Oh man!! I'm fuming mad!!! Insulted!!! Disgusted!!!

[jacks'thunder]

OK let me start with I'm hurt!! I'm all for small town support, and supporting your community but I will NEVER step one foot in the Marine City KMART again! Judgemental, profiling, jerks! I'm so fired up right new I just really need to vent! Read my email to them and I hope it explains what happened.

Hello, My name **** and I just want to let you know I will NEVER shop at KMART again! I was security checked 3 times by the store in Marine City and this last one today was the last straw. We just spent over 400 dollars in your store and as we were in the parking lot an associate came running after me(in the parking lot!!!) and said security called her and wanted her to check my receipt. She said she had never had them do that before and was sorry. How embarrassing! I'm hurt and disgusted that after choosing KMART rather then going to Meier or Best Buy I get chased down in the parking lot like a criminal!! On another occasion I had store security following me around while I was grocery shopping! WHY?? And the very first time this happen my husband and I we going to buy a large out door grill but we noticed a man lurking around corners and watching us. It gave me the creeps so we left! Now let me tell you this is a VERY small community and we all know each other so word gets around fast. I am truly disappointed with this store! I support this small town with out even thinking twice, do you know why? I LIVE here and WORK 2 STORES DOWN FROM KMART!!!! THE SAME FAILING PLAZA AS THEM!!! I go in there for everything! Groceries, electronics, clothes, laundry supplies! You name it I pick it up RIGHT NEXT DOOR AT KMART!!! NEVER AGAIN!! I asked one of the ladies who works there who the "peeking guy" was and she said a manager!! WHAT????? We all talk and I'm sure as soon as my friends, my coworkers, my family, and anyone who comes in my work place, 2 STORES DOWN FROM KMART, hears my story they will also choose not to shop at this horrible store! Again I am embarrassed and hurt! I promise you it will never happen again in that store! You just lost a faithful customer(check my rewards card to see how often I use it! All the time!!) in me, my husband, my mom, my dad, my mother in law. Truly disappointing!

I know they judged me on my appearance! All my life I have been judged on how I look. I think most of us women can agree that it's an evil part of our lives. I don't conform to that!! I had my Carhart jacket on and my Marines baseball cap. It was my day off!! They were profiling me!!!! AHHH :arg! I feel violated! I'm just peeved off and hurt. I try so hard to support the community and bring people in to our plaza... Why.. so I can get my feelings hurt by some judgemental jerks sitting in a room watching a camera that don't even live in our small town!

Sorry for my rant, thanks for listening!

Edited for spelling!! See I'm so mad I can't even spell right!! LOL!!

 

[Charley]

Wow, I would be fuming too! In a small community, word of mouth will hurt their business. Hope it gives them a wake up call to get rid of that manager.

 

[jacks'thunder]

Thanks Charley! I sure hope so. I think the part that gets me is #1 it's the 3rd time they have done something like this to me. #2 We were buying a very nice tv for my mom as a gift. She was with us and got to pick out what ever she wanted. How embarrassing that she had to be part of that too. #3 Over 400 dollars is a very nice purchase in a strapped economy in a small town. I'm so hurt

I know it's a million dollars but to us it was alot...

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

That's happened to me at Walmart before too. We just looked at them and point blank asked if they were accusing us of theft. They said nooooo, so we walked away right past them brushing them aside.

 

[weebiscuit]

OK let me start with I'm hurt!! I'm all for small town support, and supporting your community but I will NEVER step one foot in the Marine City KMART again! Judgemental, profiling, jerks! I'm so fired up right new I just really need to vent! Read my email to them and I hope it explains what happened.

I can certainly see why you're upset! Especially being accosted in the parking lot, where any of your neighbors or co-workers could see you, and then wouldn't rumors start to fly? Very unfair! Doesn't KMart have those door alarms that you walk through that sound off if there is something stolen in your purse or something? But I guess those alarms only work on the items with the magnetic tags.

On the other hand, with this sinking economy I think theft is rising, and perhaps they are trying to take steps to make sure they can cut it down. I see nothing wrong with having an undercover person in the store, checking out customers, but following someone into the parking lot without a really good cause seems a bit over the top!

