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Some preps and security advice for safe protesting, from an aging anarchist
I'm writing this all based on personal experience with direct action. I ran it by some friends to make sure it was as accurate and complete as possible. This post is specifically about protest safety prep for new and inexperienced protesters. Don't feel bad if you read this and feel like protesting safely is too risky or too hard. There's a lot of great direct action for people who don't feel like being in actual protests are their best choice. If this sounds like too much, don't give up! You can do jail support for your friends, or you can just stay home and work according to your other strengths. Not everyone has to be in the streets. Not everyone should be. Diversity of tactics and knowing your strengths and limits is critical. If you decide to protest, here's what I've learned about reducing the risk, much of which is prep you can start now. Violence/state repression of free speech/the cops: Be aware that the government perceives any action in opposition to them as violent, and they feel that they have the right to respond accordingly. Just because it's a permitted sign-holding event doesn't mean the cops won't show up in riot gear. Plan for every action taken in resistance to the government as if it is an act of violent aggression- because you can assume that they will. Maybe the line will hold and the cops will be calm and it'll be fine, but be prepared for other possibilities. You can't control the crowd after a certain size, and you definitely can't control the police response. I've never been to an organized protest that started out violent, and I've seen the police instigate violence at numerous protests that would have otherwise stayed chill. As soon as the cops show up, know that they are trained and prepared to use escalation tactics to trigger a fight or flight response in the crowd. This allows them to justify further violence because it's no longer a peaceful protest. Be prepared for that possibility. They do it All. The. Time. The cops are paid by the people who you're protesting. They aren't there to protect you. Know your limits. It's fine to show up at a protest just to support the cause and not want to get tear gassed or go to jail. Numbers are good, they get attention. But if you're there in that capacity, you need to know when to leave. Knowing the police are trained to escalate these events and trigger people into fight or flight so they can claim a violent response is justified, when do you leave to avoid falling prey to that tactic? It takes training to turn off the fight or flight response or learn to work through it, so if you don't have that experience, you need to have a plan for getting out before it happens. Are you leaving when the cops show up? When they put on gas masks? When the first object is thrown by either side? When the crowd starts being moved by the police, looking like a possible kettle? Be honest with yourself and the people you're with about when your fight or flight will likely kick in, and have a plan to leave before it happens. You're not helping anyone and you could get hurt or hurt someone else if you're running on pure adrenaline and have no training to keep going under those conditions. We need you healthy and whole to keep fighting. There's no shame in leaving as soon as you feel unprepared to deal with further escalation. Clothing: Cover up! Wear a mask, wear sunglasses that hide your eyebrows, cover your hair with a hat or a scarf or a helmet, cover any tattoos, wear long pants and full sleeves, wear gloves if you can. Cover as much of you as you can. Learn about ways to defeat facial recognition. Implement them. ETA (thank you u/thestephinator): masks are banned in some areas, and anything considered "body armor" raises a misdemeanor to a felony in some places (think bike helmet, Kevlar motorcycle gear). Be aware of local laws. If masks are banned, things like certain makeup (the one I know off the top of my head is juggalo makeup, lol) can defeat facial recognition. Get creative. Don't bring your regular cell phone. Don't wear an apple watch. Don't bring anything with GPS unless it is specific for this purpose (more on that in a bit). Leave your devices at home and turned on, as if you were there and just not using them, rather than turning them off. You don't want a whole empty block of data in your devices while you are gone. Look normal and don't be memorable. You don't need to look like a ninja. You'd be better off looking like a soccer mom who just got a peel or blue collar worker with a sun sensitivity. Or a bicyclist. Many ways to be covered up and look fairly "normal". Don't wear anything with logos or images. Plain, basic colors. Buy mass produced crap that millions of other people have. They have tracked people by their Etsy shirts before. The more average your outfit, the better. Buy your clothes at a thrift store or a big box store in cash over time. One thing each time you go in for something else. Today you need a lightweight long sleeve hoodie with your normal items, next week you might need gardening gloves. Just a normal person buying normal person stuff. Wear a tank top and leggings or shorts under your