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I'm sorry for the way you were treated -- but,if you're shopping in a "fairly iffy" part of town, you should probably expect to be treated as "fairly iffy".
I live in a high-crime area and I totally understand a store guard's being suspicious of everyone who walks in the door (myself included).
Where I used to live in socal, it was a 'good' area but there was a lot of gang problems too. The Walmart had a large problem with theft. You couldn't bring in anything other than a purse, and had to have backpacks held by them until you were done shopping. They also had someone compare sacks to receipt and they had to verify any higher tickted items directly with the receipt. The theft things you walked through were supposed to catch that but half the time the clerks didn't shut them off properly.
I could understand that, given the area and the problem. The biggest gripe was the checkers were too 'busy' to verify you had all your stuff unless you stood there and ask them too. It was across the street but they closed at nine and usually I bought stuff I needed then.
But they would not have picked up your bags and sat them elsewhere, nor left them unattended. I saw them catch a few shoplifters who had more in the bag than they paid for, and they were distracted while the police were called so they could leave the store with their loot, but the stuff was never left alone.
This guard needs to be reported since even when they check for real reasons, they don't do that.
Where I live now they don't check anything but big boxes or electronics which is noted before you get to the door. Here, the same practice as in California would not go over well, but the circumstances are different. I think most stores base this on the area and the theft rate rather than it being a blanket policy.
I thought you were asking about when they check your shopping bags on the way out. I refuse to go to Costco because they make you stop between the checkout and the door to get checked while your ice cream and frozen goods melt away. There is nothing you can grab between the checkout and the door! I don't see the need for it! And like you say, sometimes you get a very rude person who can make you feel like crap. I don't need that.
I often walk for errands and have a canvas bag to carry stuff. I often go into a store with something from another store already in the bag. I usually don't have a problem, but once I went to the drugstore for a few items, then went to the liquor store. I had my bag opened sitting on the counter ready for the clerk to put the bottle in. He raised his voice and said what's in here? Did you pay for this? I got irked and asked if he sold toothpaste and Mr. Clean pads in his store. He said nooooo and I just stood there with a raised eyebrow. He didn't even have the decency to apologize, in fact he added that he had no way of knowing if they're paid for, in an indignant tone. I'dve walked out but my stuff was already paid for.
I had stores within walking distance in California, and took my backpack. I ALWAYS ask if I could bring it in. Most had you put it with the cashier. I never had a problem with anything dissapearing from my backpack and understood that they were inviting shoplifters to ply their trade if everyone could carry around their stuff. I never mixed items from stores. The sack from one place and the reciept were together.
It's unfortunate that honest people have to be inconvienced by the dishonest, but I'm sure they had plenty of experience with that sort too. Remember everything stolen from a store is paid for by the prices being raised for honest people to pay. They could have all the items behind a counter and you have to ask for them, and then they'd know the theives were staff, but we LIKE the open layout of stores, and so do thieves. I'll never begrudge a store wanting me to leave my bag back by the checker and that way nobody could question what's inside.
If your shopping multiple places tell them you have items from other stores and ask their policy and nobody has to be upset.
In the past year or so, I've been on this mission of boycotting stores with rude and inconsistent bag checks. The incident that prompted this thread happened a couple days ago. I went to a small grocery store to pick up two items on my way home (the store was in a low income, fairly iffy area of Chicago). The second I step foot in the door, the security guard says "I need to take your bag". No "hello, welcome. I just need to check in your bag please", just a barked out command. I was carrying my Macbook Pro and some important documents with me, but figured it wouldn't take me long. The security guard takes my bag, drops it on the ground against the wall near the doors, then proceeds to walk away. Excuse me?? I spent less than 2 minutes in that store before realizing that my wallet was in the bag and became highly nervous when I looked up and saw customers lingering near my bag. I went over, grabbed my bag, was stopped or questioned by no one or made to show my tag, and left. Never saw the guard again. Seriously, anyone could have taken my bag and just walked out. Something similar happened at a CVS, Walgreens, Family Dollar, and a local hair supply shop there there was a bag check that was barely attended to and bags were just left by a register/on the floor near the door/on the counter. Makes me think that if theft is such a problem that this policy is needed, wouldn't you look after these items a bit more closely so they won't be stolen?
