i thought i was paranoid for feeling this way. it if isn't the obvious surveillance, it's the security guard standing near the front or the employees scrutinizing you.

this phenomena is most extreme at stores like burlington/marshalls, where they'll often rope off the entrance and have an employee dressed up like a swat team member to discourage criminal activity.

old man take: you used to only see this bullshit at stores in the worst neighborhoods and that only started popping up around the crash of 2008.