evil stores

[sumbride]

Last Christmas I went into Toys R Us to buy a doll for my neice. It was $15. I stood in line for 30 minutes and when it was FINALLY my turn at the check out, the clerk asked for my phone number. I said "I don''t give that out." He said "I can''t ring you up without it." I said "yes you can". He argued with me for about 4 minutes when my now FI screamed at him "MAKE ONE UP!!!!" He still refused. I then told him my phone number was 555-555-5555 and he typed that in without blinking. What a freakin'' idiot. That store is now closed. I wonder if it was a problem with management or just bad customer service....

At Lowes a couple of months ago, I noticed that the clerk flipped through the phone number thing without asking me. I said "thanks" and he said "I don''t like asking people for their phone numbers... it''s awkward and people think I''m hitting on them... plus it''s not like we really need that information." I always look for him when I''m there. A clerk that gets it!

 

[flopkins]

ok maybe it''s just me, but why would you continue to shop at a store that has policies that you disagree with?! My feeling is, if you don''t like it, don''t spend your money there.... if you do, then you''re implicitly supporting the store and it''s policies, whether you like it or not! I mean, obviously not everyone has to like it, but no one is forcing you to shop there either! If you want the low prices of Costco and WalMart, there''s obviously a reason why they can keep the prices low, and that includes their ''shrinkage'' policy of checking receipts!

Personally, I don''t shop at Walmart because of their company practices (not because of their receipt checking, but the treatment of employees, etc... ) But I do shop at Costco, and I can''t say I enjoy having my receipt checked, but I *have* seen them catch ppl smuggling tons of extra stuff out of the store...

 

[zdrastvootya]

I have a personal boycott going against Walmart. I think they''re evil, based on some anti-union memos that got published up here in Canada. Mrs. Z is annoyed about this, because the big W sells things cheap. Draconian security measures are just another strike against them for me.

I got stopped at a supermarket when I tripped the detector going INTO the store. Security made me empty my pockets (while everyone stared from the checkout line). Surprisingly, they didn''t find any groceries (nor weapons of mass destruction). In hindsight, I should have called out management. As long as everyone is staring, might as well put on a show.

Z.

 

[Christa]

Date: 12/4/2006 3:21:07 PM
Author: sumbride
Last Christmas I went into Toys R Us to buy a doll for my neice. It was $15. I stood in line for 30 minutes and when it was FINALLY my turn at the check out, the clerk asked for my phone number. I said ''I don''t give that out.'' He said ''I can''t ring you up without it.'' I said ''yes you can''. He argued with me for about 4 minutes when my now FI screamed at him ''MAKE ONE UP!!!!'' He still refused. I then told him my phone number was 555-555-5555 and he typed that in without blinking. What a freakin'' idiot. That store is now closed. I wonder if it was a problem with management or just bad customer service....

At Lowes a couple of months ago, I noticed that the clerk flipped through the phone number thing without asking me. I said ''thanks'' and he said ''I don''t like asking people for their phone numbers... it''s awkward and people think I''m hitting on them... plus it''s not like we really need that information.'' I always look for him when I''m there. A clerk that gets it!

Hee hee, I like it. I usually just get asked for my zip code, which I''ve been told is their way of pinpointing where they might want to open new stores.

 

[Christa]

Date: 12/4/2006 3:25:19 PM
Author: flopkins
ok maybe it''s just me, but why would you continue to shop at a store that has policies that you disagree with?! My feeling is, if you don''t like it, don''t spend your money there.... if you do, then you''re implicitly supporting the store and it''s policies, whether you like it or not! I mean, obviously not everyone has to like it, but no one is forcing you to shop there either! If you want the low prices of Costco and WalMart, there''s obviously a reason why they can keep the prices low, and that includes their ''shrinkage'' policy of checking receipts!

Personally, I don''t shop at Walmart because of their company practices (not because of their receipt checking, but the treatment of employees, etc... ) But I do shop at Costco, and I can''t say I enjoy having my receipt checked, but I *have* seen them catch ppl smuggling tons of extra stuff out of the store...

Exactly.

 

[codex57]

Was at Costco last nite. Finally got a receipt checker person who did their job. Was making sure everyone had the requisite number of items in their cart that their receipt said they did. If it helps Costco keep their prices low, I have no problems waiting an extra 10 seconds (if that).

What's so wrong with Walmart? I know they supposedly made workers work through their lunch times. But that's supposedly stopped now. What else do they do? Maybe it's cuz I'm in CA so there really aren't any more mom & pop stores for them to put out of business, but I don't see why they're so horrible. They seem to hire all the people who could use money but other companies won't hire for various reasons.

 

[strmrdr]

just out of high school I worked in a grocery store that had a street reputation of being the store you did not want to steal from.
The pros avoided it and the punk kids got arrested to the tune of 5-10 a day on average.
They didn''t have a receipt checker or any other annoying things.
They had cameras and a well trained and well paid staff that got a bonus for every conviction.
They also always pressed charges and always showed up if needed at court.
There for the cops always came out and the prosecutor always pressed charges.
Most store don''t bother helping with the investigation and conviction then wonder why the cops and prosecutors wont work with them.
Every one that was caught while I was working there either was convicted or pleaded guilty.
They still have the same system today nearly 20 years later and it works.
One of the guys who I ran into the other day still works there from then and I asked him about it and he said that shoplifting is way down but they are busting a lot of people for stealing wallets and checkbooks out of women''s purses.

 

[starryeyed]

Wow, sadly, that grocery store sounds like a dying breed. It seems like today workers aren''t really accountable and they aren''t vested. This store sounds like the employees really care, which is great and is RARE.

 

[monarch64]

Storm, that is really interesting! I also worked in a grocery store my senior year of high school as a cashier, and I was never taught any loss prevention policies/procedures, which, looking back, was unfortunate, because I think a lot of the cashier staff were stealing...the lady who ran the bookeeping end who taught me how to count down at night ended up getting proscuted for embezzling a couple years after I stopped working there when I was in college! Maybe if the owner/manager of the store had made it imperative that all the front-end staff have knowledge of LP, that wouldn''t have happened.

Any other company I''ve worked for out of high school (let me count...about 6) I was trained pretty extensively first as a salesperson, and then as management, on loss prevention/shrink. As a smart business operation who wants to make money, you really have to have every person working for you knowledgeable about LP, and all the policies/procedures that go along with it. What''s tough, though, is blending loss prevention with good customer service. Many retail employees who work on an hourly, not salary basis just don''t care about the company they work for. They are there for the paycheck and the discount, and it really doesn''t matter to them whether the store is successful or not. Thus you have many "inside" jobs, such as the ones I''ve described above. Although I''m no longer involved in that industry, and would love to present further scenarios here to help you all understand why some of the policies or procedures are in place, there is a possibility that I may go back into the field at some time and I would hate to close that door by divulging certain things in a public forum, even though I am supposedly anonymous here.

After all, PS does have my personal information, and heaven forbid it''s ever shared, or anyone else figures out who I am from my 2600 posts, lol!