As a cyclist, I've worn a hi-vis vest while walking around after riding, and it's been weird how many people assume that I am a repair guy or even a police officer. The thesis of the article matches my experience. If you wear the vest confidently you could probably get into many things free.
I am a repair guy or even a police officer I've seen a few cyclists wearing gear that was obviously intended to be mistaken for police uniform at a distance e.g. blue and white checks, and only when you get closer do you realise it says "polite". Presumably this is in the hope of getting away with riding on the pavement or jumping red lights. Joke's on them - the real police never enforce those rules anyway.
Turns Out Wearing a Hi-Vis Vest Gets You into Everything for Free
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Re: Turns Out Wearing a Hi-Vis Vest Gets You into Everything for Free
#142I was surprised how many people weared hi-vis vests in the UK when I visited. School children, bikers, any kind of worker with a uniform... That could definitely work there, but in my part of Europe they're only used by some construction workers or maintenance people. Only some.
Re: Turns Out Wearing a Hi-Vis Vest Gets You into Everything for Free
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
My dad used to work as a technician for a company selling expensive hospital equipment. He says there are countless times when he or with another colleage would go in any hospital and roll out such a device. Nobody asks any questions. At my university there were some actual thefts like this. Someone stole a beamer from a high ceiling in the middle of the day. And another time someone stole a heavy (=unliftable) new s…
You probably mean a projector (beamer is a German word, not English).
Yes, you are correct (I speak Dutch, not German, but they are very close).
In Dutch we use a lot of English words: Computer, keyboard, ... . So when I hear an English sounding 'beamer', I think it's English :).
We basically use 'projector' for anything from slide to video projector. But it seems the digital age introduce a new word 'beamer' in our language (and German), that didn't happen in English.
Re: Turns Out Wearing a Hi-Vis Vest Gets You into Everything for Free
#144These posts always remind me of Todd Lappin's Telstar Logistics[1] in which he makes his personal vehicle look "official" and gets away with lots adventures with it. [1] https://telstarlogistics.typepad.com/telstarlogistics/2006/0... [2] https://www.flickr.com/people/telstar/
Huge fan! A long time ago my younger brother and I had another friend that had a card printing machine and we made some semi-official looking IDs (including mag strips) with names on them like "Initech", "Telstar Logistics", "Vandelay Industries", and "Amalgamated Products." These were used in a game where we'd try to get in to various places and up the ante on each other.
Re: Turns Out Wearing a Hi-Vis Vest Gets You into Everything for Free
#145Re: Turns Out Wearing a Hi-Vis Vest Gets You into Everything for Free
#146When I was in high school I worked at Kmart as a temp job during the holidays. They trained us on the first day to help fight shoplifting. They told us that for the longest time they were losing large electronics and couldn’t figure out how people were hiding them. In time, they realized how it was happening. The thief would find the item he wanted and would calmly walk out the front door with the item in plain sight…
At my local Kmart years ago, a canoe got stolen and security couldn't believe someone had done it. Turns out two guys walked in, went straight to the sporting goods department, picked up the canoe with one guy holding each end above their shoulders, and walked out the front door. The greeter held the door open for them!
Re: Turns Out Wearing a Hi-Vis Vest Gets You into Everything for Free
#147People see the uniform not the face. It is a truism, and it can be weirdly triggered. For example, late August afternoon I went into Staples to buy some office supplies, and I had just happened to be wearing khaki pants and a red polo shirt which unfortunately was exactly the same color as the red 'staples' staff shirts. All through the visit anxious mothers came up to me looking for school supplies for their kids or…
Two off-topic questions: what else is in the bag? And are there other scenarios that you've specifically prepared for?
Re: Turns Out Wearing a Hi-Vis Vest Gets You into Everything for Free
#148Vice also had another article on social engineering into a highly-secured office by pretending to be an interior designer.
https://motherboard.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/qv34zb/how-i-...
Re: Turns Out Wearing a Hi-Vis Vest Gets You into Everything for Free
#149I carefully and quietly walked into an academic building with a pair of bolt cutters and walked out with a pair of bolt cutters and an iMac hefted under one arm (having relieved it of its lock-cable) and nobody seemed to even notice. That said it was my actual job to do this- but I could have been anyone with a pair of bolt cutters!
My dad used to work as a technician for a company selling expensive hospital equipment. He says there are countless times when he or with another colleage would go in any hospital and roll out such a device. Nobody asks any questions. At my university there were some actual thefts like this. Someone stole a beamer from a high ceiling in the middle of the day. And another time someone stole a heavy (=unliftable) new s…
May have worked. I have worked in hospitals in US and there's no way you could walk in without someone (officially, the nurse in charge) asking you who you are. I was actually expelled from hospitals even though I did have a nametag and an approval to work there.
Re: Turns Out Wearing a Hi-Vis Vest Gets You into Everything for Free
#150I carefully and quietly walked into an academic building with a pair of bolt cutters and walked out with a pair of bolt cutters and an iMac hefted under one arm (having relieved it of its lock-cable) and nobody seemed to even notice. That said it was my actual job to do this- but I could have been anyone with a pair of bolt cutters!
The trick is to behave like you're not doing anything wrong. If you have a pair of bolt cutters and you look like you're aimlessly wandering, people will notice. If instead, you walk in and go straight into any random office, you're fine. If you know where the building manager's office is, go straight for that and make it look like you talked to them, people won't question anything you do afterwards. (Source: watched…
During my university years I orked as IT support. We always joked we could just steal computers off campus, nobody of the security team (or students) even looked at us twice when we took computers from offices and walked out with them...