I gather the Pinkertons are still rolled out now and again in service of corporate interests, Amazon among them, but as they were bought out by the warm-body corp Securitas in 1999, I can't quite imagine what exactly that looks like.
A thousand curses upon the head of Franklin Gowen, in any case. If Pinkerton's had gone bankrupt with honor circa 1877 rather than take that Snidely Whiplash for a client, the firm would be a heroic American legend to this day.
If you want to see how they act today, it's more or less as bagmen or shakedown thugs for corporate interests. There was a high profile case earlier this year where Wizards of the Coast sent a Magic the Gathering player a pack of cards to review on his YouTube channel. Well, they sent the wrong pack, which was not yet released or leaked to the public, and , not knowing that was the case, the YouTuber made a video on it anyways. So, rather than simply send an email to the guy saying, "Hey, we made a mistake, we need those back", or call the guy, or even just letting it ride and taking it in stride, they send the literal Pinkertons to his house to not just get the cards back, but intimidate him and tell him that if he resisted or tried to tell anyone, he'd go to jail. This was also apparently after they confronted his wife, who was the only one at home when they arrived. From what I understand from lawyers on YouTube who dissected the case, the whole thing was technically illegal. Not only did they more or less force themselves into the house, but they also took the cards which the man PAID $4,000 for, so, technically, they stole his property on top of unlawfully entering a private residence. There was also some gray area about the threats they were making about legal ramifications, and, apparently, they didn't "call ahead" because they didn't want to know they were coming and have time to "dispose of" or "hide" the cards. So far as I know, Wizards of the Coast never apologized, never reimbursed him, or did anything other than just pretend it didn't happen. And, also, apparently, this wasn't even the first time they did something like this, and that they regularly use the Pinkertons to "retrieve """""stolen""""" property". So, basically, they're hired thugs who harass people who get the wrong DnD books in the mail, now. Pretty sad, all things considered.
I aged fifty years in three minutes, looking at that list of delayed projects. It's a page ripped out oft he Necronomicon. What I'm saying is, seeing the words "Avatar 5" and "War of the Rohirrim" drained the life force from me, leaving me a withered husk.
I gather the Pinkertons are still rolled out now and again in service of corporate interests, Amazon among them, but as they were bought out by the warm-body corp Securitas in 1999, I can't quite imagine what exactly that looks like.
A thousand curses upon the head of Franklin Gowen, in any case. If Pinkerton's had gone bankrupt with honor circa 1877 rather than take that Snidely Whiplash for a client, the firm would be a heroic American legend to this day.
If you want to see how they act today, it's more or less as bagmen or shakedown thugs for corporate interests. There was a high profile case earlier this year where Wizards of the Coast sent a Magic the Gathering player a pack of cards to review on his YouTube channel. Well, they sent the wrong pack, which was not yet released or leaked to the public, and , not knowing that was the case, the YouTuber made a video on it anyways. So, rather than simply send an email to the guy saying, "Hey, we made a mistake, we need those back", or call the guy, or even just letting it ride and taking it in stride, they send the literal Pinkertons to his house to not just get the cards back, but intimidate him and tell him that if he resisted or tried to tell anyone, he'd go to jail. This was also apparently after they confronted his wife, who was the only one at home when they arrived. From what I understand from lawyers on YouTube who dissected the case, the whole thing was technically illegal. Not only did they more or less force themselves into the house, but they also took the cards which the man PAID $4,000 for, so, technically, they stole his property on top of unlawfully entering a private residence. There was also some gray area about the threats they were making about legal ramifications, and, apparently, they didn't "call ahead" because they didn't want to know they were coming and have time to "dispose of" or "hide" the cards. So far as I know, Wizards of the Coast never apologized, never reimbursed him, or did anything other than just pretend it didn't happen. And, also, apparently, this wasn't even the first time they did something like this, and that they regularly use the Pinkertons to "retrieve """""stolen""""" property". So, basically, they're hired thugs who harass people who get the wrong DnD books in the mail, now. Pretty sad, all things considered.
I aged fifty years in three minutes, looking at that list of delayed projects. It's a page ripped out oft he Necronomicon. What I'm saying is, seeing the words "Avatar 5" and "War of the Rohirrim" drained the life force from me, leaving me a withered husk.