A bag bay situated on a public thoroughfare is illegal

May 08, 2014 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
I refer to a letter appearing in the opinion columns of KN, May 3, 2014 bearing the head words, “The customer refused to conform to our security protocols” purportedly penned by Terry Anderson.
This letter was intended to address the concerns raised in my letter a few days before yet skirts around the essential gait and gist of the issues raised and proceeded to argue about “me seh” and “dem seh” as such I will not engage in any further back and forth about what actually transpired on the store floor, except to say I stand by my story as contained in my original letter.
Further I invite any member of the press or public to take a trek down to Longden and America Streets and they will encounter a makeshift bag bay physically located outside the store in the public thoroughfare, I further affirm that the youngster administering the said bag-holding facility seems underage and should be investigated by the labour authorities just to be sure.
Mr. Anderson in his piece affirmed that, “we maintain and reserve our right to utilise whatever lawful methods are at our disposal in particular circumstances.” For the benefit of Mr. Anderson, cohorts and staff, I would like to give a quiet reminder that encumbrance (of any kind) of a public thoroughfare is illegal; locating a bag facility on the sidewalks falls under that category of offence against the laws of Guyana and the bylaws of the City of Georgetown.
Whenever people go shopping they agree to trade goods and not trade away their self-worth, they look for bargains that yield lower prices, not an engagement that lowers dignity. There is a point at which bag bays can cross the line and infringe on certain basic rights of shoppers. When implementing such a measure, store owners must be careful about the extent to which they force people to “conform to our security protocols.”
One example will suffice. During negotiations for the AMLCFT Bill, APNU recommended that the legal cash-carrying limit for Guyanese be $2M,  the government stoutly opposed (and rightly so) since Guyana is still a cash-based society and people routinely carry around large sums of cash on their person. Evidently folks will end up in supermarkets and stores with loads of cash in their hand/shoulder bags and backpack, which they will not feel comfortable leaving in a bag bay tended by an underage-looking boy. Imagine the horror that goes through the customer’s mind when he is told he MUST leave his bag of valuables on a public sidewalk.
Customers who elect to take their bag (especially if it’s of a reasonable size) with them should be able to do so freely without having their dignity diminished and be stereotyped as having criminal intentions. Enforcing such security measures serves more as a form of harassment to legitimate shoppers than it is a deterrent to the naughty. For this very reason, civilized countries have abandoned the practice altogether in favour of numerous other forms of security widely available.
Mr. Anderson’s reply is typical of the condescending attitude of the business-class-haves towards the consuming-have-nots in Guyana, the building that houses his store has three floors and takes up half a block, yet among the thousands of square feet of building space, Mr. Anderson cannot dedicate room within the building to house his bag bay in a manner that will preserve the privacy, comfort and dignity of shoppers.
In an attempt to mislead the public Mr. Anderson distorts the facts by stating that, the bag bay is “located within the entrance of the store (and) is designed for larger bags,” a clear statement of falsehood. In response to that I would like to remind Mr. Anderson that everybody has got a camera phone these days and I have photos of the bag-holding facility located in the open public thoroughfare and I reserve the right to publish them on facebook, where he can leave his comments, as I have no intentions to further engagement him on this subject in these opinion columns, as I believe the point was sufficiently ventilated and the public can decipher the facts and misinformation.
He has the temerity to invite me “to return to our store” and “comply with our security protocols,” which is not only illegal but also demeaning. I again call on the proprietor and staff of Fazia’s Collections to do the legal and decent thing; remove the bag bay from the streets to a secure place inside the store and make an allowance for customers with one small bag who specifically request not to be parted from their belongings for a myriad of valid reasons.
I further suggest that a mature and polite attendant be posted there to ensure customers are accorded the highest level of courtesy and respect. I again call on GCA, GCCI, PSC and Minister responsible for consumer affairs to develop enforceable rules, guidelines and minimum standards for housing bag bays at stores and supermarkets
Lenno Craig

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