UPDATE: RESOLVED! ANOTHER Mistaken Wine Theft Incident at the LCBO!

Hey Guys,

Got another fun story of dealing with LCBO store security and a misunderstanding/false accusation… only this one comes with a potential M. Night Shamalyan style twist at the end.


So yesterday before getting together with board members Jay Shampur and Mike Grammer for dinner, I stopped by to browse at the Summerhill LCBO store for what would be available to pick up on Friday. As soon as I got in, I made a beeline to the washroom which was occupied. I was about to leave but then the occupant exited so I went in. He was another Asian guy, slightly taller and a bit more built than me and dressed in normal clothes and not an LCBO uniform, but otherwise pretty average. As I go in to the can, he turns to me and says I can’t bring my bag into the washroom with me. I say that it’s okay and leave my bag outside the washroom door and do my business.

I wash up, exit back into the store, spend about 40 minutes browsing in the fortified wine, Alsace, sweet wine and spirits sections and then leave in order to make dinner on time.

As I make my way out onto the sidewalk and start heading to the nearby subway, the guy approaches me from behind and says “Hi, remember me?” He then asks me to open my bag. I look at him and ask if he works for the store. His reply is “What do you think?”. So I open my bag without any hesitation and show him nothing’s in it. So we’re both cool about everything, no offense is taken, but since I now assume he’s an undercover we chat briefly and I tell him I often come by to just browse before buying and the staff knows me but admit that I have had this problem once before (which you guys can read up on in my previous thread).

He is friendly and polite the entire time and speaks rather eloquent English, albeit with a bit of an accent which I found a touch odd given how educated his English speaking sounded. At no point am I ever worried about my safety while this is all taking place. At this point he confesses that the staff are, and I quote, “aware of me.” This is somewhat troubling, but again, I inform him that no offence is taken and no worries. He smiles and shrugs and jokes, “Hey, maybe they are just targeting us Asians” with a laugh and shrugs his shoulders. I introduce myself as Tran and we shake hands and part ways. I head out to the subway again, he heads back to the store.

After dinner is done and I get home, I suddenly remember that I had asked him if he worked for the store and he evaded the question with another question, albeit with a smile and a friendly tone, but that he still didn’t answer. Further, he never introduced himself either. Again, he was professional and courteous and even friendly at the end so it didn’t concern me too much at the time. But now with time to myself, the more I thought about it the more it started to bother me.

So on a hunch, I called the store manager this morning and explained everything that happened. He actually sounded stunned and informed me that he was both unaware of any undercover security that fit the guy’s description that were working yesterday and that further they are under strict instructions never to approach anyone even if they did actually witness something.

So that begs the question – who the hell was I talking to, then? AHH!!! IT WAS A GHOST! I SEE DEAD PEOPLE!!! Actually, I am presuming it was either an undercover plainsclothes security officer not doing his job properly or now more than likely just a CIVILIAN playing vigilante. And that is a MAJOR problem.

I wasn’t offended when it all went down, but I am now cringing after the fact at the very real possibility that this guy I spoke was in fact just a regular person who thinks they are being a good samaritan but was in fact acting illegally like a vigilante. What if I had taken offence and refused to show him my bag? What if he had tackled me from behind instead of just saying hello? What if I’d been placed in a position to have to defend myself and I was injured? Or possibly worse, what if I injured HIM? While fortunately nothing bad happened and calm and courteous heads prevailed on both sides…

Here’s the real liability issue. Regardless of whether or not this guy actually worked for the LCBO, he may have spoken to the staff about me as indicated by his “the staff are aware of you” comment. Now, he could’ve been lying through his teeth about that one but if he did in fact speak to them… if they either explicitly or implicity instructed or even just allowed him to confront me then everyone involved is liable for both what happened i.e. unlawful confinement (Sorry, I’ve got a law degree… which nobody else on this board has, I know ) and would’ve been for what could’ve happened that fortunately didn’t.

Even more than that, if the undercover security that works LCBO are actually Toronto police officers, then this guy also impersonated one and is now criminally liable for that and so are the staff if they either explicitly or implicity instructed or even just allowed him to confront me.

