My wife and I go grocery shopping together every weekend. Sometimes…well, actually multiple times a week, because we ALWAYS forget something.
Now, aside from the shrinking aisle space, lack of items on the shelves, the removal of favorite items that require you to either search other stores in Lincoln for it, or order it online and having to scan my own groceries…but just about every time we leave the store and we have items that are not bagged, we get a store employee stepping up to us asking us to show them our receipt.
I don’t do it…And I suggest you don’t, either.
Seriously, DO NOT DO IT!!!
Now, the only exception to this form of civil disobedience are club box stores, like Costco and Sam’s Club. Showing your receipt is part of the club rules. You know, if you want to be a part of the club, you have to abide by the rules, so those stores get a pass.
HOWEVER…Wal-Mart is the biggest offender of the “can I see your receipt?”
Granted the employees are doing their job, so I am not hating on most of them. They were told by the company and management that they have to ask for it and the crazy part is customers just fall in line and do it. As you would expect, most people don’t want to be thought of as criminal. Who would?
But Wal-Mart is NOT A CLUB and you are NOT obligated to show them ANYTHING!!!
I can not tell you how many times my cart has items too large to bag, like flats of water, cases of sodas, large buckets of ice cream, ladders, etc. or that one item, like that one gallon jug of milk that I just don’t need to bag, when I leave, I am approached with “excuse me, I need to see your receipt”.
This is where my blood boils.
Again, it is not the employee’s fault, but it is every goddamn time I am walking our with an un-bagged item, the (in most cases) polite request is made. I decided a yeas ago that I am not going to do it.
I mean I am scanning my own groceries under the scrutiny of a camera watching my every move. For fuck sake, this is like Big Brother, China’s Social Credit cameras and Red Light Cameras. I am also followed by cameras when I enter the store and have additional cameras showing me that I entered the baby formula and cosmetic aisle that I can see myself wearing pajama pants with the flashing red line saying “recording in process”.
I get it, formula is like gold these days. I don’t like being recorded, but I can see why they do this.
Now the part that really pisses me off is that there is not human being taking my items, scanning each item, checking prices, looking at every item and bagging them, individually. I am doing this myself, as though I am an employee. This is is supposed a faster way to move people though and cost savings move by Wal-Mart. I get it, but again, I don’t like it, because it hasn’t lowered my grocery bill (to the contrary, it has gone up by 30%). but I can see why they do it.
So, since I am being watched and scrutinized already, why in the hell do I need to have someone check to make sure that I haven’t stolen large items on the way out? I could see them wanting to make sure that I am not skipping over small items like Mio, a box of crayons, etc., but to make sure that box of Pyrex dishes that is the size of a small child, wasn’t lifted is the dumbest goddamn think I have ever seen.
I do understand this is also being done as a form of “loss prevention” and since Wal-Mart is one of the largest retailers in the US, they have been the target of theft, which is very costly across the company…and it is ILLEGAL!!!
Regardless, you don’t have to show them your receipt…and I don’t.
Why you ask?
- Wal-Mart is NOT A CLUB.
- There are no rules that I have to do this.
- There is nothing posted that it is required.
- I am NOT legally obligated to do it
- And the one that tops the list…aside from their cameras around the store, their fucking check-out kiosks are already watching me. They already know what I scanned and that I paid for it. (notice the green, yellow or red light above you when you are checking out)
So, even though I have been watched the whole time and on a number of levels, I am STILL being asked to prove that I am a law abiding citizen on the way out.
Here is what happens when I leave:
- I see people lining up with receipt in hand, ready to let the employee (who is doing their job by asking) check the receipt and fain that they are checking what was purchased, only to thank the customer and send them on their way.
- The line can sometimes become a log-jam of carts and bagged items and I hear people complaining that they just want to leave.
They can. Just skip the line and leave.
When I leave, I just walk out, regardless if they ask for my receipt or not. I am not a dick about it, as a matter of fact, I am VERY nice about it. I tell the “loss prevention” person with a genuine smile, “Not today, thank you”.
Normally, this is met with surprise, but they just let me go. Other times, when the line is getting to be ridiculously long, I tell people as I am walking past them with un-bagged items (even with a cart of bagged items), “you don’t have to show them your receipt”.
Sometimes, people follow me out. Other times, they ignore me and stay in line, thinking that they are following the rules.
There have been a couple of times, they have followed me and continue asking me to show them receipt. I am, again, nice about it and say, “I appreciate you doing your job, but this isn’t a club. Thank you for doing your job.”
Only once have a had someone be a real asshole about it, but you could tell, he didn’t realize that it wasn’t required. I was still nice about it, despite him yelling at me why I didn’t want to show him.
So, in the end, you do what you want, just don’ t be an asshole about it. YouTube is littered with people being pieces of shit by treating these employees who are just doing their job as though they are doing something knowingly wrong.
Don’t be a dick like this:
My suggestion is to skip the line and just leave with your legally obtained purchases…be NICE about it, just don’t be an asshole about it.
If you want to hear another take on this from a lawyer, check this out. It is very interesting: