The Customer Is Always Right, Until He Isn’t

There was a time in this country when a man could get told to leave a store and would do so, if only out of habit or shame. These days, he treats the request as an opening argument.

Police in Las Vegas are now asking the public to identify a gentleman who took offense at the radical notion of being asked to vacate a Target on Blue Diamond Road, near Valley View Boulevard, on April 9. The establishment, being in the business of selling things rather than hosting debates on loitering, had an employee ask the man, described as unhoused and soliciting, to move along.

The fellow declined, which is his modern right, and invited the employee to summon law enforcement, which is his modern wit. The employee, showing the good sense that comes from earning an hourly wage, chose instead to retreat toward the store. It was at this point that discussions turned physical, with the suspect pushing the employee and striking him in the back of the head, a persuasive technique not yet recognized in polite society.

The police would now like a word with the man, presumably to continue the conversation under more structured conditions. Anyone who recognizes him is encouraged to call 702-828-5761 or Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.

It is a curious age when a store clerk must negotiate his own expulsion, and a simple “no” is treated as a philosophical challenge. One begins to suspect that order, like good manners, has been marked down and left on a clearance rack, available to all, but taken by few.