What is Digg?518 Comments
- holmes101, on 10/12/2007, -90/+442Everyone please keep in mind that these are normal people like you and me that are simply doing their job. They don't want to deal with your crap on a daily basis. If you want to make a difference then you should ask them to have their manager look over your reciept and talk to them about it. The person at the exit door is merely a middle man.
- screwzluse, on 10/12/2007, -41/+217I've worked in fast food and I can tell you that a customer asking annoying ass squestions does not "break up the monotony." It used to annoy the piss out of me. I didn't tend to thank the customer for being creative.
- Desolite, on 10/12/2007, -17/+168Um, no where in the ENTIRE article is Best Buy mentioned. Even the word "best" isn't mentioned.
....? - ddfall, on 10/12/2007, -3/+81It was dead when I looked so here ya go:
http://duggmirror.com/business_finance/Best_Buy_Sir_we_need_to_see_your_receipt_You_Um_no_you_don_t/ - Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -29/+105@holmes:
Sorry, I know they're just people doing jobs, but part of that job is being the conduit through which complaint about the policy they are directly enforcing are channeled. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -12/+88It's all about conditioning people to allow their person/stuff to be searched whether they want to or not. It reminds me of the look on the lady's face at Disney when I told her I wasn't scanning my finger to get in. It takes these sheeple by complete surprise when someone shows a spine and says NO to their *****. I can't wait to try this the next time I go to Sam's club.
- Ulisses, on 10/12/2007, -20/+91"shrinkage" and shoplifting have been a problem for retail shops since the dawn of times and yet their business model has subsisted to our days without the need to harass clients.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+75This works especially well at Best Buy or any store where you make a large purchase.
See, the store might have their annoying policies, but I also have one of my own: piss me off or annoy me and I instantly return my stuff. I've never had to on large items, but I wouldn't hesitate to do it if they caused a situation in checking it all.
One instance is where I was grocery shopping. I had a cart full of stuff, and also picked up a case of beer. There had to have been about $180 worth of grocieries. My girlfriend at the time was 19 and was with me. I unloaded all my stuff on that conveyor belt that they have. The beer was rang up and I showed my ID.
The woman then asks to see the ID of my girlfriend. I say, "She's not buying it. I am." The woman states how it's store policy. I explain to her that policy doesn't matter, that the law is 21 or older to purchase - since I am the one paying, nothing illegal is going on.
She jabbers on and on about it so I finally interrupt her, "Are you going to ring it up or not?" She tells me, "I can't, sorry."
I then leave all the items there at the register for them to put back, not paying a dime.
I don't like being hassled for no reason, and I don't care about policy. Like I said, they have theirs, well I also have mine. - dancurranjr, on 10/28/2007, -8/+68I posted a similar article 2 years ago:
http://www.danielcurran.com/2004/08/no-you-cannot-check-my-receipt-and.php
Unless you signed a contract (CostCo, Sam's Club, etc) you do not have to nor should you show your receipt to the door monkeys. Why? Once you have purchased the item it is your property. The bag it is in is your property. To allow an "official" of the store to check your bag and receipt is consenting to a search of your property.
Why? Why are you giving up a civil liberty? You are consenting to a search without probable cause. - jocnnor, on 10/12/2007, -3/+58I hate shrinkage as well. Damn cold water...
- JoeTech, on 10/12/2007, -31/+84I'm still rolling on this one, I particularly like the two suggestions of:
"If a particular retailer wants to play games by insisting that they are merely ensuring that you were not overcharged, then by all means let’s check all 74 items in the cart, poring over the receipt line by line while other customers wait. Another fun approach, if you are detained, is to inform the store that they may indeed inspect your bags or your receipt, if and only if all items are immediately returned for a full refund." - subscriber, on 10/12/2007, -1/+52Their policies are for employees of the store, not the customers. For example, the store can require all employees to wash their hands before leaving the restroom but have no authority over the customers unsanitary habits. In the same way, establishing a policy that requires an employee to search a customers property before leaving the store does not in turn obligate the customer to forfeit his constitutional rights. Remember, once the goods have been paid for, they are the personal property of the customer -- just as much as their purses, backpacks and wallets are. The store cannot require you submit to a search. Even a police officer has to have a reason to believe you are stealing something (probable cause) before he can search you -- and just leaving a store with shopping bags in your possession is not probable cause.
- austindkelly, on 10/12/2007, -29/+79this would certianly piss me off, and so would the answer of 'yes' to paper or plastic, or how about 'are you ready for the bill?','No, you keep it...'. but being the good service industry person that I am, I will fake laugh, and pretend that you are original! So even if i did hate my job, i would think that the last thing you would want to do is piss me off more?
