Of course, it is ordinary for a John Doe to walk into a small goods suppliers outlet, unknown to anyone there, and purchase 13,000 dollars worth of their products with a check. I do it all the time.
Where's the rest of the story?
Where are the Wal Mart cheer leaders this morning?
No excuses for that. They should have called the bank first to verify the account before having the guy arrested.
Actually, having dealt with corporate purchasing, skin color doesn't factor in at all. If this man walked into any store and tried to buy thousands of dollars worth of gift cards with a company check then he should correctly be viewed with suspicion until his identity and purpose can be confirmed.
If he didn't have the foresight to call ahead and talk to the manager, then fax in a purchase order or letter on company letterhead, and carry a copy of said letter or purchase order... then what happened is his own fault.
Of course, it is ordinary for a John Doe to walk into a small goods suppliers outlet, unknown to anyone there, and purchase 13,000 dollars worth of their products with a check. I do it all the time.
Where's the rest of the story?
Walmarts in Florida are extremely careful of customers buying gift cards. Last December I went to a Walmart near my father's assisted living facility to buy gift cards for his nurses. When I went to pay for them with my credit card, I was asked for photo ID. (I go to Walmarts every time I visit my father and this was the first time I was asked for ID.)
On other occasions I have had to code in my area code before my card was accepted. I can't remember any time I've shopped at a Florida Walmarts where I've simply signed the transaction over and out.
An interesting aside: I was able to personally give the Walmart gift cards I purchased to the 2 nurses who were on duty that weekend. The other 2 I mailed with Christmas cards. Long story short, one of the nurses I mailed the gift cards to stole the other nurse's card and used it, telling me all along she never received it. I checked with Walmart and they not only had her license plate number (she bought so much she used her card, the stolen gift card *and* a personal check, albeit for a small amount like $19!) and everything she bought. I called the Sheriff's Department and the assisted living facility. She was identified and fired.
If it weren't for Walmart's obsessive security concerns, I would have never been able to identify the thief and she would have continued to work at my father's facility, stealing with impunity. So yay Walmart's!
Sounds like a win-win situation for the employees.
Well, there goes the surprise. (It averages a little over $26 per card, unless there is a charge for these cards.)
probably were a female cashier too....they're antimale biggots and racist too. I have a feeling sometimes they even practice racism through feminism, "coz women are always right".
If he were a black woman, it would have not happened, I can guarrantee you that.
how ordinary would that purchase be?
both sides of this could have handle it better, as in the man could have called in advance so as to not set off a "red flag", with fraud being what it is today
Calling the police is the problem. This man can sue WM royally, and should do it! He should become rich over this!
From a version at the St. Petersburg Times:
"Our deputies didn't even see enough (of a case) to write a report," said Lt. Carmen Rivas, the shift commander. "We responded only because Wal-Mart called in a bad check report."
Maybe this WalMart couldn't get someone with a business degree to work for $10 an hour.
It's going to get very expensive for Wal-Mart. But the gentleman in question could have avoided even the possibility of trouble or delay by simply having his company call ahead of time to say he'd be buying quite a few presents there and the company check would run in the thousands. Looks like they dropped the ball. Really dumb.
I imgaine that there are procedures in place for verifying large checks like this. Were those procedures followed, and courteously? If so, the customer doesn't have anything to complain about.
It does not pay to antagonize customers. Walmart take heed. $13,600 to Target.
'Nuff said.
Oh good grief! We all get treated like crap once in a while.
What burns my tailfeathers about this is the number of posts indicating that Walmart's actions were justified because the customer wanted to leave and that fits the profile of a forger.
If Walmart was really suspicious they should have declined the transaction. There was no evidence of a crime and no reason to arrest him.
Am I the only one who sees it this way?
Well, I'm convinced! WalMart hates blacks! I mean, African Americans!
Clearly this WalMart staff had no experience dealing with something like this, and made some stupid mistakes, and a call to the bank and the company in question would've been appropriate. I have to assume the W-M management was involved in a purchase like that plus a call to the police. Really stupid, but the purchase itself being unusual it's not a surprise they screwed up. It could've been anyone making that kind of purchase, however. Silly to assume it was racist.
Lots of facts here. Called the guard shack? Walmart didn't want to depend on the phone numbers given to them by Pitts. All they could find was a number to an unattended phone. http://www.sptimes.com/2005/12/02/Tampabay/Racial_profiling_fear.shtml