Retail Employee Stories Part 8: Stories From Smart Tech Featuring Andy

ITDEFX said:
One guy the other day tried opening some headphones that were sealed in the package (he was forcing it open) , when I caught him he claimed that he was "helping me out" by closing it for me and wasn't trying to take it out...uhh huh. Made him pay for it.
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hahahahah shows that fucker right. Good shit man. I wish I was there to see you charge the guy. Did you have a shitgrin on your face when you handed him the receipt?

I don't have a story but little anecdotes from the Best Buy employees that tell me at the store I shop at:

- One homeless guy punched the LP employee I knew and made him fall down. He was trying to call the police so when he fell he dropped his cell phone on the ground. The homeless person picked up his phone and ran away. I felt bad about hearing about the story since the employee is one of the guys I like there. He's embarrassed about the story and so they told me to never bring it up since nobody else is supposed to know. He works in Home Theater now.

- A lady and her son were caught shoplifting some electronics under their big jackets. The cops arrived and confronted her about it while she was attempting to deny it the whole time saying it was theirs when they walked in. She got caught because she had set off the sensor alarms at the front doors - ON HER WAY OUT. Wtf?

- A lady drove her car right through one of the walls of the store. It destroyed a portion of their home theater department. Took them over a week to get it cleaned up and fixed. I think they went through the corporate insurance claim first. Not sure if they pursued the customer but I can't imagine they didn't.

- When I was talking to CS, a creeper called the store and the associate in front of me picked up. Caller asked for the other girl working behind the counter and said he wanted to "talk to her" since she was helping him earlier in the day. She got a bad vibe about it and claimed she was the only female behind the desk and just started her shift. He made some comment about describing her "short cute" physical appearance. I knew who he was talking about since he was describing the short chick with the huge rack in Geek Squad. He asked to leave his number and the girl clammed up and said there's no way she was going to do something like that. When the call ended we called the Geek Squad chick over and told her about the caller and she said she suspected it was some old dude she helped out earlier in the day. She's probably her 20's if not younger. Gross.

- Home theater guy told me the day before Black Friday a chick offered to flash him if he could hold a specific TV for her. He said she looked smoking hot but declined.

- CS employees hate working the week after Superbowl Sunday. Lots of customer will return their recent TV purchases making up some BS claim. They just want to watch the game and host a party for others intending full well to just rent out the TV set and returning it back. Isn't there a restocking fee still? Ghetto customers i suppose. Wtf!
 
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SaraAB said:
TRU is probably a worse place than Walmart to work, you do not want to be dealing with parents and toys and electronics and games, trust me. At least with Walmart you have a chance of being placed in a different department but there is something about a pure toy store that breeds stupidity. I guess that is why almost all the toy stores in the USA have closed up, except for TRU probably because they can't get any employees that are able to tolerate tons of screaming kids and stand on their feet for 8 hours a day. I have shopped at TRU and just from that i can see that the questions that come out of the mouths of people who shop there are unbelievable. It's only going to get worse with these new consoles out especially with the mandatory day 1 patches because the American public is clearly not educated enough to operate them.
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I can verify this. TRU is goddamn soul crushing, I lasted about two weeks and quit. And I'm used to retail, worked at Blockbuster for 6 years before that and after TRU about 5 years at Best Buy and now work at a grocery store which isn't a whole lot different than retail except for thank god I don't have to try and sell warranties/credit cards anymore.

 
Donut2922 said:
- CS employees hate working the week after Superbowl Sunday. Lots of customer will return their recent TV purchases making up some BS claim. They just want to watch the game and host a party for others intending full well to just rent out the TV set and returning it back. Isn't there a restocking fee still? Ghetto customers i suppose. Wtf!
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We get those types at Home Depot a lot. Buy a lawnmower, use it a couple times, then bring it in for return. Power tools too.

One fun thing is that gas-powered items only have a 30-day return window. After that, or if the customer doesn't have the receipt, it has to be sent out for repair. Most customers neglect to read this bit of print on their receipt. And even if the manager accepts a full refund, they can only get Store Credit because the receipt expired.

