A family took their 16-year-old to Universal Studios for her Sweet Sixteen to see the Blue Man Group. How is this news (other than the fact that kids are actually asking to go see the Blue Man Group)? Because dad's "police" t-shirt got the whole family kicked out of the theme park in what sounds like the biggest security screw-up of the week.
The story goes that Christian Jarosz wore a t-shirt he got from his brother, a cop, to the show at Universal. When he got there, security told him he'd have to change.
But then they decided to do something entirely different.
They kicked them out and -- according to Diana Jarosz -- threatened to have dad arrested!
According to a Universal release to the press, the shirt was a violation of park rules that stipulate "only law enforcement personnel are allowed to wear shirts in the park identifying them as police officers."
Fair enough. But Jarosz says he offered to buy a shirt right then and there to replace the Police Street Team Unit tee he was wearing. Security said OK ... but then changed their minds and kicked him out.
Uhhhhh ... how are people supposed to follow rules if you don't let them?
Could this dad have been being a bit of a jerk to security so they lost it? Who knows. It's highly possible, but it could just as easily have been the other way around. We've all dealt with heavy handed security folks before, folks who think a light up stick has made them the king of the world.
The fact remains that any establishment that sets rules for its patrons has to allow patrons an ability to follow said rules. Don't want certain t-shirts on premises? If you don't make that clear ahead of time (there were no big signs outside Universal telling this dad his shirt was a no-no), then you must give a person a chance to change said t-shirt.
Let's just set the shirt aside for a second. Say you're somewhere that doesn't have no smoking signs and you light up. Security comes over and says, wellll, actually there's no smoking here. Should you be thrown out for lighting up? Not if you say, "Whoops, sorry," and snuff your butt.
Most people are not mind readers! Ignorance of the law may not be a defense in court, but ignorance of a private establishment's rules that aren't publicly listed? That's pretty clear cut, folks!
The public posting of rules or reasonable enforcement of them -- such as allowing someone to change a t-shirt that's not acceptable -- is part of showing how you value (or don't value) your customers.
Universal, by the way, has since apologized, and the family was refunded their $500 (gulp) ticket price for the Blue Man Group.
Have you ever been kicked out of an establishment? What happened?
Image via WFTV