Robby didn’t feel like showing his receipt to the Walmart receipt checker, and when the guy came after him, Robby ignored him. That’s when other shoppers started closing in on him, and why he started running.
First of all, I’d like to say that the general consensus of this story is split between “you’re a douchebag” and “you should sue them”. Being a long-time reader, I’ve seen many “detained illegally” type stories, and I know my rights more or less.
Being the last day for the $200 Xbox 360 Arcade with $100 gift card at Walmart and coincidentally also being console banned the same day, I was eager to try and score one. I called around and managed to find exactly one in Woodstock, GA on Highway 92 (about 30 minutes away), but they were unable to hold it for me. I make my way to the Walmart, and briskly walk towards the electronics department and am able to buy one there. I pay with cash and put the change and the receipt in my wallet (with a bunch of other change and receipts).
I leave the store, and as per usual, I don’t bother to show them my receipt since it’s not legally required, and there are about a dozen other people leaving at the same time. I go to my phone to set up GPS to find my way home, and I hear the greeter/bag checker yelling “RECEIPT! RECEIPT!” as I make my way towards my car. Apparently some Walmart patrons heard and decide to be good samaritans and come after me.
At this point running towards my car on the other side of the parking lot, one of them TACKLES ME, and I lose my right shoe a few yards away from where I land. The guy is pinning me down and easily weights twice as much as me, and I have the scrapes on the elbow, hand, and wrist to show for it. The greeter/bag checker catches up and grabs me by my arm, and I tell him to let go or I’ll press charges for assault. I tell him about three times, and he ends up taking the Xbox back inside the store.
I find my receipt amongst the others in my wallet and show it to the onlookers and the tackler’s cronies who all think I’m a thief. I take it inside and show it to the greeter/bag checker, he looks at it, still doesn’t believe I actually purchased it, gives it back, then needs to look at it again because he forgot to check the date/time. I really wish I had gotten a picture of the guy who tackled me so I could press charges and also post him on PeopleOfWalmart.com.
I guess everyone’s guilty until proven guilty at Walmart even if it’s not legally required to show receipt and they are not allowed to physically restrain you. Call the police? Fine. I’m sure they’ll love to hear that customer bought an Xbox 360.
Note: I deleted and re-published this post due to an error. Because of this, the first several comments were lost. My apologies.
(Photo: Vironevaeh)
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This makes me absolutely fucking livid. I hate receipt checkers, and I hate being treated like a thief. If one of those people tackled me I’m not sure how I’d react.
@gp1138:
The receipt checker didn’t tackle him–the other customers did. The receipt checker then came and “grabbed [his] arm”
@gp1138: Oh, I know EXACTLY how I’d react. Someone else is going home with a black eye.
@El_Fez: Yah. I am really sure you would punch someone who “easily weights twice as much” as you. I think I would pay to see that.
@SnoopyFish:
Wouldn’t it be cool if El_Fez weighed 500 pounds? It’d be like that BBC Planet Earth series when we see 2 one-ton walruses going at it over the attentions of a female.
@SnoopyFish: Just because you’re small you can’t scrap with someone significantly larger? You’ll find that size isn’t always a good predictor of fight outcomes
.
@cluberti: Ok, I want to watch you fight someone twice as heavy as you. Then I will listen.
@SnoopyFish: Eh, I weigh 250 and my Sensei can kick my balls from one end of the dojo to the other without breaking a sweat.
@Chumas:
Your sensei isn’t also a Walmart receipt checker is he? In that case I would probably hand it over.
I have this odd picture in my head of Fu Man Chu with long painted fingernails, and a blue vest with a smiley face.
@SnoopyFish: *raises hand* Done. And it was someone with comparable training. Size is not always a good indicator, but if OFTEN is.
@katstermonster: Hahahaha good one. Totally agree with you on that one. I did karate as a kid, and though very few kids were actually taller, there were a lot who were twice as big
@cluberti: Not always, no, but it is if the fight starts with you getting tackled to the ground. At that point it’s pretty much over.
@SnoopyFish:
A) How do you know I don’t know how to take care of myself? I could have taken self defense course or know some kung fu or something?
B) If they clock in at 500 pounds, the only thing they’ll be chasing down is a doughnut.
@SnoopyFish: Honestly, fight or flight takes over, you never know what can happen.
@gp1138: I know this puts me in the minority, but OP’s a douchebag. He didn’t have a bag of M&Ms, he was walking out with a freaking Xbox under his arm.
Ordinarily I don’t support showing your receipt, but if the receipt-checker lets someone just saunter out with a stolen Xbox, he might lose his job. Just show the poor guy making minimum wage your receipt for a second.
Also, when I bought my Xbox from Target, I paid at the back of the store and did walk right out unquestioned. I thought it was odd at the time.