I hate Husky stuff. They have a lifetime warranty and since their are owned by HD, their reps will just tell the customer to bring it in and get a new one. Even stuff that's over a decade old.

A few years ago we had this guy who was a "close, personal friend" of the district manager. The store manager is deathly afraid of said district manager so he ended up getting a bunch of expensive shit for free. He even exchanged a single tool battery at least a decade old and got a two-pack of the high end stuff for free. I got fed up and complained on the company message board. That put a stop to it. Sadly, the guy continues to come in to try and scam us and the store manager is still here.

Had a lady a few days ago, 15 minutes before I was to go home, come in wanting to exchange a dead plant (as a side note, I absolutely loathe Returns with every fiber of my being). She insists that she bought it here and that she couldn't be expected to keep the receipt because she didn't think it would die. Let's ignore the fact that said plant, even dead, was obviously an annual. Anyway, the pot was not from here. Probably from Walmart. She gets in a huff and starts yelling about how she buys stuff from here and that I should search her name (note: I cannot, and Service Desk can only do it for special orders. Obviously would not have worked anyway) and that I am an idiot for not immediately returning it. Eventually the manager just said to return a random $10 plant for store credit. It took all of my willpower not to explode in front of her.
 
Donut2922 said:
- CS employees hate working the week after Superbowl Sunday. Lots of customer will return their recent TV purchases making up some BS claim. They just want to watch the game and host a party for others intending full well to just rent out the TV set and returning it back. Isn't there a restocking fee still? Ghetto customers i suppose. Wtf!
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Yes, this. I think this year we had an 80" and a few 60" returned. And the restocking fees were dropped about two or three years ago. Also may, June, July, we get a lot of people who buy DSLR cameras for graduation and vacations and return them afterwards.
 
I can verify this. TRU is goddamn soul crushing, I lasted about two weeks and quit. And I'm used to retail, worked at Blockbuster for 6 years before that and after TRU about 5 years at Best Buy and now work at a grocery store which isn't a whole lot different than retail except for thank god I don't have to try and sell warranties/credit cards anymore.



It's amazing what you see just by shopping there, I can't even stand to shop there, let alone work there. Our location here also only has about 4 registers and usually only has one staffed or not even staffed. Can't imagine what it's like there on BF, there would be no deal worth going into that environment for even if it was totally free stuff!
 
lol...wayyyyy to many people are calling out, no call , no show or are coming in late........yet they still have a job...... talk about taking advantage of the situation. 

 
A customer at my work dropped the N bomb on one of our samples people.

I get a lot of entitled people at the section I work. It's so damn annoying.
 
ITDEFX said:
lol...wayyyyy to many people are calling out, no call , no show or are coming in late........yet they still have a job...... talk about taking advantage of the situation.
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Heh try working at union job, you have to actively try and get fired, like steal or yell at a manager. I like the job security but it makes so many people lazy as hell...

 
So I found out some hoarder bought several of our 360 chat pad/headset/12 month subscription/400pts bundles and several ps3 controllers.   Seriously who the fuck needs that many chat pads/headsets?  Even if they bought the bundle for 53.xx, it doesn't seem like a great deal with the kit starting at 70. 

 
Don't you just love it when you give really good customer service, customers come back to ask for your help and only your help but then want a "deal" for being your loyal customer? 

Then there is that old guy who doesn't agree on the price the scanner gun gives and goes on and says, "nope, nope, nope, nope, nope..." and wants me to discount the price even further.  Go fuck yourself dude.  And no I am not holding some big ass boxed chair in the back til the next price drop. :whistle2:x

The other day some asshole wanted me to unlock the back area which has been closed down to customers because there is nothing for them to buy back there and I told him I will open it up in a few mins since I was with other customer.  The fucker ends up forcing the door open and me and another co-worker to spend 15 mins realigning the door because the idiot broke it. 

