shameless plug, get a staff safety vest here: https://www.govests.com.au, we print these all the time, and unless it's an emergency services logo or Army, we would probably print it for you as well, just need the email sent from a official domain.
Waaay back in school, a friend told me the key to walking around the halls during class time was to look and act like you are supposed to be there. He was right. It works well. This vest thing is just a trick for doing the same in a different context.
We combined that attitude with some fake IDs we photoshopped, printed, and laminated at home to buy booze under age. Don't draw attention to yourself and no one will pay attention.
As a cyclist, I've worn a hi-vis vest while walking around after riding, and it's been weird how many people assume that I am a repair guy or even a police officer. The thesis of the article matches my experience. If you wear the vest confidently you could probably get into many things free.
I used to cycle in an orange jumpsuit I bought at a surplus store. Lots of people just about sprained their brains trying to figure out whether I was an escaped convict, but I'm an ordinary white guy with glasses so nothing ever went down.
I tore tickets at a movie theater for a few years and this worked with me. You could go either left or right when you walked past me. If you looked like you knew where you were going I would never question it.
I've seen a few cyclists wearing gear that was obviously intended to be mistaken for police uniform at a distance e.g. blue and white checks, and only when you get closer do you realise it says "polite". Presumably this is in the hope of getting away with riding on the pavement or jumping red lights. Joke's on them - the real police never enforce those rules anyway.
> Presumably this is in the hope of getting away with riding on the pavement or jumping red lights.
Let's not jump to conclusions. Have you seen these folks break the law? The cyclists who wear hi-vis are much less likely break the law than cyclists who don't in my experience. In fact, I can't recall a single instance in my decade of riding where I saw a hi-vis cyclist break the law. The folks you saw probably were trying to improve their visibility.
Though, as a motorcyclist on HN told me, a driver seeing you and being angry at you is often better than them not seeing you.
Hah, you beat me to it w/r/t mentioning the clipboard. Combine the clipboard, hi-vis vest, and walkie-talkie, and you're golden. In some contexts maybe throw in a toolbox or something that looks some sort of scientific instrument...
I have thought of similar things too. But regardless of what method, I do not expect such thing would work everywhere all the time (even if it might work sometimes).
But, they say, if you fool some people sometimes, it is good enough, so, maybe it can be.
Amateurs. I made a "press pass" consisting of a sticker printed from a laser printer reading "PRESS", highlighted yellow, and applied to the back of my highschool ID. I literally drive on the tarmac of Stapleton International Airport in Denver, in a failed attempt to meet then presidential candidate Bob Dole as he stepped off of his plane. One hour and one flash of the pass later and I landed a killer photo of he and I shaking hands outside his press junket. 16 is an emboldening age!
A classmate of mine who was a teenager in Las Vegas in the 80's used to tell me that he would get together with his friends, dress up in suits, dumpster dive for conference badges that had defects or typos, and just walk into conferences like CES.
He also claimed his mates would go out into the desert to find orgies and break them up with bottle rockets. People were too scared about being busted and were too busy running away for them to realize it was just some teenagers with bottle rockets.
Depending which of Dole’s presidential campaigns this was for, it was at least pre-9/11 and possibly pre-Gulf War, so security procedures were significantly looser than they are today.
You could probably get a whole safe-cracking burglary team of four guys into anywhere if they looked vaguely mexican, carried lawn equipment and wore work clothing.
Interesting. Maybe a stray high-viz on a construction site would be suspected of slacking or needing a new task assigned. Whereas a suit is the boss's boss.
There's a defacto code here (UK), yellow is labour, blue is trades. white is engineers, grey is visitors. green is safety (H&S/medical), pink is the noob who forgot his hardhat.
I attended a military academy boarding school where being outside after "Taps" could technically get you dismissed. This did happen to some people. My senior year, I started going to after hours D&D games. Some people tried to dress up all in black and do the commando thing, but a lot of them got caught. I just got into my dress uniform and walked around looking official. Everyone just assumed I was "Officer of the Day."
In the regular army carrying around a manilla folder (or for extra benefits a personal folder) gets you no questions from anyone as they just assume you're doing some task for someone.
Or walking around like you know what you're doing you can walk off with pretty much anything that isn't being actively guarded since they just think someone sent you over to get it for them. My platoon sgt used to tell me "go find me <whatever>" and I'd almost always come back with it after I got tired of slacking off since I technically was working -- on asset redistribution.
I've found the preemptive question a powerful tool as well.
If anyone seems to be on the verge of questioning you, walk up to them, look them straight in the eye, and impatiently ask them a question. (E.g. for directions)
Seems to short circuit the brain.
