On the evening of December 3, an employee of the Seattle Times Company had been attempting to sell subscriptions to residents inside a “lock out apartment complex with no visible no soliciting signs,” a Seattle police report says. After the solicitor finished making her rounds—and getting one check from a resident—she proceeded towards the building’s main exit, only to be confronted by an obese woman who “stood in the way of the exit and asked what she was doing there and how she got into the apartment,” the report continues. The solicitor didn’t have an ID badge because it was her second day on the job. The woman proceeded to question the Times employee, inquiring as to how she got into the building, what she was doing there, and if she had received any money. Seemingly unsatisfied with the solicitor’s answers, the woman told the solicitor that she “wasn’t leaving until the police arrived.” As the solicitor again tried to leave, the report says that “the female pushed her back and into a wall, causing a bruise on her right hand.” She then “pinned [the solicitor] in the door.”

Although the woman managed to escape and call police, the report says, the solicitor “stated that she quit her job after the incident.”

15 replies on “It’s a Hard Time for Newspapers”

  1. You know, the same thing happens every day to PI solicitors in virtual worlds.

    They put on their butterfly wings, fly in thru an open window of someone’s castle, and the grumpy troll guards throw virtual tomatoes at them.

  8. @6: “Kidnapping” is actually a federal charge with a different meaning. However, it certainly is false arrest. Assault too. She should definitely file charges, and probably has a civil case as well.

  10. I know times are hard, and people are desperate for jobs, but my first reaction to this story was that anybody trying to peddle that rag SHOULD be assaulted.

  11. I’m not saying the resident was right to start shoving people around, but I actually think the major fault lies with the Times.

    They shouldn’t have sent an employee around to solicit people for money without legitimate ID, and they shouldn’t ask/allow employees to enter a building they don’t have legal access to, even if there isn’t a visible “no soliciting” sign. That should flat out be against the rules.

    If I saw someone wandering the halls of my building collecting money from people, and they couldn’t show ID or explain how they got into the building – I’d probably call the police too.

    Like I said, the resident was excessive to try to hold what she considered “a suspect” in the building until police showed up, but I don’t think her suspicion is totally out of left field or anything.

  12. The same thing happened in my building, where two Times peddlers sneaked in and one rang my doorbell. We don’t allow solicitors so I opened it thinking it was a neighbor I didn’t recognize, and the guy launched into a really hard sell. I told him the Times was crap and I wasn’t interested but that I’d take his card in case I changed his mind and—no joke—he literally asked me for money for his time spent trying to sell me the Times. I said no, and he said he wouldn’t keep my money himself but give it to the hard-working newspaper delivery people who are suffering the most. I told him I delivered newspapers for years and that’s not how it works, and he left, backing away from my door and still pleading with me for a subscription. It was sad, and pathetic. My building manager rounded them up and called the Times to complain.

  15. @7 I know, right? She was probably touching both sides of the hallway just by standing there, no wonder the poor woman had a hard time getting out.

    If those rolls pinned me to the wall and bruised me I’d feel pretty violated if anything.

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