old bags new bags

"tell your employees that they should do whatever it takes to make
customers happy as long as it isn't totally unreasonable."
Evidently you have to make a purchase to get a bag at Sears. So that
is not as unreasonable as you complain it is.
But I am glad that the place where you recieved your haircut was
willing to give you a bag...but then you did not just walk in from the
mall and ask for one did you? You made a purchase.

And how "nice" was it of the hair salon to give you a bag? You were
getting a haircut there, so you were spending money there. If you
were just walking past, and decided to randomly stop in to ask them
for a bag (without buying anything), would you still EXPECT them to
give you a bag? These are all services stores provide for their
CUSTOMERS. It would have been nice and easy to just have been given a
bag, but you sound an awful lot like you feel ENTITLED to one, just
for having stepped into their store. You're not.

Wow for being such a laid back person. You sure seem quite the
opposite... lol ... If you were so laid back. Then this would not even
be an issue. You could have put the pj's back in your car. Or you
could have screamed and cried to the manager about not being able to
return them and the manager prob would have returned them. I worked at
Sears back in 2006. and we were not allowed to give out shopping bags
due to shoplifting and if one exception is made then exceptions have
to be made for everybody. And holding already purchased things at the
counter is also against policy, because employees do go on break and
then your item could be put back on the shelf. or you could claim that
you left more stuff with the cashier and then the company would be
responsible.

This is why I don't shop at Sears. Bad customer service. This was
truly a crazy incident.

I work in retail. In fact I am in the security end of it currently and
I know at many of the major retail stores (including the one I work
for) have strict policies about giving away company bags. The
reasoning behind these polices are exactly what others have mentioned
before: shoplifting, inventory, cost etc. I know at our store if an
associate gives out a bag to someone who asks they do get written up
for it for breaking the company policy. We've only had 1 complaint in
the 5 years I have been there and it was by an individual trying to
get a bag to shove merchandise in it they were going to try and steal.
It never hurts to ask or try as you did the with return (exceptions
can sometimes be made), but don't get angry with an associate who is
trying to do their job and they would be risking it going against
policy. Age has nothing to do with it.

to disagree. i've worked in restaurants/retail for half of my working
life. i rarely said NO to a customer unless it was something
completely insane. therefore, nobody's comment is going to change my
mind that this lady should've coughed over a stinking bag.

no manager in their right mind (and i've been a manager) would FIRE
someone for doing so. well, i take that back. if they're looking for a
reason to fire a crappy employee then they might. but no GOOD employee
would get fired by any respectable business for doing what the
customer wants when it's something so harmless. that's just pure
bologna.

so, if you don't want to agree to disagree...then don't wonder why i
keep responding to the ridiculous scenarios that people keep coming up
with.

Okay, I have read many of the replies to this thread and decided to
add my opinion based on 25+ years of retail and restaurant management
experience.

I would not have given you a bag. There are several reasons for it
including cost (more than you think), shoplifting, inventory (bags do
run out more often than you think), and many others. Why didn't you
simply take the PJ's back out to your car and then go back into the
mall?

Also, just because the woman was older doesn't mean she has no common
sense. Based on what you have written, you clearly don't understand
that company policies are in place for a reason. Just because you
don't like them doesn't make them any less important. Employees at
some of the companies I have worked for have been disciplined for
disobeying company policy no matter how minor it might be. You should
take that into consideration.

None of the stores I have worked for would have given you a bag or
change without buying something. You might think that defies common
sense but I assure you shoplifting and quick change artists cost
companies thousands of dollars a year. In this economy, no company can
afford to lose money on something like that if it can be reduced.

hey, there is some truth to the stereotypes.

no, i don't think everyone in the north are "mean, scary people," but
do they go out of their way to be nice? um, no.

there is some truth to the stereotypes about people in the south, too.
do we all have horrible accents and poor grammar? no...but most of us
say "ain't."

there are a lot of differences..like the gas stations. i've never had
anyone pump my gas. that was so weird...driving thru and having
someone pump the gas for you. i guess it's quicker and everyone is in
a hurry. maybe that's why nobody there has time to smile or ask how
you're doing because IN GENERAL they don't. we can swap stories all
day long, but the stereotypes don't get pulled out of thin air.

i'll just have to agree to disagree with a lot of you. nothing is
going to change my mind about this lady not giving me a stupid bag.

i've just worked in retail and fast food for way too long to believe
that it was something she couldn't do. maybe i was just fortunate to
have managers that taught me to give customers what they want. lose 25
cents today on a chicken leg (even if the customer is WRONG), but make
hundreds of dollars over the course of the year because that pain in
the butt customer will keep coming back. i guess that's why their
businesses are so successful.

there's also a difference in location. maybe some of you live in the
north where it's normal for fast food/retail employees to be rude. i
was shocked last summer when i visited family in new jersey. i could
go to a fast food joint, order my food, eat my food, and leave the
store without one employee ever saying a word to me. i could not
believe that. i would've been fired. i was always taught to say two
things to a customer to greet them, and two things when they leave.
for example, "hi. how are you?" and "bye. have a nice day." that was a
MINIMUM! when my family visits me they always talk about how different
it is as well. they aren't used to walking into gas stations where the
clerks aren't behind glass or bars. they aren't used to being smiled
at and spoken to when they go through drive thrus.

i'm used to people being friendly and going above and beyond just
because that's how it is - not because they have to. i'll give the
lady at sears the benefit of the doubt and assume she's a yankee.
that's the only way it would make sense to me.

