We Did It Our Way – Part 3

Originally posted: 2011/12/09

…continued from: We Did It Our Way – Part 2

After the court-house, we headed to the Empire State Building.

These display gears worked well with our attire, so we had to stop and get a picture.

Huge problems in the Empire State Building. We were severely discriminated against.

The short story: we got kicked out. But the long story is a little more interesting…

Excessive paranoia at the Empire State Building.
Although security was not rude in general, the security policies were overly restrictive, and a bit ridiculous. We first went there with Tom, to have him take some pictures of us. They rushed us as soon as we entered the lobby, and shut us down before we could take two steps down the hallway. We knew about tripods, etc, and asked if we could check that stuff in, and the three of us just go up with a camera. But they discriminated against Tom for having a ‘professional camera’ while several others were in line with cameras that were just as good, or better. What is a professional camera anyway? If they had seen the iPhone fashion shoot, they might not have even let Jenny take her iPhone up there!

They asked us why we were dressed the way we were, and I thought that was a bit odd. The following day, I saw on their website that they don’t allow costumes or masks.
Tom had another gig, and we went back to our room for a while. (More complaining about the Empire State Building Security Policies, in just a bit.)

We returned later, and managed to get to the top with minimal hassle, but without Tom. On the way in, Security asked if my goggles were ‘night vision goggles’. I should have said “Yes, but the batteries are dead!” They took my laser pointer (which I understand), and also took my “tripod” which was so small, that I forgot I had it with me. This I did not understand, but there was nothing I could do about it. It would have been better had we gone on the “Annual No-Hassle Suicide Day” because security basically takes the day off!

We also bought a City-Pass online, but they wouldn’t honor it unless it was printed out. I tried to explain that our phones (our only internet access) were not equipped with printers yet. As we were leaving, there was one security attendant in the main lobby who was very accommodating, and even took a picture of us. (The picture was out of focus, but his effort was appreciated.)

It would have been much nicer to do during the day, but after getting kicked out, this is all we were “allowed”.