PS: I'm pretty sure it's also worked on would-be muggers a couple times too, spinning around and asking the person following you for a block if they have the time.
In the same way, hold a door open for someone. They will thank you, walk through, and promptly forget that they don't know who you are or what you're doing there.
Part of that with the possible muggers might be that you'd demonstrated you were aware of them. Muggers explaining their methods have said they prefer to go after the people who seem least aware of their surroundings.
I used to be a field technician. It's really amazing how casually the front desks of important institutions would hand over telecom closet/server room keys when I asked. We wore company t-shirts, but that was it.
a found a tool bag, some parts to waive around, and a long boring explanation (real or otherwise) of why you need to be there also helps - barring that, in some buildings a screwdriver is the only key.
"I need to install this adapter, it goes in the <technical word> and it connects to the <technical word>, I need to install it because <bullshit>.." then you kinda wander off talking about other things.
These posts always remind me of Todd Lappin's Telstar Logistics[1] in which he makes his personal vehicle look "official" and gets away with lots adventures with it.
as much as i love the Telstar Logistics truck, I've found an unmarked white truck with an orange beacon light on top to be even more useful. When i used to work for city parks i rotated between a white rental truck with no stickers, and a truck that was clearly labeled with the city's logo. The unmarked truck would get you onto any jobsite, any company's yard, or through any traffic jam. The labeled truck, people knew what sort of permissions you were supposed to have.
(Typically the flashing lights allowed on non-emergency vehicles are called Amber.)
The vaguer the better, I'd say. Amber light, an antenna, black numbers on the tailgate, some reflective tape on the bumper, orange cones in the bed, a clipboard on the seat, and a hi-vis vest hanging in the back window should do the trick.
Huge fan! A long time ago my younger brother and I had another friend that had a card printing machine and we made some semi-official looking IDs (including mag strips) with names on them like "Initech", "Telstar Logistics", "Vandelay Industries", and "Amalgamated Products." These were used in a game where we'd try to get in to various places and up the ante on each other.
Back in college days I got into clubs for free a few times by carrying a little mag-lite flashlight. Obviously you were with security, or the DJ, so they'd part ways and let you walk right in.
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[ 2.4 ms ] story [ 237 ms ] thread(On Eliot Ness announcing himself as an armed officer of the Treasury department)
I've walked confidently into concerts (deadmau5!), sports games, bars, sales events.....
I've seen a few cyclists wearing gear that was obviously intended to be mistaken for police uniform at a distance e.g. blue and white checks, and only when you get closer do you realise it says "polite". Presumably this is in the hope of getting away with riding on the pavement or jumping red lights. Joke's on them - the real police never enforce those rules anyway.
https://equisafety.com/collections/polite
Let's not jump to conclusions. Have you seen these folks break the law? The cyclists who wear hi-vis are much less likely break the law than cyclists who don't in my experience. In fact, I can't recall a single instance in my decade of riding where I saw a hi-vis cyclist break the law. The folks you saw probably were trying to improve their visibility.
Though, as a motorcyclist on HN told me, a driver seeing you and being angry at you is often better than them not seeing you.
But, they say, if you fool some people sometimes, it is good enough, so, maybe it can be.
Been there done that.
He also claimed his mates would go out into the desert to find orgies and break them up with bottle rockets. People were too scared about being busted and were too busy running away for them to realize it was just some teenagers with bottle rockets.
It’s a wacky place. (I’m In Vegas as i type.)
And construction sites.. (works better to wear a suit jacket, strangely)
Or walking around like you know what you're doing you can walk off with pretty much anything that isn't being actively guarded since they just think someone sent you over to get it for them. My platoon sgt used to tell me "go find me <whatever>" and I'd almost always come back with it after I got tired of slacking off since I technically was working -- on asset redistribution.
if you look like you're preoccupied with finding someone that usually works too
If anyone seems to be on the verge of questioning you, walk up to them, look them straight in the eye, and impatiently ask them a question. (E.g. for directions)
Seems to short circuit the brain.
PS: I'm pretty sure it's also worked on would-be muggers a couple times too, spinning around and asking the person following you for a block if they have the time.
[1] https://telstarlogistics.typepad.com/telstarlogistics/2006/0...
[2] https://www.flickr.com/people/telstar/
The vaguer the better, I'd say. Amber light, an antenna, black numbers on the tailgate, some reflective tape on the bumper, orange cones in the bed, a clipboard on the seat, and a hi-vis vest hanging in the back window should do the trick.