Conspicuous Consumption Crime edition of NYT FtG blog

They call it
The Week in Crime: Special Shopper’s Edition
By ANDY NEWMAN
http://fort-greene.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/the-week-in-crime-special-shoppers-edition/?emc=eta1

thats a normal holiday season in the fort ...
well no .. i didnt see any crime from downtown on fulton .. i guess things are going down hill in my old hood !

Not in Ft Greene, but the other day I was in Kmart in Penn Station- there was a (seemingly) homeless man with a few packages of underwear/t-shirts in his lap. He was opening them up right in the middle of the aisle, helping himself! I glared at him while I was passing by, just astonished at the brazen behavior. I kept walking, thinking I might run into a manager/employee. I didn't see anyone around except shoppers and when I turned back around to spot the guy, he'd disappeared. I think he was clearly taking advantage of the frantic holiday shopping to do a little lifting. I felt bad for the guy, you know- hell everybody deserves clean underwear-- but...you know...I can't just stand there and watch it happen.