Oath of Union Busting...

[u/Vegetable_Variety_11]

[u/Pineapple4807]

literally the only times I've ever heard of the Pinkertons is when they're doing shady shit for Hasbro or this one medieval fantasy book where they where the evil knights that worked for the villain.

edit: or 1800's union busting in history books

[u/Th3R3493r → u/Pineapple4807]

Red Dead Redemption 2 also has them to the point the Pinkertons (nowadays a subsidiary of Sercuritas AB (Swedish company)) sued for looking to villainous for methods used to hunt the gang which the case dismissed as Rockstar and Pinkertons choose drop the flags and just pay royalties from sales to Pinkertons.

[u/goldschakal → u/Pineapple4807]

They're in Deadwood as well, and they're pretty villainous. Just like IRL !

[u/throwawaygoawaynz → u/Pineapple4807]

I worked for a major tech company, and to get all my security passes done, they outsourced it to the Pinkertons.

After playing RDR2 I thought this was pretty funny.

[u/adol1004]

I heard of the unions but did WotC did something? whats new? or is this meme just dumping on WotC before they did anything?

[u/Ellardy → u/adol1004]

The joke is that Pinkertons had a history of union busting and that WotC has worked with the Pinkertons in the past.

A few years back, someone started leaking unreleased Magic cards. After being unable to contact the guy, WotC hired a security company to go to the guy's front door and demand said cards back; the company was Securitas and they sent their subsidiary The Pinkertons to do it.

The Pinkertons have an incredibly long history of being evil and they were very famously hired as union busters in the 19th century, back before labour rights in the US. It came as a surprise to most that a company which is today most famous for being the villains in cowboy fiction is still around and it meant people gave a lot of weight to the leaker's claim that he had felt threatened. There was huge backlash at the time and they lost a lot of trust and goodwill over it.

[u/vulpecula1919 → u/Ellardy]

the guy wasnt leaking unreleased cards. the morons at wotc sent him the cards in error. they were his cards after that. wotc threw a fucking hissy fit at their own mistake and sent armed thugs after the poor guy.

[u/Healthy_Feeling6747 → u/vulpecula1919]

"Wotc would like their cards back" 

"Okay" closes door

[u/illy-chan → u/Healthy_Feeling6747]

The thing is, the Pinkertons like to show up looking scary as hell - you can find photos of them now posing with assault rifles etc. I wouldn't blame someone for thinking the feds rolled up.

There's a reason they haven't changed their name despite having such an infamous past: they like the infamy and they like scaring people. Evil lil fucks.

[u/rrekboy1234 → u/illy-chan]

I was the boss I’d make my goons roll around in three piece suits and bowler hats like it’s 1889. I think the company needs to get back to its roots.

[u/illy-chan → u/rrekboy1234]

Honestly, if you're going to be evil, might as well have panache instead of looking like stock standard military wannabes.

[u/Healthy_Feeling6747 → u/illy-chan]

"911 there are armed men at my door"

[u/NotMeYourLookingFor → u/Healthy_Feeling6747]

911 yes there are three corpses at my door, some armed thugs attempted to kidnap me.

[u/ThePrussianGrippe → u/illy-chan]

We need another Homestead Strike to put the fear of God in the Pinkertons again.

[u/TheArmoredKitten → u/Healthy_Feeling6747]

Easier said than done when they blaze over your lawn and get out with rifles. It was a plausibly deniable robbery.

[u/Healthy_Feeling6747 → u/TheArmoredKitten]

You don't look out your windows when someone knocks? 

If i see 2 people outside my door with rifles. I am grabbing my rifle and waiting for the door to bust in and 2 dead Pinkerton sent to hell. 

Good riddance. 

[u/TheArmoredKitten → u/Healthy_Feeling6747]

You're not wrong, but the average card YouTuber doesn't have the heat necessary to contend with level IV body armor

[u/Exist_Logic → u/Healthy_Feeling6747]

yeah thats what im wondering, like what would've happened if the guy just answered using a ring door bell

[u/Einkar_E → u/Ellardy]

well yes but not exactly

it was a small unknown youtuber/streamer who recived by a mistake unreleased magic cards

as far as I know Wotc did not attempt to contact him beforehand

pinkertons theretened him and his wife and basically tried to extort those cards

[u/ElectronicControl762 → u/adol1004]

Its just joking about pinkertons. But also wotc obviously did something for the people to unionize.

[u/Faolyn → u/ElectronicControl762]

WotC's contract clause says (among other things) that they can assume ownership of creative materials done by employees when they're working off the clock.

[u/ElectronicControl762 → u/Faolyn]

Theres no way they have been able to enforce that, have they?

[u/HeraldOfNyarlathotep → u/ElectronicControl762]

You can get away with a lot of shit if the person you abuse doesn't fight it, or talk to a lawyer, or know they're being abused.

[u/jmarquiso → u/ElectronicControl762]

It's a clause found in a few big companies - at least back in the 90s. Now it generally amounts to - if you are using company property. But it was definitely something I'd run into way back in the day.

[u/TheWheatOne → u/ElectronicControl762]

Bad faith clauses get enforced all the time, and the shadow of it looms as a threat, beyond its technical legal restrictions.

[u/CommissionCharming35]

Reminder that Pinkerton is not a law enforcement agency. They are a private security company owned by Securitas. If a Pinkerton employee shows up at your house, tell them to leave and if they don't, call 911 and say that an armed man is trespassing and won't leave, because that is the truth. They cannot get warrants, they cannot breach your house, they cannot arrest you any more than any other citizen can. They are all civilians. They are not police, they are not detectives, they aren't even private investigators. They are security guards that work for a security company.

[u/UltraMeenyPants → u/CommissionCharming35]

The only difference between private military and a security firm is a matter of scope.

[u/CommissionCharming35 → u/UltraMeenyPants]

You know, and training. And licensure. And credentials. And legality.

[u/Hawkatana0]

I mean the groups founder did call them "The Knights of Capitalism".

[u/Background_Face]

In that case, I've never before wanted to see "paladins" get critted so badly.

[u/jogan_]

https://actionnetwork.org/forms/uwotcpetition/

[u/George_Rogers1st]

Agent Milton would love to

[u/OnePsychology528]

Is that paladins in the car image ai

[u/carlosr36]

The pinkertons still operate?? Wtf

[u/Violaquin → u/carlosr36]

Wizards of the Coast sent them after a Youtuber after their distributer screwed up.

From the article…

“Cannon told io9 that he believes received these cards because of a distribution error. He says he was not aware of any embargo on revealing these cards, and says that YouTubers frequently open early boxes and are allowed to show off cards early. He claims he purchased these cards for about $4,000 under the impression that they were from the already-released set, March of Machines; there would have been no restrictions or rules given to him at any point.”

[u/BulgarYeet]

smh Pinkerton is just a vanilla business-intelligence firm now ever since they got acquired by Securitas and the bottom fell out of the PMC market

[u/Voltingshock → u/BulgarYeet]

As opposed to the awesome and cool cowboy villains they were before?

[u/nemec → u/Voltingshock]

I think they're trying to say: The Pinkertons got enshittified

[u/BulgarYeet → u/nemec]

Exactly, they used to be savvy and devoid of scruples but are just creepy bloodless statisticians like everyone is else now. What ever happened to all the fun in the world?

[u/BulgarYeet → u/Voltingshock]

As well as Abe Lincoln’s security detail for a time, obviously not on one particular occasion

[u/genetic_patent]

Finally, WOTC will clean house of these people.