- mustafya, on 10/12/2007, -0/+50At wal-mart the funniest thing is there is almost as much shrinkage from employees as from shoppers. We had an employee at the Bryant, AR wal-mart walk out a back door with 15 $2,000 tvs.
- KayinNasaki, on 10/12/2007, -4/+54Theres a fine line between taking your aggression out on lesser employees and standing up for your rights as a consumer. It doesn't matter if they're 'just doing their job'. Their store is in a way insulting you as a customer.
That said, if you do start walkn', try not to be more of a dick then necessary. Just skip out and be done with it. - neoform, on 10/12/2007, -5/+54bikini:
So if the rentacop suspects you stole something, you feel he's allowed to search you?
If anyone other than a police officer demanded to search me, I'd tell him to ***** off; that's my right. - halavais, on 10/12/2007, -3/+52"What is stopping you from throwing items such as more sd cards into the bag on your way out if we do not seal it?"
The same thing that is stopping me from drawing a loaded gun and taking money at the cash register and stopping me from fondling everyone in line. I am not a criminal. If that's not good enough for you, that's your problem, not mine. - krinthekuz, on 09/16/2008, -3/+50i suspect my local walmart engages in racial profiling. i'm fortunate to be white upper middle class and live in a high rise condo area in miami. less than a mile away are some train tracks. on the other side of the train tracks are slums with a lot of less fortunate people. a few miles further is the closest walmart for about 10 miles or so. so i go with my gf into walmart to pick up some camping propane and cake mix (don't ask). i'm 23 yrs old and irish/austrian/italian euro-white. my gf is cuban/salvadorian hispanic-white, and you wouldn't know she was hispanic unless you met her family. i'm wearing a euro-cut button down and casual fitting jeans that hang maybe an inch below my boxer line. a quick survey of the walmart shows that we're the minority, and at least 9 of every 10 people (including employees) are black, and 6 of those 9 look like they're auditioning for a rap video (this walmart always looks like this, but i'm not a racist so i don't have a problem walking in). we finish paying and go up to the exit, where the greeters are checking receipts AND looking in bags for everyone EXCEPT myself/my gf, and the old hispanic couple in front of us. they just waved us through, and then stopped the black kids behind us. i was totally shocked. talk about conditioning.
- GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -26/+73I'm sorry but doing your job isn't an excuse. I don't get personal but quickly remind any staff member that approaches me that my custom is on the line. Only once have I actually been stopped and it was in HMV where I've spent thousands of pounds over the years but now do all my shopping across the street in either Virgin, Game or whatever else comes in front of me.
It's only fair. I know these companies want to cut down on theft but they can do it with somebody elses time. - Battlecry, on 10/28/2007, -1/+45The problem here is poor training. No, you don't have to show your receipt if asked. I work in retail and was told that if a customer refuses to show their receipt or sets off the alarm as they leave and don't stop, then it's our job to let them go. They haven't done anything wrong and to detain or harass them just invites a lawsuit.
- leobaby, on 10/12/2007, -1/+45Anyone ever notice that retailers place a very sympathetic person as receipt checker? By that I mean someone older or handicapped. Maybe it is just in my area.
- dognose, on 10/12/2007, -2/+46You have a right to not show them your receipt.
They have a right to not let you back in.
Don't do this at a store that you frequent. - madpie, on 10/12/2007, -3/+45The strangest part about all of this is that they only stop if you *if you bought something* whereas if you just went in, shoplifted something, and walked out without a bag, they would not bother you at all. It's a bizarre policy that penalizes the customer and ignores the potential thief.
- squeevey, on 10/12/2007, -4/+47@bikini
Locks and alarms only keep honest people honest. - Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -3/+45Good, let them go back and review security tape. Let them spend *their* time figuring out I didn't steal anything.
- neoform, on 10/12/2007, -3/+44Wow, so many people here have no idea what the law is..
Just because you're on private property does NOT mean they have the right to search you, no matter what the reason. Only a police officer may do that. If they have a problem with you, the only thing they can legally do is ask you to leave, they can't detain you or search you for unless they can positively prove you did something illegal, like saw you steal or saw you attack someone. this is citizen's arrest. they must of course immediately tell the police.
just "doing their job" is not an excuse to do something illegal. if they want to search me and i say no, they can't do a damn thing other than call the police. - williamdyer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+37@2ndRev
That's why the employees call it Mouschwitz. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+40"- She can't legally sell you the alcohol since it was obvious it was going to a minor. Unlikely as it may be, she can get fired and/or fined for doing it."
