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We were stopped by a TSA agent, who took great care to inspect our Cards Against Humanity deck, and ask lots of questions. Where'd you buy them? What is this? S

We were stopped by a TSA agent, who took great care to inspect our Cards Against Humanity deck, and ask lots of questions. Where'd you buy them? What is this? She revealed in the course of the conversation that she'd been banned from shopping on Amazon. I posit that someone who's banned from shopping at AMZN is more dangerous than someone who plays card games with a dark sense of humor. How does that even happen?

ashark 10y ago
"Banned from shopping on Amazon" or some variant is a good candidate for writing on a custom card.
- johan_larson 10y ago
  It's almost a good band name. "Banned from Shopping" I'm not pretentious enough for vinyl, but maybe I could get that on a CD?
  - cyberferret 10y ago
    We should start a thread purely for tech inspired band names. There is a local (quote a good) band here called "Snapchat Regret"...
jjoonathan 10y ago
I vaguely remember someone (on HN? reddit?) who made hundreds of amazon orders, returned 2/3 of them, and acted all indignant when they banned him ("It's not my fault everything is garbage!"). If the TSA lady's story is half as entertaining, I'd love to have heard it.
- chrisper 10y ago
  Do you happen to remember in what time frame the hundreds of orders happened?
  - jjoonathan 10y ago
    A year, I think? It wasn't the volume that struck me as unusual, it was the return rate.
- rohmish 10y ago
  I have returned/replaced almost 50% of items from Flipkart (Indian competitor of Amazon) because they sent me defective or broken packages. I have had a couple of packages that look like they were opened. I'd never shop there if it weren't for these 'exclusives' they have with companies. :/
tedunangst 10y ago
Compulsive shopper banned from shopping online by her husband/therapist?
throwaway729 10y ago
> How does that even happen? Fraud and abuse. Treating Amazon like a mail-in library for books, tools, and other products is the easiest way. Returning a huge number of your orders regardless of other forms of abuse. Contesting valid CC charges. Etc. > I posit that someone who's banned from shopping at AMZN is more dangerous than someone who plays card games with a dark sense of humor. I wouldn't necessarily say "dangerous". Maybe "untrustworthy" or "lacking in good judgement" or "lacking a strong moral compass".
- crawfordcomeaux 10y ago
  Instead of trying to judge the person, how about we conceive of behaviors? They could be someone who cycles in and out of addictive or manic shopping. The word that comes to mind for me there is "tragic".
  - Waterluvian 10y ago
    People being assholes, dicks, or just plain evil is probably the most exceptional of exceptions. It's considerably more likely that there's a much more complicated explanation that deserves understanding and compassion.
    - eloel 10y ago
      some people do bad stuff, wake the fuck up.
  - throwaway729 10y ago
    Judgmental characterizations aren't necessarily inconsistent with empathy and compassion. Especially in the context of an LEO. I probably wouldn't blindly trust someone who cycles in and out of addictive or manic shopping with a large line of credit or with carte blanc access to a lot of other people's valuables. Just because their addiction makes them untrustworthy doesn't mean they're a bad person. Also, using Amazon as a library isn't necessarily indicative of manic shopping. It could just be that the person is acting in their own self interest and not taking into account the effects of their actions on Amazon's other customers. Canceling valid CC charges has a lot of explanations -- maybe the person is just a habitual liar in way that's best thought of in a medical context. But in all of these cases, empathy and judgement can go hand-in-hand.
brokentone 10y ago
Wait, someone who Amazon does not trust to send them money, is securing travel in the US? That seems problematic.
- detaro 10y ago
  Curious, would you think the same about somebody that got their Google account closed? Do you have a reason to trust Amazon anti-fraud algorithms more than Google anti-fraud algorithms?
  - brokentone 10y ago
    I'm not sure -- you could make the argument that without dollars exchanged, the value of Google's algorithm is less. The overall irony that I'm attempting to express is that this person is part of a governmental "trust and safety" team but has been found untrustworthy by a pretty intelligent company. Now, I think acting on this information would be highly problematic for other reasons... I just find it interesting.
detaro 10y ago
Amazon is known for banning entire addresses, regardless of how many people live there, so being banned from Amazon doesn't say necessarily anything at all about a person. EDIT: re How does that even happen?, link with some examples that I dug out for a comment further down: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/mar/18/banned-by-amazon-returning-faulty-goods-blocked-credit-balance https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/mar/18/banned-by-amaz... I really wonder why people put so much trust in such decisions by tech companies...
- detaro 10y ago
  EDIT by reply: here is a (german) article about Amazon blocking an entire building: https://www.heise.de/video/artikel/In-Ihrem-Haus-hat-jemand-Schulden-Sippenhaft-fuer-Mitbewohner-1511000.html https://www.heise.de/video/artikel/In-Ihrem-Haus-hat-jemand-...
tehwebguy 10y ago
Hmm, I'm banned from PreCheck for 24 more months. Maybe I could help get her some Amazon items and she could help me with my TSA status?
photogrammetry 10y ago
This reply is almost completely unrelated to the thread topic.
jamaicahest 10y ago
> I posit that someone who's banned from shopping at AMZN is more dangerous than someone who plays card games with a dark sense of humor. How does that even happen? So now you've conclused she's dangerous, based solely on her standing with a retailer, without knowing anything about the situation?
countingteeth 10y ago
Just wait until the storefront business everyone is so excited about takes off. Now you can't buy groceries anymore.

