this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2024
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Louis Gray says he was racially profiled after trying to buy spray paint to make over his son’s bicycle helmet

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[–] [email protected] 214 points 10 months ago

Sounds like they shouldn't sell spray paint at all if they're so concerned about graffiti. How many other products of theirs could be used for vandalism? Maybe the safest option is to go out of business entirely.

[–] [email protected] 140 points 10 months ago (2 children)

As long as we are doing this we really should ban white people from buying or selling mortgage backed securities. We have a dataset and 100% of the time mortgage backed securities and whites cause crime.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Inb4 JP Morgan Chase buys the Lakota tribe

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago
[–] [email protected] 74 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Even if he was, are you paid enough to care?

[–] [email protected] 38 points 10 months ago

Racists would pay to do a racism.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago

Some people want to power trip off the tiniest bits of control they have.

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[–] [email protected] 54 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Spray-paint tends to be solvent-based, and spraying it onto a helmet can fundamentally compromise its structure/strength.

Please don't ever use solvent-based stuff on multi-layer plastic helmets, for sake of your brain, who needs that helmet to work properly, when one gets slammed into the asphalt/concrete.

Please.

[–] [email protected] 60 points 10 months ago (9 children)

That seems a bit unlikely. The solvents quickly evaporate off. Unless you are soaking it in solvents, there won't be enough to cause any relevant effect. Meanwhile the helmet is exposed to UV light on a daily basis, which will also degrade it over time.

You are also not going to burn from briefly touching laundry detergent, but keeping lots of it on your skin would be a problem.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Helmets are usually polycarbonate and the common solvent in spray paint is xylene. Xylene causes extreme degradation in polycarbonate. If you don't know if the helmet and the paint are compatible, it's not safe to paint it.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's not how helmets work. The outer shell certainly helps mitigate bumps and bangs, but what really protects your head is the styrofoam inner that compresses like an airbag upon impact.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 10 months ago (1 children)

No it's both. The outer shell deforms before breaking and then the foam absorbs the rest of the impact.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 10 months ago (8 children)

Those motherfuckers made his four-year-old cry.

I hope corporate throws the book at them.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (6 children)

Nope.

In an email later sent to Gray, Hobbycraft said they were continuing to investigate. “We would one again like to apologise for your recent experience in our store,” the email said. “We hae a zero tolerance approach to racism … and this is not how we want any of our customers to feel."

“Your situation involved the purchase of age restricted product which requires age verification, meaning all colleagues are trained to ask for ID should they believe the customer is under the age of 25. As you were unable to share ID with our colleagues, they were unfortunately unable to authorise the sale.”

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Always believe corporations.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Corporations aren't people. But they are fucking liars.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

25? Sounds arbitrary enough to not be mentioned in laws. How good consumer protection in UK? Can you file for age discrimination?

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 10 months ago (1 children)

As a general reminder, if you have fallen and the helmet took the impact, replace the helmet. If your helmet has been damaged through other means, replace it. They are not meant to be reused after keeping your brain within its skull.

Just like hardhats, you want to inspect them frequently and there is a good chance they have expiration dates. I would be cautious painting them as the chemicals may damage the integrity of the helmet, especially the foam. We always just covered them in stickers. When in doubt, check with the manufacturer.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Because white people never graffiti anything. Uh huh.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'd be thinking of buying some spray paint from this guy and then using it to vandalize his building

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Writer and shop owner never been to Europe, it seems.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

At my place, there's an artshop that has a metal fence around a spray cans and markers section that can only be opened by asking the staff. You know, not car paint or usual permanents, but specialized stuff branded exclusively towards bombing walls and tagging surfaces, like Montana. I was surprised why they even sell them if they think they are connected to crime and are afraid they are first targets to be lifted. I thought about buying them, but the whole procedure was so embarrassing and they were so overpriced. Them and Hobbycraft staff probably think they solved the graffiti problem, won the battle against the hydra of crime by that. They haven't mistaken that much in their lives. Nor in Louis case, that'd hopefully lead to consequencies, nor in mine leading to many acts of silly vandalism. Fuck them UwU

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I've never been in a spray paint section at a store where people hadn't opened the cans and painted all over everything. Perhaps that has something to do with it.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Hardware store near me taped contractor paper to the floor so give people a place to test out. They replace it once it gets too many layers.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

That's a great idea

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (6 children)

Have they used the wrong picture?

How is he black?

Or under 25 for that matter? Mf's hairline is as bad as mine.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Knew a dude in HS who by 23 had hair worse looking like that

Reasons as he gave them:

Russian genes

Bald parents

Wayyyyyyyyy too much cocaine

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Not that this wasn't racism, but if you are going to request ID for a product, don't put an age limit. Don't make the poor clerks have to decide that crap.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's extra awkward when you accidentally tell the customer why you didn't card them. They'll say "hey, why didn't you card me?" And you can't respond with "we only card if you look like you're under xx" cause that'll send them straight to the burn ward

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

Fuck Hobbycraft! And fuck Putin!

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