posted on February 15, 2001 02:05:19 PM new
sgtmike- You said stores that TRY to check your merchandise after you've paid. I'm curious, how do you keep them from doing it?
We have a local, mega-super-huge-electronics store that does that, and it infuriates me! Once, when my sister had gone there, she didn't find what she wanted (of course, out of stock) and was leaving without buying anything. They still stopped her! So she lifted her shirt and flashed them! I'm looking for something a bit less illegal, yet as effective as a way to get them to back off!
posted on February 15, 2001 02:13:15 PM new
oooooohh I hate that too.
I keep walking and mutter "call the cops".
I know it is rude to the employee, but I really feel accosted.
What I mean is "I paid, it's mine, and if you really think I am stealing, put your money where your mouth is".
Even the police need probable cause, and yes I realize I am a "guest" in the store and they are welcome to ban me, but no way will I stand still to be "frisked" after just spending my money.
posted on February 15, 2001 03:23:18 PM new
I don't know if anyone said this yet, but what about store clerks who are waiting on you, and the phone rings, and rather than making the caller wait, YOU have to wait until the clerk is done with the caller. Who got off their butt and came into the store? Who is making a purchase? Not the caller!
posted on February 15, 2001 06:38:49 PM new
Hi wisegirl! Sorry I didnt see you sooner. I wish I owned this place...but alas, dont have 1.8 mil. Money tree in the back yard doesnt nearly make that much for me to buy this place. Owner teased me once and said he was gonna leave the whole shebang to me when he goes to meet him maker and I said OK!!! Then I said NO! YOU CANT GO FOR A LONNNNGGGG TIME!
My tenants are great, really. But I have my pet peeves. One is "dont park where you dont belong", two is "dont throw the lint on the dam floor". and three (most importantly) is "dont tell your kids to GO PLAY without being with them". They all know BEFORE moving in that this is a small complex, with no facilities for kids to play, and most of the renters are older and dont need no kid slamming into them as they hobble along with their canes. In return, I dont bug them with lots of rules; I forget when the rent is due and THEY come tell me (and I rarely make them pay late fees); Im pretty laid back and they know it. Unless they make me bugshit. Then watch out
posted on February 15, 2001 06:51:01 PM new
Current irritation: Clicking on a new page - any page - on AuctionWatch and having to click SIX times "no, do not set a cookie."
posted on February 15, 2001 07:28:47 PM new
The guy that has to park in the door of the local Walmart.The person who talks on a cellphone in the store,in the middle of traffic,ect.I also hate standing in line at store,listing to who died in the last ten years,who all had a baby and the top 1,000 people who are sick,jeez.Or you go to a store and maybe after they answer the 20th phone call they'll get to You.
posted on February 15, 2001 08:06:13 PM new
I'm old-fashioned, so:
People I've just met who call me by my first name...double points if they are younger than me, or if they are a store clerk looking at my name on my check.
People who don't teach their children even basic manners.
People who bring their screaming babies into a grown-up movie late at night when the kid should be in bed.
People who make out in public. Last week the Social Security office was rated R. On the one hand, I was happy that these two cretins found each other (I am being kind...they could have both been cast in a horror movie, no make-up required), but on the other hand, I was just there to pick up a form and will now require months of therapy to rid myself of the images.
Neighbors who send their young kids out to play and won't let them back in until dinnertime. This means they are knocking on my door for a drink of water, restroom use, first aid for their cuts, etc.
The person in the group who insists on dividing the restaurant check by precisely what each person ordered and does it so loudly that all the other diners can get in on the math fun.
When I was working: new employees who expect to be paid $100,000 per year to start, but who can't find the copy machine or can't operate it even if they find it. Or, a week into the job and they want to talk about a raise.
"Friends" who drop you when you retire because you can no longer advance their career. Many a wasted birthday and Christmas gift there...
posted on February 15, 2001 11:39:52 PM newConnieM and VeryModern
I listed the "stop and search" practice that many stores (unlawfully) engage in, under the topic title as a "petty" incident that irritates me. However, the practice, especially when there is an attempt to apply it on me, infuriates me.
I am sure that most stores that routinely engage in random stopping and (coerced) searching of a person's purchase, and sometimes their physical person, know that they (store) are walking on thin legal ice. Most will immediately back off when the patron refuses to cooperate.
I cannot recall how many times I advised businesses that they could not (just) pick out a customer and insist their bags and person be inspected without a justification e.g., able to provide some type of evidence that the patron had committed a theft or was about to commit a theft; and that police officers would not and could not, become involved in the matter, even to bail the business out of the civil-suit hole they (business) had just dug.
Many businesses play the odds of being sued by an irate customer against reduction of retail theft (shoplifting).
If you refuse to submit to an illegal stop and search and the store bars you from the property for refusing, run to the nearest attorney that is proficient in civil suits and is wanting to purchase a new Lexus.
I have Best Buy and Wal-Mart (in my locale) on notice. They have been advised to never again attempt to apply the practice to me. In addition, if they desired to bar me from patronizing their store for my refusal to submit, they had best be creative and come up with another reason. I also advised each store manager that they no longer could claim ignorance under the blanket of "corporate store policy" now they had been told that the practice was not legal. I then sent letters to the respective corporate headquarters advising the same.
