ZOMG SHOPLIFTING!!!!111!!ONE!

[Sting Rose]

It's a lovely day for toy shopping, in't~? ^_^ Yeah, not so much turns out.

I head to TRU to check out their stock. Animated Waspinator and Samurai Prowl weren't there, neither was Knock Out. I didn't look at the movie deluxes really hard, decide not to buy anything, and instead grab a flyer and head to the Wal-Mart down the street. After a little confusion and time, I manage to price match and pick up 3 Scout figures (Bonus: There was also 40 bucks on my shopping card that really shouldn't have been there, but hell, I'm not complaining. Free money! ). I look through the Sideswipes and Sideways, but every single one of them had such God awful paint apps that I leave them alone and head back to Toys R Us.

I get to looking reaaaaally hard at the paint apps of the Sideswipes and Sideways on the racks, and they were just as terrible. I dunno, maybe I'm just too picky and will have to suck it up and pick out the lesser of many, many evils (or mediocrities). I head out to leave, and an employee calls out "Excuse me, are you going to pay for those Transformer toys?" so loudly that I think she broke the sound barrier. Everybody that was coming and going or around the racks stopped what they were doing to check out what was going on, it was so humiliating. I tell her to check her cameras--that I just bought these at Walmart. She tells me that I did, that she saw me. I tell her to check her cameras and ask if she would like to see my receipt. I show it to her, she comments that she doesn't see anything that says TF's (It just said movie scouts on the receipt), she scans it in the computer, and I guess she realized I was innocent because she got reaaaaaaaaal quiet, and then went about her business. Funny how that works.

No apology, absolutely no remorse, she didn't even have the decency to look embarrassed at what she'd done.

The kicker? I'm go back to rack for one last look, and she comes out from behind the desk and over to the rack that I'm standing at. Well, good! She's coming over to apologize to me. I'd rather she'd have done it while everybody was still around, preferably in the voice that was over 9000 decibels with which she accused me, but hey we can't have everything.

Spoiler: She doesn't apologize. She picks up a toy off the racks and then goes back to behind the desk as if I weren't standing not one foot from her.

Oooooooooh, man, I was so pissed.

I wish I could say there was an epic shouting match, God knows I wanted to and I have every right to be pissed, I didn't want to chance taking out my RAAAGE on the manager. I'm usually very in control about that much, if nothing else, but I wouldn't be thinking straight and I wanted to make very clear how that particular employ was Not Very Nice. To say the least. So I left, but boooy, am I going to complain.

So yeah. I was wondering if there're some people who work in retail, have worked in it--or just anybody really--that could drop me some suggestions on how best to go about this. I have half a mind to call the regional manager, but all the employees I've met up to this point have been really really cool.

P.S. The Scouts are awesome!And has anybody seen any of those TF t-shirts/hats at Wal-Mart? I raaaaided the boy's section and only managed to find Autobot/Decepticon insignia T-shirts. Baaw.

EDIT for clarity: I take the bus, so leaving my bags elsewhere wasn't an option, as much as I would have liked to (crap was heavy, yo). And I'm not saying that a store doesn't have a right to protect its goods, I'm saying it could have been done infinitely better.

[PrimusPrime2009]

I worked in retail once.
we had an employee who made a false remark on someone stealing. well he complained to first the manager and we had to give him 100$ gift card to the store and then the same person called head office and got another bunch of gift cards.

[JaySmith]

Go straight to head office. Although she was infact only doing the job she's employed to be doing, there was absolutely no need for her to announce the situation in a vocal manner that allowed everyone within a 3 block radius to know what was occurring.

[Shepp]

Well, there is the possibility that the employee was very embarrassed about the false accusation. Too embarrassed to apologize. Or she just might have been having a really rotten day up to that point. I don't know. I wasn't there.

From your description, I'm guessing that this wasn't the case. You were there and experienced it firsthand. More than likely complaining to the managers or higher-ups wouldn't result in anything more than making you feel better.

The manager won't do anything. They need employees to be stern about shoplifting because that is the only thing that gets results during legitimate situations. It does cause a few false accusations, but that's a whole lot cheaper than letting people run off with their hands full.

The sad thing is that the people who comply are often the ones who are falsely accused (or just didn't realize that their 3 year old was still hanging onto something).

On another note, I've also not seen any TF hats in Wal-Mart.

[JaySmith]

Originally Posted by Shepp

On another note, I've also not seen any TF hats in Wal-Mart.

I've seen the Autobots and Decepticons T-Shirts, but sadly not the hats as of yet either.

[hugh_da_man]

I'd complain as well...for someone to insinuate that you're stealing is pretty annoying and if they don't want you in their store with your walmart bag then they should do like walmart and put a sticker on the bag when you enter.

[Robimus]

In 17 years of retail life I've never been privy to a false accusation that blatant. I would definitly complain to the store manager and email the head office.

The simplest way these corporations deal with shoplifters is simply by finding out who they are on camera and then kicking them out the next time they come in. I do not think that corporatly they would have any patience for false accusations.

[Sting Rose]

Originally Posted by hugh_da_man

I'd complain as well...for someone to insinuate that you're stealing is pretty annoying and if they don't want you in their store with your walmart bag then they should do like walmart and put a sticker on the bag when you enter.

It's not so much that the accusing bothered me. I could see how she might think so--the toys were at the top of my bag, so it very well might have appeared to be suspicious, but she could have done it in a more discreet, professional, non-arrogant-lookie-here-I'mma-bag-me-a-shoplifter way. Instead of having suspicions, she called me out on it right there, and claimed she saw me. She obviously didn't.

[Team Jetfire]

I agree with the group. Call the manager, call head office...etc. A retail store has to be VERY sure that someone is stealing before accusing them of it. An example of this would includeseeing someone take a item past the cash-out area without paying for an item...

I think the management should be made aware of the situation and you may get something for this person wrongly accusing you as well as embaressing you...

[Wheelie]

I worked for Toys 'Я' Us for 3 years. We would never do that at our store. You should definitely call Head Office and file a complaint about that store, the employee & the situation. Maybe even have a talk with the store manager to see what they say about it. Make sure you play up the humiliation part when talking to everyone.

p.s. Sorry to hear that that had to happen to you. On the plus side you got a free $40.