@JennQPublic:
Well, it’s not just that you’re in the minority, you’re just wrong on the facts: no, the receipt checker will *not* lose his job for letting him walk right out, because it is the clear policy of Wal-Mart not to chase *anybody* even if they know for a fact that the person *is* a thief, In reality, it is a firing offense for the receipt checker to physically accost anybody. Moreover, in these circumstances, the law is on the op’s side, as shopkeeper’s privilege would not apply in any state.
@gp1138: This is stupid. Wal-Mart keeps game consoles behind glass in the electronics dept. If you ask for one, they get it and you have to pay for it back there. I know sometimes they ask if you’re going to continue shopping and if you are they’ll hold it for you or send it up to the main register. But there is really no way you can steal an Xbox 360. So the fact that they took it back just because he didn’t want to show them the receipt is crazy.
Luckily our wal-mart doesn’t HAVE receipt checkers. Hell, I’ve seen people walk out and set off the alarms and they don’t seem to care.
@Dyscord:
I was thinking exactly that. You can’t even get an XBOX without begging for them to pull it out of the glass. Then they watch you like a hawk to make sure you pay for it in the ‘electronics’ section. Should you leave the electronics section without the guard (who’s watching your every move) pay for it, he immediately challenges you.
@Avrus: If i were a scummy employee, I’d work a scam w/ friends to be at the electronic desk and print a strip of receipt paper for them to hold. that would get them out the door. This is what the receipt checkers are really doing – policing “friends” or allies of crooked employees who either ring up a dummy item or don’t ring up the xbox at all when processing the sale. Again, the whole policy stinks because the normal customer never agreed to checking in the first place. But that’s why it exists.
@Dyscord: When I bought mine from Target, they had it behind the counter, but the only thing between me and it was one of those curly plastic cords.
@treimel: The receipt checker didn’t ‘accost’ him, he (at most) grabbed him by the arm. And you can’t tell me that he wouldn’t get in trouble if OP was stealing an Xbox. Maybe not fired, but written up, which can lead to termination, eventually.
Most of the time, asking to see a receipt is unreasonable, but in this case, it was reasonable. The OP was the unreasonable one. His own actions made him look suspicious.
@JennQPublic: Grabbing him by the arm is assault, plain and simple.
@gp1138: I’d get back there, demand footage from security cameras and press charges against the douche that tackled me. And the “greeter” for theft.
@gp1138: I hate pissing in a cup and I hate being treated like a junkie.
Seriously though; why do people get so ‘livid’ when they are asked for their receipts? Sure, this guy was assaulted but fighting against showing receipts just seems like such a hollow victory.
Stories like this that make me want to go buy something from Walmart just to not show my receipt.
I could make a decent chunk of change from the lawsuits.
Why the hell didn’t he call the police? He was assaulted. Hell, even if he did steal it, that would be considered assault.
@illtron: actually, it would be considered battery since in this case the use of force by the tackling patron resulted in harmful contact.
@zombies.like.lattés.too: Assault/Battery differ dramatically from state to state. Sometimes battery is hitting, sometimes assault is hitting. Unless you look it up for Georgia, you’re giving a possibly unhelpful correction.
@ubermex: Zombies may have been referring to the tort of assault and the tort of battery instead of the criminal version of those acts.
@Taelech: Those things are defined state by state in both civil and criminal law. It’s irrelevant.
@ubermex: And no state is dumb enough to muddle with the definitions of commonlaw torts such as assault and batery. Zombies is right.
@Taelech: You must not have met the glorious state of New York.
@hotdogsunrise: New York is no exception. It has a nonstandard criminal definition of assault (causing harm, not just causing imminant anticipation of harm) but the torts are standard.
@illtron: Yeah as soon as he stood up he should’ve been dialing 911 and staring at the guy who tackled him just in case he tried to bolt.
@thisistobehelpful: Oh definitely. You can probably sue Walmart here – the checker is NOT supposed to attempt to catch thieves anyways, haven’t there been stories of employees catching thieves and being fired for it for not following store policy? The checker was yelling it – getting “good” samaritans to help. That has to fall under some sort of accountability.
@illtron: If someone suspects you are a thief, follows you, and you take off running, that is an act of guilt, not innocence.
Tackling a thief on the store’s property might get the employee in trouble for possibly violating policy, but it’s not unjustified.
Now, if the OP had just been minding his own business, walked out with his property normally (rather than acting guilty like he admits he did), and was tackled, that would be another matter entirely. As it is though, I’d say that the OP was at fault here, for acting like a thief in front of an employee who obviously already suspected him of shoplifting.
@DifdiNow, if the OP had just been minding his own business,…:
This is exactly what happened. All was fine until the WalMart employee started yelling “receipt” at the customer which caused other customers to run at the guy. Frankly, if I saw a few burly guys, not WalMart employees, running at me I’d run away too.
@Difdi: @Difdi: I agree with you in regards to how it must have looked. However, if someone twice your size starts running at you I bet you’d start running too. Especially seeing as there was no apparent reason for the guy to be running at him.
