Posted on 11/08/2016 11:30:22 AM PST by nickcarraway
Actually, she didn't.
Employees have no right to search someone. Some stores post signs saying they reserve to right to search bags on exit, but it has to be prior notice, not after you have already entered.
An off-duty police officer might have that power, since he is a sworn officer. But, that would require probable cause.
Constitutionally, her proper response was: if you have probable cause to believe I'm stealing, then call the police and convince the officer. If he agrees, I'll consent to his search.
Otherwise, I'm leaving now. Have a nice day.
El Blob-o looks EXACTLY like my Uncle Karl. :o)
Good point!
...
They can ask. You have no obligation to comply.
Where was she physically held against her will and forced to comply?
If the employee would not let her leave, it was illegal detention. No force is necessary.
‘You did not look pregnant five minutes ago,’—the miracle of GMOs.
Private property has nothing to do with searching someone in that setting.
I mentioned nothing about forcing her; I used the word “ordered”.
The employee’s action, will of course, not stand up in court at all for a second. I am sure that is not Walmart’s prescribed procedures. Checking a package is one thing; having a woman raise up her shirt is entirely different.
Here’s the problem for stores: Some women fake being pregnant, and stuff a bunch of merchandise or food in their “belly” as a way of stealing it. Stores HAVE to be able to inspect/search someone that they believe may be a thief. If done in a reasonable and respectful manner, the vast majority of people don’t have a problem with this.
Here’s Walmart’s problem: This guy should have asked her to step aside, explain why he was asking her that, and then called over a FEMALE employee to go into the restroom with the customer to visually check for pregnant vs. (somewhat) imaginative thief. That he did this himself, in public view, is a Class A problem for Walmart. This is classic bad/no training, and unless and until Walmart gets its act together on this issue, they’ll continue to have incidents like this, some percentage of which will result in lawsuits.
FYI, I NEVER open my bags for the greeters/inspectors. I don’t steal, so I won’t be inspected like a common thief in a store that is open to the public (as opposed to Sam’s Club, which is membership-based and which demands that its members submit to a rudimentary inspection of whatever is leaving the store). I always wish the greeters/inspectors a nice day, but I won’t be inspected. If, someday, one of them is extremely persistent, then I will demand that they get a manager - who’s name I will obtain, and whom I will inform that I will not submit to a search without a police officer present. Guaranteed, they will let me go - and I will report the store to Walmart management for being insulting (no lawsuits for me, even though I’m an attorney). I just refuse to be treated like garbage, or to do whatever some ill-educated dunce tells me to do, just “because.”
Pregnant women always show off their stomachs.
Oh dear. You are solo gonna get it.
“Lady those breasts look extremely large. I am going to have to check them out.”
Walmart is probably going to give her a gift card or three and fire or transfer the employee to another store.
I’ve been illegally searched before by a store employee. At first you are just shocked and can’t think. Later when you realized you failed to stand up for yourself, you just get pissed.
Literally 40 years later it still leaves a sour taste in my mouth and I’ve never set foot in that store again. So I get why the woman in question is upset.
He obviously hadn’t seen her five minutes ago, just saw a woman with a large belly and assumed from the looks of her that she might be stealing, so he tried to trip her up with that line, hoping she would confess.
It’s the same tactic cops use when they have no evidence but they tell a suspect “well, we know you did it, because we have tons of evidence against you”.
“This is Walmart, remember.
You can get pregnant fast in there.”
_______________________________________________
Especially if Laz is in the store.
In many religions it is forbidden to have a man bodily search or disrobe you. I say she gets and deserves the $million. Stupid employee. Pull her aside, have a woman check in a dressing room.
Well, nobody “forced” her to do anything, and they asked her to pull up her shirt, to show her belly, which is not a sexual organ so I don’t see how anyone can construe that as sexual assault.
She voluntarily complied. She could have said “no thanks”, in which case the store would have had to call the police if they wanted to conduct a search.
“Um, fake “pregnant” suits are a common tool of some criminals.”
Yes it is but how this employee handled it was way wrong. He or she just got that company a lawsuit. Asking a woman to lift up her shirt in public. NO. Get a female police officer to do that in private, and you better be damn sure you saw her take something.
I love, love, love that movie. Every scene is genius.
Followed by a phone call ... "Hey, Vinnie! Can you and Guido bring the car up front? I need a little muscle here in Aisle 7."
No doubt he will be seeking a career in the fast food industry.
What movie is it?
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