I sooo wanted to kill him......

[Hon'ya-chan]

The Sensormatic Paddles beep. I turn around and I see this guy and his girl come in, completely obvious to the beeping of the paddles. I stop him, and LP guy is nearby.

Me: "Excuse me, but we need to sensor your bag."
Guy: "Oh."

He and his girl the turn around, and head for the door. I then hear him say "Fuck You Bitch." Loud and audible from where i'm standing.

LP guy manages to grab my arm before I run to knock they guys head. But he fails to stop me from launching a nasty little rebuttal. I don't think it's mentionable here.

[MrSunshineState]

Pardon my ignorance here, but I really don't understand your story. "sensor your bag". What line of work are you in and what does that mean?

[Earl]

Pardon my ignorance here, but I really don't understand your story. "sensor your bag". What line of work are you in and what does that mean?

I think she means check the bag for stolen merchandise.

[Hon'ya-chan]

Pardon my ignorance here, but I really don't understand your story. "sensor your bag". What line of work are you in and what does that mean?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electro...e_surveillance

And I work in a book store.

[MrSunshineState]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electro...e_surveillance

And I work in a book store.

OHHHHHHHHHH! Makes perfect sense, I just have never heard that term before. Forgive me, I am in Florida and we have an index between 108 and 113 today and tomorrow and a severe heat advisory. Me braincells is cooked

[Barefootgirl]

Far be it from me to tell anyone how to think, but if you actually went to physically attack someone just for swearing at you, and had to be restrained by a colleague, you really might want to think about getting some anger management classes, and then possibly changing jobs. Its very bad for your mental health to be that angry.

[Dreamstalker]

I've had my cell phone set off some of those gates if it was on, as well as tagged books from other stores. If it beeps and you know you haven't stolen anything, what's the issue (I did once refuse when a cashier wanted to run my entire purse over the magnet pad, but I explained why, and took everything out of my bag myself)?

The guy was way out of line, and I probably would have gone for him too.

[Boozy]

There's a Big Box store in my area that insists on going through your bags at the door if the sensor goes off. This stupid thing always goes off on me, and about a third of everyone else from what I've witnessed.

I don't allow Loss Prevention to go through my bags at the door. I don't care if the oversensitive sensor goes off. I don't care if its their policy. Its not my policy to donate my time and privacy to help some store with their loss prevention. Sensor goes off, I just keep walking. If I really had to stop every single time, I'd no longer shop there. I just don't have the patience for that nonsense every single time I want to grab a quick item.

I'd NEVER swear or be rude if confronted. I just tell them that I am not consenting to a search of my bags. There's nothing they can do.

If I cursed at them and then took off running, they'd likely figure I was stealing something...but again, there would be nothing they could do. Makes the whole process seem silly, really.

[Brightglaive]

When I was teenager and the system was new I used to steal just the little metal sticker tab and walk through the gates with it in my wallet or pocket just to set them off. I would then divest myself of all apparent merchandise and walk through again when security asked me to. One security guard had me walk through like 7 times before he finally gave up and let me go convinced I didn't have any merchandise. It was especially fun at the public library. It was just great watching the adults try and figure out why I was setting off their detector when I had nothing in my pockets (and I was an annoying little $#!7*%)

[Auto]

Far be it from me to tell anyone how to think, but if you actually went to physically attack someone just for swearing at you, and had to be restrained by a colleague, you really might want to think about getting some anger management classes, and then possibly changing jobs. Its very bad for your mental health to be that angry.

my thoughts exactly.

that seemed like an over-the-top response to someone cursing you. at my store, doing what you did gets you fired. if all the guy did was curse you because you wanted to snoop around in his property and you got LP to manhandle him, you're at risk if he calls 911 and then his lawyer.

there's a reason LP never confronts anyone unless they actually saw them conceal merchandise and then leave the store without paying for it.

i've never heard of a store confronting a customer because the sensor when off when they left a store. yeah, you can try to guilt or intimidate them into letting you look through their bags, but if they say no, that's it. you have to let them leave.

stores have no right to search people against their will. cops can do it only if they have probable cause. and a sensor beeping ain't probable cause.

[tendomentis]

LP at the store I once worked in was empowered to do everything short of arresting the shoplifter.

One of our guys went chasing after a lifter who had come in the side door (they're all side doors though), grabbed a $400 set of pots and pans, and bolted to his get-away pick-up truck outside the door.

Our LP guy ran after him, outside running after the truck took off, and LEAPED into the truck bed and started wrestling with the guy. I kid you not.

He was actually in training elsewhere to become a cop, and his John McClane-esque stunts had a lot of us watching in utter shock from the LP camera booth.

[Hon'ya-chan]

you really might want to think about getting some anger management classes, and then possibly changing jobs.

I'll just leave at that, seeing my response could turn both Ageist.

I just tell them that I am not consenting to a search of my bags. There's nothing they can do.

stores have no right to search people against their will. cops can do it only if they have probable cause. and a sensor beeping ain't probable cause.

Uh, if you set off the alarms when you come in, we can either allow you to figure out whats wrong and fix it, or we can ask you to leave. Because if you beep going out and you didn't consent to a search, we have perfect grounds to think your shoplifting.

[Pezzle]

Uh, if you set off the alarms when you come in, we can either allow you to figure out whats wrong and fix it, or we can ask you to leave. Because if you beep going out and you didn't consent to a search, we have perfect grounds to think your shoplifting.

If I had a bloody nickel for every time the alarms went off on me at my job, I'd be pretty happy. You see, no matter what, the alarms beep when I walk in. That's how my managers know I'm there. I walk in the doors, solid beep. Walk back out beep. Walk through the front doors I beep. Walk through the back door I beep. There are no electronic theft taggies on my wallet or anything so I have no idea. I took out my cell phone and everything, 6 ga earrings, wallet, it'll still beep. And then one day it won't, and people think I'm sick

Let's see, that's $.05.. Working 4 days a week average... 5 beeps a day at minimum, since I have to go through one to get to the warehouse...
so that's at least 25 cents per day/1 dollar per week. I'd have about 40 bucks and going strong right now, considering it usually beeps far more than that, the more I have to go into the warehouse.

Sincerely though, if I got searched for every beep (as I beep every time I go into Barnes and Noble & Borders, and usually Best Buy) I'd be right mad too.

[Auto]

Uh, if you set off the alarms when you come in, we can either allow you to figure out whats wrong and fix it, or we can ask you to leave. Because if you beep going out and you didn't consent to a search, we have perfect grounds to think your shoplifting.

um, no.

Stores have to have probable cause to detain and search someone. (So do cops, by the way.) Having the sensor go off is not probable cause.

You can think all you want that the sensor buzzing means I'm shoplifting, but without my consenting to be searched, you keep your hands off me and my property. That's the law.

Which is why LP never does diddly to a suspected thief unless they saw him steal and then try to leave. (Even better if they have it on camera.) I can slip something in my pocket -- it's not theft until I try to leave without paying.

Walking out of a store after paying and have the sensor go off usually means the clerk did something wrong. No store wants the hassle of an irate customer threatening to call her lawyer when the mistake is the store's. It's lawsuit city. Not to mention a PR mightmare.

I've had the sensors go off as I walked into a store. If they want to keep me from shopping because I won't allow them to search me, so be it. But no one cares about that. It's only leaving where they they to bluff you into consenting to be searched.

Call their bluff. Tell them they can have you searched by the cops after they had you charged with shoplifting. No store manager will risk his job over a sensor going off as a customer leaves the store.

[Rapscallion]

Thread closed with ninja-swiftness. Ninja not like threads like this. Ninja do striking in night, not members.

Rapscallion