@Difdi: “You say potato…” Running from people who are chasing you and yelling at you isn’t necessarily “an act of guilt.” That’s the act of a person being attacked by an angry group of people. And in this scenario, it’s an angry group of people who falsely assumed based on their own ignorance that a person who doesn’t show a receipt must definitely be a thief.
Tackling a thief on the store’s property is unjustified if that person is not actually known to be a thief. Even if they are a thief, it’s still unjustified depending on the laws of your state. Receipt checkers aren’t necessarily security guards/loss prevention staff and they’re definitely not police officers.
Imagine you’re leaving the store and you get a call from a relative saying that your (insert relative here) is dying and you need to get there right away. You skip the receipt line and start running for your car. Do you think it’s justifiable that someone tackle you? Thieves aren’t the only people who run from those who are chasing them. And if you’re going to ask: yes, even if you are innocent, you do have something to fear.
@Difdi:
Running is not an act of guilt. Stealing is. He didn’t steal.
This is why we have police, who are allowed to detain suspicious people because they’ve been trained in the responsibilities that go along with this power. Walmart employees and fat guys in the parking lot have not.
@Difdi: I am sorry, but if I was being chased by a mob of Walmart patrons (who can weight well over 300 pounds) I would run for my life as well.
The guy was going to get tackled/physically restrained no mater what he did. Even if he stopped and just stood there you can bet your ass some of the gung ho “good samaritans” would’ve tackled him regardless.
Mob mentality is dangerous.
@Difdi: I don’t think it was an employee who tackled him. He says “some Walmart patrons” decided to get in on the game and one of those tackled him. Definitely submit a police report and get the parking lot security tape from Walmart here.
@illtron: In addition to him being assaulted, didn’t the receipt checker commit theft by taking the XBox back from him and going inside with it?
Oh awesome. Receipt checking, Walmart, XBOX 360, and violence, all in one single story just days before Black Friday.
Methinks Chris Walters is trying to troll all of us.
@MostlyHarmless: I know right. This made me so mad and still wanting answers that I had to back away from the PC and wonder if it was a troll.
@MostlyHarmless: My only regret is not being able to work “Geek Squad” or “Bank of America” into the headline.
@Chris Walters: hahahahahaha that would be epic. However you COULD have worked in a jab about how the treatment for that scratch was declined by the insurance company, because being an alleged libertarian is a pre-existing condition. And how that led to gangrene. So now A&F refuses to hire the OP, and he cant even use a car, because the only cars that could have been modified for his use were all crushed under the Cash4Clunkers program.
I could go on, but I have a deadline to meet.
@Chris Walters: “Assault: Reader Says He Was Tackled For Not Showing Receipt. Bank of America and Geek Squad Involvement Still Under Investigation.”
By you, that is.
XboxExec421: “The console-modding jerk deserved what he got”
@MostlyHarmless:
If only there was a boxcutter, a snowglobe and a moonlighting TSA agent also involved this story would go down in the annals of Consumerist as one of the great ones.
I’d file a police report ASAP. Chances are WalMART has video surveillance of the parking lot and the whole thing might have been caught on tape.
@IphtashuFitz: Chances are also pretty damned slim of that video surveillance ever getting into the OP’s hands. He probably should’ve called the police immediately to press charges against the jerk that tackled him. Can’t say I’d be thinking that clearly if it’d just happened to me, though. I would’ve probably been a little too pissed…
@secret_curse: That’s why we have discovery rules to force the production of such evidence.
@IphtashuFitz: Yes AND subpoena the store for purchase records so the tackler can be arrested and charged.
Honest to goodness, soon there will be anti-receipt gangs having ok corral shootouts with WalMart receipt nazi squads in parking lots.
WalMart corporate is escalating this needlessly and there will be deaths soon over receipts – just watch.
I don’t get these repeated WalMart stories. I worked Best Buy loss prevention for a time, and it was made *perfectly* clear that we really couldn’t do anything. If I ask you for your receipt and you say no, I can’t do anything about it. Hell, if I *know* you’re stealing and I don’t have you on camera 100% of the time, I can’t do anything about it.
I don’t get why WalMart seems to train their LP people into thinking they’re literally law enforcement.
@MattAlbie: Your typical walmart employee has an IQ that’s at least 1 standard deviation lower than your typical BBUY employee.
@MattAlbie: I get what you’re saying. I was asked to show my receipt last Tuesday at my local Best Buy after I purchased my copy of COD:MW2. I politely said “No, Thank you” and the gentleman told me to have a nice day. That was the end of it. I don’t understand how Wal-Mart feels that you are obligated to show your receipt.
@MattAlbie: You need to spend some time supervising human beings in a work environment.
Whenever something goes wrong, it will almost always be because someone either didn’t think or decided to do something different that they’ve always done and/or been trained to do (as in pursue and grab a customer.)
Then a supervisor, or management, will be criticized for “allowing” such a thing to happen, even if he/she’s done every humanly possible thing to prevent it, short of (in this case) being there and doing the ticket checking himself/herself.
Is the Mars colony open yet? Cause I want to go live there and tell this planet to go F itself.