That same fucker comes out of nowhere while I was helping a customer, starts talking to me and I tell him "I am with a customer give me a minute..", he ignores me to tell me that he was sorry for being rude to me the other day because he needed to get the "sign" from the back because he was late.  I then realize this is the asshole who not only broke the fucking door, but was one of those sign holders that stand in the corner of the street to promote the store closing down.   I really should have reported him to the liquidator. :twoguns:

Then there are customers who can't make up their mind about buying stuff and holding up everyone else.  I had one customer who I asked for her rewards card information and she didn't have it but claimed a family member was a member so I asked for their phone number and the idiot starts babbling saying that her aunt is a merchandiser for kmart and if she can use her "discount", and I said no because I could get fired for that and that associate discounts don't work anymore at this store.. I ask for a phone number again so then she calls someone to ask for a phone number which I think , "ok she's gonna get it and then I can help the other people waiting..."but nope, she starts babbling and other people behind her get annoyed with her.   While on the phone waiting she tells me, forget it and just finish it and I tell her ok and hit total.    I tell her the total then she all of a sudden has the number and has the nerve of saying if she could go to the front to get the "discount" after she told me to forget it as she was taking too much time.  :roll:

Then I had another family with kids come in and wanted me to tell them the price of every wii game in the case.  Are you fucking serious?  I had spent an hour recognizing everything and this fucktard family has me open the case and the parents and kids trash my line up within seconds and I had to stand there, watch and scan shit for them.  They were so cheap that they didn't even buy a game that was cleared down to 4.xx   I started getting really annoyed so I told them the game price was higher than what was coming up on the scanner gun so they get a clue and leave.  Had to reset the entire thing again.  Just love it when as soon as the door slides open , it becomes a grab fest for their kids.  :twoguns:

 
Sometimes I get the impression people who work in retail get fed up over a short period of time, and eventually you end up with entire stores full of hateful workers who hate customers and annoyed customers who hate the workers. Vicious cycle occurs.

 
Agreed....  Last time I worked in retail was in 2003 before I moved on to working as a teacher.  At least in that field it is more predictable and you deal with the same people almost every day vs. the idiots who come in every day bitching about how the "sale sucks". :roll: 

Now yesterday I saw something really funny.  Customer wanted us to move 20 some bags of fertilizer into his mini van.  Told us we have 2 minutes to unlock the back gate so he could pull up and we can load it...wanted only the non ripped ones (a lot of them ripped as soon as you picked them up), then took 15 minutes to get his car to the back of the store.  He was in such a hurry that he backed up to the gate at a bad angle and backed into the gate tearing a huge hole into the rear left side near his tire (at least a foot).   He came out of his car pissed and said, "YOU GUYS KNEW I WAS GOING TO DO THAT DIDN'T YOU?!?!?!?".  We just rolled our eyes because it was his fault and we have no responsibility.  He then went on blabbing how he won't be able to make a claim against Kmart because he was the one driving, but I am pretty sure he is going to try.  Idiot.

 
ITDEFX said:
-This other guy, which clearly had issues started going off on me as well because the cooler he wanted had no price tag (it was ripped off) so he wanted me to generate a price and I told him I couldn't because I needed a UPC or KSN to work with for the system and that I would be glad to find something similar to sell at that price. He wouldn't listen saying he wants a manager because a manager would give him a price and was accused of not wanting to sell it and "I have to get rid of it..". I told him to lower his voice so I could work with him and he goes off and bitches to management the same thing. We find something that's 20 dollars and he gives it to the fucker. The excuse I get from the customer is that he didn't want to "Name brand" one and when I looked at it, it was pretty much the same.
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I wouldn't be shocked if the guy removed the price and barcode just so he could try to pull a fast one on you.

And yeah reading your stories brings back memories of the Circuit City liquidation. It's crazy how people would suddenly get expecting high ticket items like HDTVs and Nintendo Wii systems to be sold at pennies on the dollar. Not to mention people's lack of understanding of basic things like "all sales are final." So trust me ITDEFX I know how you feel right now.

 
I say when it comes to these things that if it's "Cheaper than amazon's current prices...then buy it!"  other wise wait it out. 

 
ITDEFX said:
I say when it comes to these things that if it's "Cheaper than amazon's current prices...then buy it!" other wise wait it out.
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Well we both know that. But you ever try telling any of these sheeple who run blindly into a store going out of business that logic will only lead to glassy eyed confused looks. Or they think you are trying to steal a "deal" from them.

