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Walmart Greeter Punched By Customer Gets Fired (Video)
WESH 2 Orlando ^ | January 8, 2010

Posted on 01/12/2010 11:37:50 AM PST by greatdefender

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To: greatdefender

sue Walmart... attacked on employer’s property... employer’s inappropriate and unfair response... then sue the customer too...


21 posted on 01/12/2010 12:13:09 PM PST by xtinct (The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you..Be Strong Patriots!)
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To: greatdefender

Sorta OT-ish, but: You have to be astounded at the stupidity of the thief: “HEY! Did you just write down my plate?” (Indicating a consciousness of guilt, only to be underscored as we continue.) “Come back here! I’m going go back where the cameras are on us, grab you and seize your clipboard on which you wrote down my plate — then punch you! THAT’ll teach you!”


22 posted on 01/12/2010 12:32:24 PM PST by pogo101
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To: Chet 99
They don’t want employees to engage with customers

Well, that would explain the quality of Wally World's customer service.

23 posted on 01/12/2010 12:42:36 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: ZULU

>>I they go to Hell with Ikea.<<

Norwegian you are being? (LOL)


24 posted on 01/12/2010 12:48:06 PM PST by freedumb2003 (Communism comes to America: 1/20/2009. Keep your powder dry, folks. Sic semper tyrannis)
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To: greatdefender

Apparently WalMart wants us to know it’s ok to steal at their stores. Message received!


25 posted on 01/12/2010 12:51:55 PM PST by Republic of Texas (Socialism Always Fails)
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To: greatdefender

I was in Target late Sunday night. Two women were heading out the door and the magnetic tag on one of their purchases set off the alarm. They looked at each other and looked in their bag, pulling out a garment.

They looked at each other again, shrugged, and headed out the door. A dozen clerks were standing around. They all looked up and then went back to their work.


26 posted on 01/12/2010 1:18:25 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
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To: goseminoles

Some of you are justifying the employees actions based on an assumption that there was a theft. As I read the article there was no theft, merely an alarm going off. It is a proven fact that 99% of these entry way alarms are false and therefore cannot be used as probable cause for a civilian to effect a stop.
They may ask for permission to search but if denied they have no further recourse. Now play Devil’s advocate and ask yourself if you walked out of a store, any store, and were followed out to your vehicle how would you feel? How would you react?
In many places you would be justified to use deadly force as soon as you feel threatened and when in a place where you have legal rights to be. It is absolutely foolish for any (minimum wage) employee to follow a customer into a parking lot (where he/she has a legal right to be) and engage in what could be construed as aggressive behavior based on an electronic tag/beeper that a cashier neglected to deactivate.

On another note ask yourself this, how would your parents/grandparents have reacted 40 years ago if they were stopped whenver they left a store to check their cart and receipt to make sure they weren’t thieves. I have a strong hunch that they would not have accepted being treated as shoplifters on a regular basis, without provocation and would have refused further patronage. Yet nowadays I see people consistently stopped while leaving stores so that a “Greeter” can go through their cart and check receipts. This is absolute foolishness (harassment in my opinion) since the customer just came through the cash register!

I for one refuse to stop for a civilian when leaving a store if the exit beeper goes off. When they ask me to stop I simply ask if they are a law enforcement officer. When they answer no I just keep walking to my car as I do not wish to be inconvenienced nor will I submit to an unwarranted search of my person or property. I am a citizen with rights, not a sheeple! All of you people that regularly stop and let “Greeters” go through your purchases should ask yourself are you a sheeple?


27 posted on 01/12/2010 1:26:52 PM PST by Rudolphus (Tagline? I don't need no steenkin' tagline.)
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To: Rudolphus

Your thoughts are well explained and accurate. But I side with the Walmart employee. If I was a greeter and went to check a tag of a supposed criminal and got punched. Its game on! Someones gonna get hurt and I shouldn’t lose my livelyhood(sp?) Because I got assaulted in the parking lot by some douchebag because I’m carrying out my duties as an employee.


