I am a cranky old man at the ripe age ot 28 already. As a matter of fact, I began one of my cranky practices while I was still in high school. I love Radio Shack. What electronics geek doesn’t? Wires, cables, batteries, and 5 billion things that plug into the wall. It’s a man’s heaven on earth, along with the other staples of Best Buy, Sears, and Home Depot. RAWR!!
Radio Shack has, since I can remember, asked you for your zip code at check-out. Some ask for your phone number. I have always told them they can’t have it or that I don’t have one. I often wonder if they think I’m homeless or a bold-faced liar. Don’t care. I’m not giving them one shred more details about my personal information than I have to. They have my money, and I have their merchandise.
As annoying as they are at Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart, I have always complied with the receipt-check. I’m not so sure I will any more, after reading this side-splitting article on Black and White: Customer Confidential. I’m afraid that the site address will change once it stops getting Digg hits, so I’m saving the text locally and will hope to be able to find it in the future.
Here is an excerpt to whet your appetite:
“Was there a problem at the checkout, sir?” he asked.
“No, actually, checkout was great,” I said. “Very efficient. But leaving the store was a little shaky. In fact, there’s definitely a problem there.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Well, for openers, I don’t like being treated like a shoplifter.”
“Sir,” he solemnly stated, “No one is treating you like a shoplifter.”
“Really? Then why, exactly, am I having a conversation with store security, who just happened to reach my vehicle at the same time I did?”Minutes seemed to pass. I thought I noticed a funnel cloud moving toward Vestavia. A faint aroma of cotton candy was in the air. The forty-ish woman loading her purchase into a car two spaces down was wearing tight-fitting, corduroy jeans. She looked amazing. Finally the security guy responded. “Sir, our people checking receipts are doing their jobs. It’s a store policy that we inspect receipts. We’re trying to make sure you paid the right price.”
What he says next is enough to make me spray my Coke all over the place, so I’m going to make you go there to read it from the beginning.
Holy crap. This guy is my hero. Thanks for linking this.
What am I? Chopped liver? /sob
You’re very welcome. I’m soooo glad I ran across it.
You’re my WoW blogging hero. He’s my consumer freedom hero.
/blush
I feel sort of invigorated after reading that article, but my wife would probably freak out if I just ignored the receipt Nazi’s at the local Sam’s Club/Costco. I think it would be fun though. 🙂
That was Fing awesome….I AM SO DOING THAT the next time i go to COSTCO!!!!
I verified it just for the record: my wife would not be amused if I pulled that stunt. /cry
I guess I can always go shopping alone. He obviously was sans wife.
Yeah, wives just don’t seem to get the same amusement out of things as guys do.
I’ve never seen a receipt-checking line at Costco, but then I make it a point not to go shopping at the busiest times. I let them mark my receipt and then go on my way. Pound for pound, that will waste less time than having to stop and explain myself to a doorman/store manager/security monkey/police officer every single time. I’ve never been asked to show my receipt anywhere, not even Wal-Mart.
(Dunno if you’ve ever been to the Pinellas Park Wal-Mart, Gitr, but if not you should try it! It’s the dirtiest and least efficient Wal-Mart in the nation. My theory is that the manager is a puppy Wal-Mart adopted for tax purposes.)
Getting INTO Costco is always more of a hassle for me. For the longest time it felt like the greeters were standing off to the side chatting amongst themselves, letting people into the store with reckless abandon… UNTIL I approached. Then they would swoop in to ask for my card. i thought I must be crazy until I actually started keeping track and, sure enough, on my last five visits I went into the store behind other people (or groups of people) who were not asked to show their card, but they wouldn’t let me by without showing mine.
Anyway, I agree with some points of the article and disagree with others. The store has a policy, if you don’t like the policy, don’t shop there. Of course the other side of that is (at least in the case with Costco) that if the store really wants to enforce their policy they can just cancel your membership.
Glad you stopped by.
I dunno about that Wal-Mart being the worst…until you’ve been to the redneck capital of the world, Land O’Lakes. I’m just waiting to see a spittune in the corner somewhere for all the dippers. 🙂
You seriously never get stopped at Best Buy when you have a big box or at Sam’s club? Sam’s always counts the items on your flat and then compares it to the number of items at the bottom of your receipt. At least they look at it instead of just marking it.
Personally, I’ve never been to a Costco, because I’ve never lived particularly near one, but I hear they are the same as Sam’s Club.