Archived Poll for you guys

[redcardroy]

pinkp2ie, you seem interested in AP, have you ever considered switching over?

 

[Amanda Cantwell]

pinkp2ie, you seem interested in AP, have you ever considered switching over?

judging by their signeture, i'd say yes 😛

 

[graffiti]

There's a lot of hothead guys working at my store who'd line up to take a swing at someone if the situation required it, lol. But I would call the cops before getting involved myself.

 

[legend2828]

If it's a guy that's resisting and we're still trying to bring back don't step in if I'm getting my ass just handed to me like full on the ground getting pounded I'd hope my TMs would both call the cops and keep me from further injury

 

[pinkp2ie]

judging by their signeture, i'd say yes 😛

hahahah, yeah - I got offered TPS but I passed.
interesting responses

 

[commiecorvus]

I'll start with a funny story and then give my answer.
When I worked in the specialty meats department at the grocery store one of the assistant managers caught a girl lifting a couple hundred dollars worth of makeup.
The girls friends thought they would be cute and headed into the back room to 'break her free'.
The assistant manager, all 5' 4" and wildly pregnant gets on the overhead calling for "security backup'.
There is no security backup, in fact the store has no security or AP at all.
Instead every butcher grabs a knife and heads for the security room.
Those kids saw a dozen pissed off butchers in coats dripping with blood with huge gleaming, sharp knives in their hands and just booked it out of there.

Since none of the people in your story lift weights and play drums in an Iron Maiden cover band like my boss did at the store or have access to 22" cleavers, your best bet is going to be call the cops.
If the AP is getting hurt then you might want to first inform the person the cops are going to be there soon in hopes they might leave and if all else fails scream.
It sounds stupid but nothing throws people off balance like having someone screaming in their face.
If you want to step up and just start screaming as loud as you can.
It will probably annoy the AP person too but it will freak the assaulter out to no end.
Be that sound they want to turn off at all costs.
If they try to attack you back away but keep screaming.
This is not easy to do but it is nonviolent and nobody gets fired.
If you have called the police hopefully they will be showing up soon.

 

[Tessa120]

I guess no one would really know exactly what they are going to do in such a situation. Call 911 is a very, very important thing to do, and yeah I would do that.

Beyond that......if it were just one to one, I think I might quickly put something heavy in a cart and shove it into the back of the aggressor and then run like hell. Maybe against policy but in the end I have to live with my own conscience, and being only an observer when someone is unjustly getting hurt is against what I believe in.

With a crowd of 20 though, that could very quickly turn into mob mentality and I don't want to be in the same state as a mob turning violent, much less in the same ten foot area. I'll get well behind the group and call 911 and then be a good, live witness for the police.

 

[EagleEye]

Let AP do their job. We are trained to handle situations with hostile individuals and if you get involved it could get us more hurt or worse, you get hurt too.

Plus, if it even LOOKS like we're struggling but we are really not and you get involved, we have to let the person go and you ruin our app.

 

[On6]

You're making this simple question extraordinary complicated.

You don't work AP.

 

[Kompa]

Record the fight and post it to Youtube as a reminder as to why you shouldn't risk your life for some shitty overpriced dysons

 

[LUR99]

I have been in this situation and I called 911. Cops came fast and got it under control.

 

[Kartman]

Here's the deal with me.

If I am put in a situation where I see anyone being attacked, to the best of my ability, I will intervene.

Nobody dies on my Watch.

 

[Badjedidude]

If an apprehension is physical for more than 15-30 seconds, AP needs to let them go or try to focus on recovering the merchandise rather than holding on to the person they're trying to apprehend. This kind of stuff is taken very seriously, as it's a huge liability and legal minefield for the company. Regardless, an AP team member should know better than to get into or continue a fight that risks physical harm to themselves.

For what it's worth, like 95% of apprehensions I've assisted with haven't been a fight at all. The other 5% rarely last longer than 15 seconds to gain and maintain control of the situation.

Plus, if it even LOOKS like we're struggling but we are really not and you get involved, we have to let the person go and you ruin our app.

This. If other team members or guests become involved at all, it's Target policy/AP Directives to immediately let the subject go and abandon the apprehension. A Team Member is more useful in calling the police and acting as a witness to the events that just occurred.

 

[SrTLall]

You don't work AP.

Thanks Captain Obvious. The original question wasn't even intended for AP, so what's your point?

 

[On6]

Thanks Captain Obvious. The original question wasn't even intended for AP, so what's your point?

Meaning calling their answer complicated shows how much you don't know about AP....

 

[SrTLall]

Meaning calling their answer complicated shows how much you don't know about AP....

The question had nothing to do with AP besides that the AP TM was getting their butt kicked.

Let me bring you up to speed:

Simple question - An AP TM is inevitably going to get beat up or is already getting beat up, you're the only TM right there, multiple guests are encouraging you to intervene, what do you do?

OF COURSE there are an infinite amount of variables involved, why don't we just retitle the thread so each and every variable can be debated, OR keep it simple and respond to the general scenario presented.

 

[DoWork]

AP people seem to always be condescending. Just an observation.

 

[redcardroy]

AP people seem to always be condescending. Just an observation.

I know people might get that impression because I definitely did from the outside. Please understand we're not trying to be condescending, but this really is an area AP is way more qualified to speak on. I'm not a backroom tm. I've never done a lot of the things backroom does, so I won't ever try to say what's best for backroom until I've actually worked it. Otherwise, I'd expect some snippy backroom tm's.

AP is all about adapting to different situations on the fly, so trying to find a directive or a one-size-fits-all solution to a hypothetical is just not realistic. I don't say that to be rude. To a lot of people, seeing someone passively resist AP during an app might look like the AP tm is getting beat up, but that might not actually be the case, and calling the police could cause unnecessary complications. If you're a team member, I'd just ask AP if they need any help. If they want you to call the police, they'll tell you (if they haven't already). This is why I think it's important to always have good rapport between AP and the rest of the store.

 

[DoWork]

If you seem condescending, perhaps changing the way you're perceived should be important ^_^ -- or not. With my experience with most retail AP, this is almost always the case. Occasionally, you'll run into a well rounded person, like my former ETL AP, but not near often enough.

 

[redcardroy]

With my experience with most retail AP, this is almost always the case. Occasionally, you'll run into a well rounded person, like my former ETL AP, but not near often enough.

What do you think could explain this?

 

[DoWork]

A mixture of things, I suspect. They view themselves(and somewhat rightfully so) as a police for team members(power to the head.) They're also told not to mingle too much with the normies, so that creates an even larger gap. As with any enforcement job, the vocabulary used and the way in which you speak is often terse, confident(again, rightfully so,) and unfamiliar to most people. They have trouble differtiating speech, vocabulary, and body language when dealing with normies, so there's that.

Again, though, just an observation.

 

[HRZone]

I am really glad no one said "take out your phone and record" that seems to be the thing to do in 2017

 

[SquishySquishy]

Call PD.
If it's life or death you might get off with a final warning but any other case, bad idea. AP is paid to take that risk and recognize when to disengage.

 

[missionimpossible]

I couldn't live with myself if something happened to the ap person and I stood by and did nothing but make a phone call.

 

[Megaparsec]

It depends. If I'm on the ropes, is AP able to tag me in? Also, what are the odds that I could sneak in an elbow-drop from the top turnbuckle.

This is important.