Boy, as far as being "profiled" because you had on a Carhart Coat, I don't see what in the world that would have to do with it, unless you live in a very upscale community where everyone wore LL Bean coats or something like that. Carhart coats and a ball cap just don't seem to be a target of profilers. I would think a long, flowing, loose, baggy coat where items could be hidden and store would be much more of a target. Heck, in my rural town, Carhart coats are as common as sparrows!

 

[CZP1]

That is horrible that they chased you down in the parking lot. I would definately write a letter to the corporate office and ask what their polices are about chasing someone down in a parking lot. I would think that is not their property?

We have a Kmart here and they allow panhandlers in the store. I was in there one day and a man(gave me a pamplet with bible stuff on it and said he was hearing impaired. I was like ok and stuck it in the basket the man stood there and I signed "Thank you" back to him, he gave me the finger and took the pamplet out of the basket and walked away. I went to the front desk and told them and they were "he always come in here". I told them I come here to shop not to be panhandled IN the store. They did nothing. He was at a local grocery store and again approached me, I said no thanks (signed to him) he stormed off and went to another person, I went to the front desk again and they actually walked him out of the store.

Shame on Kmart.

 

[Ashley]

I have had my stuff checked lots of times over the years. It doenst bother but here is why.

Every store has loss prevention employees, some plain clothed some not. Those people who you think are customers next to you shopping, could be actually watching your every move. Being I have the background I do I can typically pick out those plain clothes loss prevention people with out issue, however a normal citizen should not be able to, or they are not doing their job right.

With the way things are theft is on the rise. One of the local stores here pretty much always has a cop at it as somebody is stealing something.

I dont get upset, rather glad they are doing their jobs, to keep the cost down for me. I also dont think they profile based on looks, rather if they feel something is suspicious.

You cant get mad at somebody for doing their job, they are only doing what is expected of them in order to keep their job. They could be better trained on how to do it so it isnt noticiable.

 

[Sonya]

All the Kmarts over here on this side of the state have pretty much closed down, from your story, no wonder. I always prefer Meijer...I don't like Kmart and I don't like Walmart. Meijer all the way for me.

 

[Katiean]

OK let me start with I'm hurt!! I'm all for small town support, and supporting your community but I will NEVER step one foot in the Marine City KMART again! Judgemental, profiling, jerks! I'm so fired up right new I just really need to vent! Read my email to them and I hope it explains what happened.

Hello, My name is Leya and I just want to let you know I will NEVER shop at KMART again! I was security checked 3 times by the store in Marine City and this last one today was the last straw. We just spent over 400 dollars in your store and as we were in the parking lot an associate came running after me(in the parking lot!!!) and said security called her and wanted her to check my receipt. She said she had never had them do that before and was sorry. How embarrassing! I'm hurt and disgusted that after choosing KMART rather then going to Meier or Best Buy I get chased down in the parking lot like a criminal!! On another occasion I had store security following me around while I was grocery shopping! WHY?? And the very first time this happen my husband and I we going to buy a large out door grill but we noticed a man lurking around corners and watching us. It gave me the creeps so we left! Now let me tell you this is a VERY small community and we all know each other so word gets around fast. I am truly disappointed with this store! I support this small town with out even thinking twice, do you know why? I LIVE here and WORK 2 STORES DOWN FROM KMART!!!! THE SAME FAILING PLAZA AS THEM!!! I go in there for everything! Groceries, electronics, clothes, laundry supplies! You name it I pick it up RIGHT NEXT DOOR AT KMART!!! NEVER AGAIN!! I asked one of the ladies who works there who the "peeking guy" was and she said a manager!! WHAT????? We all talk and I'm sure as soon as my friends, my coworkers, my family, and anyone who comes in my work place, 2 STORES DOWN FROM KMART, hears my story they will also choose not to shop at this horrible store! Again I am embarrassed and hurt! I promise you it will never happen again in that store! You just lost a faithful customer(check my rewards card to see how often I use it! All the time!!) in me, my husband, my mom, my dad, my mother in law. Truly disappointing!

