'Nother pet peeve
 So I'm really pressed for time last week, and I really need some envelopes (and a coffee grinder per a previous post), so I commit what probably amounts to the 8th deadly sin - I stop at Wal-Mart 'cause I'm passing by and think I can save some time. I get the envelopes and a coffee grinder, and then I wait in line to pay. And I pay. Then I start walking out of the store. I've really saved a good deal of time. Until I see the line to get out, yes you read that right, OUT of the store. You see, there's this woman checking everybody's receipt and going through their bags to ensure that everyone who shops there isn't a thief. So I walk past her and go out the other door. And she starts yelling, "Sir, sir, I need to check your receipt." To which I politely reply, "No, you don't." To which she replies, "Yes, I do." To which I reply, "Thank you, but I just bought and paid for this stuff. It's mine now, and I'm leaving with it now." "But I have to check to make sure it matches with your receipt," she says. "I'm pretty sure that Michigan law requires a reasonable suspicion that I've taken something before you search me as I'm leaving your store, which obviously isn't the situation, because you're simply searching everybody as they leave, and we both know not everybody is a thief," I state with a smile on my face. "That's not reasonable." "But everybody's receipt has to be checked to make sure it matches," she states. "Thank you for offering to check mine, but I have to go, and since this stuff belongs to me and not you, you can't go through my stuff anyway," I say. And I leave wondering how likely it is that I'll be arrested in the parking lot for failing to have my stuff gone through as I left the store. Of course, the people in line hear this conversation and begin moving through the doors themselves, as if the little cartoon bubble appeared over their heads, saying, "He's got a pretty good point there." And the girls, well, as soon as we get into the car, they make fun of me for being a grouch. I'm NEVER, EVER going back, that's for sure. Hopefully after they open the new one farther away, they'll close this one. UPDATE: I'm apparently not the only one thinking about this issue. Read more here. |
posted by trusty getto at 8:47 AM
Comments on "'Nother pet peeve"
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trusty getto said ... (7:13 AM) :
post a commentHave I told you lately that I love you? This is hysterical! That poor woman was probably beside herself. She had a job to do and dammit, she was going to do it. And you messed it up! I love that everyone else decided to follow you. That Wal-Mart employee won't be right for days.
But you were absolutely right. Bravo for not being a sheep!
You were absolutely right. I've discussed this issue with my friends who are in military law enforcement, and I came to the same conclusion they did: if they ask to check your bag and receipt, you say "Not without a law enforcement officer present" and keep on walking. It might be a different situation if you set off the alarm, though.
In fact, my very first writing assigment in Legal Research & Writing was on the issue of a false imprisonment claim where the defendants (store owners) were relying on a defense contained in a statute that allows them to detain people when they have a reasonable suspicion of theft. I think that the cases we were allowed to use were from Michigan, actually.
I'm amazed, however, that you actually saved time by going to Wal-Mart. Usually their checkout lanes are slow and the lines are long.
Wow! Are you talking about our local Walmart on Ellsworth Road? Becuase I'm in there about once every 10 days and I've NEVER had someone say they had to go through everyone's bag. I've never even seen a line like that. So, unless something changed from the last time I was in there (about 10 days ago), that bit was highly unusual.
I'm with you, though. There is no way I would stand there and let someone check everything against my receipt. If I didn't follow your example, it's because I would be yelling for the manager. I did that once at Michael's when they instituted the same sort of search procedures. The practice ended rather quickly in that store and I sincerely hope I had something to do with it.
ROFLMFAO! Brillian! (said with my best Guinnees beer voice)
I meant Brilliant!
Does this differ at all from Costco? It's a "club" that requires a membership fee, which leads me to believe that somewhere in very small print in their membership rules that states, "members may be probed in any orafice above the neck while store representatives inspect members' receipts." Or something like that. Their workers check your receipt as you leave the store...but I really can't say what they're looking for, because the "inspection" takes all of 1.5 seconds.
I abhor WalMart. Good for you! :)
Thinking about this a bit more, maybe they suspected a particular person of shoplifting but didn't have enough evidence to actually stop him/her, and so they did the line thing. It's possible anyway.
I'm not sure if Costco/Sam's Club is any different. The issue probably hasn't been litigated because, well, nobody wants to be on the losing side.
Best Buy even marks the receipt and someway and says you can't return anything unless the receipt has been marked. I have no idea what that's about. But I'm a sheep. I just put up with it.
Fight The Man for me, trusty.
Wow, good info, thanks!!
I've noticed that Wal mart products are tricked up. For example, red heart yarn product. At the nice craft store it is more expensive, and Walmart "appears" so cheap, but if you look closely, the oz are a bit smaller and the quality of the yarn seems slightly different.
I think Walmart is selling a type of knock off. So you think you are buying your normal red heart yarn....... but on closer look, it is not "exactly" what you think it is.
That seems wrong, too.
