Had the beejeebies scared out of us tonight

[Mitzi]

We went to a store tonight where you have to show your receipt when you leave. Well, the lady ahead of us paid and left then we paid. At the door, she could not find her receipt. We told the clerk at the door we had seen her pay. We tried to help her look for her receipt but it was just no where to be found.
The clerk told her to go back and get another one at the register. We were stunned when this woman became ENRAGED. She started screaming and yelling then took all the clothes she had bought and paid for and threw them at us. We were all standing there with clothes all over us! She screamed and stomped out of the store and the clerk immediately called security.
They came running but somehow, she had just disappeared. They searched the parking lot for her but she was no where!
My husband had taken my arm and the clerks and pulled us behind this wall because he was worried she would come back with a gun or something. The clerk stepped out when security arrived.
The police were called but it was just the strangest thing. No one had watched her go to her car. We were behind the wall with some other people.
It scared us half to death. And the weird thing is we had SEEN her pay for those clothes! We left our name and phone number with the police officer but have heard nothing. Weird and scary! I honestly could not be a police officer even though I at one time did want to be.

[shooter1201]

Why didn't she simply LEAVE...WITH the items she BOUGHT and PAID FOR?

I'm PRAYING for the day when a WalMart(etc) employee wants to 'see my receipt' in order to leave with MY items. Once they are PAID for, they are YOURS....proof of receipt or not. This is one of the biggest cons going today.....

[occiferdave]

This one irks me!!

More and more stores are doing this. I for one will no longer stand for it. I now walk out without stopping for the rent-a-cop. When they ask me if they can see my receipt, I say 'no, thank you' and keep walking. They usually just say okay and that's the end of it.

They have no authority to stop you because the instant you pay for the items. Those items becomes yours. The store has no right to look into my bag which contains MY property. I am under no obligation to stop for them. If they try to stop me forcibly, they're going to have a law suit on their hands. However, they can, as a private business, refuse me service/entry next time.

I for one will no longer stand this intrusion of my privacy. Because in essence, they are assuming that you have stole something and stopping to investigate.

Sorry... just had to vent

[LBomb]

My wife and sister-in-law were leaving Wal-Mart one day and set off the door alarm because of a cashier error. They started to laugh and were willing to cooperate with the "greeter". He became so angry because they had the giggles and he began to scream at them and told them that shoplifting was no laughing matter. My wife took that as an accusation and popped her cork. She took the $300.00 worth of mdse to Customer Service and told them she wanted a refund and a manager. The store manager apologized profusely and gave her the whole "valued customer" spiel. He almost had the situation settled until he told her that the "greeter" in question has a history of doing this. This got another angry tirade from my wife. To make a looonnng story short, she walked out of there with a refund AND the mdse. I guess the mgr thought taking a $300.00 hit was much better then having my very angry wife explaining to anyone within earshot of their conversation how Wal-Mart mistreats their "valued" customers by subjecting them to searches and public ridcule.

[Blonde Heat]

In defense of the clerk, and as a clerk. Its because there is so much theft that our bosses practically force us to make sure they have the reciept. Its called shrink. And when companies exhaust there insurance money paying for the theft then the prices increase for the customer. So if you paid for your items then it should be no problem to just show the reciept. It works the same when you get carded for liquer. If you are 21 or whatever the legal drinking age is then why would you throw a fit because some clerk thought you looked under 21. Just show the ID and move on. Its not really that big of a deal when you think about all of the other stuff that deserves worrying and stressing out over. Like starving, being homeless, or your loved ones taking thier last breath.

[shooter1201]

ftrphxcop...

I see AND understand YOUR point, but....it IS a big deal. It is the 'little things' like this practice that has our country going down the tubes at warp speed...the ASSumption that everyone is a thief, government subversive, etc, by BIG BIZNESS and BIG BROTHER.

If all those 'black bubbles' in WalMart HAD cameras in them and UPS did a better job supervizing its employees, there would be NO NEED to pass the cost of losses along to the customer....because there wouldn't BE any losses.

It may be too late, but SOME of the sheeple are waking up.....

[ 03-01-2002: Message edited by: shooter1201 ]

[Mitzi]

I have no idea why she left all that stuff there that we SAW her pay for. Maybe she had just had a terrible Friday or something.
We were in this store one day and bought a lot of stuff. Well, they checked the receipt and my favorite jug of gallon VINTAGE wine <smirk> had not scanned through. SO they took it. My husband told them that really was not fair. We had waited in line to pay for so long and then take the one thing I NEEDED. lol The clerk was very polite and apologetic but refused to give us the wine. So, my husband went to the manager and he gave us the wine.
I understand the stores position. They lose so much money each year to shoplifting. But there really has to be a better way then this. Maybe having everything roped off so you could only walk out through a register area rather then just have free reign to walk and look, I don't know.
But, this sure was a strange experience. We work too hard for our money. I would never leave anything there I had already paid for. I would like to add that at this store, they do not bag your items. You simply walk out with what you paid for or keep it in a a basket while they check your receipt. It really never bothers me that much but, wow, does it irk my husband.

