Wal-Mart, Don't Treat Paying Customers Like Criminals!

my hubby works at walmart and I am in there all the time buying
diapers and food. I don't like having to put things such as a gallong
of milk in a bag and I ALWAYS get stopped to check my receipt for
things not in a bag. I have decided you can't leave walmart
completely unless you feel like a criminal. I understand people steal
but why should I, with 3 kids, a basket full of groceries, have to
stop, find receipt and then that one lil line showing I paid my $3.50
for the milk? overly insane

Wow...that is a bit much I would say. I would have been livid. Heck,
the store I shop at, I see the alarm go off all the time and the
employees don't even look! Those things get triggered off on nearly
everything.

You should have voiced your concerns to the store manager. If the
greeter was in the wrong, then they could have taken the time to
rectify the situation at the time.

The greeters aren't the sharpest tools in the shed. Sounds like they
had you doing their work for them. I would have done as suggested
before, I paid and I'll be on my way.

If this happens again (here or elsewhere), say "If you feel that a
crime has been committed, I invite you to contact the police.
Otherwise, I'll be on my way."

Yes, this escalates things. But at least it allows you to have what
you want: someone trained in law enforcement handling things.

I may be one of the few people who does not feel the greeter had any
right to search your belongings (i.e. your purchases). The last time I
was at Walmart, one of the employees asked to see my receipt as I
walked out the door. She did that for everyone. But that's as far as
it went

And I think that's as far as it should go. When I worked retail,
unless we had clear proof (like actually seeing the person steal an
item), we couldn't approach them, even if the security alarm went off.
If we really had a strong suspicion someone stole something, we were
to contact loss prevention or a manager.

But in most cases, rather than err on the side of offending a
customer, we didn't question them. That's why I feel this situation
was handled quite unprofessionally. The greeter sounds a little, uh,
"over-eager."

Well. . . that's how they determine if you may have stolen something.
Some people do steal things, and since the WalMart employees do not
know you, they cannot know if you have stolen something or not. A
good way to speed the process along is to know which items you've
purchased are likely to have set off the alarm (you'll usually see the
cashier tab or rub them on a pad or designated area of the register).
As far as being law enforcement, no, they are not. . . but they are a
theoretical line of defense against shoplifting all the same.

Funny thing is, where I used to work, we had no training or authority
to stop people who set off the alarm, so we mostly just waved them on.
People got angry about /that/, too. As a retail employee, you can't
win either way, so you just go with what you've been taught.

I appreciate the information

This is an illegal act that Walmart believes they are above the law
and still tries to enforce.

It is unlawful detention.

You can only stop someone after they've left the store, and if you saw
them steal an item. Just like if I saw you steal my wallet in front of
me, I can stop you and get it back. If I think you have something of
mine, but have no proof, then I can't detain you.

If you detain someone who hasn't stolen anything, then you are
violating their rights.

If a Walmart employee tried to detain me, and I hadn't stolen
anything, then it is within my right to defend my right to travel. The
person attempting the detention is initiating violence/force, and you
would be responding with violence/force.

When they first installed the sensors at the entrance/exit, the
greeters had to write down the offending product with the cashiers'
operator number. If the cashier had more than 3 items that were not
deactivated, then they were terminated. I hope this isn't the rule
still but those damn alarms go off constantly. Sometimes due to cell
phones and other equipment.

This greeter went overboard with checking out every little thing but
maybe that is how she was trained.

I had stopped at Walmart one evening for, of all things, a First
Response test (you can figure which one for yourself). It was the
only item I was purchasing.

For whatever reason it managed to set the sensors off (they have
security on those things?) and the elderly greeter takes the test from
my bag and flails it in the air, yelling to the cashier "Ethel! Did
you forget to deactivate this?" for everyone in the front of the store
to see.

I quickly took my item back from her and commented that if I had
wanted everyone to know my business, I'd have showed it off myself.

To which she replied "Well if you weren't doing things to get yourself
in such a predicament, you wouldn't have anything to worry about, now
would you!"

It was all I could do not to hit her!

So long story short, those greeters take their jobs WAY too seriously.

While I believe the employee had every right to stop you and check
your purchases against the receipt if she thought that was necessary,
she certainly did handle this in a very unprofessional, unkind manner.

Many times sensors are not de-activated at the register and will make
the alarm go off. When this happens I take my items over to the CS
desk ( located near the entrance/exit in ALL their stores) and ask
THEM to look through the packages. If there is something with a sensor
on it they can then either remove it or pass it over the scanner again
to deactivate it.
I NEVER allow the greeter to go through my packages if this happens.
They have no clue what to look for in most cases.

If this happens again, ask the greeter to walk you over to the CS desk
and that way he/she knows you are going to have this taken care of.

I do like how you ended your letter..."I don't really want anything
except for my concerns to be heard." More people should do theirs this
way.

Employees should ask to look in your bags, and should say something
like, perhaps a sensor did not deactivated at the register, while
checking the receipt for inconsistencies.

There is never an accusation, if there is a inconsistency, they are to
alert management who knows how to handle these situations.

It appears some retraining is necessary.


Good Day

There is a police car outside the Wal-Mart 9 out of 10 times I shop -
shoplifting is evidently a HUGE problem there.

I have rarely seen a police car outside any other establishment round
these parts in 15 years. Maybe 3 times.

Unlike you, I will almost surely NOT shop at Wal-Mart unless I don't
have a choice. I don't like the element the store attracts, and they
have precious little in product and zero in customer service to offer
me.

Why did you stop?

I never do.