@redskull: Not yet, but once it does you can bet there will be Wal*Mars springing up everywhere.
@redskull:
I live in Canada and we have Walmart greeters. All they do is greet you, give you carts and put stickers on bags you bring in with you.
I haven’t had my receipt checked in probably 5 years.
A friend whose brother is a lawyer says to respond like this:
“Are you accusing me of shopflifting?”
If they say no, say have a nice day. If they say yes, offer to go in and find their evidence. If they have none, you have a case for a law suit.
If they touch you its assault.
@jeffjohnvol: It’s against the law to accuse someone of shoplifting?
@jeffjohnvol: It would be nice if they had a reason, other than someone leaving the store with a bag of merchandise (which would be just about everyone).
Around here, the employees don’t call the cops unless they SEE someone stealing something. Like, the dude walked into the store with an empty wal-mart bag and then left with it full without stopping at the registers. That’s a reason to accuse someone of shoplifting.
@Jabberkaty: A lot of stores (mostly grocery stores, I’m not sure if Walmart does) encourage you to reuse bags to save money for them and reduce waste. I see some people go into stores with plastic bags to get their bag discount.
I wonder how that would affect their case against someone who brings in a bag, purchases something, and then walks out without showing a receipt.
Wow, yes, I would file a police report and then press to get the security footage so you can press charges against the one who tackled you and the one who started the small riot (Greeter). Walmart needs sent a message that consumers won’t be treated like criminals.
Police. Call them NOW. Assuming this really happened.
The simple fact that he didn’t call them on the spot sets off all kinds of red flags and makes the whole thing reek of fallacy.
You don’t say that “you know your rights” and then do nothing to hold parties responsible for infringing upon them.
@FooSchnickens – BPH Free: Be careful in completely believing this guy. While there is nothing directly to the story that rings true, he’s already an admitted criminal. “Being the last day for the $200 Xbox 360 Arcade with $100 gift card at Walmart and coincidentally also being console banned the same day, I was eager to try and score one. I” The reason he was banned was because he was using a hacked console (quite a few people were banned in the past week, according to Microsoft over 100,000.)
@lulfas: No danger in that.
@lulfas:
Parent,
Please do not confuse “violated terms of service” with committing a crime. He is not a criminal because MS banned him from an online account.
I have three xboxes, all modded to run Linux, we use them for the graphical rendering on the cheap. I am sure If I ever tried to connect later to xbox live they would ban me, and I can assure you I am not a criminal.
Innocent until proven guilty.
I agree, something smells fishy….or could it be Wal-Mart astroturfing to make themselves look tougher against shoplifters than the law allows?
Think of it. The whole “WalMart will illegally assault and beat you if you don’t show you receipt and scare the pants off you so much that you won’t dare file assault charges” story can be itself an ultimate deterrent to shoplifting.
Yeah, that is assault. Press charges.
@justsomeotherguy: Actually sounds like battery. If he saw the guy coming to tackle him that could be assault.
I can’t stand Walmart. One day, they’re going to receipt check and tackle the wrong person. Maybe a senator or a congressman’s child or a foreign dignitary. Then, there will be hell to pay.
@cybercjh: If those people would lower themselves to shop at Walmart. I think Walmart is safe.
Where’d the bunch of comments go that were already posted about 7 minutes ago??
I say screw the consensus. You are both a douche bag and should sue. A Douche bag because instead of diffusing the situation of having a receipt checker and a number of angry Walmart patrons chasing you to “stop a thief”, you didn’t take out the receipt and ran. Sue them because your being a douche bag still doesn’t allow the receipt checker or anyone else to illegally detain you.
@Danj3ris is accepting donations for Movember at [us.movember.com]:
Lost due to a formatting error. Please accept my apologies, and repost if you were the author of one of the first 7 or 8 comments.
My only question on this is why are you shopping there if you know they check receipts and you have a problem with it? That is what is messed up about this everytime it comes up, the OP knows they check recepts but shops there anyway.
Your right to be a/an (insert colorful adjective here)does not extend to you inflicting it on someone else.
@Ganyon:
He may be a douchebag, but he didn’t “inflict” anything on anyone. He bought a product, left the store with his legally obtained goods and got tackled for it.
What did he do wrong?
@Ganyon: So…you are putting it on the Op to pay more for something elsewhere just because Walmart can’t follow the law? That makes no sense.
@crymson777:
If Walmart shot each paying customer in the foot on their way out I wouldn’t shop there despite them illegally shooting me. Doesn’t matter that I’m right, the best decision is to shop somewhere else.
The OP decided that it was worth the savings on his xbox to go to Walmart and not show his receipt. He admits he’s read these stories before, and he knew that there would be a chance he would run into a problem by not showing his receipt, yet he still made the decision to walk past them and keep walking.
Maybe next time he’ll make a different decision that it’s worth less than a minute of his time to show the receipt to avoid having the possibility of being tackled. I know I do.
