If You Will It, It Is No Dream

OK, so get this: There's been this guy who's tried to steal some dvds from us twice in the past two weeks. Both times I foiled his plans with the help of other staff members. This guy is so obvious. He's a bummy-looking black man who stacks up dvds by the dozen, including more than one copy of each new release usually. He's so bad that we know him not only by the suspicious activities in which he partakes, but we know what he looks like. We know to get in his face the moment he walks in the door, to not let him out of our sight, and to take the bag away when he's decided he can't get away with stealing the items. Why he wasn't banned from the store previously, I do not know. You know I hate wasting times - hate to play silly games. But I do know, though, that he stole from us today. Game Over.

For one hour today I was at the register by the parking lot, so I wasn't on my watch dog duty. The thief walks in and starts his usual act of idoicy, hoarding handfuls of dvds into a bag. I hear over the radio that he is doing this and kind of chuckle because I thought I knew what was going to happen. I thought he was going to play this game and leave the store. This time, however, someone failed to follow him closely and he decided to simply walk out. I saw him coming toward my exit so I get between him and the door and say "Sir, the police are outside, I suggest you leave the movies here or else you'll be arrested." A blatant lie, but quick thinking nonetheless. I'm blocking most of the door, by the way, but this guy just ignores me and squeezes by, right out the door, alarms blaring the whole way. Now, I know I could have taken this guy, but corporate policy dictates that I cannot do anything. So he walks right out the door.

What would Hunter S. Thompson say of the obviously degenerate state of humanity? Dr. Thompson, to be sure, would have maced this guy and lectured him about the American Dream while he waited for the police to show up. He would have disregarded the rules and would have brought this thief to justice. But here I am, knowing full well that i could have done something yet I chose to play the corporate game. Why? So I can keep my job? So I can feel bad about letting a thief walk right out the door? He wasn't stealing from me, but there are certain principles we live by that make society decent. So in that sense he was stealing from me. He was stealing from all of us. He was stealing our freedom - walking on the American Dream like it was that soggy carpet at the mall entrance encrusted with salt and caked with cinders. He made me want to crawl into that cave in which people like Kurt Vonnegut - people disgusted with humanity - reside for much of their day. Next time I will be waiting for you, you bummy-looking man. Next time it's game over.