Your Dolls and Security Officers-ever a problem?

Just wanted to put my opinion on this, but never had any trouble with security guards. Honestly, you can't fault them because there are some uncooperative folk out there. It is their job to keep people safe so you can't fault them for not taking any chances. Honestly, I feel bad for them for having lost their ability to trust people (not any fault of their own, but a change in societal attitude and a feeling of self entitlement).

 

I've never had any issues with my dolls in malls- the few times I've brought them to one. The only time I've ever had a problem, really, is with the photography thing. Visiting malls (particularly dead malls) is a hobby of mine, and a lot of them get reeeally touchy about photography (Sneaking photographs of dead malls is kind of an art for this reason!). They also generally don't like large groups of people congregating there without permission.

I've actually found that the busier, upscale malls are a lot better about stuff than the smaller, struggling malls. But the busy malls are poor places to be bringing dolls because more people = more danger for the dolls. I think in general I'd just avoid taking my dolls out to the mall with me.

As for airports, I've flown with dolls a couple times and gotten nothing more than an eyebrow raise. I'm sure the airport security deals with weirder things than dolls on a regular basis, though.

 

I work in a shopping centre (same as an American 'mall') and our security sucks. Not in terms of being on a power trip, but in terms of not ever actually doing anything, even when they probably should. So... I don't think I'd ever be worried about the security bothering me where I work. - -;

 

I took my 70 cm boy to an art museum. A lady stopped me and called another worker to make sure it was OK to bring the doll into the museum. The other worker approved, and I was able to bring the doll in without a problem. When I saw the same lady later in the day, she smiled at me and said if she had a doll like mine, she'd take it places, too.

 

Aww that's awesome!
I'm glad she asked for you first and was so nice about it later.

 

Never had a problem here in Ohio at either the Dayton mall or the Fairfield mall. As a matter of fact I've never had a security guard so much as bat an eyelash in my direction, but man, people do stare. I carry around Val who is a 70cm rocker dressed guy and he gets some reactions! (the best was a lady who asked me about him and then asked why I carried him with me. I said it was for his polite conversation and she looked scared and ran off. Geeze, people that don't understand jokes scare me XD)

Taken him into some 10 Walmarts, 5 Targets, a bunch of restaurants, 2 movie theatres, and a dentist's office. No problems.

Now there is this newer trendy outdoor mall around here with the ridiculous overpriced stores and boatloads of drunken, rich, loud and spoiled teens. I won't go NEAR it. Worse yet I know one person who was asked to leave because they were dressed "slovenly" and several people who were escorted out for no other reason than they were in a group of 5-6 people all of whom were black. The last time I cared to look I tried to get a ratio of normality there but the only person that wasn't a homogonized white woman with dyed blonde hair was one guy who worked there. It's creepy. I wouldn't risk the dolls somewhere like that. EVAR.

 

These stories are just scary! I've never even thought about something like this happening...
I've taken both my boys to the mall, to Toys R Us, to Target, and out to lunch, and I've never had an issue. O.O

I don't think these stories would stop me from taking my boys to such places, but I think I might put a leash on them now, and keep them bound to my wrist.

If anyone in a store tried to give me trouble, I wouldn't put up with it.
You think it's yours? Cool. Show me where this product is. Come on, we'll walk to the toy aisle together?
Want to tour the dolls? That's cool, I probably know your stock better than you do. : P
(OT, but I collect monster high, and often buy 1/6 fashion dolls to steal their clothes for my obitsus... I probably DO know their toy aisles better than they do. Heeh.)

But yeah, I feel comfortable in the mall. It's any other area of my city that creeps me out.
Everett WA is a scary place for dolls, and any other valuables.

 

I don't often take my dolls out of the house. But a few years ago I moved and had to fly. I took my doll (only had 1 at the time) through TSA security in the airport. They didn't care. The airline also didn't care that I took her on the plane in her bag as carry on luggage.