28 posted on 01/12/2010 1:55:00 PM PST by goseminoles
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To: greatdefender

Racism - uppity whitey?


29 posted on 01/12/2010 2:27:30 PM PST by SaraJohnson
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To: Rudolphus

Everything you said is true. But your rights don’t include punching the guy. End of story.


30 posted on 01/12/2010 2:30:29 PM PST by Republic of Texas (Socialism Always Fails)
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To: goseminoles

Respectfully, you missed the whole point. The Walmart employee is a civilian and not empowered to make a non-felony criminal stop. When he attempted to he became the criminal as he was initiating an assault. To wit the “customer” was well within his rights to defend himself from a potential threat. Had the Walmart employee tried this on an armed individual he may well be more than just unemployed.

Moreover, ask yourself what gives you the right to check anybody’s bag/possesion/property/etc? A Walmart vest? Once a customer has moved past the cash register what is in those plastic bags is the customers property and not subject to search without probable cause unless determined by Law Enforcement. It can get more complicated than this but that’s the simple explanation.

Again, reverse the role. You just made a lawful purchase and are walking out to your car. Somebody tries to stop and harass you in the parking lot under the guise of checking your bags. What are you going to do? Submit to some stranger and forgo your rights just because they have a Walmart vest? Only if you are a sheeple.
Unfortunately too many citizens have been conditioned to submit to ANY perceived authority, including Walmart.

I have a feeling your whole thought process is based on a presumption of guilt. Remember, the electronic tags and exit alarms give false alarms over 99% of the time. Is this justifiable cause? The answer is a resounding no! These machines are simply intimidation devices. Anybody who submits to one is a sheeple.

Personally I think the greeter position is a total waste. The money they spend on harassing good customers should be spent bagging our groceries and bringing carts in from the parking lot to prevent door dings. However, stores justify the greeters by saying that they are the first step in loss prevention. By meeting people at the door, potential thieves are supposed to be made aware that they are watched and not just blending in. Hence they are supposedly less likely to shop-lift. This may have been true 20 years ago but these days shoplifters are de-sensitized to greeters and basically ignore them. Really what criminal is going to be intimidated by a 70-year-old greeter who should be at home relaxing in retirement?

I spent 10 years in Retail including some big box stores, Loss Prevention in those same stores and Law Enforcement. My opinions are based on what I learned on the job, company policies and basic human nature. Remember criminals by definition don’t respect your laws.


31 posted on 01/12/2010 2:44:07 PM PST by Rudolphus (Tagline? I don't need no steenkin' tagline.)
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To: Republic of Texas

You are absolutely wrong! Your rights do in fact include punching the guy and use of deadly force if you are in a place where you have lawful rights to be and you feel that you are threatened aka assault. Do you think you check your rights at the door when you go to Wal-mart? Do you check them in the parking lot? Howabout when you pull into your own driveway? If the Wal-mart police follow you to your home and then ask to check your bags, what are you going to do? Let them? Only if you are a sheeple. Once you pay at the register that is your property and yours alone. They no longer have rights to the merchandise and they never had rights to your person. End of story.


32 posted on 01/12/2010 2:54:27 PM PST by Rudolphus (Tagline? I don't need no steenkin' tagline.)
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To: Rudolphus

You’re wrong.
Once you pass the registers (or point of purchase), people are still subject to identifying themselves as being a purchaser. Just because you get past the registers doesn’t mean you are all of a sudden free from being questioned by employees.
If this were the case, robberies/thefts would be up exponentially just because you are past home base.
I understand your concept, but Walmart should back someone making 7.25 an hour for the preservation of the company’s goal- not getting ripped off.


33 posted on 01/12/2010 2:57:58 PM PST by goseminoles
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To: goseminoles

I worked in the Loss Prevention business long enough to know the rules. Then I went to work in Law Enforcement for a number of years before I left that for Fire/EMS.

Fact of the matter is I tried to give the most simple explanation I could. But since your trying to call me out I will go a little further.