 
Angry Man said:
Well we both know that. But you ever try telling any of these sheeple who run blindly into a store going out of business that logic will only lead to glassy eyed confused looks. Or they think you are trying to steal a "deal" from them.
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Or those fools who wait for it to come drop in price one more time before buying. In that situation I evaluate the current status..... Number of item item(s) left in the store by the amount of people in the store by the amount of items left in the department. Heck a few weeks back I had at least 4 people crowding around a 51 inch plasma (720p) tv debating weither to buy it or not. One couple said they would be back later for it........a few minutes after they left another group came in and bought it then that couple came back and wanted to buy it only to have it sold already...

Another couple wanted a portable gaming system and we only had 2 Vita's and 1 pink 3ds XL. I told them if it's for your 4 year old kid, then you should get him the DS as the VITA isn't that popular right now and there are more kids games for the 3ds/ds. Well apparently even thought it was like 30 dollars off, he refused to buy a PINK 3ds. I told him he could get a color cover shell for it and he refused. :roll:

Oh well I sold it to another couple who's boy wanted a 3ds and didn't care if it was pink.

 
Angry Man said:
I wouldn't be shocked if the guy removed the price and barcode just so he could try to pull a fast one on you.

And yeah reading your stories brings back memories of the Circuit City liquidation. It's crazy how people would suddenly get expecting high ticket items like HDTVs and Nintendo Wii systems to be sold at pennies on the dollar. Not to mention people's lack of understanding of basic things like "all sales are final." So trust me ITDEFX I know how you feel right now.
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The only issue I ever had as a customer with the "all sales are final" as a store was closing down was with Circuit City.

My sister went in the day after Christmas and bought a pink 360 wireless controller. We got it home and it worked fine for about a week then it stopped working when the rumble came on. We went back to CC and tried to exchange it, they said that since they started the store closing process that morning that they couldn't do anything. I tried to explain that we bought it before the store started liquidation (no one knew they were going to liquidate) and I just wanted one that wasn't broken no refund. The cashier was being really rude and said obviously I brought it in for a refund and we broke it.

I talked to a manager and he said all sales are final and wouldn't even look at the receipt so I peaced and didn't go back into the store... and we still have a useless pink controller.

 
I was working at CC during the liquidation days and what they were saying was essentially right.  Rude in the way it was stated, it sounds like, but not wrong.  Once liquidation starts the company is no longer running things in the stores.  The liquidators have already bought all of the in-store inventory from the company and they are the ones setting any policies.  They are under no obligation to do any returns or exchanges since, legally speaking, the previous policies were set by a different company.  It stinks, I know, but that's just how liquidations work.

 
I bought Death Note 13: How To Read and it reminded me of how dumb customers can be at work - especially during back to school time.

I expect people not to know what a "duo tang" folder and "ream" of paper is, but then you have those that don't know what "copy paper" is. I have had people not know where crayons are even though there is a giant sign in front of them with the word "Crayons". It saddens me when so many parents are looking for school supplies and their children know more about the supplies than they do. Yesterday, it took me over a minute to explain to a customer what the number 3 looks like yet it was on the 3 inch binder they were looking for. She didn't know if there were 3 rings inside so I counted each one to her and got an "ohhhhhhhhhhhhh" reaction. Wow.

Today someone asked where lunch bags were located. I told them it was aisle E32 on the right. Why is she looking LEFT?? Co-worker confirmed I said "right" so I don't know what was wrong with that customer.

 
Bing147 said:
Ya, your best bet would have been to call. Likely could have gotten a refund.
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Phone customer service almost definitely would have refunded. The store wouldnt but with a defective product there are legal requirements.

 
Why not just contact MS about the controller, they have at least a 90 day warranty on all accessories, you likely would have gotten a new one if you just shipped the old one back.

Also have you tried putting a piece of duct tape on the sides of the battery pack to hold it in the controller better, this works for me.

Pink controllers are worth quite a bit on eBay Now I am sure someone would want to buy it even if its broken.
 