ashark 10y ago

"Banned from shopping on Amazon" or some variant is a good candidate for writing on a custom card.

johan_larson 10y ago
It's almost a good band name. "Banned from Shopping" I'm not pretentious enough for vinyl, but maybe I could get that on a CD?
- cyberferret 10y ago
  We should start a thread purely for tech inspired band names. There is a local (quote a good) band here called "Snapchat Regret"...

jjoonathan 10y ago

I vaguely remember someone (on HN? reddit?) who made hundreds of amazon orders, returned 2/3 of them, and acted all indignant when they banned him ("It's not my fault everything is garbage!"). If the TSA lady's story is half as entertaining, I'd love to have heard it.

chrisper 10y ago
Do you happen to remember in what time frame the hundreds of orders happened?
- jjoonathan 10y ago
  A year, I think? It wasn't the volume that struck me as unusual, it was the return rate.
rohmish 10y ago
I have returned/replaced almost 50% of items from Flipkart (Indian competitor of Amazon) because they sent me defective or broken packages. I have had a couple of packages that look like they were opened. I'd never shop there if it weren't for these 'exclusives' they have with companies. :/

tedunangst 10y ago

Compulsive shopper banned from shopping online by her husband/therapist?

throwaway729 10y ago

> How does that even happen? Fraud and abuse. Treating Amazon like a mail-in library for books, tools, and other products is the easiest way. Returning a huge number of your orders regardless of other forms of abuse. Contesting valid CC charges. Etc. > I posit that someone who's banned from shopping at AMZN is more dangerous than someone who plays card games with a dark sense of humor. I wouldn't necessarily say "dangerous". Maybe "untrustworthy" or "lacking in good judgement" or "lacking a strong moral compass".

crawfordcomeaux 10y ago
Instead of trying to judge the person, how about we conceive of behaviors? They could be someone who cycles in and out of addictive or manic shopping. The word that comes to mind for me there is "tragic".
- Waterluvian 10y ago
  People being assholes, dicks, or just plain evil is probably the most exceptional of exceptions. It's considerably more likely that there's a much more complicated explanation that deserves understanding and compassion.
  - eloel 10y ago
    some people do bad stuff, wake the fuck up.
- throwaway729 10y ago
  Judgmental characterizations aren't necessarily inconsistent with empathy and compassion. Especially in the context of an LEO. I probably wouldn't blindly trust someone who cycles in and out of addictive or manic shopping with a large line of credit or with carte blanc access to a lot of other people's valuables. Just because their addiction makes them untrustworthy doesn't mean they're a bad person. Also, using Amazon as a library isn't necessarily indicative of manic shopping. It could just be that the person is acting in their own self interest and not taking into account the effects of their actions on Amazon's other customers. Canceling valid CC charges has a lot of explanations -- maybe the person is just a habitual liar in way that's best thought of in a medical context. But in all of these cases, empathy and judgement can go hand-in-hand.

brokentone 10y ago

Wait, someone who Amazon does not trust to send them money, is securing travel in the US? That seems problematic.

detaro 10y ago
Curious, would you think the same about somebody that got their Google account closed? Do you have a reason to trust Amazon anti-fraud algorithms more than Google anti-fraud algorithms?
- brokentone 10y ago
  I'm not sure -- you could make the argument that without dollars exchanged, the value of Google's algorithm is less. The overall irony that I'm attempting to express is that this person is part of a governmental "trust and safety" team but has been found untrustworthy by a pretty intelligent company. Now, I think acting on this information would be highly problematic for other reasons... I just find it interesting.

detaro 10y ago

Amazon is known for banning entire addresses, regardless of how many people live there, so being banned from Amazon doesn't say necessarily anything at all about a person. EDIT: re How does that even happen?, link with some examples that I dug out for a comment further down: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/mar/18/banned-by-amazon-returning-faulty-goods-blocked-credit-balance https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/mar/18/banned-by-amaz... I really wonder why people put so much trust in such decisions by tech companies...

detaro 10y ago
EDIT by reply: here is a (german) article about Amazon blocking an entire building: https://www.heise.de/video/artikel/In-Ihrem-Haus-hat-jemand-Schulden-Sippenhaft-fuer-Mitbewohner-1511000.html https://www.heise.de/video/artikel/In-Ihrem-Haus-hat-jemand-...

tehwebguy 10y ago

Hmm, I'm banned from PreCheck for 24 more months. Maybe I could help get her some Amazon items and she could help me with my TSA status?

photogrammetry 10y ago

This reply is almost completely unrelated to the thread topic.

jamaicahest 10y ago

> I posit that someone who's banned from shopping at AMZN is more dangerous than someone who plays card games with a dark sense of humor. How does that even happen? So now you've conclused she's dangerous, based solely on her standing with a retailer, without knowing anything about the situation?

countingteeth 10y ago

Just wait until the storefront business everyone is so excited about takes off. Now you can't buy groceries anymore.