger of an establishment to get permission to avoid that type of situation.
It happened years ago - hence the rule.
Remember, you are on private property so they have every right to ask you to leave.

 

[Cadet]

A former photog I worked with ran into that. He was always taking feature photos of kids on playgrounds, etc. and was well-known for it. But there was one family that would never, ever allow their kids' names to be used in the paper. They were always out in public, so it wasn't like they were hiding the kids, just wouldn't give their names. We figured they were in the witness protection program.

 

[Jeremy Goodwin]

BRoth,
Before we send anyone to do a "man on the street," the reporter has to call the owner or manger of an establishment to get permission to avoid that type of situation.
It happened years ago - hence the rule.
Remember, you are on private property so they have every right to ask you to leave.

Yeah, It's Man on the Street for a reason. Streets are public places and fair game. You are soliciting in the Mom and Pop's shop and they could see you as annoying their customers (though the people you talked to were OK with you).

 

[BRoth]

I understand that they have the right to kick me out, but I guess I was just more upset with the fact that it was a big deal. Maybe I'm naive, but I wouldn't care if someone stopped by a store and sat down for 2 minutes with a customer who didn't care.

Than again, maybe I'm just too damned polite.

 

[Some Guy]

Don't these people know they'd basically be getting free advertising out of this?

 

[OnTheRiver]

I got thrown out of a Wal-Mart a few years ago when I was doing a story on the PlayStation2.

Manager: "We need you to leave."

Me: "Wow... I can't believe I'm getting thrown out of a Wal-Mart."

Manager: "We're not throwing you out. We're asking you to leave."

Me: "What happens if I stay here and keep talking to these people?"

Manager: "We'll call the police."

Me: "Then I guess you're throwing me out of a Wal-Mart."

 

[Some Guy]

I got thrown out of a Wal-Mart a few years ago when I was doing a story on the PlayStation2.

Manager: "We need you to leave."

Me: "Wow... I can't believe I'm getting thrown out of a Wal-Mart."

Manager: "We're not throwing you out. We're asking you to leave."

Me: "What happens if I stay here and keep talking to these people?"

Manager: "We'll call the police."

Me: "Then I guess you're throwing me out of a Wal-Mart."

Here's what I don't get: If you were just a Joe Blow hanging out at Wal-Mart and talking to people about how cool the Playstation 2 is, they wouldn't throw you out. So who cares if you write down what people say?

 

[spup1122]

Wal-Mart is notorious for not allowing interviews on their property. Target is pretty bad unless you get in well with their managers, at least for TV.

We tried to do an interview about how they dealt with all the toy recalls a few months ago and our assignment editor didn't tell the manager at Target what we were talking about. When the reporter called, the manager freaked out. Months later, we went to another store in our DMA and the reporter sweet talked the manager and she talked about it.

 

[PeterGibbons]

Wal-Mart is notorious for not allowing interviews on their property. Target is pretty bad unless you get in well with their managers, at least for TV.

We tried to do an interview about how they dealt with all the toy recalls a few months ago and our assignment editor didn't tell the manager at Target what we were talking about. When the reporter called, the manager freaked out. Months later, we went to another store in our DMA and the reporter sweet talked the manager and she talked about it.

Anytime we've ever wanted to do anything with Wal-Mart we've had to go through corporate.

Target, though, for us has always been pretty much the most media freindly chain store I've ever dealt with.

 

[Write-brained]

I've never really had a problem with this, mainly because I don't stick around in one place too long and I try to be inconspicuous. If I see an employee, I'll preempt them by telling them I'm with the local paper, just looking for a quick quote, won't hassle anybody, yada yada, and they're OK with it.

 

[forever_town]

Some corporate types are anal about not allowing media in to talk to customers or staff. Wouldn't think that at a mom and pop coffee shop.

Luckily, I've never had that kind of experience.

Though I will say I mentioned to a guy working behind the counter at a Chipotle that one of that particular branch's employees was quoted in the big city daily. When I got up to the counter, I realized he was a manager and that he told the cashier not to charge me for my meal.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Not exactly on topic, but one of the reasons I won't shop at Best Buy is they had a man arrested for writing down prices so he could comparison shop ...

As for BRoth's situation, well, it's his coffee shop. He paid for the right to say what can and can't happen there. 'Course, turning down free publicity might not be the best way to promote his business, but to each his own. On the other hand, it's kind of weird. I've done a bunch of interviews in restauraunts, and never had a problem.

 

[Some Guy]

Not exactly on topic, but one of the reasons I won't shop at Best Buy is they had a man arrested for writing down prices so he could comparison shop ...

How can you have someone arrested for that?

 

[Stitch]

Not exactly on topic, but one of the reasons I won't shop at Best Buy is they had a man arrested for writing down prices so he could comparison shop ...

How can you have someone arrested for that?

When I worked at Best Buy, managers from other electronics chains came in and wrote down prices. All we did was give them the ads for this week to at least be a little inconspicuous.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Not exactly on topic, but one of the reasons I won't shop at Best Buy is they had a man arrested for writing down prices so he could comparison shop ...

As for BRoth's situation, well, it's his coffee shop. He paid for the right to say what can and can't happen there. 'Course, turning down free publicity might not be the best way to promote his business, but to each his own. On the other hand, it's kind of weird. I've done a bunch of interviews in restauraunts, and never had a problem.

NYT article about the incident, which happened in 1997:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E05E4DF143BF930A15750C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Best Buy has also had people arrested for paying with $2 bills and for buying things off their website.

Links here:

http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=146457

 

[Some Guy]

Not exactly on topic, but one of the reasons I won't shop at Best Buy is they had a man arrested for writing down prices so he could comparison shop ...

As for BRoth's situation, well, it's his coffee shop. He paid for the right to say what can and can't happen there. 'Course, turning down free publicity might not be the best way to promote his business, but to each his own. On the other hand, it's kind of weird. I've done a bunch of interviews in restauraunts, and never had a problem.

NYT article about the incident, which happened in 1997:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E05E4DF143BF930A15750C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Best Buy has also had people arrested for paying with $2 bills and for buying things off their website.

Links here:

http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=146457

After reading that first story, I think I have an idea of what happened: The douche from Best Buy thought the customer was working for another store, doing to Best Buy what Best Buy does to other stores.

What a douche.

 

[Boomer7]

Not exactly on topic, but one of the reasons I won't shop at Best Buy is they had a man arrested for writing down prices so he could comparison shop ...

How can you have someone arrested for that?

When I worked at Best Buy, managers from other electronics chains came in and wrote down prices. All we did was give them the ads for this week to at least be a little inconspicuous.

I was in a Circuit City writing down prices once and a staffer came over to me and said, "Who you with?" It didn't even occur to him that I might just be a shopper comparing prices (which I was). Maybe my reporter's notebook gave him the wrong idea, but shouldn't you assume that a person in your store is a customer and treat him as such?