outfit. It's hot and it sucks in summer, but you want to take off whatever you were wearing at the protest and ditch or conceal it as soon as you've left and are away from prying eyes. Look for cameras wherever you change. Don't do it near where you park. Communication: Your best and safest bet is to leave your electronics of any kind at home and on, as if you just forgot your phone etc at home. Memorize the number for your jail support person, which I'll talk about in a bit. Don't write it on your body, because they can use it as evidence you were planning to do crime. Don't use your real name. Pick a nickname you'll answer to, and that's the only name you use at the protest. If you are going with a group and need to communicate, use burner phones. Well in advance- so do it now before you need to- buy at least 3 burner phones and some minutes/unlimited texting in cash at 3 different Dollar Generals, or any other store that is unlikely to have functioning cameras. Buy them outside of your neighborhood and away from places you go often. Turn them on in the parking lot and set them up. Don't use any personal info. You may need a dummy email address unconnected to you, if so use a new fake name and a VPN or library computer to set that up. You may also need a pre-paid visa to set it up, if so get it in a different location with no cameras and pay in cash. Set up the phone and ditch the pre-paid card and delete the email address. Program each phone with the other burner phones' numbers. Better to do all of this away your regular phone and any other smart device you use. Make sure the phone is charged, and if not, charge it somewhere away from home. It may automatically turn on when you charge it, and then it can be tracked to that address. Once it's charged, turn it off and take out the battery and Sim card if you can. The day of the action, jail support gets one phone, and protesters get one or two to share. Nobody turns on the phone until they are well away from home. Everyone protesting sticks with the phone holder/s to the best of their ability, and the phone holder/s keep track of everyone to the best of their ability. Jail support hangs out somewhere safe but away from anywhere they or anyone they know spends time, and waits for updates. Once the phones are on, they can be traced back to any location they are at, and any number they are used to contact is at risk of surveillance. Only use them to communicate vital info to the other burner phones. After the action, once everyone is safely away from any danger, destroy every phone. They can't come home with you. Jail support- Have people on the ground away from the action who you're in some kind of communication with. Check in every so often to let them know you're safe. In the case of mass arrests or communication stopping for an agreed on amount of time, they take care of business on the outside. They feed your meter or move your car, let your dog out, and call your job or your mom (from another location on a regular non-burner cell phone). They should have a sealed emergency envelope with your government name, SSN, any cash you have for bail, your keys, the contact info for your lawyer if you have one, and instructions for things that need to be taken care of while you're gone. They will keep checking online to see when you're booked in, and when your bail hearing is set. They will make sure you don't get disappeared and raise the alarm if something weird happens. They will be in charge of whatever plan y'all make to get money to pay your bail. If you can, prepare so they'll have enough cash on hand to at least bond everyone in your group out, and the number for a bondsman. Unspecified general advice: Take a weird route to your car when you leave, and drive a weird route home. Don't get followed from the protest to your house. Generally be aware of cameras. Undercover cops are everywhere. Don't answer any specific questions, just direct anyone who is asking specific questions to the protest organizers. Don't follow individual people, follow the organizers or at least just stick with the crowd. If someone is riling people in the crowd up, get away from them and gently encourage others to move away from them. Similarly, be wary of people who are extremely friendly and want to join your group. It's great to make like minded friends, but a protest probably isn't the best place to make a judgement of someone's character and trustworthiness. Keep any plans you have, etc within the group of people you came with. Don't talk to the press or anyone with a camera unless you have media training for this specific action. Again, direct them to the organizers. After you leave, you might want to debrief and process with the people you went with and your jail support. After that, you don't talk about the action. You don't talk about it to anyone who you didn't see there, you don't text about it, you don't brag about it, and you definitely don't post on social media: you were not there. ETA: if for any reason the cops show up at your door after the protest, you say "do you have a warrant" and if not, ask them to leave and say nothing else. If they do, make sure it's the correct kind and has the right signatures, then call your lawyer immediately. The only thing you say to them while they search is "I'm exercising the 5th ammendment right, speak to my lawyer." Practice saying it so you're ready if you ever get arrested for anything. That's it for now. I hope this is helpful. I know it's not perfect, but the goal is harm reduction. It is very much for beginners and not for people who plan to do anything illegal, fight cops, or get arrested. Just casual advice about totally legal ways to prepare for the worst case scenario of having to engage with fascist state repression while exercising your right to protest. submitted by /u/TheRealFancyB to r/TwoXPreppers [link] [comments]
