Hey Corporate America! Quit Looking at My Ass
A quick run to Harrod's in London on Friday evening to stock up on Christmas chocolates etc etc before Sheena's flight home on Saturday morning.
On the way out the door and passed through standard security to ensure nothing unpaid for left the premises.
"Beep Beep Beep"....
Shit. Security guard at the door had me pass through again, along with the other woman who went through right at the same time. "Beep Beep Beep". It was me. He took a look through the bags, saw nothing untoward and then asked he he could pass my packages and tote bag through. Went through clean. Dammit. So I took my coat and scarf off, and walked through just on my own. "Beep Beep Beep". At this point Sheena is getting aggravated and annoyed, clearly having nothing on my person or in my pockets.
Then the security guard asked if I was wearing any clothes purchased in America. I nodded. The silk/cashmere sweater set was from my January Cheek Visit to Atlanta and the pants were from Old Navy Waterloo location.
It was then that Sheena learned about things she had only heard rumoured. Harrod's uses a particularly state of the art security system and it picks up any RFID labels.
Yep. RFID labels in people's clothing. He showed me the pair of scissors he kept at his daily work station. Every day he cuts off stacks of RFID tags from customers wearing American purchased clothing, teeming with electronic static. He had about a dozen tags from his current shift and showed me what to look for when I got back to the hotel. (Sheena had made it VERY clear she did not intend to take off her pants in the perfume department, and he seemed to understand my position on the matter).
So lo and behold. He was right. The offending tag is from my Old Navy pants, not purchased in America, but right down the street from my house.
Now Sheena is very much a Web 2.5 kind of girl, and wishes she could broadcast twitter thoughts from her head as she walks down the street so that people could anticipate her needs and wishes without argument, but this is a bit much. Nothing was said when I bought the pants. And the label is pretty non-descript like any other care tag so easy to miss on the first wash.
Heads up people. Your privacy, and more importantly - your dignity at Harrod's is at stake.
Learn more here and here
posted by Sheena @ 3:46 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
oh now this is just GREAT!
don't bring any library books to Harrod's then either!
PS remember that time a woman got kicked out for wearing a blouse & stirrup pants combo that she had actually bought there?
Spy, anybody who buys a stirrup pants combo should be ejected from Harrod's.
Kinda gives a whole new meaning to 'track pants'.
I didn't know what you were talking about, Sheena, so I googled RFID:
"An RFID tag is a microchip combined with an antenna in a compact package; the packaging is structured to allow the RFID tag to be attached to an object to be tracked. "RFID" stands for Radio Frequency Identification."
Well, I can't care about that yet because I still don't know what it is, but you're right about spy's ejected lady - a blouse and stirrup pants is not a legitimate combo.
Verrrry common, Sheena. My Ann Taylor Loft loot has sported such tags for a long time - they use the tags as their security system to prevent shoplifting. They are very well marked with "remove before wearing."
Wow - another scary thing to consider when you think of how Big Brother is watching.
ARM
Oh yeah, Cheek. I keep forgetting that 9-11 changed everything. Whatever happened to good old fashioned red dye exploder pens?
SW and I have been wandering around town for two weeks setting off alarms, and not for public sex either, blame Tommy Hilfiger, she eventually got fed up and hunted them down after being chased out the door at Home Depot, good thing they didn't notice the 2X10 in her backpack
Tag You're It!
lol! I've had that happen too Sheena, at stores as mundane as Basics, etc.
Walmart implants those things too. It is a real threat to our privacy alright.
O/T. the Record is doing a series on the doctor shortage in Waterloo Region. Here and here.
I put on a sweater this morning (because it's -35 with the windchill today)and lo & behold - what was scratching my side? A RFID tag. I laughed. There it says remove before wearing. Pfft - this sweater is over a year old - washed & dried and the damn tag hung on....
Hi there, nice to know another girl called sheena especially in canada, can you let me know if there are any fielding family in canada as i have relatives over there, related to sheena fielding. bolton, england.
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