Infiltration...

…is this, well, kinda sport i’ve just recently got into. it basically involves going where you’re not ment to. on the scale i play, it’s nothing too adventurous, just going through “employees only” doors in shops and getting to the top floors of office blocks and poking my nose into what i find; nowhere i really must not go, but just places i technically shouldn’t be. no harm done, just my curiosity allayed.

my most recent infiltration was getting under my local library into their mail sorting department and wandering about being nosy for about 5 min. before someone noticed i blatantly had no right to be there and asked me firmly to leave. i just muttered vague nonsense in bad spanish (my favourite muttering language) and left, leaving them slightly bemused.

anyway, the point behind this ramble is this: anyone else into this sport/activity/pastime and if so, where have you been? any really hardcore fans who break into disused factories or anything?

or is it just me?

Being married and having children has dampened my exploratory experiences drastically, for obvious reasons and for the better, but when I was younger my friends and I would constantly “infiltrate”, as you put it.

Mostly abandoned factories, houses, apartments, etc. to find a cool place to camp out and party without being observed or harrassed, but sometimes just to do it.

On occasion we would head out from one of our parties to pick up more “necessities” and end up exploring places we weren’t allowed in. Alcohol tends to remove the inhibitions that would normally keep you out I suppose.

One friend had a favorite target, beer trucks. Another liked to find the employee only restrooms in department stores and such. I was a bit of a klepto and had a thing for signs/plaques, so would “infiltrate” in order to obtain those hard to find examples.

Fortunately during our explorations, especially considering the condition we were usually in, no one was ever seriously injured or arrested. Looking back I realize how lucky we were.

It was all in good fun, but in retrospect, we did damage that that explanation does not justify. If you are going to continue your game, especially if you plan on becoming more adventurous, I strongly recommend you consider the repercussions if something, anything, were to go wrong. It may seem harmless, and in alot of cases is, but the reason you aren’t allowed in certain places is because there is a danger, and in entering such a place you are opening the company/business up to a lawsuit, something they do not like one bit.

i just wish to clarify;

(a) i do not in any way damage anything when i wander in somewhere. i don’t want to harm anyone/anything, just explore;

(b) i’m not that stupid - i don’t go into dangerous places like laboratries or places with heavy machinery and

© i am in a totally normal state of mind when i go into places. it’s just curiosity about places i’m not ment to be in that prompts me to go into places, not being drunk or anything. i mean, is no-one else ever tempted to poke about behind closed doors?

I don’t want to dump cold water on you but keep in mind your infiltrating can create big problems for you. I understand your fascination with the forbidden, really do. But your mere presence can–and probably will–be misinterpreted.

You may know curiosity’s your only motivation but nobody else will know that–or have any cogent reason to believe it. By knowingly entering posted areas your intentions will be viewed as suspect, period. This isn’t as stuffy and starchy as it sounds. We’ve had real problems at work with civilians entering work areas and stealing money from purses, items from desks, etc. Employees are NOT tolerant about this. They assume people who ignore all the warnings have a purpose in mind and satisfying casual curiosity isn’t it.

Paranthetical comment: do NOT go into posted empty buildings. No kidding; 3 local teens were just arrested and jailed for “checking out” an abandoned hospital. I talked with one of them right after he was bonded out. He was weirdly unbelieving that he actually had to spend 24 hours in jail and has a criminal charge against him. Sad, really: he didn’t even “get” why he was questioned about vandalism, etc. At the very least, if one of them had been injured it would have been an expensive liability nightmare for the owners. That’s why they posted the property–and pressed charges.

Find another sport, sport. You’re putting yourself in an untenable position and annoying people.

Veb

I dunno, I think this sort of thing can be done harmlessly.

I’ve always had a thing for going places where I probably don’t belong. When I was a kid I got backstage and behind the scenes in all kinds of places.

My most recent event was when I went through the USS Intrepid Air/Space Museum in NYC. There was a LEM cockpit behind some velvet rope that wasn’t yet ready for display. I just had to see that, so I ducked under the rope and inside. Way cool! Made sure not to touch anything, of course.

Let me just say from personal experience that employees can get really annoyed when you go into breakrooms, bathrooms, storerooms, or other places that you shouldn’t be. Of course most people probably don’t intend any harm, but, as TVeblen said, the company could be responsible if you get hurt. At the KMart where I worked, we had these big swinging doors to separate the sales floor from the main storeroom. A sign clearly stated that customers shouldn’t enter, but they came in all the time anyway. What scared us was that our industrial strength compactor was sitting about fifteen feet inside the doors. Of course we didn’t want anybody, especially children, to go near it. Also, customers would sometimes open cabinet doors and scatter stuff on the floor if they were looking for something.
Also, the breakroom is supposed to be a place to relax, away from the customers, so it just pisses us off when people walk in their. Just so you know, we spend a considerable amount of time complaining about our worst customers.

I got my way into some military base once. It was pretty cool, but I felt something sharp prick me in the neck, and when I came to, I was out by the road with a really sore ass and a bunch of stiches on my chest.

I think the base was called “Place 51” or “Zone 51” or something like that.