@wrjohnston91283: Inherit issue there though is now he has a case against them and that Xbox could potentially cost them a lot more than $200. I have been asked for my receipt many times, I never show it as is my right. You want to be a corporate tool, go right ahead…I will be over here happily ignoring stupid requests.
@Ganyon: He’s shopping there because he wants an xbox for really cheap. Duh.
@Ganyon: In addition to all the comments above, the OP stated very specifically why he went to Wal-Mart for this particular purchase.
It’s idiotic for anyone at the store to have thought he stole the XBox. Last time I purchased a game console at my local Walmart I had to pay for it right then and there before they handed it over to me… Either that or they would have held it for me until I finished the rest of my shopping and they would have brought it up to the register so I could pay for it. At no point did they ever let that thing leave their sight until it was paid for. I’d have called the police to file assault charges against the jerk who tackled you, that’s just not cool in any circumstance, especially over a $200 item.
@ganzhimself: Apparently you’ve never stolen anything before. Professional thieves will have a buddy distract the attendant while the thief goes behind/under/around the counter and grabs the loot.
Then they walk out thinking that they’re free and clear.
I’m not a walmart defender, but lets have some common decency people.
You walk out the door with an Xbox and it’s not in a bag or anything, better plan on getting asked for a receipt. If you don’t want to deal with people, buy it online.
Sheesh.
Could be wrong, but this whole story stinks to high heaven in my opinion.
Dude, you should have called the police. You were assaulted by someone who is not an agent of the store, and who detained you for no reason. Even the receipt checker can not detain you unless they witnessed the actual “shoplifting”. Sorry, but if I got tackled, you better believe there would be hell to pay.
@GitEmSteveDave_Isn’tFreshPerked: Holy fark I hope I would be alert enough to notice someone running up behind me like that. Internet Tough Guy Syndrome aside, I do have moderate martial arts training, and I’d love for a chance to apply what I’ve learned. Of course, part of that training is being alert at all times, but hell, I could be blindsided just as easily as that guy. Even being let up, how do I know my life’s not still in danger? All I know is I just got tackled by someone I don’t know and am surrounded by more. How could that not end badly?
@GitEmSteveDave_woot!sOffSoHard: In my state (Maine) that could be a felony (I’m not a lawyer). Robbery is when someone assaults you to steal something. So, you can steal someone’s wallet and it’s theft, you push them down and take their wallet it robbery.
Most likely the police would arrest him for suspicion of theft. They wouldn’t be right, but you try arguing with them.
@Scuba Steve: That depends on the area he’s in. Generally “Shoplifting at Wal*Mart” isn’t a huge priority for the local PD. I worked in the suburbs in Ohio for a year and we always had to wait like 45 minutes for the cops to arrive unless something was *in progress* at the time.
I don’t understand the point in refusing to show your receipt. People steal. Every time I show a receipt, I figure it’s just another situation where the retarded behavior of others has once again ruined things for those of us who understand how to behave properly. I show my receipt and leave and enjoy my purchase. Nobody tackles me. What do you hope to gain by refusing to show your receipt? 15 seconds of your time? The fact that you are purchasing video games clearly shows you’re not real concerned with maximizing that particular resource, so there goes that argument. The fact that your Xbox was banned ( for modding it to run pirated/stolen games ) is pretty strong evidence showing you don’t have a problem stealing. People who get all worked up on this “you have no right to ask for my receipt” bullshit are walking around with a sense of entitlement. Let’s be watchdogs to ensure that retailers don’t take advantage of consumers, but shit, quit your crying!
@senor_tron: According to a lot of Consumerist posters, if you show your receipt at Walmat today, tomorrow the commies are rounding you up to work on a gulag.
Fun@Jabberkaty: You thought incorrectly. Deletions happen just as often. Don’t take it personally, I guess.
@senor_tron: And perhaps you missed the news recently that thousands and thousands of Xbox owners were banned recently and many of them are crying foul on Xbox because they didn’t mod anything. So there goes that argument.
@AbsoluteIrrelevance:
Ok, i will reserve judgement on the guy being a thief. I suppose it’s possible that he is one of small percentage of people who somehow got burned by an overzealous Microsoft DRM progrom ( scoff ). Regardless, show your receipt and avoid getting tiny road rash on your nice elbow ( waa!).
@senor_tron: You do know that many people, myself included, mod their game consoles they can play backup copies of games. It’s a wise decision when children use the console. Just one scratched game or movie disc costs more than the console mod.
@AbsoluteIrrelevance: i’ve seen lots of whining from people who have been banned, but i’ve yet to see one instance where it was proven to be a false positive. if you got banned then you were doing something contrary to the terms and conditions of live membership…period
@senor_tron: @senor_tron: “People who get all worked up on this ‘you have no right to ask for my receipt’ bullshit are walking around with a sense of entitlement.”
Just because you have low self-esteem doesn’t mean people who consider themselves human beings are “entitled.” Just be aware that though you may be weigh a lot, tackling people in the name of your corporate masters can still be met with adverse action from those of us who also feel entitled to weapons.