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reddit.com |
TheRealFancyB |
Jan 31, 2025 |
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Customer demands my personal cell number and blames me for him losing his job
I am not the OOP. The OOP is u/tgmarie137 posting in r/EntitledPeople Potentially ongoing as per OOP 1 update - Long Original - 6th January 2024 Update - 11th January 2024 Customer demands my personal cell number and blames me for him losing his job I work as a claims adjuster for auto accidents. A customer filed a claim after hours, and I follow up with him first thing this morning. I have no info on the vehicle other than what he reported, and I inform him there is a possibility of it being a total loss. He immediately jumps down my throat and tells me he doesn't want his car to be a total loss, and he doesn't want me to have it moved to another location for an in person inspection. I start to discuss an alternative with him when he starts cursing at me and berating me, constantly interrupting me telling me to just pay the claim. If it were that easy of a job, I'd be paid less, and my job would be a hell of a lot easier. I explain that per his insurance agreement, we have to inspect the vehicle before I can make a payment for his claim, and we need to see if it is going to be a total loss or repairable. He continues to be an ass, so I inform him that I will disconnect the call and try talking to him again when he has regained his composure. I hang up and go into a meeting, and he proceeds to call our customer service line over and over and over. He harassed a total of 4 women and refused to end the call until I accepted his call. I explained I was in a meeting and wouldn't be out for at least another 30 minutes or so. He continued to stay on the line with them for a few more minutes before hanging up and calling customer service again. I finally have a chance to call him back, and I explain that we can try to work with his shop in having them submit photos so we can do a preliminary check to at least see if the car is a total loss or not. He tells me he sent me photos from the night before. I explain that there were no attachments to the emails he sent me, and that we need very specific photos to have the most accurate review. He proceeds to tell me it is my job to call the shop and request them... which is what I told him at the start of the call anyway. He then demands my cell phone number. I explain that I don't have a work cell phone. He states he wants my cell phone to be able to reach me over the weekend. I informed him I will not be providing that info to him. He demanded it a few more times before stating he wanted to talk with my supervisor. I stated she was already informed of the situation and would be reaching out to him when she is able to. I am not allowed to give out her contact info. He tells me that I need to have her call him immediately. I remind him that she is my supervisor, and I cannot dictate her schedule. He proceeds to try to keep me on the phone until his demands are met. I inform him that I am going to disconnect the call if there is nothing further to discuss, and he ends the call. I called the shop, and they also gave me attitude stating that I was keeping a good man from his job and that I shouldn't be wasting his time like this. I asked if they could email the photos to me just so that I can get it done, and they say they will. I have an uncommon last name, so I made sure to spell it out for them multiple times since it is part of my email address. Two hours before I leave for the day, I still don't have the photos. I text the customer and let him know, and he told me he would call them. 5 minutes before I'm supposed to leave, I call the shop again and don't get an answer or option to leave a message. I text the customer to let him know that photos aren't received yet, and we won't be able to move forward on his claim until Monday. He starts blaming me for working in a different time zone stating it isn't fair that I work 3 hours ahead of him. I explain that I don't work 3 hours ahead of him, I'm just 1 hour ahead, and the shop had all day to send me the photos needed. He now states that since he doesn't have a rental (didn't purchase the coverage), he is going to be fired on Monday, and it's all my fault. I offer to set him up with a discounted rental, and he tells me he doesn't have a rental company in his area, but it's still my fault for him losing his job! Goodness gracious! I'm so sorry to hear that! You mean to tell me that your employer is so heartless as to fire you for missing a workday unexpectedly when it's your first occurrence/infraction