Now, for the most part, I don't mind bag checks and some of my favorite mom&pop shops use them. But they have a more polite way of asking, have better customer service overall, and are actually attentive to the bags left in their possession. Having said all that, I HATE being treated like a thief the second a walk into a store. I HATE wishy-washy policies where I can't enter with my messenger bag but an older woman with a purse big enough to hold a large turkey gets an ok to proceed. I HATE the rudeness that accompanies this request at some stores. Don't drop my bag on the ground as if it was a bag on trash! It's ironic because this has mostly been happening in low income, black majority neighborhoods. As a black person, I've always heard tales of people being followed around in ritzy stores because it's assumed that they may steal and yet this has never happened to me and the only time I'm made to feel like a dishonest thief is at these places .
Ooh, okay, ranting aside, I think in the future I will be speaking to higher ups about this policy and may forever boycott stores with such policies unless they are able to provide good customer service (which includes watching over my personal belongings while I shop).
/soapbox
Before you berate the store manager , or higher up, take your complaint to Homeland Security and see how far you get.
I had stores within walking distance in California, and took my backpack. I ALWAYS ask if I could bring it in. Most had you put it with the cashier. I never had a problem with anything dissapearing from my backpack and understood that they were inviting shoplifters to ply their trade if everyone could carry around their stuff. I never mixed items from stores. The sack from one place and the reciept were together.
It's unfortunate that honest people have to be inconvienced by the dishonest, but I'm sure they had plenty of experience with that sort too. Remember everything stolen from a store is paid for by the prices being raised for honest people to pay. They could have all the items behind a counter and you have to ask for them, and then they'd know the theives were staff, but we LIKE the open layout of stores, and so do thieves. I'll never begrudge a store wanting me to leave my bag back by the checker and that way nobody could question what's inside.
If your shopping multiple places tell them you have items from other stores and ask their policy and nobody has to be upset.
I never go into a store that sells the same thing that's already in my bag. I could understand if the Walgreens clerk saw some Scope in my bag that I bought at Fred Meyer and thought I was stealing. But the guy at the liquor store was just being totally ignorant, accusing me of stealing from a different store cuz I had the other store's stuff in my bag.
The last time I saw a bagcheck on the way in was in the late 70's in NYC. You'd have to stop at a counter and they would give you a claim check for your bag. The most common areas were near Colleges and Universities in smaller stores. But once we hit the 80's the practice stopped. I guess with the economy the way it is, its coming back.
Hogwash, unless you can provide documented proof of this your post is just heresy.
No documented proof is necessary. Next time you walk into a BB, there is a person in a yellow shirt standing in front of a screen. That screen shows the multiple cameras around the store. That person is wearing a WalkieTalkie. Walk around the store and you will see employees who have them also. They can transfer phone calls to them and use them as a WT. The person in the yellow shirt is the greeter, inbound return checker, outbound reciept checker.
Location: The Circle City. Sometimes NE of Bagdad.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilVA
No documented proof is necessary. Next time you walk into a BB, there is a person in a yellow shirt standing in front of a screen. That screen shows the multiple cameras around the store. That person is wearing a WalkieTalkie. Walk around the store and you will see employees who have them also. They can transfer phone calls to them and use them as a WT. The person in the yellow shirt is the greeter, inbound return checker, outbound reciept checker.
We regularly shop at 2 different BB stores and neither one of them do what was described. If it does happen. I suspect it is because the store has experienced alot of theft. It is not store policy to follow shoppers around, but the will monitor for theft in various ways as most stores do.
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It is not store policy to follow shoppers around, but the will monitor for theft in various ways as most stores do.
