I wanted to share an interesting story with you that happened to my brother Jeff while we were in Italy. We were in Genoa one day, and he and his girlfriend had been out doing the tourist thing, and at the end of the day they stopped into a large grocery store to get some Diet Cokes (called “Coke Light” in Italy) to take back to the hotel room.
As they were walking around, Jeff saw some interesting looking produce and pulled out his Canon G-9 Point-and-Shoot and took a few pictures. Within a few minutes a man came up dressed in plain clothes, flashed a badge, and told him he couldn’t take photos in the store. My brother said “no problem” (after all, it’s a private store, right?), but then the guy demanded my brother’s memory card.
My brother gave him that “Are you outta your mind” look and said, “No way!” Can you guess what happened next? The guy simply shrugged his shoulders and walked away.
My brother saw him in the store a little later, and the guy had a bag and was shopping. My brother made eye contact with him, and the guy turned away as though he didn’t want Jeff looking at him. Jeff feels like this wasn’t “official store security,” but instead some guy collecting (and then reselling) memory cards from unsuspecting tourists (many of whom might have just surrendered that card immediately).
Anyway, he kept his card, and the shots, and luckily that was the end of it. Have any of you heard of anything along these lines? I’d just be interested to know.