You know what really erks me right now coming into the final two weeks of the store closing?  Employee's not giving a fuck by, not showing up (no call no show), coming in late , standing around talking, taking off clock extensive lunch breaks and not helping customers at all then bitching about them.  The other day a bunch of employees found a shit load of clothes, baby stuff and other items stashed in one of the back fitting rooms with a lock on it.  Employee's have been stashing shit waiting for it to go really cheap.  There are a number of suspects but management doesn't care.   Now they did fire some cashiers for selling store fixtures lower than it was marked.

What pisses me off is when I see some of these "temp" new people talking on the phone while helping customers and then saying that they are on a business call...........oh yeah drugs or booty?

There are rumors that there is going to be a lot of no shows the last week of the store.  To be honest, I don't care since I am back to my other job but I won't get paid til the end of the month so this will tie me over until then.   The HR person however is annoying the fuck out of us saying we need to get our training done.........um....ok...............

 
So it's our final full week of our store closing.

People continue to buy crap as all the good stuff is gone.  Batteries/BR/DVD/games have reached 50% off.  People still have the nerve to disagree with you over the price saying "But you guys are closing and need to get rid of it anyways so why not sell it cheaper???"

The other night another employee from another non closing store had the nerve to come up to me stating there is no tag on the item and the price is 2.99 because it's that price at her store.  I pretty much gave her the "Go fuck yourself" look and told her that's not going to happen here.

Things slow down a bit until 7pm..then that's when all the wierdos come in and start tearing shit up. 

The other night after we closed at 8pm, some lady came in and forced the doors opened and we yelled at her saying we are closed.  She didn't care and one of our managers let her in.  She claimed her daughter lost a piece from her toy in the store somewhere and asked if we could help her find it......................are you fucking kidding me?!?!?!??!!?!?

I've witnessed some employee's clock in using other employee's numbers to make them look like they were there when they weren't so they can get extra money.  WTF?  Management doesn't care.

Hr is refusing to do an exit interview with me so I can walk out with paper work stating that I was terminated due to store closure.

Oh well. Glad after this week I will never see any of these fuckers again in my life time.

 
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ITDEFX said:
So it's our final full week of our store closing.

People continue to buy crap as all the good stuff is gone. Batteries/BR/DVD/games have reached 50% off. People still have the nerve to disagree with you over the price saying "But you guys are closing and need to get rid of it anyways so why not sell it cheaper???"

The other night another employee from another non closing store had the nerve to come up to me stating there is no tag on the item and the price is 2.99 because it's that price at her store. I pretty much gave her the "Go fuck yourself" look and told her that's not going to happen here.

Things slow down a bit until 7pm..then that's when all the wierdos come in and start tearing shit up.

The other night after we closed at 8pm, some lady came in and forced the doors opened and we yelled at her saying we are closed. She didn't care and one of our managers let her in. She claimed her daughter lost a piece from her toy in the store somewhere and asked if we could help her find it......................are you fucking kidding me?!?!?!??!!?!?

I've witnessed some employee's clock in using other employee's numbers to make them look like they were there when they weren't so they can get extra money. WTF? Management doesn't care.

Hr is refusing to do an exit interview with me so I can walk out with paper work stating that I was terminated due to store closure.

Oh well. Glad after this week I will never see any of these fuckers again in my life time.
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you have a lot of anger my friend.

 
True. Retail workers that aren't young and new to the game are clearly hateful of customers, their co-workers and everything that is associated with the store.

 
They aren't hateful of all customers, just annoying ones who want discounts off everything. It gets rather disgusting.

And the shoddy management of my store has driven away some excellent workers.
 
I feel a similar way of anger about where I work. They constantly change the rules, hide equipment (now someone is stealing the batteries to the remote control for the TV in the break room) and you have to practically yell to get anyone to respond. They make their customers wait in long lines (two cashiers at a time) yet they can't figure out why anyone wants to open their store credit card.

It's to the point where I feel like I'm going to walk out at any moment.