I also told all of this to the manager and, as you can imagine, he was both apologetic and quite concerned as well he should be given the actual and potential liability they may have incurred. He will speak to the shift leaders for the evening when they come in today so we can get to the bottom of this. Fortunately, there are cameras all over the store including the entrance of the washroom I used so it will be possible to visually identify this other person, be they a civilian or actual plainsclothes security.

Stay tuned for the resolution to this mystery. Update to come after the manager and I get in touch again after he speaks to the evening staff.

You need to be more paranoid. More likely the guy was looking to rob you if he found something of worth in your bag. You’re lucky your bag was still outside the door when you came out of the washroom.

If something like that happens to you again, in that store or any other, don’t deal with the guy on the street. Go back into the store. Or tell him to bugger off and walk away.

Good advice, Alan. Had I not been concerned about making dinner, perhaps the thought of going back to the store itself would’ve and should’ve crossed my mind. If he had been a potential thief or robber (with a great scam of pretending to stop other thieves/robbers) then of course he would’ve probably turned tail or ran. I also was probably less paranoid due to the fact that I am quite proficient in four different martial arts… not that this is a guarantee of anything.

I dunno, Asian and Canadian sounds suspicious !!!

I’ve got an update for everyone. The store manager called me and informed me that they would need until next week to continue their investigation because at this time they cannot ascertain the identity of the person who stopped me outside the store, let alone confirm if they were an employee of the LCBO or a hired security guard.

This incident is starting to creep over into The Twilight Zone. Feel free to discuss more wine, I will bump it back up when I have more news. I should also mention that I actually plan on going to the LCBO tomorrow and purchase stuff. I think I’ll bring my MMA gloves with me – I might be accosted by another Asian !

You know, now that I think about it, this guy really did sorta look like Charlie Fu…

As the story was being told I expected it to end with the bag being stolen. Be careful out there!

Well we all do look alike

It should be very easy to review the security tapes and pinpoint the person in question.

I try to avoid the LCBO as much as possible by purchasing from Quebec and the United States.

Given the ridiculous mark-up of LCBO, I am not surprised some people would start robbing fellow customers !

Mr Wang…excellent!!

Asian, educated and eloquent English … with an accent? Odd, definitely odd.

When he said “what d’you think?”, I might have just stared at him blankly (poker face) or I might have just walked away. I sure as hell wouldn’t have been buddy buddy after getting attitude from him.

What was in the bag? Did you do a careful inventory? What a weird interaction.

Actually, it would’ve been somewhat funny if he turned out to be a thief that stole my bag because he would’ve made off with the grand prize of… a pair of sweaty workout shorts I had been using the whole week at the gym as well as my sweaty t-shirt from earlier in the day!

On the other hand, I also had deodorant and body spray in there so I guess that would’ve evened it all out.

not really. Tons of Asians grew up or spent much of their lives in the UK, Australia, or Canada. In the US there many regional accents.

My wife grew up in Hong Kong but went to college in the UK so she has an odd sort of British accent that people find hard to place. Me, I grew up on the outskirts of South Central LA so that influenced my speech for a while. Still does.

I think Ramon was being ironic.

I realize this is after the fact, but early on if someone like that asks to look into your possessions, politely demand to see his badge/store ID. If he declines to do so, go immediately to the store manager. Do not chat further…

Bruce

+1 (Don’t even presume they are from the location you just left) 911.

Perhaps he thought you lifted something, he would take it from you & "let you go " with a warning ?
Had you , you would not complain, EH ? Maybe that was his scam.

This is also a strong possibility – though it would be remarkably coincidental for an ACTUAL thief who thought I was a POSSIBLE thief to have collided with each other in the washroom. If this was indeed the case, the guy must’ve thought he hit his lucky stars. The only problem with this theory is… why would he even bother telling me that bags are not allowed in the washroom? Why would an actual thief warn off a potential thief?

But it actually doesn’t matter because based on your theory, I can tell the LCBO to post pics of this guy in every store warning staff and clients that he is impersonating LCBO security/undercover security/potentially actual plainsclothes police officer and not to make contact with him but to call management and police. I would love to ensure that he can never buy alcohol again at the LCBO and therefore in all of Ontario. How would that be for an ironic punishment?