@senor_tron: I modded my PSP a few months ago, so… clearly, the next step is shoplifting?
I must have missed a memo or something. Maybe I should skip straight to bank robbery to make up for lost time.
@senor_tron: Hell, 15seconds? Most receipt checkers I’ve been around just look to see if the paper says “DIS IS NOTS A RESEEPT”. It’s like, 3seconds of standing there– and I fail to see how it infringes on my rights when they’re just trying to stop shoplifters without the annoying RFID alarms.
@senor_tron: Maybe it’s the fact that I just got done asking a Wal*Mart drone to unlock a cabinet for me that’s already preventing me from stealing the damn thing in the first place. I don’t care about that, and if I broke the glass to get the console, chances are I’d be tackled before I left the electronics section, much less the entire store.
I’m annoyed with Wal*Mart greeters being militant about showing a receipt because generally they stand where they can watch me walk away from the checkout lanes. They watched me purchase the items that I have in my bag. If I have two or three bags, it’s a hassle to dig in my wallet (in my pile of receipts) to find the one I just put in there, plus it’s pretty much the store deciding that if they can’t find the criminals, they’ll just add another layer of “security” to the mix that treats ALL customers as if they’re criminals. And it’s not a fucking sense of entitlement. I put down my hard-earned cash for the items I just bought. I’m not a fucking shoplifter, and if I saw someone shoplifting, you know I’ll be the first one alerting store security.
I don’t make a scene when I walk past receipt checkers. I generally smile and say “no, thank you” and walk into the parking lot. I’ve never had one chase after me, and if they did, I’d get in my car and leave, plain and simple. No need for confrontation. People who DO want confrontation, those are the people with the misplaced sense of entitlement.
Exactly. You should know by now that Wal-Mart, Costco and Sam’s club do receipt checking. But I think such policies should be posted clearly before you enter into the store. I’m sure their are a few dozen people that don’t know that these stores do that.
I paid for my stuff so I have usually have no problems with the receipt checker. I also check my receipt. If any receipt checker starts making up crap there will be hell to pay! I think that’s the one thing that irks some people. That if one underpaid workers starts making up stuff against you, a paying customer, then it is YOU will have a crappy day. It is YOU that have to be “caught and held” for no reason, where there are no police or lawyers. Then it is YOU that have to prove your innocence to the local police before you get an ounce of remedy in our so-called justice system (and then only civil law by suing). Also you know that if WalMart even considers firing that person you know your face will likely be “less than welcome” to WalMart. And all because someone “flakes” out on you for no reason.
But remember, if you go to Wal-Mart expect underpaid receipt checkers. You know the rules and dangers. This is why I take much of my business elsewhere, but I still shop at Wal-Mart once in a while.
Besides assault, you can count theft. That XBox was officially his property once he handed over the cash for it. The receipt checker stole his Xbox.
File a police report then, if you really want to nail them, call your local news.
I think that improv everywhere should recreate the best buy idea, and have 100 people walk out of a walmart carrying various purchased items and ignore the receipt checkers.
@Forest-Whitakers-lazy-eye: Brilliant! even better if it can be coordinated in multiple cities.
@Forest-Whitakers-lazy-eye:
oh yes, another IE fan. but I think the receipt checker would just be staring at all of the people, not bothering to check receipts.
@MamaBug:
Haha, one of those things that on a really high level sounds like fun, but the intricacies and details would be overwhelming.
I’m gonna get people firing across my bow for this, but if you run like you stole it, not surprisingly, you’re going to make people think you stole it.
I don’t disagree about not showing a receipt though. I had a receipt checker watch me as I paid, then as I left the cash register with my bag. As I approached she asked “Do you have a receipt?” To which I answered “Yes, thanks” and kept walking.
I would have not run and offered to call the police if any of them had a problem with that. I’d still call the police, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the first question the cop asks is “Well, why didn’t you show your receipt?”
I always read here that we should be firm about not showing receipts if we don’t want to, so I finally tried it today. The guy asked if I had my receipt, and I said, “yes, thank you” and kept walking. He kept walking after me, and asked to see it. I said no. I ended up feeling like a witch, so I guess I won’t be doing that again.
Wal-Mart should really start using those orange “Paid-for” stickers.
YOU DOUCHE BAG!!!
should have called the cops ASA FUCKIN’ P and had him arrested for assault.
FUCK WALMART, i never show recept, im waiting to sue one of them douchbags myself.
I have never seen a receipt checker at Target. Anyone else?
@chiggers: Assets Protection at Target is always watching, if you steal something, one way or another, they will find you. AP will not give chase after you.
On a side note, has anyone refused to show a receipt at Fry’s? I really want to hear how they handle it.
@chiggers: No, but mine seems to always have a rent-a-cop milling around by the entrances all the time. Not sure why because I have been in stores in much, much worse neighborhoods and see nobody.
@mbz32190: No checkers here in the Twin Cities, but they have the motorized trikes at the stores in the seedier areas and will run down people trying to escape across the parking lot.
