Genovese Syndrome

This is a long one, so hang in there with me ... 

The quick and dirty on Genovese Syndrome:  social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases where individuals do not offer any means of help in an emergency situation to the victim when other people are present.

Just in case you have not hear of Kitty Genovese, here is a quick run down thanks to Wikipedia:

"Genovese, 28 years old, was stabbed to death on March 13, 1964, on her way back to her Queens, New York, apartment from work at 3am by a serial rapist and murderer. According to newspaper accounts, the attack lasted for at least a half an hour during which time Genovese screamed and pleaded for help. The murderer attacked Genovese and stabbed her, then fled the scene after attracting the attention of a neighbor. The killer then returned ten minutes later and finished the assault. Newspaper reports after Genovese's death claimed that 38 witnesses watched the stabbings and failed to intervene or even contact the police until after the attacker fled and Genovese had died. This led to widespread public attention, and many editorials."

Now to the relevance of all this back story - allow me to paint a picture from this evening for you.

So I decided to make a quick trip to the grocery store after the gym to pick up a few things - no big deal I do this all the time.  As I was running around I happened to notice a clearly homeless man milling around the bakery section - I said a quick hello as I picked up some bread (call it an occupational hazard) and headed off.

Now Maria will attest, we deal with some crazy crazed at times meaning people with serious mental health issues and/or drug/alcohol problems.  Now I mention this because over the last few weeks you can begin to recognize what we like to call crazy eyes.  While that is a generalization, it kind of fits.  Said man definitely had crazy eyes so I kept going. 

Last stop on the grocery list was to pick up some cheese at the deli counter.  As I am waiting (it must have been the woman's first day on the job because it was taking forever) someone grabs me from behind, mutters something and then gives me a kiss on the back of the neck.  That is right fellow reader, our crazy eyes man had snuck up behind me.  I told him that he needed to step off and that this was not appropriate.  After what seemed like a lifetime, he finally backed off and stood next to me playing with something in his pocket.  I will not lie to you - I was kind of nervous that he was going to pull something out (call it too much Law and Order), but he eventually walked away with no more trouble.

Now this dear readers is why I bring up Kitty Genovese and where things get interesting.  At this point the dinner shoppers were beginning to mill around the store and there were several people in the bakery/deli section.  As a result there were several people who saw what happened, yet no one decided to come forward.  After I had dealt with the situation a by-standard approaches the guy telling him that he can't leave his coat lying over the boxes of cookies and that he  needs to leave the store.  When the homeless man does not respond, the by standard then throws out that he is a cop and does not want to have him arrested.  Please keep in mind that he would not arrest him for what he had done to me, but instead milling around and not buying anything.

WFT?!?!  You decided to wait until the guy walks away and then make up a bogus threat.  Where were you macho man 5 minutes ago?

The women behind the counter commented that they "just thought he was with me."  Would this had happened if I was not looking like a hot, sweaty mess, but instead was still wearing my work outfit and heals?  What would it have taken for the people standing around the counter to actually step up and so something? 

At this point, no harm no foul ... I am in one piece and you now have had some evening (morning) entertainment.  Maybe it will make you think twice about stepping up when you see something in public.