Give Me a Reason

I was at Wallly-World the other day, buying stuff like dog treats, cat litter, several cans of human food and a few health/beauty items. As I checked out, the cashier asked if I wanted the dog treats bagged or not. Since the treats were in large bags themselves, I didn’t see any need to waste any more plastic, so I told her not to bag them. Obviously the cat litter wasn’t bagged, and the cold bottle of water I grabbed for the way home was handed to me separately.

As I was leaving, the door greeter, an elderly gentleman, said, “I need your receipt.” I asked “Why?” He again asserted, “I need your receipt.” Again I inquired, “Why?” He said, “I want to see it.” Again, my question was, “Why?” Then he said, “Never mind, have it your way” and waved me out the door. As I was going thru the door, he said loudly, “It’s people like you that make the prices rise.”

So, he was accusing me of stealing, but wouldn’t say it to my face. And, he didn’t have enough conviction to call a manager or the security.

If he had given me a reason to look at my receipt, I would have let him see it. If he had said that I had a lot of un-bagged items and he was supposed to check them – fine. If he had said he was supposed to check every 50th person and I was the lucky person – fine. If he had said he thought I hadn’t paid for everything – fine.

I don’t have any trouble showing my receipt at Sam’s because they look at everyone’s receipt. I don’t have any trouble showing a receipt if I have set off an alarm, as has happened a couple of times. But he wouldn’t articulate why he wanted to see my receipt and I wasn’t just going to let look to see if I’d gotten joy jelly or hemorrhoid medicine, or whatever embarrassing things, just because he said so – I wanted a reason.

Comments

[Cop Car]

Strange, really strange. I carry bins (intended for bussing tables - bought at Sam's) in my trunk and frequently don't have WalkMart sack anything. I usually offer my receipt to the greeter; but, have rarely had one of them take me up on the offer to look at it - and, at that - no one has done more than give it a cursory glance.

Of course, I have always had an "honest" face while you have always had a "she's trouble" face. *snickering*

(It was the water's fault!)

[Ruth]

I'd have turned back around and demanded a manager personally, but then I've had a bad few weeks and have been looking for someone to take it out on....

[bogie]

Well, TSA (even before there was a TSA) has ALWAYS thought I looked like a terrorist (or drug smuggler), so I get singled out for special treatment 90% of the time - even if I don't set off any of their metal detectors.

[Cop Car]

I've not flown much since 9/11 and the only time I've been singled out was 8/31/2007 at La Guardia on my way to DC. At that, they just used the air puffer machine on me. Not sniffing any dangerous chemicals, I was sent merrily on my way.