with them? You may want to contact your state department of labor then! He tells me I should just pay the claim, and I'm holding up his claim for no reason to make life difficult for him. I wonder what he thinks happens to adjusters who don't follow due diligence on a claim and just... pay it. We don't get cookies, that's for sure. In fact, we face termination with our employer, fines with the state the claim was handled in, and possible jail time. Oh yeah, and our employer can sue us for the money we paid to the customer without authorization, and if the customer knowingly cashes the check when they know their claim wasn't supposed to have been paid out, they get reported to the federal government for insurance fraud and sued by the insurance company for repayment of the claim. I guess I'll see what he has to say on Monday. My supervisor has been reading my notes and keeping up to date with the claim, and she is going to have a very fun conversation with him. Especially when all the calls exhibiting his bad behavior were recorded. ETA: This is a single vehicle accident where the customer hit a large object in the road that he absolutely should have seen. I won't state the specifics in case he's a Redditor. He did not file a police report, and he wanted to send me photos from the scene of the accident (which took place at night) and became more irate when I stated I need a VIN photo from the sticker inside his driver's side door. Update: Not too much going on, which is... unexpected. It's been radio silence from the customer, and I don't trust it. I'm expecting a full blow up. My supervisor called him and left a message yesterday, but he hasn't called her back either. She has informed me that I have her encouragement to put him on written only communication, and I don't have to answer his calls anymore. She also stated that if he threatens me, which I'm not sure if he will or not, she will get our security team involved, and I can press charges against him with his local police as these are recorded calls. I called the shop today and spoke with the owner. I explained how the rep I spoke with on Friday acted very unprofessionally, and he informed me that the customer had apparently been calling her nonstop on Friday and harassing her as well... because she somehow thought it was a good idea to give him her cell phone number when he demanded it. The owner is an old friend of the customer (you all called it), but he provided this info very freely and stated that after this repair, they aren't friends anymore, and he will blacklist him as the rep I spoke with is his niece. I got the photos, and there were several very thorough photos. It is pretty minor damage, and it is clear that he ran into something on the road. I can't give specifics, but it was a metal object that happened to be laying in the road that got wedged in the undercarriage. They had to pull really hard to get it unstuck, and the shop sent me a photo of the very warped item as well. Redditor sleuths also called that he has a huge custom item that was not on the policy. It's a bed cover for his truck, but there was no damage to it, and even if there was, we wouldn't cover it if he didn't have an endorsement for custom equipment. I ran this by SIU (special investigations unit), and while they agreed that the customer was acting shady as hell, they don't have enough info to start an investigation, and they stated that since it is a single car accident, we would still be obligated to cover his repairs even if he was lying. There are several states where we can deny a claim if the customer lies about how the accident happened, but sadly, this is not one of those states. I've texted the customer to let him know I got the photos and that I was in contact with the shop, but he hasn't responded, and it's radio silence. Either he's really embarrassed about his actions, as he rightly should be, or he's a ticking time bomb that's going to explode near the end of the week when I'm my busiest just to tell me in detail how I made him lose his job. We shall see. This will probably be the last update, but if anything else happens, I'll be sure to let y'all know. I truly appreciate the support and collective wtf from everyone as it confirms I'm not just being crazy or sensitive. To the one poster who told me that it's my job to handle this sort of thing and I've been trained for it: I have never been trained for this level of crazy, and I challenge you to find anyone short of an orderly at a psych ward to be trained for it, and It is my job to get cars fixed, not to deal with harassment and bad behavior. Let this be a reminder to everyone to be kind to others, especially the disembodied voices on your phone providing a service to you! Comments Stellaknight I’m betting the ‘shop’ is actually one of this dude’s buddies, rather than an actual shop. PaperIndependent5466 I'm an auto appraiser and 9 out of 10 times that's the case. It's at a friend's mechanic, equipment or bike shop. Dodging us to get storage on the car. Most of them don't realize I can just show up at the shop and walk in the front door. They usually know the storage game is over and show me the car. JustUgh2323 I’ve heard of a car dealership here who did this and the catalytic converter got