The only entity empowered to make a non-felony stop is law enforcement. A civilian may ask for permission to search but upon being denied there is no recourse.

As a civilian Loss Prevention employee I could ask people at the door all I wanted to see their receipts and check their bags. If they said no and I had no reason to believe they had actually stolen anything that was it. They were free to go, end of story. I had no law and no company policy to back me up on a search without cause. This was the same at every company I have ever worked for.

One exception is when there is confirmed theft/retail fraud/whatever you want to call it in your state. This is confirmed by visual observation of the theft via surveilance, not electronic tags beeping. At that point a potential thief may be stopped once they are past the last point where payment can be made. A civilian employee may only hold the suspect there. They may NOT search unless given permission. They may only detain until law enforcement arrives.

Another exception where a civilian (employee or otherwise) may hold a suspect is for a felony infraction. This is typically defined as a theft over $100. This could also apply to any other felony, say you witnessed a person in the store brutally beat someone up. Then you could attempt to intervene and stop the felonious act or at least hold the suspect until Law Enforcement arrives.

Keep in mind retailers have many years of experience in this and many attorneys and many dollars at stake. They did not put these non-aggression policies in place because they just didn’t want to deal with it/theft. It was done because it is very costly to trample on a citizens civil rights in the name of Loss Prevention. Moreover, it is expensive to pay for an elderly (or any other) employees medical bills and legal expenses when he decides to go Wyatt Earp. Even more so when the supposed thief/customer turns out to be innocent. Remember we have a saying in this country “Innocent until proven guilty.” Just as important “Don’t Tread on Me.”


34 posted on 01/12/2010 3:17:26 PM PST by Rudolphus (Tagline? I don't need no steenkin' tagline.)
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To: Rudolphus

Assault? By a WalMart greeter? Go ahead, be a badass. Beat retirees at WalMart. Very impressive.


35 posted on 01/12/2010 3:37:24 PM PST by Republic of Texas (Socialism Always Fails)
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To: Rudolphus
In many places you would be justified to use deadly force as soon as you feel threatened

Threatened by a uniformed store employee? Exactly where would this justify deadly force for someone following a customer out to his car to get his license plate number? Where? What state?

36 posted on 01/12/2010 3:57:17 PM PST by Eagle Eye (The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.)
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To: goseminoles

Hmmm....newbie who didn’t cut muster in retail knows all about and use of force including deadly force. ‘Working’ in law enforcement, Fire/EMS could mean anything.

He does come across as clean and articulate, however.


37 posted on 01/12/2010 4:03:06 PM PST by Eagle Eye (The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.)
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To: greatdefender

Unless I’m mistaken, the video is pretty clear that the WM employee was the one to make contact first. He put a shoulder into the guy to get the clipboard back.


38 posted on 01/12/2010 4:06:44 PM PST by Double Tap
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To: Republic of Texas

Liberal: One who lacking substantive arguement resorts to name-calling.


39 posted on 01/12/2010 5:01:44 PM PST by Rudolphus (Tagline? I don't need no steenkin' tagline.)
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To: Eagle Eye

So you’re saying that nobody has ever been assaulted at a place of business by an employee? There are many documented instances of business associates loosing their cool and assaulting patrons. Several as well of employee on employee assaults. You are acting like a Wal-mart vest is the same as a Law Enforcement position. I’m sorry to burst your bubble people but a retail store employee does not have a God-given or State empowered right to force their will on any individual. Again put yourself into the customers position. You have been followed out to your car and some crazy coot is trying to frisk you. Are you going to submit and be a sheeple or are you going to be a Man and stand up for yourself. Nobody has any right to lay hands on another person without due cause. Employee or not! Nobody! If this employee did in fact follow this customer outside of the store and to his car and then did in fact lay hands on him, he engaged in assault and therefore should expect to suffer the consequences. If you don’t like it that way perhaps you should think about moving to the UK where you are required to take a beating from an assailant.


40 posted on 01/12/2010 5:09:31 PM PST by Rudolphus (Tagline? I don't need no steenkin' tagline.)
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