[ 03-02-2002: Message edited by: Mitzi ]

[Silverbullet18]

if that was me i wouldent go back and get a recipet. thats crazy talking right there. go and wait in a huge *** line just to show my reciept for what i bought. and like occiferdave said "They have no authority to stop you because the instant you pay for the items. Those items becomes yours."

[Mitzi]

Like I said tho, in this store, they do not bag your purchases. You pay and either carry what you bought to show the clerk your receipt or if it's too much to carry, you take it out in a cart after showing your receipt. People can buy a single item or restaurants can buy huge purchases they push out in over size carts. Or, you can buy groceries and put them in a cart. Nothing is ever bagged. To me, if they would just BAG the items they can, they would have no need to feel the need for a receipt. The bags should prove you just purchased something there. But, it would be easy in this store to just say, go around, pick up what you want and just walk out without paying.
The store did call us to apologize and said she never has come back to pick up those items. By my estimation, she spent over 40$. I just can't imagination getting SO mad, you walk out leaving your purchase you PAID for behind. Too weird.

[Fastie]

Originally posted by Mitzi:
I have no idea why she left all that stuff there that we SAW her pay for.

hmmm..... maybe she had stolen an expensive item, then when they asked to see her receipt she freaked thinking she had been caught and dumped the junk and took off (with the original stolen item)...some sort of diversion...LOL... yeah I know I have a wild imagination....

[Mitzi]

The only thing I wondered about is I thought I saw her pay with cash. Al reminded me it was with a check. But, we were right there when she wrote her check and it was accepted. I even remember the clerk thanking her and telling her to have a nice evening.
But, maybe she thought, when she went back for a receipt, they would check the check she had written closer? I don't know.

[Joseph]

Mitzi, since you said they don't bag your items it sound like you were in a Sam's Store. I refuse to go to them. In Wall Mart over here you pick up medication from the pharmacy then carry it with you all over the store then pay for it when you check out. One time I done just that after shopping and the receipt that was on the bag that the cashier was suppose to get wasn't returned to the pharmacy. I received a letter in the mail stating the medication wasn't paid for. Luckly I paid with a check and had a receipt. I returned to the store since the letter just about calls you a thief and gave them a piece of my mind and transferred my prescriptions.

[Mitzi]

I have never had any trouble at our Wal-Mart. I did get mad one day though. My son was about 15 and had gone to look at the jewelry for a watch. Immediately, I hear over the store, "Code whatever in jewlery department". From a distance, I saw my son leave the jewlery department. He had figured out the code was to "watch" him because no one else was in that department. He walked over to the electronic department and I head, "Code whateve in electronics". Again, he was the only one there and he walked out and saw me and was upset. He said, "Mom, I feel like I'm being watched".
I told him to go back to the jewlery department when no one was there. Again, "Code whatever in the jewlery department." He left so I went over to the jewlery department. No one was there but me. There was no code.
I went to the manager and said, "You know, I think you are "profiling" people that look like shoplifters. My son has been coded in the jewlery department twice and in the electronics once." He said oh no mam, no way. I said, watch this. I nodded to my son who went back to electronics. And there was another code called.
I said, "You most certainly DO profile and I find it insulting. If you SEE him take something and walk out, then stop him. But he is not a stupid young man. He has figured this out and is very insulted by it as am I. Not ALL teenagers steal, you know." The man kept saying they DID not do this. I said "Well, sir, I will find out if you do, believe me."
We left. A few weeks later, I had my son and a friend go into the store. My son went to electronics, his friend to jewlery.....No codes called

[Viking]

Ahhhh, this brings back memories of a visit to the local Target store (like wal-mart). I set off the alarm GOING IN to the store. Of course, I set it off leaving the store too. Security asked me if I had any metal plates in me (I'm serious!), I said I don't and then I left. To this day I don't know why I set it off. Everytime I walk out of a store with detectors at the door, I close my eyes.

[kateykakes]

Mitzi,

I can relate to the profile thing. One afternoon I was shopping at Bradlee's (no longer in business here), and had my son, Jason and his friend, Tim with me. I was off shopping and they went over to check out cd's, the thing typical teens would do.

Within 15 minutes of my shopping, my son and his friend came over to me and told me they were just accused and searched by a security guard. I said searched for what??? The said shop lifting. My kids are all very good. Far from perfect, but I taught them better than that. So needless to say, I was pretty ticked off.

I left the cart where it was and went in search of the security guard. When Jay and Tim pointed him out to me, I approached him. He looked at the boys, looked at me, and already I could see his attitude.

I asked him what the problem was. He said there wasn't any. I asked why he searched my son and his friend, and he said he was just doing his job. That's when I lost it. I asked if he had seen them take anything. He said no, but they had baggy pants on and could fit merchandise down them.

To make a long story short, I had him fired. He had a list of complaints, especially from parents with teens, and why he was kept on for as long as he was is beyond me.

I never went back to the store again. I figured if that was the way they treated people, they weren't getting my money.

[ 03-03-2002: Message edited by: kateykakes ]