I know they judged me on my appearance! All my life I have been judged on how I look. I think most of us women can agree that it's an evil part of our lives. I don't conform to that!! I had my Carhart jacket on and my Marines baseball cap. It was my day off!! They were profiling me!!!! AHHH :arg! I feel violated! I'm just peeved off and hurt. I try so hard to support the community and bring people in to our plaza... Why.. so I can get my feelings hurt by some judgemental jerks sitting in a room watching a camera that don't even live in our small town!

Sorry for my rant, thanks for listening!

Edited for spelling!! See I'm so mad I can't even spell right!! LOL!!

Don't feel it was just you. We had 3 KMART's in the Reno area and 1 in Carson City. One of the Reno KMART's was a super store. They ALWAYS treated EVERYONE like criminals. It was so bad that between the checkout's and the door your recipt is checked twice. No one can get through the checkouts unless you have paid. But, you had to show your recipt and they pawed through everything you bought. This was 2x's in maybe 35 feet. We now only have 1 KMART and it is not the super store. Carson City doesn't have any KMART. If they treat their customers like criminals, they soon do not have customers.

 

[MindyLee]

To the persons who are comitting a illeagal act...

Im not sure there but here at where I work it is illeagal to chase someone down in the parking lot. Once they step out the door, and you approch them, its considered stalking and harrassing. All we are aloud to do is get their licence plate #. If you catch someone at the door, then its lagite. If someone is brought back into the store for questing or you wont let them pass with out proof of them stealing, then its considered holding a person hostage. The laws are pretty tricky and dont make a lot of sence when it comes to some situations. At my store alone, each yr we figure out what the theft rate $$$ amount is and of empty wrappers and packages that we do find, the amount is well over $35,000. And thats not counting the all stuff that proves there was theft. When we do inventory, its closer to $50,000.

its to bad that a faithful shopper like youeself had to go thruogh that and I dont blame you in your rant, I would too.

 

[Shaladar]

That is terrible that they followed you to the Parking Lot !! I would be fuming too!

One thing I learned at WalMart, is to never open your purse while you are shopping. I'm strolling along in the shampoo aisle, my phone rings, I open my purse, take out phone, close purse, and magically, one of those price checker people appear at my side with the little gadget. OK, no problem, I move down the aisle, out of her way and have a short conversation on the phone, put the phone in my back pocket (where it usually is ) and wonder over to the cat food aisle, get couple of bags and some cans.....go back to the shampoo aisle, decide to read labels, open purse, take out reading glasses, close purse, guess who's back?? LO...yep, Miss Price checker. SO I continue to read labels, taking my time just for fun, decide on one....then decide to go and check out the $5.00 videos.....find a good one, (Batteries not Included) and guess who is there? Boy, she's a busy price checker. So I mosey on over to the candy aisle (on the other side of the Super Store) to get Dark Chocolate, I'm looking at all the bars, reading the amount of Cacao, and darn if she didn't show up.

Sigh....by now I was getting annoyed. So I looked at her in disgust, paid for my stuff thru Self Checkout,(where I was closely watched, and I understand that, I'm sure people try to not pay for stuff there) and left. Didn't get checked at the door because, sadly, I go there often enough that the door ladies know me....LOL...and I always have my recipt in my hand where they can see it.

I know they have to watch for thieves, but really...follow me thru the whole darn store?? Come on.

Sue

Yes, I still shop there, but I never open my purse once I'm in there,(except to pay) and if I notice someone following me, I make sure they know that I know they are following me.

 

[ohmt]

My grandfather is spanish and native american and I also have native american through the other side. It is amazing how often we get followed around stores. I don't look that ethnic but I was always teased growing up in minnesota. They were only joking around so it never bothered me too much but I always wondered if I had not been brought up to just laugh things off how it would have effected me.

Sorry you had to go through this....I understand the anger and frustration.