 
So, we have this ultra-important walk tomorrow to find out why our store's sales suck so much. Our store manager is going around panicking causing everyone who get even more irritated. He complained that the cashiers were standing around waiting for customers instead of getting items to refill the various stands at the register, despite cashiers leaving their stations is a cardinal sin. Then he tries to help a customer with their special order and ends up mucking it up so badly they had to scrap everything and redo it from the ground up. That requires calling vendors which are closed on the weekends. Let's not even mention Tool Rental.

This despite the fact that he has been our store manager for almost 4 years when few managers last for more than 2 before getting cycled out, that our sales have dropped and assosiate turnover has risen since he came in, and that he is the only Hispanic store manager in the region so he will not be fired because they don't want a lawsuit.
 
DNukem170 said:
So, we have this ultra-important walk tomorrow to find out why our store's sales suck so much. Our store manager is going around panicking causing everyone who get even more irritated. He complained that the cashiers were standing around waiting for customers instead of getting items to refill the various stands at the register, despite cashiers leaving their stations is a cardinal sin. Then he tries to help a customer with their special order and ends up mucking it up so badly they had to scrap everything and redo it from the ground up. That requires calling vendors which are closed on the weekends. Let's not even mention Tool Rental.

This despite the fact that he has been our store manager for almost 4 years when few managers last for more than 2 before getting cycled out, that our sales have dropped and assosiate turnover has risen since he came in, and that he is the only Hispanic store manager in the region so he will not be fired because they don't want a lawsuit.
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You work at Lowe's or Home Depot?

 
Yeah the last Best Buy I worked at had an Asian manager who was a completely sexist asshole and he was there for years before the harassment complaints built up enough that they felt ok firing him and weren't in fear of a lawsuit.

 
Guess so. Sad world we live in, 20 years ago you just smack the guy and he stops being a creep. Fin. Now you have to worry about every fool trying to sue for no good reason.

 
Alot of places take sexual harassment very serious and will often suspend/terminate because of fear of getting sued by the person reporting it and nothing being done about it
 
So, Home Depot has been offering 10% military discount for a while now. Catch is, it couldn't be advertised unless it was on a military holiday. Otherwise the customer had to request it. Even had one associate written up for asking a customer if they had a military ID. And any discount over $50 had to be approved by a manager.

Well, they changed the rules starting today. Now they are advertising it, but it has been reduced to a max $20 discount. As if that wasn't cheap enough, apparently they gave their Spanish translator guy a half-day or something:

20131014_084824-1.jpg
 
^LOL
Spanish translation.

Don't know what the  English to Espanol is?!  No problem, just put "Spanish Translation."
Spainsh translation.

Didn't even know there was even a military discount at Home Depot.
Spanish translation.

 
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Note to anyone here who pays in large bills: When the cashier checks to see if its legit, do NOT say any variant of the joke "I just made them last night" or "The ink's still wet!" I guarentee the cashier has heard it thousands of times before and is sick of it. Laughing like it's the greatest joke ever is also a sure way of pissing them off.
 
DNukem170 said:
Note to anyone here who pays in large bills: When the cashier checks to see if its legit, do NOT say any variant of the joke "I just made them last night" or "The ink's still wet!" I guarentee the cashier has heard it thousands of times before and is sick of it. Laughing like it's the greatest joke ever is also a sure way of pissing them off.
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Yeah I get this often but it doesnt piss me off lol. I go along with it and laugh. Now what pisses me off is when a custumer gets an attitude about checking the bill. Its usually some elderly customer. "I don't know why you have to check them, I got them from the bank".

 
DNukem170 said:
Note to anyone here who pays in large bills: When the cashier checks to see if its legit, do NOT say any variant of the joke "I just made them last night" or "The ink's still wet!" I guarentee the cashier has heard it thousands of times before and is sick of it. Laughing like it's the greatest joke ever is also a sure way of pissing them off.
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Right up there with "I want the winning lottery ticket!" I get that A LOT

 
"Wal-Mart has policies against workplace violence to prevent employees from assaulting co-workers or tackling a shoplifter"

So...I can shoplift and just run out the door and nobody is allowed to stop me? Or if they do and I get away and they'll get fired? Wow.

 
Yup, it's the same policy at best buy, worked there for years-if you stop somebody and they  demand to be let go, you can't hold them.

 
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