Anime The anime con that almost wasn't

[Dragonmanm2]

[COLOR="Blue"]I was at a anime convention this summer, one of the same cons I go to every summer. But this year was MUCH different. I wasn't expecting this to happen to me in any way.
I was in the dealer's room, at a booth looking at DVDs. I was in line at this booth, and I was getting ready to purchase a chosen DVD.
I was kind of in a hurry, a Q&A with a couple of the guests was starting soon, and I wanted good seating. So, I thought "There's a gap in the line over there to my left. If just go around a little, and step over there, I could buy this much quicker." I placed my DVD under my right arm, and made my way over.
Out of nowhere, this guy jumps out in front of me. He asked me if that was my prop hair I was carrying. "Yes, it is." I said. He said he was a cop, and he was charging me on theft. He said I was trying to steal a DVD. What? Was he out of his mind? I had no intention of stealing anything; I was trying to get around to a gap in the line so I could get to the register quicker. He said I was walking AWAY from it. He forced me to pay for the DVD at full price, and took me to the dealer's room heads.

The guy said I was stealing, and I denied it. I tried to exsplain my case, and the guy called me a liar, and a thief. The dealers heads didn't believe me. They took my badge, and had me escorted out of the room to a back room in the convention center.
I called my dad at home, and told him what happened. He wanted to talk to the dealers heads, and they didn't believe anything he said.
At this moment, a security guard came to take my information.
I showed him my ID, and he says: "This ain't Boston, kid."
Next, he took more info, and he says:
"Have you ever been to jail?"
"No." I said.
"Do ya want to go?!"
"No."
"DO YOU KNOW WHO WILL BE IN THERE WITH YOU!?"
"No."
If I wasn't so scared, I would've laughed at him. That macho talk wasn't working.
How many cop movies has this guy seen? I thought.
I called my mom at home, and she couldn't really help me. In mid conversation with her, the guard took the phone away. My dad was still talking to the head guys on my cell. I got up to tell them I have a disability. I have Asperger Syndrome, but a guy shouted at me to "SIT DOWN, AND SHUT UP!" I complied. I decided, fine, I won't tell them. They'll just call me a liar anyway.
I got my phone back, and I called Jim, a friend of mine who came with me. He got to talk to the cons vice-manager, and I was taken to the security office. I sat there, sweating bullets, when the vice-guy came. He told me that it was okay, and no charges were filed, they weren't going to take my picture, and I have no criminal record.
Jim came to get me, and he told me he worked out a deal with the vice-guy. At first the vice guy said that it may be a misunderstanding, but rules are rules. I've been banned. After so talking, the vice guy said that he may get in trouble for this but, we can stay after all. As long as we followed three conditions.
1. We were banned for the rest of the day.
2. We had to be together at all times.
3. I was NOT aloud back in the dealer's room.

That was like getting hit with a brick. I like the dealer's room. I wanted to know why, and I was told that the guy who claimed I was stealing really wanted to get rid of me. If he saw me again, he would not hesitate to throw me out.
I sulked for the rest of the day. And I had to get my anime at Best buy.
For the rest of the con, Jim was kind of protective of me. He blamed himself for what happened. I told him it wasn't his fault at all. It was mine. I have a mental disability that sometimes gets in the way, and stuff like this could happen to anyone. It was just bad motor planning on my part, that's all.
I admit, I was a little paranoid for the rest of the con.
Incidently, on Sunday on our way in, we ran into the guy who called me a thief. "HEY! WHERE DID YOU GET THAT BADGE!?" He shouted. "How's it going, chief?" I said. (I was mocking him.)
"WHERE. DID. YOU. GET. THAT BADGE!?!" He repeated.
"Magic?" I said.
He took me over to some staff, and said he caught me trying to steal on Friday. I said "For the last time, I was NOT Stealing!!"
"Yeah, whatever kid. I gotta get back to my booth."
The vice-guy came over. "What? What? What happened? Did you go back to the dealer's room?" He asked. We told him no, we were on our way in, and he saw us etc, etc.
The vice guy sighed. "I'll go talk to him. Hey, where'd he go?" "Back to his booth downstairs." "I'll go speak to him. Sorry about that. Enjoy the rest of the con."
On my way home, I decided to give up on this con. "I don't need this crap! I don't need to bullied and humiliated because of a misunderstanding!" Jim told me that I had a clean slate for next year. No charges were filed, no picture was taken, no criminal record. I wasn't convinced. I just thought about the millions of things that could wrong next time. But I realized if I was so convinced next time would be terrible, it would be terrible next time. So next year, I'm going to be there as I always am, and it will be the best con yet.

"KAMEHAMEHA!"