 

[Pepipony]

Its easy to forget that when people shoplift, it costs everyone more. I can understand why you should be miffed, but not as mad as you are. You werent tackled, you werent chased down by guards, you werent accosted, you were asked by a girl to see your receipt. No big deal. Put yourself in their shoes. What if, you had your purse stolen while shopping and they 'thought' they saw the person leaving with it. What do you want them to do? What if YOU instead werent the victim, but someone with the same purse, what would you want them to do? I carry a coupon box and sometimes get a peek at someone watching me. No big deal, I get it, I understand why they do that. And in the very store that I put a decade in, in a small town. I have been asked to see my receipt, I dont care.

 

[Riverrose28]

I am Cherokee, not dark skinned in the winter, but oh the summer, I too have been profiled, and I don't know wheather it is my tanned red skin or my clothes, as I also live on a farm, and sometimes visit the store in my work clothes, which by the way make me look like a homeless person, forget the fact that that I have a blackberry in my purse and an expensive cell phone, and also drive a chevy siverado pickup, when I'm in the store, sometimes I am followed. So be it. I'm used to it. I too have had the occasional new employee that doesn't know me yet, appear to stalk me, especially if I need to take my glasses out of my purse, Oh well, I have bought so much at Walmart, I should own stock, most of the old time emplyees know me, and even know my name. The most amusment I had was last summer, when I went to Walmart to pick up dog food, I hadn't planned on going, and was just going to the feed store, I had on holey tennis shoes, and sweat pants that I work in on the farm, hair was pulled back in a pony tail, for cleaning stalls and grooming horses, had mud on the bottom of my pants from feeding, whent to Walmart cause the feed store was out of flea shampoo, I was followed by a new employee through the pet section, I noticed him and waited behind a row of cat food, when he appeared I shouted BOO! I think he thought I was craxy, but he left me alone after that. Ha Ha! I'm sure the other emplyees that I know filled him in. But boy have I gotten some stange looks when I shop in my farm clothes. Oh Well! Anyway, I still buy my dog food and pet supplies there and what ever happens, happens,

 

[susanne]

You mention wanting to support your community -- now is your chance. KMart and WalMart suck money OUT of your community and put the small, local stores out of business.

Sadly, personal finances and lack of stores in many rural areas make it difficult to totally shun the beasts, but I bet your local merchants will give you the good neighbor treatment you are seeking.

 

[ErikaS.]

Ok. So I worked at a grocery store and was asked by a store manager (I was a front end manager) to go ask a lady about her receipt in the parking lot.The loss prevention guy and the store manager were already dealing with a shoplifter when they spied the woman acting suspicious. I was embarrassed and a little scared because the lady was not a regular customer and she was much bigger than me. I was polite and apologised, but she had a lot of stuff in her purse and in her arms- but no grocery bag! And no receipt. Funny thing was she handed me back the stuff she was holding in the guise of "searching for her receipt" and when I had it all in my arms she quickly got in her car and left.

I'm sorry you were accosted/spied on three times. They failed to get to know their customers- their fault. I knew my customers, but then our store was not a superstore. As far as I know, you can stop a suspected shoplifter after they pass the checkout stands or step out the front door, but it is DANGEROUS to stop them in the parking lot. Desperate people do bad things. Just ask my husband (big dummy) who stopped a lady in the parking lot for shoplifting and her daughter jumped on him and stabbed him with safety scissors. He wasn't badly hurt but could have been.

 

[gimp]

Unscrupulous people make it hard on the rest of us. I think you just smile and try to see the other side. If it too difficult then you move on, which is exactly what you did.

There is no easy solution. They had a right to stop you; I have been there too, and it feels awful! It is just sad that there are so many people willing to do bad things, whatever the reason.

 

[jacks'thunder]

Well thank you all for your opinions and stories! I can take it all and understand every side. I'm better today and have processed it. I'm good. Will I shop there?? Nope! My mind has been made up. I'll do just like Susanne said and shop even more local then I already do. Just in our plaza alone 5 stores have closed up in the last 2 years. That only leaves 8 of us left including the 2 tax prep places that close after tax season is done.

Thank you all again for letting me vent!