Nope, it wasn't going to a minor. I already stated that it was for me. She can't get fired for it. Do you actually know the law, or you just guessing here? The law clearly states: sale to minors prohibited. Not "prohibited in the presence of minors." Please don't play armchair lawyer.
Keep in mind the example I listed that you conveniently ignored: they would have to deny selling to those who shop with their kids.
"- You were a dick about it."
No I wasn't. Nowhere did I mention doing anything that would label me as a dick. I simply asked her if she was going to ring it up. That's not being a dick. That's saying, "Ok, let's stop wasting time, here. I don't care to hear your policies. We gonna do this? If not I'll be on my way."
"- To top it off, you left all your ***** on the counter, leaving her with a mess to clean up."
And hopefully it left a strong message: I won't give you my business if you step beyond your boundaries for something that isn't necessary. The entire point of the article.
"I know it's a stupid ***** law, but jesus ***** are you diggers some self-entitled ***** consumers."
I'm not an ***** consumer. Completely the opposite. If you're lucky enough to get my business, then I sure hope you don't do anything to ruin it. I wasn't trying to scam them or break any laws.
I was just doing my shopping and they took it upon themselves to do a check that didn't need to be done and it happened to inconvenience me. I didn't appreciate it, so I didn't give them my business at that point in time.
Perfectly legit policy of mine, just like how their policies are legit :) - NatalieMac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+36@eboskie1:
No, it's not. If you haven't stolen anything, the store cannot do anything to you if you set off the alarm. The alarms are basically useless pieces of equipment whose only real value is to intimidate customers.
You cannot be convicted of shoplifting unless a store employee witnessed:
1. You removing the item from the shelf or display in the store
2. You concealing the item on your person
3. You *not* putting the item back in another part of the store - they have to watch you without blinking basically
4. You leaving the store with the concealed item still on your person
The specifics of that vary from state to state, but nobody can harrass you or stop you becuase you set off the alarm - as long as you actually did not steal anything and therefore there's no way an employee could have witnessed you shoplifting.
The alarms work - public shame and humilation are great motivators. I worked in a store that had them and they were occasionally set off by calculators, garage door openers, remote-entry keychains, and lots of other little electronic things, including security tags that the store staff had forgotten to deactivate. Nine times out of ten, we simply ignored the alarms when they were set off, and if the customers did stop, we would just wave them on and tell them to go ahead.
One time I waited on a little old woman and she was buying a box set of something or other. I deactivated three security tags and mentioned to her that I might have missed one that was hidden somewhere, so if she set off the alarms on her way out, she could just ignore them. She said, "Oh, you have to find all of them and fix them. I'm old and my back will give out if a security guard jumps on me."
It was all I could do not to fall over laughing. Security guard? Jumping on her? Give me a break. - Spanktacular, on 10/12/2007, -4/+40Being treated as a suspected criminal instead of a valued customer is insulting and a waste of my (the customer) valuable time.
- sockpuppets, on 10/12/2007, -3/+38I do not wait in line, just like this guy. However I DO wait at costco because it's part of the "club rules." I have set off those sensormatics when the clerk failed to deactivate my tag and just kept walking. They asked me back in, I declined and that was it. Bottom line is as long as I don't have to wait in line after I just waited in line I usually try to help the poor door inspector out.
- beasty_dave_Mk2, on 10/12/2007, -6/+40"...STFU and just be thankful you're not working some retail job this holiday season..."
This ladies and gentlemen, is why you go to school and get an education. - sockpuppets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+34You should fill it with condoms, lube and porn and go there again. Or, a fake human head with a costco hat on it.
- halavais, on 10/12/2007, -1/+34So, do you think they should be allowed to search your backpack when you leave a store? If they want to stop me when I'm coming in, and say bags aren't allowed and need to be checked (e.g., the Strand bookstores in NYC), fine. Either yes, I'll do that, or no, I'll shop at Barnes & Noble. But if they've let me in with a pack, I'm walking out with that pack, and they aren't searching anything.
Likewise, if I've purchased something from them, the transaction is over, as far as I am concerned. At places like Best Buy, I stop, put the item in my backpack, and walk through the front door. If they want to physically stop me, go for it; I could use the money I will win in a lawsuit. Otherwise, I've paid for my stuff, and I'm leaving now. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -31/+65@Nougat
No its not... Trust me these people don't go to their supervisor and say "A person today said he doesn't like the policy" they go to their friends and say "I got 4 dickheaded ***** today that are more retarded than a snail"
If you want to make a statement to the management, make a phone call to the store afterwards and ask to talk to the manager.
@GMorgan
Most places would much rather lose your service than lose thousands of dollars of stolen property and the hours wasted making insurance claims on it. - tpodr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+34“I’m out the door as soon as you get out of the way.”
