Let me begin the post by making one thing very clear: it is ILLEGAL to make copies of professionally and/or copyrighted pictures without the expressed WRITTEN permission of the photographer. Because it's called a FEDERAL COPYRIGHT LAW, which says this. Any professional or copyrighted picture, REGARDLESS OF HOW OLD THE FUCKING THING IS, cannot be copied. If the photographer's dead, too bad. The studio gone? Tough shit. You need it for a funeral? Eat me. It's out of my hands. I'm just trying to uphold store policy, federal law AND KEEP MY JOB. It's my job to prevent YOU, the greedy, impatient criminal customer, from getting a $100,000 fine, and ME from getting fired for breaking policy and law. In addition, Wal-Mart policy further adds that even any picture that LOOKS professional can't be copied. That last part is up to the associate's discretion.
(Note: this rant is directed toward the shit-eating pond scum that I have to deal with at Wal-Mart, not to any one individual.)
5 people attempted to get professional pictures re-developed without written permission from the photographer and/or studio. I nabbed them, politely telling them about our policy, the federal law, and the need for a copyright release before I could sell them the pictures.
5 people blew my head off, threatened my job, insulted me, flat-out lied to me, and tried to sneak (i.e. steal) the pictures.
This is rich.
Contestant #1, male: wanted to copy a portrait of a child, looked like a Christmas picture. Blatently professional--backdrop, lighting, you name it. It was NOT done by an amateur. Told him the policies, etc, gave me a "you're fucking kidding me?" line, shit attitude, stormed off.
Contestant #2, female: professional picture done some years ago, but still noticeably professional. Had a backdrop and special lighting, not to mention the dead giveaway in the eyes. Her response: "it was taken by a friend using professional equipment. He was experimenting." Wasn't gonna fly. She told her husband, and her husband began questioning my authority, asking me who am I to judge if it was a professional picture or not. I didn't cave, and they got their legit pics. The professional ones were destroyed.
Contestant #3, male. This is a good one. Wanted to copy a picture of his grandparent's wedding. Despite its age, the law says it doesn't matter. The giveaway was in the eyes, and the way the lighting looked. Repeating myself for the 3rd time, he asked what credentials I have to make the judgement, wanting me to pull out certifications and other crap. It's called Photo Center Specialist, meaning, I know what the fuck I'm talking about. Threatening my job some more, I was now getting angry, and he asked for a manager. Luckily, both managers were off today. Then he asked me when I'm working, so I said, I'm here anytime. Dana stepped in and asked the customer why he was asking for my schedule. Customer shot back at Dana, saying, "it's a free country. I can ask if I want. Can't deny me the right to ask him a question." He purchased his legit pics, and stormed away. My guess is that maybe he'll try something when I'm not working.
Um...the law kinda remains, even though I'm not there. Every other photo associate is aware. Heh...I'd like to see him try something when Rob is present. However, almost 10 minutes later, Dana alerted me to...
Contestant #4, dumb blond female. Without even LOOKING at her pics, I knew they were professional. She was carrying an envelope that looked like something you'd get from a studio. Before she had begun working on the Picture Maker, I had asked to see the pics. I didn't want to waste any more paper than we already did. Again, these pictures just SCREAMED professional quality. Backdrop, lighting, double eye lights, and...it kinda also said "Kodak Professional: Copyright Protected" right on the back. So, for the 4th time today, repeated myself. Then came the flat-out lie: "these are not professional." Muttered something, then stormed off. However, she thought she could be smart. 15 minutes later, she sent in...
Contestant #5, her husband. Who attempted to get those pictures done, but 4x6's. I saw him slip a picture into the envelope, and knew he was gonna attempt to walk out of here stealing. I approached him, asked to see the pictures he did so I could price them. Also asked him to empty the envelope. He did, and for the 5th time, explained the policies, and blew up at me. This time, as he began to leave, I had told him that his wife just tried to pull the same stunt. As he left, I said, probably said, a little too loudly, "that's the 5th friggin' customer." He heard, came back, and glared at me. "What did you say?" Before I could answer, Dana cut in, saying that I said that he was the 5th person I had to turn away because of professional pictures. He began arguing with Dana while I shredded the pics. He left angrily, and by this time, it was just about time to leave.
I'm going to suggest 2 things to management when I work next...1, wanting a raise. 2nd, I want to see if there is a way to rewire the Picture Maker so that the pics print out IN THE LAB, where we have full view of them before giving them to the customer, rather than its current setup. What we have to do currently is just take a peek outside the lab at the machine to make sure all pics are legit. Because people WILL steal pics that they know they shouldn't have. Maybe we should have some federal agent working in the lab for when customers try to pull the excuse that "I did it here before and no one said anything!" This way, I can just say, "thanks for admitting your crime. You're now under arrest for violating the Federal Copyright Law."
I swear, I don't get paid enough to do this shit.
I'm gonna blow zombies up now.
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