He just wanted to buy books for his grandkids. He got kicked out of the B&N
A Scottsdale man is claiming that a Barnes & Noble bookstore discriminated against him when an employee forced him out of the store because he was a male shopper alone in the children’s area.
Omar Amin, 73, said store worker Todd Voris told him that a female shopper had complained about him being in the children’s area May 4 in the store at Shea Boulevard and Loop 101 in Scottsdale.
Amin, who was alone at the time, said he was in Barnes & Noble to buy books for his two grandchildren who live in Wisconsin.
"Men alone cannot be by themselves in the children’s area," Amin said he was told, adding that Voris said other bookstores had encountered problems with child molesters.
I can frequently be found at the Framingham Barnes and Noble, in the kids’ book section, by myself. That’s because I’m there stalking kids, of course. (I’m kidding—the best kids to snatch are at their Chestnut Hill store)
No, I’m there because I’m a dad (or in this poor guy’s case, grand-dad). I’m buying books for my 9 year old, which is not easy because a) she will only read books about dogs, and b) she’s read every book written in English about dogs. So sometimes I linger. Alone.
Will I be thrown out, too? Maybe:
Mary Ellen Keating, a Barnes & Noble spokeswoman in New York, said in an e-mail response: "We have no comment on the store matter you called about. We believe we acted appropriately."
Why does stuff like this—and this—and all these—happen? Why are all men viewed as potential, if not likely, pedophiles?
It’s because we tolerate the “zero-tolerance” society and it’s flawed, fundamental argument that “you never know” is reason enough to act. That every risk, however small, should be treated as a likely risk.
As a result, the 99.9 percent of men who aren’t pedophiles get treated like one, anyway.
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Radio talk show host, columnist for the Boston Herald, stand-up comic and former GOP political consultant.