Dragonmanm2[/COLOR]

[2010DigitalBoy]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]I can't decide which is more shocking, that you were in that situation, or that I actually broke my eyes attempting to read that affront to grammar. Well, I'm not sure whhat you're really looking for. I guess it would be an oportunity to share negative con experiences, but I myself have never been to a con. I've never heard any stories as wild as yours either.

I do know of one incident where a guy fell on his hand and it swole to the size of an orange and he still pressed on to buy more doujins. Eventually he got bumped into and fell uncoscious, and they wheeled him off on a stretcher.[/COLOR]

[Rachmaninoff]

Dragonmanm2, first of all you really need to use something like word to double check your posts. Following what you were trying to say was a bit of a chore due to the grammar and spelling issues. Remember, use of proper spelling and grammar is important here at OtakuBoards. Doing so makes it easier for other members to understand what you are trying to say. So work on improving your posts please. Also, since this is really geared more towards anime I will be moving it to the Anime Lounge once I am done here.

As for having a bad convention experience I couldn't say. I've yet to actually attend one, I'll be going to my first convention at the end of this month, so I'll find out what it's like soon enough.

[Udon]

[SIZE="2"][COLOR="SeaGreen"]Wow, I've never heard anyting like that before. I feel pretty bad for you, a misuderstanding ruining your con experience isn't a good thing.

I just hope nothing like that happens to me. :p[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[Laborpilot86]

There is so much valuable stuff floating around the dealers room I'm not suprised that security was anal with you...

be more careful next time.

Only been to one con, and it was quite an experience.:animesmil

[r2vq]

[color=#007520]I know people that actually [i]have[/i] stolen things from conventions... and they have never been kicked out...

They cosplayed as someone with big sleeves. >_>

Either way, I think your attitude is the best way to go at it. Have fun next year and don't one person ruin your life. :)

-r2[/color]

[Konata]

[quote name='2007DigitalBoy'][COLOR="DarkOrange"]I can't decide which is more shocking, that you were in that situation, or that I actually broke my eyes attempting to read that affront to grammar. Well, I'm not sure whhat you're really looking for. I guess it would be an oportunity to share negative con experiences, but I myself have never been to a con. I've never heard any stories as wild as yours either.

I do know of one incident where a guy fell on his hand and it swole to the size of an orange and he still pressed on to buy more doujins. Eventually he got bumped into and fell uncoscious, and they wheeled him off on a stretcher.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

Something seems Genshiken~

@Topic: That must've been a very bad experience, but personally, I wouldn't recommend talking back and acting smart to the security/police. They have the power to ruin your vacation and your record, so I would just follow suit with what they say. May I ask what convention this was?

[2010DigitalBoy]

[quote name='Konata']Something seems Genshiken~[/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]I'm glad that reference didn't go to waste XD[/COLOR]

[joshdude89]

Hmm, so my main question is, which con was this?

[Dragonmanm2]

[quote name='joshdude89']Hmm, so my main question is, which con was this?[/QUOTE]

[COLOR="Blue"]I'm not really sure if it would be right of me to tell everyone what con I was at. To protect myself, and my friend, I wanted to keep the con unnamed, you see.


"KAMEHAMEHA!"

Dragonmanm2[/COLOR]

[Tallgeese-]

I don't think they would put it on your record or arrest you for thinking you were stealing the DVD(if you are under 18), maybe if you grabbed it and booked out of there, the worst that would of happened is probably called your parents, as they did, and make you pay 10x the price of the item and/or ban you.

Kind of unfair for the cop not to wait like 2 seconds to see where you were going with that DVD, for him to just jump at you as soon as you moved is overreacting on his part.

Good thing nothing bad happened to you and I also agree with a previous poster that you have the right attitude towards this by forgetting it and continuing on going to your yearly convention.

I myself have gone to only one convention, my experience.....it was TERRIBLE, it was so boring and annoying, I actually found out that that one convention is considered the worse (it was called JFAX for those who care), I was going to go to another one that you had to pay to get in but I had to skip it. Hopefully I will find a good one to go to.

[SunfallE]

[COLOR="DarkRed"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]Well that certainly didn't sound like fun and I have to agree with what Tallgeese- said. I seriously doubt it was put on any record so I wouldn't worry about anything like that and just have fun the next time you go.

I actually just went to my first convention on Friday and though it was interesting, on some levels it was pretty boring. It was pretty cool to see all the people who came dressed up, but the events as well as classes and such didn't cover anything that I liked.

And the dealer room? A good third of it was local artists selling jewelry they made that had nothing to do with anime at all. It was totally not impressive at all. Though to be fair this is a pretty small convention.

In the end, the fun part was meeting indifference and Rachmaninoff for the first time. And since the convention was pretty bland, we ended up leaving and doing other stuff instead. lol So it did end up being fun since we had a great time. :catgirl:[/FONT][/COLOR]