Harassment by Queens Pizza Store Employee

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Forum -> Inquiries & Offers -> New York related Inquiries

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amother

↑ Navy ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 1:25 pm

amother Tomato wrote:

I like when things make sense. Why are you condemning him without any facts that he committed a crime?

Creep- yes.
crime- no.

That’s a bit much as it doesn’t pertain to you. Let the police decide and figure it out.

amother

↑ Navy ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 1:26 pm

amother Tomato wrote:

Wait- one of us has the story wrong. The op said....

"While they were in Wasserman’s, the worker from Benji’s waited until the adult with them was busy on a cellphone and then approached my teenage daughter and asked if she took pictures of him."

The adult was busy on her phone. The op didn't say she wasn't there. I'm assuming the adult was there.

You're saying the worker followed the girls into a private location. The op never said that as far as I can see.

So your story is very different than mine. You say he waited for the adult to leave and was alone with them in private. I don't see where you got that from. If what you're saying is accurate, I'm more inclined to agree with you although I'm still not sure the guy broke the law but it's very creepy and off.

He followed them into wassermans. Not sure why you are reading this wrong.

↑ ShishKabob

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 1:29 pm

Just saying, that Thomas who shot Trump was a person of interest 20 minutes before the shooting.
Why do we have to wait to do something till it's too late?
Better be vigilant and proactive and apologize if it's nothing, than to be late and feel terrible that nothing was done to prevent it.

amother

↑ Tomato ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 1:29 pm

amother Navy wrote:

That’s a bit much as it doesn’t pertain to you. Let the police decide and figure it out.

Can we use a little common sense before we call the police? If someone honks their horn at you do you say it's harassment and call the police and let then decide?

What about if someone is rude to you in the supermarket? Call the cops and let them decide?

Assuming the guy asked them in a public area and didn't threaten or touch them in any way then zero crime was committed. If he did threaten or touch them then I agree with you.

amother

↑ Whitewash

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 1:33 pm

amother Tomato wrote:

Oh come on! A guy followed teen girls on the street, waited for the adult present to be busy, and then asked them for their phones. This definitely is intimidation & harassment. Even if there wasn't anything more aggressive going on.
I wouldn't be calm if this would happen to my daughters ch'v.

amother

↑ Navy ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 1:34 pm

amother Tomato wrote:

Why do you care? Why does it bother you? In nyc the motto is “if you see something say something” they highly encourage being called. How about you not worry about it? They aren’t worried and can determine it themselves. So just stop. Sounds like all you want to do is protect him. If he’s innocent then he’ll be found innocent. The op needs to investigate and report. As should be done period.

↑ groovy1224

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 1:47 pm

amother Tomato wrote:

It is actually the precise topic. It is definitely not illegal to take pictures of someone in a public place like the street. A pizza shop is privately owned. I'm not sure if it's permitted or not. Are you?

The second and more important issue is whether this is a police matter. It sounds like the employee was rude. But I don't think he did anything illegal.

He followed the family out of the store and asked to see the phone. Again, very rude but nothing illegal. Did he touch her? Did he make threats? Did he forcibly take the phone? What exactly is the claim to the police? That the guy asked to see the phone without first saying please?

It doesn't matter. Shopping malls are privately owned too. So are football stadiums. A pizza store is not a place where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy. If you take a selfie for your family photo album, you are not required to get written permission from every person that may show up in the background.

As to whether or not this is a police matter- I don't think he should get arrested over this, but should this be brought to someone's attention? Absolutely. Sometimes there is a fine line between criminal behavior and just plain creep behavior, and I'm not advocating for hysteria, but as the saying goes- if you see something, say something. He made the effort to follow the girls out of the store, approached one and demanded to see her phone (obviously she could/should have said no but clearly she was frightened) and then scrolled through her phone? Sounds pretty menacing to me.

This is exactly the type of situation Shomrim is helpful for, by the way. The things that aren't necessarily 911 calls but should be looked into. I also agree with the poster who suggested reaching out to the GKRF facebook group admin- he can probably get in touch with the pizza store owner.

amother

↑ Birch ↓

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 2:26 pm

amother Navy wrote:

See something say something is an anti-terrorism campaign asking people to report suspicious activity relating to terrorism. And to answer to answer your previous question, I used to live in NY.

amother

↑ Navy

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 2:28 pm

amother Birch wrote:

See something say something is an anti-terrorism campaign asking people to report suspicious activity relating to terrorism. And to answer to answer your previous question, I used to live in NY.