The Wal-Mart near me doesn't check every receipt, but they do insist on checking the receipt of any customer who's taking something out without a bag. So if you're buying something that's too large for a bag they'll check your receipt, even if they just saw you walk away from the checkout stand.
On the other hand, an unscrupulous type could easily walk off with a bunch of stuff simply by bringing in empty bags (or going to a vacant register and grabbing a few) and filling them up, then walking out of the store with impunity while the guy who just paid for a trash barrel is getting his receipt checked.
The Sam's Club on the same property, however, stops everyone to check the receipts, although usually it's more like almost-not-quite pretending to check them. Usually it's just the marker/highlighter scribble and off you go.
BEAUTIFUL!!! What an incredible way to give a brief (albeit, useful) civics lesson to the sheep shopping at Wal-Mart.
Just like those Americans who argue they have no problem with illegal NSA wiretaps because, "I haven't done anything wrong," shoppers using the same rationale, who agree to be searched for no good reason, miss the point. The basis for all our freedoms (and our system of government) is that no one has the right to pry into our business without reasonable suspicion. What we say or read or how we dress or what color our skin is provides no basis for police or the government to suspect us of being criminals. Unfortunately, too many Americans have decided giving up rights is a small price to pay for safety. The criminals and terrorists have indeed won.
To quote Ben Franklin (why did he hate America?), "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
As far as Best Buy, Yellojkt, I don't think that there's any reason legally that they have to accept returns. Businesses just do it because it's good business, so what they're doing sounds smart if they're worried about shoplifting (and they should be since CDs are so easy to steal).
*snicker* If they ever make a movie about you, I'm all over it. I love leaders. As for going into Walmart, I've not yet recovered from the last time I went there.
Here's another reason to hate Wal-Mart, as if you needed it...
We live right outside the Philly city line, and the closest Wal-Mart (which we go to as an absolute last resort) serves, and is staffed by, a predominantly African-American population. There is a merchandise checker at the door, and it never fails: the merchandise checker, who is invariably African-American, checks the bags/carts of every African-American patron who leaves the store, but ALWAYS waves me through. I could have a greeting card, a bottle of laundry detergent, or a DVD player - it doesn't matter, I'm free to go. It's Reverse Racial Profiling in action! Doesn't matter whether I hold out the receipt for viewing - I'm free to walk. Go figure.
Fight those Fascist Walmart stooges!
Best story ever. Love it.
The general consensus on blogs is that Wal-Mart is evil. Yet we all continue to patronize this giant empire. Including myself.
Though, here lately, I have been avoiding that place like the plague. I feed our family of six on a strict budget. I clip a lot of coupons and do a lot of price comparisons. In my area, Wal-Mart is around five to ten percent higher than our local grocery store. It is all about convenience. I think we all have the illusion that Wal-Mart is more convenient for one stop shopping.
In reality, by the time you hunt down your items and wait in ridiculously long lines, you would be better off going to the corner grocer or the pharmacy. At least these places do not feel obligated to search your bags after patronizing their store.
Love it!
We have cute little "detectors" to pass through here that never fail to beep when I walk through-even if I just bought toilet paper. How very annoying.
Bravo!
REVISED JUDICATURE ACT OF 1961 (EXCERPT)
Act 236 of 1961
600.2917 Liability of library, merchant, agent, or independent contractor for conduct involving person suspected of larceny of goods or library materials, or of violating § 750.356c or § 750.356d; definitions.
Sec. 2917.
(1) In a civil action against a library or merchant, an agent of the library or merchant, or an independent contractor providing security for the library or merchant for false imprisonment, unlawful arrest, assault, battery, libel, or slander, if the claim arises out of conduct involving a person suspected of removing or of attempting to remove, without right or permission, goods held for sale in a store from the store or library materials from a library, or of violating section 356c or 356d of the Michigan penal code, Act No. 328 of the Public Acts of 1931, being sections 750.356c and 750.356d of the Michigan Compiled Laws, and if the merchant, library, agent, or independent contractor had probable cause for believing and did believe that the plaintiff had committed or aided or abetted in the larceny of goods held for sale in the store, or of library materials, or in the violation of section 356c or 356d of Act No. 328 of the Public Acts of 1931, damages for or resulting from mental anguish or punitive, exemplary, or aggravated damages shall not be allowed a plaintiff, unless it is proved that the merchant, library, agent, or independent contractor used unreasonable force, detained the plaintiff an unreasonable length of time, acted with unreasonable disregard of the plaintiff's rights or sensibilities, or acted with intent to injure the plaintiff
Yep, that's my point, that they must meet the "probable cause" standard believing that the customer left with something they stole, which they obviously can't as they merely search everyone, and they cannot act with "unreasonable disregard for the plaintiff's rights" which they do, as they know the items in the bag were just bought seconds before at the checkout counter.
Thanks for the citation :)