For what it's worth, TSA has cared more when I've flown across the country for anime conventions and have had figures in my luggage. They didn't like how the giant boxes with the smaller figures inside looked on the X-ray machines and insisted on opening and inspecting. (In the end, they didn't care because they saw it was just figures.)

I figure if the US TSA, who gets annoyed at everything in airports, doesn't care, then most security should be fine with dolls.

 

Never had a problem with security people. Airport security tends to smile when the see any of my brood in my carry-ons, and I rarely take them anywhere else. So store security never really has a chance to object, lol.

 

I am careful where I take my dolls. Not because I would be embarrassed, but more that I would completely freak out if I were standing there watching a security guard manhandle my doll. That would probably lead to a serious bout of mockery on their part and by then I would imagine the taunting or sarcasm would begin. Most people also do not know this about me, but I am athletic and very well-co-ordinated, but I have these serious bouts of klutziness... and.. my partner does as well. He is actually worse than me. I wonder if it has anything to do with our heights as we are both tall. Aside, from the aside (LoL) I can't bear to have non doll people handle my dolls and I feel very anxious just typing this and I have to be careful of even myself. When I take my dolls outdoors for photoshoots, I pack them up very carefully in a bag I specifically have for the purpose.

 

The simplest solution to the question would be to very politely ask one of the security people before taking your doll there.

 

My own personal experience has been nothing but positive taking my boys to the mall while I was out at school. One of my friends out at school has dolls as well and we used to bring them regularly to the mall out by us. The worst we got was some kid thinking her SD was a monkey and making a comment to a friend (she had him riding on her shoulders) XD and no one noticed my MSD at all and I had him in the crook of my arm. I would just tuck him into my bag before we went into stores.

I've never tried it around were I usually live, but I'm not afraid to. If anyone were to bother me I could quiet legitimately say that it was an art doll and that I had brought it along to check sizes for my next project.

 

security at the airport must have run my bag like 20 times back and forth.

 

Hmm the last meetup I went to in my travels, we were on the busiest street in Mexico City and we were just looking for a place to sit so we went into a mall and headed for the starbucks.

Believe you me, that was the quietest dollmeet I've ever been to.

No one even looked at us and we had 2 large 70cm SDs and 3 MSDs on a tiny table for 2 (there were 3 of us there). We sat there for an entire day and no one even asked what they were or even looked at us at all.

But speaking of security, when I was coming home from that trip, I had to put my carry on bag through the x-ray machine and the security girl (it was a girl, not a man) was quite puzzled by what she saw inside the doll carrier, so she asked me what I was bringing with me.

I explained they were dolls and accesories (My boy Christian was in cosplay as Link from Legend of Zelda so he was wearing his shield and sword with magnets taped to his back) and she flipped out even more. She later explained that she and a flight attendand who also looked at the xrays of my bag, thought I was carrying miniature corpses or something because the magnets stuck to his back looked like tiny bullets and the sword taped to his back looked like I had stabbed him through the shoulder. To make matters worse, the elastics looked like a skeleton inside the resin body, so it all turned out to be a very creepy picture for the 2 girls.
They later asked me to show them my dolls and all was well, they just asked me to keep him inside the doll carrier at all times (like I was gonna be playing with him during the trip).

 

Oh my goodness, tiny corpses?

 

o-o Tiny corpses. Oh dear. I don't know how I'd deal with that. I've put a doll into the x-ray thingie before but I guess because it wasn't a bjd, they really didn't question it. Didn't know that resin registered very differently under the scan like that before.

 

I've never had problems at the mall, but someone I knew took their doll to a thrift store while shopping and looking for little trinkets for the doll and they accused of her stealing the doll and tried to detain her... they couldn't legally do that though so she threatened to sue them if they did and was allowed to leave... lol

 

I can't believe mall security is so strict in places. But,then again, I haven't been to a mall in years. The only pace I've ever taken a doll was to a park for photos. There wasn't any security there and nobody bothered us at all. Just the usual funky stares.

 

On a recent trip home from seeing my dad I got some lovely stares from a TSA lady. She seemed to think my DoD Shall was going to steal her soul. （ーー；）