@Mobius: Wow, which seedier areas? I shop at Minneapolis’ Targhetto and I’ve never seen those.
@mbz32190: It all depends on whether or not the store is determined an “at-risk” store for increased shortage. The rent-a-cop you are referring to is not a rent-a-cop, but a Target Protection Specialist. They have thankless jobs, anyone who works retail would be able to tell you.
This is unbelievable.
Correct me if I am wrong, but not only did the guy who tackled the XBox guy commit assault, didn’t he steal from him when he took the XBox?
@JeniferF: Yeah, he was assaulted by the random guy in the parking lot and robbed by the receipt checker
Ehhh….
It isn’t worth it to press charges against the guy that tackled him. Yes I do know that it is assault but really it was acted in good faith. Well somewhat. For all we know the tackler could have easily thought he was doing the right thing in this case. I mean the injuries that Robby got were minimal and easily not life threatening in this case. I really wouldn’t want to ruin some guys life for 3 years in jail. It really isn’t worth it in this case. If Robby did sustain massive injuries that crippled him for life, then he easily should have.
Also the smartest thing that Robby did was to run away from Wal-Mart because that doesn’t look suspicious at all. Most of this is his fault for being so smug about receipt checking. Oh and running.
The only thing I suggest is suing Wal-Mart for theft and assault. They grabbed the Xbox out of his hands and took it back in.
@stevedastampede: He didn’t “run away”. What did you expect him to do? Not hand them the receipt and continue to stand in front of him? Of course he went back to his car. Going to your car after leaving a store is not “running away”.
@stevedastampede: What are you talking about? So wrongful injuries that are not life threatening do not merit compensation? I live near this specific Wal-mart and I assure you whatever methed out redneck tackled him most probably deserves the life lesson.
In case you feel like really confusing the receipt checker, hand them this instead of your receipt. [bigrobby.com]
@A Penguin On The Telly: I was thinking of linking to that.
I think it should be made simpler however. You hand them a small card that doesn’t require too much reading. Because if they’re reading and a shoplifter walks out, you might be an accomplice.
@A Penguin On The Telly: be a lot more meaningful if they had spelled amendment correctly.
@rte148: Or if they understood that the 4th amendment only applies to government.
@A Penguin On The Telly: I would, if it didn’t have spelling errors that would make me look stupid.
You need to call the police and a lawyer. you were harmed and assaulted(or whatever its called in your state) and you also need to have it reported for medical reasons. what happens if next week your injury gets infected and need serious attention? you need to protect yourself.
You shouldn’t have been tackled, but could you have been any more suspicious? Walk out in silence when asked for a receipt, then when asked again you decide to run? Considering the kind of tattooed, mullet-toting wannabe vigilantes I usually see at WalMart, I’m not that surprised that one of them decided to go Brian Urlacher on your ass.
Robby, get a CCW. And use it next time!
I am going to have to say this…
When you purchase something at a store, especially something like a xbox, you can expect to show a receipt. If you dont like it shop at smaller stores that dont have a receipt checker.
Its like the people who feel they are violated just because a cop pulls them over, with no clear evidence. I am sure you could put up a protest about it being a illegal stop, but really won’t that cause more harm then good, unless of course you are hiding something.
Obviously the person that would be possibly liable is not walmart, because they have no control over what their customers do, but the asshole that tackled you.
But you should know, every time that you look at the scrape, you should remember its because you were big headed and just refused to do something most others have no problem doing (or do, even if they think its bs).
@csparks: Awesome. That’s what we need more of Sparks, “why not comply if you aren’t hiding anything mentality”.
Bah!
Could the OP displayed his reciept? Absolutely.
Need he do so to exit the store, safely? Not hardly.
File a report.
File a suit.
Get the guy that attacked you.
Get the greeter for inciting.
Have them replace the Xbox (Broken or not, on principle).
And it probably wouldn’t hurt to ice the cake with an EECB, for that matter.
@csparks: I don’t understand the words ‘make a big deal about it’ in this context. Wal-Mart made a big deal about the receipt, not the OP. The OP’s actions were legally and morally correct, and he cannot be faulted for acting the way he did. He’s not in control of Wal-Mart or the overzealous idiots who chased him down.
Forced Receipt Checking = Inappropriate
Receipt Checking Avoidance = Appropriate.
All I know is that when Thomas Paine refused to show his receipt at the Walton Mercantile in Richmond in 1769, he inspired a nation of patriots. And Crispus Attucks fell in Boston in the winter of 1770 because he maintained that no man could force him to show a receipt. “I shall show my Receipt to Mo Man,” Patrick Henry shouted on the floor of the House of Burgesses in 1774, “this Poor Richard’s is Mine from the Moment I Concluded the Transaction with the Fine Merchant and I Shall Not Be Prevented from moving about Freely on my perambulations!”
The Redcoats did not march on Lexington and Concord to seize the militia weapons there – they were going to check the receipt that Samuel Adams refused to show a tea merchant in Watertown.