I recently discovered that the "spotters" at the Wal-Mart store in my locale have immediately backed off when the customer refused to submit.
VeryModern:
You (are) being accosted. Also, don't feel sorry for the employee, you are the one being wronged.
posted on February 16, 2001 02:15:06 AM new
Last week, I was driving to town in a heavy snowstorm. It was snowing so hard I couldn't see 20 feet in front of me. Pretty much 'white out' conditions. I stopped at an intersection of a country road and a busy highway and looked both ways over and over again, just to be sure the way was clear. Finally, I pulled out onto the highway and was almost rear ended by an idiot in a white SUV. I didn't see him coming because he didn't have his headlights on. He might as well have been driving an invisible car.
When I got to the grocery store, the clerk was bagging my groceries and jabbering to the clerk working the next register. She was complaining about how bad her boyfriend was, how unreasonable her parents were, etc. The last thing she said, just as she picked up my gallon of milk and put it into my cart was "And, to make matters worse, I think I'm coming down with PINK EYE!"
posted on February 16, 2001 04:53:57 AM new
People who have a new or fancy car and park diagonally on two spaces so that they don't get any dings. Our parking lots already doesn't have enough spaces and here is someone so self important they take two.
I will put a note on their windshield that the next time I see them doing that I promise will kick the snot out of their doors.
I had one young mindless girl who would not stay out of my paid carport. She was exasperated that I had the nerve to tell her to move it. Several times I just parked behind her and refused to move. When even that did not work I glued a full sheet of construction paper across the windshield with the words DON"T PARK HERE in marker, using
resin glue. She came and said I am calling the cops!! I said why don't you wait until next time when I plan to pour gasoline over it and burn it up? They will be much more interested in that. It seemed to finally get through to her.
posted on February 16, 2001 01:22:05 PM new
Price labels glued directly to the glass of a storebought frame instead of to the back, where it's easier to peel off.
Film Geek Gripe: Movie theatres that turn down the bulb intensity in their projectors, thinking that it extends the life of the bulb (it doesn't), so that the picture is too dark. I saw "The Talented Mr. Ripley" in one of these places, and you'd have thought that Matt Damon, Gwynneth Paltrow and Jude Law were all lounging on the beach on a rainy day. And forget making out the night scenes.
Second Film Geek Gripe: Movie theatres where staff don't quite have a grip on projection, and can't frame the picture properly so that you're constantly watching microphones dropping into the picture from the top and close shots of actors with their chins lopped off (unless, of course, you're willing to run out into the lobby from time to time and complain).
I'm in agreement on the movie talkers/cel phone users, too. Particularly appalling are the ones who seem to resent being asked to keep it down or hang up the phone. I once saw an entire audience (no kidding) turn on a woman having an audible cel phone conversation in the middle of a movie, and she reacted by snorting and sighing as though she were the one inconvenienced by having to leave the theatre. Amazing.
I had the Wal-Mart experience last night, only with some variation. I'd paid for a full cart of groceries and was leaving with everything in bags, receipt in hand, when the door alarm went off. After a few minutes of watching the door watcher peruse my receipt and rifle through my bags, I began to wonder if he honestly thought, with a huge receipt and bags clearly packed by the checkout person, that I fit the profile of a shoplifter. Of course, just as this thought was running through my head, he fixed me with a "this is ridiculous" look and let me go.
You've got to love Wal-Mart, though. It's one of the only places on earth where you can buy a power saw, chicken breasts and a bra all in one place.
posted on February 16, 2001 02:34:31 PM new
I am 49 years old (in october) and I have never stepped foot in a walmart, nor plan to. AND, if I ever accidentally found myself in one and they stopped me to "check bags", Im afraid they would have a battle on their hands.
posted on February 17, 2001 08:07:47 AM new
Sgtmike and maui - The wife and I were watching some security people give a fellow a hard time - they had actually grabbed ahold of him although he was not argueing or resisting. I asked her how many of them do you think I could take down before they realized they had a problem? (She has seen an armed mugger try to take me.) She said "Oh if there were less than six of them I think they would all end up on the floor before any could decided to turn and run." She was generous - I figured four.
Just a couple days ago the guards at a Kroger here took down a shop lifter and sat on his back and suffocated him to death.
When I was at Sears waiting in line to pay for something a guard came up and pointed to my knit hat stuck inside my jacket. "Let's see the hat." He said. I said "NO." "Why not?" he asked. "Because you are a jackass." I replied. He thought it over. "I have to see the hat." He said. I told him "You can do one of two things. You can arrest me and I will cooperate, or you can try to take it away, and get a free trip to Beaumont." (the local hospital) He went and talked on the phone to someone and argued with them. Finally he just glared at me and went away. Some supervisor had some sense.
[ edited by gravid on Feb 17, 2001 08:16 AM ]
I'm looking for something a bit less illegal, yet as effective as a way to get them to back off!