No need to wait. Any attempt to block this person's movement or obstruct his wish to leave amounts to false imprisonment or kidnapping. I am not kidding. The only people that can detain are police officers.
Just walk by the exit security personal with a polite "no thank you" to any request examine your personal property or obstruct your movement. - Sp0rAdiC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+33I think civil liberties rank a little higher than store rules.
- tjr7n, on 10/12/2007, -1/+33The problem is after you've paid for it and it's in the bag, in your possession, it is no longer their property.
They are trying to go through your property. I don't like people I don't know going through my stuff while implicitly accusing me of theft. - sjbdallas, on 10/12/2007, -1/+32I would gladly spend 2 hours protecting my rights instead of 2 seconds giving them up.
- spyd3rweb, on 10/28/2007, -9/+40just say no, and walk out the door, i guarantee it will blow their minds. they cant even come after you unless they actually saw you steal something.
- halavais, on 10/12/2007, -0/+30Oh, and FWIW, I have worked retail, and done so during the holiday season, and realize it's hard work. But I wouldn't work somewhere that required me to treat customers like criminals. The very best approach to loss prevention is to pay attention to customers and treat them well. Ignoring them long enough for them to stuff things under their clothes, and then searching them on the way out, is simply poor customer service.
- clysmth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+29I had to register to post a comment. The "Just say, 'no', and walk out" method backfired for me. When I did just this at a Wal-Mart in southern California, I was placed under citizen's request next to my car by a security guard, made to come back to the store, asked to come inside (I refused), sat outside on the concrete, and patted down in the spread-eagle position by an officer, all before I was repeatedly asked for permission to search. I told the officer that he could search my cart (I was obstinate, but not that obstinate) but that the store employee could not. Instead, the officer, berating me for involving three city police officers, asked the employee to check the tapes. He made a show of it (returning outside twice to ask me to just go ahead and allow a search) before coming back out and shrugging. I was let go. I wasn't asked not to return.
I don't have a problem with justifiable searches by uniformed police officers. I'm not going to make an argument against the case for finding "probable cause" in the chiming of a door alarm (this despite the fact that the Supreme Court, both Federal and in many states, has repeatedly declared exit door alarms are not probable cause for a search because they do not necessarily imply injury and therefore a crime). I will say that I have no intention of letting a store employee rummage through my stuff. I have no contract with them, like I do with Sam's Club. If the same situation had happened at Sam's, I would have let them check my bags. I will not do that at a Wal-Mart. - gnomeh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+29Yeah, I work in retail and when the buzzer goes off even my manager conceded "We can't do anything but nicely ask them to come back. We have no right to keep them here"
- Scarblac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+29The fact that retail jobs suck doesn't mean people should just mindlessly consent to being checked.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+30"um, that's the law dude. Everyone with you has to be 21 for anyone to buy beer."
No it's not. It's 21 to purchase, and depending on state, to possess and consume. In my state, it's all 3, and at not point whatsoever was the idea given to them that it would be for her. I pushed the cart, I unloaded the stuff, and I was paying.
But if that was the case, each person going shopping with their kids would have to be denied simply because there was a minor with them.
She didn't even drink beer, so there was no reason whatsoever for them to assume it was even for her. Even if she was 21, I would still say, "She's not buying it, I am." The main issue is I could walk her out to the car with them knowing she was with me, reenter the store, then buy the alcohol. The issue here is that to do so would be an inconvenience to me, and I don't appreciate that.
Plus I'm sure they wished that they would've just rang it up after I just left all the stuff at that register with people behind me waiting. - MegaSilver, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28I have a fun time at Costco. I routinely go with my wife and mother-in-law. We have our own cards, but take the same vehicle and use the same cart. We check-out as two different transactions. When they "check our receipt for errors", I always just give them ONE receipt. I have done this dozens of times and they never say a thing. I just walked out the door with twice the number of goods as the receipt checked out to be. What's the point?
- threepio, on 10/12/2007, -2/+29The verification process at the door is a pain - simplest solution for the company and for the customer is for the person who rang the sale through to accompany the customer to the door, bag the items and thank them for visiting. It's what I did when I worked in the stores and I never had a single complaint.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28@ 98Acura:
Disney let me in. They made me show photo ID which is almost as bad. One lady was OK about it. Another one got huffy and told me it wasn't stored, blah, blah, blah. I told her it doesn't matter, I'm not scanning.
"Your papers please?" Does that sound familiar to anyone??? - halavais, on 10/12/2007, -5/+30You are making their work easier: one less cart for them to check.
- bignickolson, on 10/12/2007, -2/+28Because once you bought it...It's YOUR property...that's the whole point.
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