Standing up to the blue-vested vermin who stand between the Walmart cashier and the blessed freedom of the parking lot is the most American of actions. We should all say what General McAuliffe said to the receipt checker at the Bastogne Best Buy, “Nuts”.
I hate people like this. If it causes a scene, just show your damn receipt. Walking past the receipt checker: fine, but if the receipt checker is going to start screaming at you, be the bigger man and just show the receipt or turn around and say “I bought it at the electronics counter” instead of trying to cause a scene that you can brag about on the Consumerist.
running = stupid (that’s almost like yelling “I stole an Xbox” while carrying it to the car)
tackling OP in the parking lot = assault
Walmart actually didn’t seem to have much to do with it (outside of the fact that it happened there).
“and am able to buy one there.”
Yep, you purchased a high value item from a store with checkout points scattered throughout the store and then expect to depart the store without a brief check/verfication.
This was not even Walmart, it was the other shoppers, so how can he sue Walmart?
You go to a store knowing that they check receipts, just show it, it only takes 2 seconds. But instead people like to make a big deal about showing their receipt.
When I buy something, I already have mine out before they even ask me for it, cause I know they check for it, and I don’t see the big deal in showing them it.
What all the “why didn’t you show them the receipt” posters are ignoring is this part:
(Emphasis mine)
He was under no legal obligation to wait in a long line to get his receipt checked.
And, in my opinion the longer the line the smaller the moral obligation.
I think yall are missing the salient point here, he knew that wal-mart check receipts. Did he really think he was sticking it to the man by not showing his receipt? No he was being difficult to some hack making minimum wage.
I don’t like several of walmart’s policies, how they treat their suppliers, their employees, their union busting tactics etc etc. I have 2 within a 5 mile radius of my house that I am sure my taxes helped build. I do not shop there, period.
Go ahead and say I am giving up my 4th amendment right over a receipt, I’ll top you by saying your selling your soul for a 2 dollar t-shirt
The one by 92 & Trickum Rd? I live just a couple blocks away. That’s crazy, but even though I’d love an excuse not to shop there anymore, I must admit… Though there may be a law that says you don’t have to show your receipt, what do you have to lose? A few seconds of your time so they can skim over it? Give me a fucking break. By running out of the store when they ask for a receipt, your body language says you stole it.
There’s only one retail store I know that doesn’t check receipts… Apple. No receipt checkers, not even any magnetic scanners at the doors in most stores, if any at all.
I just can’t work up the energy to get frothing about receipt checking. There are too many other causes requiring my attention in this lifetime for me to care.
I hate the receipt-checkers and am shopping less and less at stores that have them.
“Sure, I have two kids who want to get out of here, an arm full of bags, and have just spent plenty of money at your store. Please treat me like a criminal until I show a fucking piece of paper that anyone who really WAS stealing something from here would have thought of.”
I love how they think that they can spot something stolen in my 7 bags of stuff in the 5 seconds they look at my receipt and my bags.
It’s even annoying at Costco and they’re REALLY nice at every level. How much more so at the Wal-Mart where every employee stares at you in vapid disdain?
@Chris Walters: Or small, crying children.
Well, that’s a little more exciting than my Best Buy episode on Saturday. Being an avid Consumerist.com reader and wanting to have some fun, as we were leaving the entrance was blocked with about 8 people getting their receipts checked.
I said to my friend “watch this.” I went to the side between a person and the door and proceeded to walk out when the receipt checker said “I need to see your receipt,” to which I replied, “are you accusing me of shoplifting?”.
His response…”you’re an asshole.” My friend stood there and stared him down and couldn’t believe an Best Buy employee would say that in front of all of the other customers that were standing at the entrance.
He didn’t chase me down, we walked to the car and left. At that point I decided to call the manager of the store and tell him the story. I told him exactly what happened and he said he’d take care of it.
My friend couldn’t believe I didn’t ask for a credit or some sort of compensation. I said the manager had enough on his plate to have to go and deal with an employee who curses at customers.
It’s the Best Buy at 5th and Alton Road in Miami Beach. The manager’s name is Jason or Josh and the door checker was a bald guy with a goatee. I wish someone else would have the luxury of having some more fun with them as I won’t be back at Best Buy for a long time.
If you don’t want your receipt checked, patronize a store that doesn’t check receipts. Seems to me he dared them, and they called his bluff.
It also seems to me that he got banned from XBox Live for modding his console. Hmmm… I wonder why anyone would mod their console? Maybe we should ask all the folks that got laid off at EA this year, or the guys without jobs who made Halo Wars.
If it was me I would call 911 and report a mugging naming the receipt checker and the customers as the criminals
Where’s the part in the story where the OP decided to return the unit to WalMart for a full refund and take his business elsewhere, perhaps to a store that doesn’t encourage customers to tackle each other for not showing a receipt?
Sounds like the guy who tackled you should be charged with assault and battery, and the reciept checker should be charged with theft.