stolen while on their lot. At first they denied responsibility! OOP: I am not with USAA, but as a former customer, they were awful. That being said, it’s actually becoming more prevalent with insurance companies to move vehicles for an inspection. I’ve seen this practice with 3 companies I’ve worked for. I can get that it is frustrating, but at the same time, there should be NO expectation of it getting resolved within a day. welcometothedesert Actual question: obviously this guy was an ass and had no right to demand your personal number or to be able to call you on the weekend, but what is the hold up normally? Got hit in March 2023, called the police, had it towed to a shop, and it took a full two weeks for an adjuster to even get out there to look at it. OOP: It really depends on a lot of factors, but industry standard is shifting to having initial estimates done by photos to save time. Usually we have estimates done in 1-2 days by photo capture, but if we have a potential total loss, we want to move it to another location for an in person inspection rather than trying to schedule appraisers to go to multiple locations, and that would usually take 3-7 days depending on how easily the shop releases the car. I’m thinking it took 2 weeks for you because the field appraiser was spread too thin in their area. I don’t believe a customer expecting service is entitled. I believe a customer treating another human being like dog shit is entitled. And if you treat employees of a company you buy from like that then you’re part of the problem. Regardless of what you feel about an insurance company, you do not get to treat employees like dirt beneath your feet. My job is to fix people’s cars, not get harassed or verbally abused by them, and my management structure agrees that their employees deserve basic decency. Update - 5 days later I appreciate all the support I have received so far, and I did get a few messages requesting an update. As I expected, the quiet didn't last long, and the customer was indeed a ticking time bomb. The shop got me the info I needed to complete an estimate for repairs, and the owner explained that he expects he most likely will find additional damages that he will contact me for once he knows. He again apologized for his niece's behavior when I called the shop the first time and stated he is no longer friends with the customer. SIU did review the claim and stated that there wasn't enough evidence of fraud, so no dice. I texted the customer to see if he wanted me to issue payment to him or the shop directly. He immediately demanded I call him as he didn't agree to the estimate amount. A bit of info on how the auto claims process works for payment: Insurance company creates an initial estimate based on what they can see of the damages Insurance pays an initial amount to get the ball rolling The shop and insurance stay in contact so that additional payment can be issued as needed through the process as the shop finds additional/internal damages that might not have been super apparent initially. Sounds simple enough, right? Not for customer. He starts talking about how the estimate from the shop is $7k, and we are paying $6.5k. I let him know that we are happy to work with the shop to issue further payment as needed and explain that shop estimates are based on what they expect to see for the full repairs, and insurance pays what they can see and confirm. Not to mention, to keep insurance prices down for our customers, we try to negotiate costs with the shop to ensure what we pay is reasonable. Before I can get two words out, he interrupts me and starts yelling. Saying how I lost his job and that I'm now denying his claim since I'm refusing to pay the amount the shop demands. I explain again that we aren't denying the claim, but this is the first of multiple payments we will be issuing, and I need to know where to send the payment. I tell him that if he keeps talking to me like that, I will end the call. His response? "Of course you will." No self awareness or apology. Acting like a toddler when he's nearly 40. I continue trying to explain, but he decides to keep talking over me and yelling at me. He starts to say shit about me as a person and my family, and I interrupt and state, "Do you want to finish that sentence for this recorded line for who knows how many people to hear?" He stops, thinks, and then tells me that he hopes my husband SAs me and leaves me. I recently got married, and IT is in the process of changing my name in the system. So some of my systems show my new name and some show my maiden name. It causes a lot of confusion, and so I have to explain it a lot while waiting for the updates. I had to explain it to this customer as well, so he knew full well he was saying this to a newly wed. I'll admit, I kind of snapped a bit and left my tour guide Barbie voice behind real quick. I said "Sir, during this entire claims process, your own attitude has gotten in the way of your repairs. The way you have acted to me, my coworkers, and the employees at the shop is absolutely deplorable, and you should be ashamed. You haven't said a kind word to me at all, and you've been a nightmare to work with. Now you say awful things about my personal life that I explained on Friday was absolutely