It was around way before terrorism was a thing

amother

↑ Tomato

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 2:30 pm

amother Navy wrote:

He followed them into wassermans. Not sure why you are reading this wrong.

How is Wasserman's a private location? Isn't it a large kosher supermarket?

amother

Sage

Thu, Jul 18 2024, 9:31 pm

Maybe call wassermans and ask to see the video cameras. I’m sure they have.
That’s so weird that the worker would even think someone wanted a picture of him.

Dolly Welsh

Fri, Jul 19 2024, 2:02 am

Very bad.

If you hand a guy your phone, he can then, in the blink of an eye, call HIMSELF using it. Then, even if he actually gives you your phone back, he now HAS YOUR CELL NUMBER. Because it's on his phone now. As an incoming call. Whole relationships have started that way. Not your kids, but it can happen.

Nooo your kids should not talk to strangers at all.

Yes, to the tight supervision.

Even an adult should never hand his / her phone to any stranger for that exact reason. Personal information can be obtained just with the number.

amother

↑ Birch

Fri, Jul 19 2024, 7:02 am

amother Navy wrote:

It was around way before terrorism was a thing

It was started by ny mta after 911. Then the slogan was licesenced to DHS and used around the US. It's an irrefutable fact.

amother

↑ DarkViolet

Fri, Jul 19 2024, 7:22 am

amother Tomato wrote:

How is Wasserman's a private location? Isn't it a large kosher supermarket?

The point is that instead of confronting them in the original location where people were sitting and could have interfered, or in the more public street when they were with an adult, he waited until they were somewhere else and also until the adult left them. I assume that he confronted them when fewer people were around, but even if there were people there, he started off by accusing them of something so passersby might not interfere because they might think the girls did something.

I cannot understand why you're defending this behavior. Girls should be encouraged to speak out loudly and defiantly and yes, call the police if they think this man is threatening them. Why would anyone in the world discourage this unless they routinely stalk people and don't want anyone calling the police on them?

amother

↑ OP

Fri, Jul 19 2024, 8:34 am

OP here, thanks for all the input.

I emailed Queens Shmira about the incident and they responded that they spoke to the store owners and that the owners were surprised and didn't expect this from their employee and that they have spoken to the employee. (Now how they knew which one, I'm not sure, because I did not describe the employee to them, however my daughter has told me that of the bunch of employees there, he was the only non-foreign looking one.) Why this incident happened, I have no understanding.

So whether they did or did not speak to the owners and whether or not any measures will be taken so this doesn't happen to someone else, I can't be sure, but I'm not going to file a police report because it sounded from their email that the employee in question was Jewish. And, although it was an absurd incident and very scary for my daughters, they were not assaulted or hurt in any way, only harassed.

I will not be sending my children back to that store and we only visit the neighborhood, we don't live there, so I am not too worried about my children coming across that person again. I have done my reporting and I leave it to Shmira and the store owners to see that others in the community are safe.

I have spoken to my children of what they can do if they feel threatened or intimidated.
May we all have a safe and pleasant rest of the summer.

amother

↑ Slateblue

Mon, Jul 22 2024, 2:44 am

Just wanted to drop a quick "thank you" here to the OP for doing what she could to help those of us who live here feel safe. Tizku L'Mitzvot! Hug

amother

Grape

Thu, Jul 25 2024, 9:17 am

I’ve read this whole thread and I don’t understand the last post that since he was Jewish you will not be making a report. Yet the entire thread, you are extremely distressed about the safety of your teenage child. What changed? Is he not a threat because he’s Jewish?

Did your daughter tell you that he looked different than everyone else at the store? The Jewish ones looks very different from the other workers. Is it possible she was flirting with him? And he thought she took pics to show her friends or something? Not to victim blame but nothing about this makes sense.

Also there is nowhere private between benjis and wassermans. Across the street from each other on a very busy Main Street.

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