In your other posts, you keep mentioning about "I would have broken
policy if that was the policy" (not exact words, I know.) The thing
is, if it truly IS a policy there and the cashier got caught breaking
it, she would be FIRED. In this economy, employers know that there
are THOUSANDS of people waiting to take the place of a fired employ.
That is, if they even hire another person. There are THOUSANDS (my
self included) that would kiss the shoes of a boss everyday if it was
Store policy just to have a job. I see WHY she didn't give you the
bag. I have worked fast food AND retail and I can tell you there are
some lame policies that some places have. I think that they have
gotten a bit worse over the last few years too. Would YOU be willing
to LOOSE you job over a 5 cent bag? I know if I was working (been off
since January, there just isn't anything out there) I would NOT be
willing to loose my job over a 5 cent bag.

I understand your frustration, and I do think that it would have been
nice if they had made an exception, but in my experience, Nicole is
100% correct. It is a common policy among retailers to refuse to give
out bags.

I also understand the points Jeffrey made about there being many other
ways to shoplift, but that does not mean that this is an uncommon way.
A person walking around a store, with a new bag and product in it, is
less likely to be suspected of stealing - unless someone actually
spots them putting stuff in the bag. A nice new bag looks like it was
just given out for a purchase and does not catch attention the same
way a back pack, duffle bag, beat up old bag or bag from another store
does.

Giving out bags is one of the things I typically say no to as well -
ranks right up there with making change for someone who is not
purchasing anything.

you'd have the same feelings if you were the customer who wanted water
(for free) when my restaurant only sold bottled water and i gave you a
cup.

or if you wanted 1/4 of your pizza to be cheese because your child
wouldn't eat pepperoni, even though our policy was to only do 1/2 and
1/2 pizzas..but i did it anyway cus it's really not that hard to tell
the cook to do so.

or if you wanted to take chicken bones home to your dog, but our
policy was not to give out bags or boxes...but i gave you a box
anyway.

or if your mother in the nursing home LOVED barbeque chicken strips,
but our policy was to ONLY barbeque the chicken wings because there
was no way to charge for the chicken strips...
but i barbequed them anyway.

it's obvious that i think i'm right and i'm not going to change my
mind. it's obvious that i'm not a person that has never worked in
retail or fast food, so i'm not a person that would NEVER understand
that corporations have POLICIES. i always used my common sense and my
human instinct when dealing with the public. i guess i expect other
people to do the same. after reading some of the responses, i realize
that not everyone is as laid back as i am. some people stick to POLICY
no matter what. i was never one of those people...and i never lost my
job. actually, i got tips in places like fast food restaurants where
tips are unheard of. i had people call back and brag on me to my
manager when i worked at a DRIVE THRU! who does that? i never have.

everyone doesn't have common sense....i now understand that. how silly
of me to expect someone to give me a plastic bag when i didn't make a
purchase that day!! i am now going to check myself into a crazy
house.

i guess i better go tell all the local stores that have bins outside
for people to place their plastic bags in for recycling that they
should remove them immediately because people might take those bags
and use them to shoplift!

That is horrible customer service.
Another instance where a clerk slapped a policy over someone's head
and angered them when simply handing over a bag would have delighted
them and WOWed them.
I can see not giving some random person a bag, but this lady had
obviously bought something and since she had other business to do at
the mall, carrying around pajamas and a receipt would be difficult.

i returned an outfit to wal mart yesterday. after i got my money back,
etc. i had the plastic bag i came in with sitting there in the buggy.
i handed it to the customer service lady and told her i didn't need
the bag which of course she took. that got me thinking....how many
people probably leave their used plastic bags when they return
something? and how many people probably return things to places like
wal mart or sears every day? i've probably given back 10 bags to sears
in my lifetime...and they can't give me one bag to put my item in that
i bought from their store because.....a bag is too expensive? they
probably had bags right there in the trash can that someone else had
left after they returned something.

i dunno, i still think i'm right. if i owned a business, i wouldn't be
happy to know that long time customers are getting ticked off over
something as goofy as A bag.

Most retailers have a policy about giving out a bag to someone that
hasn't bought anything... It is to deter shoplifting. My retail store
also has this policy. The thing is... You bought something! You had a
receipt to prove it! I don't know what the big deal is, and I think
she should've used some common sense when dealing with the situation,
rather than just spouting off policy!

Actually, this was policy at Macy's too. Those bags aren't cheap,
they're very expensive, even the plastic ones. Even though this
obviously wasn't the case with you, it also helps deter shoplifting.