Me and DaNece went to Wal-Mart yesterday and as we were leaving an employee at the door asked us to see our receipt.
This is the type of thing that just irritates the crap out of me. So I told him no, I would not show him my receipt. Of course he didn't really know what to do at that point, so he called a manager over. I explained to the manager that, unless they were accusing me of shoplifting, they could not require me to show any receipt and could not stop me from leaving the store. The manager explained that it was a company policy during the holidays that all customers show their receipt, and that it was such a 'small, simple thing' that he didn't understand what the problem was.
Seriously? They are going to inconvenience every customer who purchases something from their store in an ineffective attempt to curb shoplifting? And that is a small, simple thing? He can't possibly fathom why somebody would not want to jump through hoops to get from the check-out to their car?
Maybe I'm just an asshole, but that is complete crap to me so I continued to refuse showing my receipt. Eventually he said he would let us out 'this once' without showing our receipt. So we left the store and marveled at the ridiculousness of it all. I don't generally like going to wal-mart anyway, but this is just another reason to avoid the bulk box retailer.
Next time you go to Wal-Mart and they ask you for your receipt politely decline, and keep the following in mind:
- As far as legality goes, unless a retailer is accusing you of shoplifting, as defined by ARS 13-1805, they cannot legally detain you. Not showing your receipt is not a valid reason to accuse somebody of shoplifting. So you can just walk on out to your car and ignore the hell out of the guy at the door. If he stops you, just get a manager involved and inform them that if they aren't accusing you of theft then they can't hold you, and they need to retrain their employees to understand that the company policy is not a higher power than the state law.
- If they ARE accusing you of shoplifting then they can detain you using 'reasonable force' for a 'reasonable amount of time'. Basically they can stop you from running, and hold you until the local law enforcement is called. This is called 'Shopkeeper Privileges'. Of course if they ARE accusing you of shoplifting you can just show them your receipt, and then write a fun letter to management.
- None of this applies if you are at a membership-based store like Sam's Club or Costco. The terms of service that you signed when you became a member require you to show your receipt if asked.
</rant off>
3 comments:
You can count on me Tombo! That sort of illegal, intimidating action always angers me.
Nice photo of your Dad and his pup..glad you had such a good time together:)
Stupid f-ing wal mart...it's stupid. I mean, perhaps if you were hauling out a big screen tv they would have cause to worry? Then again...they usually put big stickers on those kind of things...whatever! I also thought it was illegal to accuse someone of shoplifting until they LEFT the store WITH the items...
SOLB - Glad I'm not the only one! And yeah, the trip to OK was a blast! :)
Sadira - If a business suspects you of shoplifting (sees you concealing items, swapping tags, using false identity, not paying etc) they can stop you once your intent is clear. Most of the time this is considered anywhere past the register, since that is the point past which a thief can't say something was an accident. In wal-mart's case they define that point at the door, even though the guy checking your receipt has no way to know if they actually suspect you of theft.
In a shop like yours that point gets a little fuzzy, so outside makes more sense for shopkeeper's privileges.
Post a Comment