none of your business when you demanded my cell phone number, and now you insult my husband whom you've never talked to and know nothing about. My husband is ten times the man you will ever be while being nearly half your age, and he knows how to treat people with respect even if he is in a stressful or difficult situation. I feel awful for your wife if this is the type of man she has to deal with at home. At least my husband doesn't have to force me to have sex with him, but it's telling that is where your mind went to. Maybe you should mind your own home before you stick your nose in someone else's." He threw a few more expletives at me, but I ended the call because I just don't get paid enough. He again called my customer service team, and made the poor woman cry. I took the call again and explained to him that he was now on written communication with me. He could call the customer service center, but I would never answer his calls again, and I will only respond to his emails or text messages. I then disconnected the line again. I thought that was the end of it, but turns out that he still had my supervisor's contact info from when she called on Monday, so he called her up. She called me after she finished on the phone with him, and she gave me a summary. He apparently told her that I accused him of SA to his wife after he questioned the estimate that I wrote (I don't write estimates, that's a whole other department). He was trying to find out next steps when I ended his call. She had listened to his prior calls, so she didn't believe it for a second. She put him on hold while she pulled the call and listened. She then tore him a new asshole for what he said to me. He tried to say that I was worse, but she cut him off and explained that I am one of the adjusters in my unit with the highest metrics from customer reviews. I've had my fair share of angry customers and it takes a lot to make me snap, but she stated that his conduct had pushed me to the point of snapping, which she has never seen. She proceeded to tell him that she is enforcing my written contact only rule with him as she had previously encouraged I do that with him anyway, and she stated that if she hears one more call where he is harassing an employee, she will talk with her supervisor to press charges for harassment. Unfortunately we can't fire him as a customer because he still pays us money, and the executives don't care how we are treated as long as we get more money. I'm hoping this spurs him to cancel his policy and become someone else's problem. I asked if there would be any disciplinary action against me for the call. She said, "Call? What call? I don't see any call. And I definitely wouldn't have been able to delete it if the call wasn't recorded..." Basically covering my ass if the customer tries to escalate above her to her supervisor or something. I sent a copy of the estimate to the shop and gave them instructions on how they could request more payment from us, and the customer texted to tell me to send payment to them as well. After our call, he called the shop, and apparently they had a massive fight because the customer then texted me and said, "Send payment to me. The shop just pissed me off big time." So I sent the payment to him... with his lienholder included so he has to mail the check to them to endorse and cash before they send him a new check, and of course it won't be overnighted but by standard USPS mail both ways. I got to close the claim, but I still don't think this is the last I'll be hearing from this guy. I'll provide more updates as they come, but thankfully I don't actually have to talk to him again. Thanks again for all the support on this! It's nice to know I'm not crazy or expected to be a doormat. Comments Mister_Fart_Knocker I like my job, but some customers make me absolutely want to blow a gasket. Granted, not as many now as when I worked in the call center. You did good. Yes, you absolutely told him off, but you did so with grace and composure. I don't think you worded anything badly. You fought absolutely fair. Also, massive kudos to your boss for having your back. That's absolutely awesome! Refer this guy to whatever broker in your area that y'all can't stand. You may not be able to fire the customer, but you sure as hell can try pawning him off on someone else. wellwellwellsucka Haha good for you and your supervisor! He just set himself up for a long wait to get that money! I been on the lien holder side and it takes a minuteeee for the customer to get the money just due to processes! Some people need to grow up! Glint_Bladesong As shitty as the whole situation was/is, the big takeaway is your supervisor. Buy her a good bottle of wine (or whatever) and a bouquet of flowers from both you and your husband cause she is the hero here. OOP: Absolutely! I’m new on her team also, so this was a great way to see how she handles bad customers also. I’m glad she has my back, and I’ll absolutely be baking her cookies as a thank you. Wild_Score_711 It's too bad OP couldn't send the money via slow boat around China. I am not the OOP. Please do not harass the OOP. submitted by /u/SharkEva to r/BORUpdates [link] [comments]
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reddit.com |
SharkEva |
Jan 12, 2024 |