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Sorry you had to go though that
Especially if you were not doing anything to cause them to follow you.
Was This Home Depot?
Exactly.
Actually, it was Kmart! The guy kept asking me what I'd done with the VHS tapes I'd "stolen". (This was back in the mid-80's.) At that time, I didn't even have a VCR! And I didn't remember looking at the tapes at all. It was just weird; I was only browsing.
Making shoplifting expensive for the shoplifter is an excellent way to reduce it. If courts would lock people up for significant periods it would be even better but they won't. Let's work to have people thrown into jail for a year for stealing a pair of gloves. When that that begins to happen I believe that these "victims" will somehow no longer have clerks not seeing their "purchases".
Then there's always the good old back room for some immediate justice.
But you are suggesting that everybody stopped by store security is actually shop lifting. This case is a perfect example of why it is extortion. If this guy wanted to steal the gloves he would not have put them on top of the lumber.
The Fry's Electronics here do the receipt checking thing as well, which is why I no longer shop there. I get that they have shop lifting problems, but accusing every single one of your customers of stealing isn't the way to resolve the problem.
The club stores like Costco and Sam's are a little different. For the most part, it would be difficult to actually shoplift much, since most things are pretty big or are multipacks. Maybe you could stuff a piece of clothing down your pants, but most times I'm at Costco, it's pretty busy. Too many sightlines to make shoplifting a sure thing, I'd think. When I was a member at Sam's in Tucson, it was the same way.
But you are suggesting that everybody stopped by store security is actually shop lifting. This case is a perfect example of why it is extortion. If this guy wanted to steal the gloves he would not have put them on top of the lumber.
EXACTLY ... if he put them "absentmindedly" in his pockets, yes that indicates guilt but if he put them on top of the lumber that absolves him of anything criminal, it's an oversight on the employees part ...
I would like to see Home Depot's lawyers tell a judge why a guy who bought $1500 in lumber needed to pay them over $600 for $8 worth of gloves that most likely their own cashier just forgot to scan.
What is also troubling is that the store security was able to detain the customer - in handcuffs! They should have called the police. If, by chance, the rent-a-cop was a sworn officer in his day job, all the more reason he should have known better.
They were probably only "able" to detain the guys because they willingly went back in the store with him. I would have told him it was a mistake and he could have the gloves or $10 and if he touched me or continued to harrass me I would be happy to call the police for him and I would be the one filing charges.
The Fry's Electronics here do the receipt checking thing as well, which is why I no longer shop there. I get that they have shop lifting problems, but accusing every single one of your customers of stealing isn't the way to resolve the problem.
You're perfectly free to think that, but it doesn't bug me if they're checking everyone. Best Buy does it as well as does CostCo.
I had a Target employee chase me down as I was leaving when I took my grandmother shopping. My guess is I got "made" when I spent several minutes opening boxes looking for a car charger (people are constantly stealing either the cable or the part that plugs into the cigarette lighter) for one that still had both parts. I even left all the boxes out and told an employee. No good deed goes unpunished. After thoroughly checking both of our receipts against the content they let us go. Definitely awkward standing there for several minutes with people walking by.
Yes, we are talking here about the big box stores. Yes, people will say "Oh they can afford some losses." But who pays for these losses? WE DO! And don't forget, countless businesses have gone under due to shoplifting. If you do not want to risk the humiliation and possible arrest, DO NOT SHOPLIFT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!
California law allows merchants to do pretty much anything they want if they think you're shoplifting, besides strip-search you or shoot you, unfortunately.
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