Walmart employees 'ripped up woman's $100 bills because they thought they were fake'

dailymail.co.uk ^ | 9-16-12 | By Nina Golgowski

[rawhide]

A mother who says Walmart employees intentionally humiliated her after wrongfully ripping up two of her $100 bills while believing they were fake is taking legal action against the store.

According to her complaint: 'The cashier inspected the $100 bill, turned to another cashier and had a brief discussion, and returned to her register telling Plaintiff that her money was "fake."

'The cashier proceeded to rip the $100 bill in half without performing any counterfeit detection tests. The metallic strip in the $100 bill was clearly visible.'

After marking the bill with the detection pen, revealing a yellowish colour across it, Ms Garcia said she explained to the cashier of that colour meaning it was legitimate, having previously worked in retail herself.

Detained at the front of the store while told the police had been called, Ms Garcia claims that adding to her humiliation, the employees told curious customers in passing that she was busted trying to use fake money.

After two hours at the front, police arrived around 4.15am and proceeded to inspect the bills in question.

Following a series of tests the first responding officer, identified as Officer Edwards, returned to Ms Garcia telling her that what the Walmart employee and manager had done was a 'terrible mistake.’

'He then approached the manager, who appeared upset by what he was told by Officer Edwards,' according to the complaint.

‘After speaking with Officer Edwards, Manager Russell approached Plaintiff and sarcastically stated that the police officers said the money was not counterfeit, though he disagreed.

‘At this time, he attempted to hand Plaintiff the two torn $100 bills he had misappropriated from her. When Plaintiff objected to receiving torn bills, Officer Edwards instructed Manager Russell to replace the bills he had wrongfully taken and destroyed.

[Secret Agent Man]

Just about every casier I run across has a testing pen for anything larger than fifty dollar bills. Works on all of them but they use them on higher bills. Why this wasn’t SOP is unheard of.

[zencycler]

But she wasn’t paying in counterfeit money. She was paying in real US currency

Right, someone looked at the bills, made the false conclusion that they were counterfeit, and so the store's suspicion turned out to be false. Now, just how stupid the clerk or manager were (certainly ripping the bills is dumb), and whether either should get sanctioned or lose their jobs for not handling this better is a separate question from whether the customer suffered any harm which would be deserving of a large legal settlement.

Assuming the store did have the right to detain and investigate based on a suspected crime does not mean that they always must be correct in their suspicions to avoid liability for detention.

Their primary liability, and an actual false arrest, would have occurred if they had requested, and the officer had obliged, that the customer be arrested and charged based on their determiniation that the bills were counterfeit. Instead, the officer was asked to check the bills, which essentially meant he was aiding in their investigation, after which no arrest was made, and the customer was returned her money.

Yes, she should probably be given some SMALL amount to compensate for her time, and for the aggravation caused by the stupidity of the store's management and employees. I just don't see anything here to justify anything more than a few hundred dollars extra.

[zencycler]

Here's another way of looking at this - suppose the clerk and manager worked for a Mom and Pop. Shoould the owners, Mom and Pop, who were away at the time, be bankrupted by a large award simply because the manager and clerk misread the bills and detained her for two hours?

The amount which this lady deserves for her whatever aggravation or inconventience she suffered, everything else being equal, should not change based on whether she was shopping at Walmart or at a Mom/Pop store. So if you're defending a large award in this case, then you should be ready to bankrupt any Mom/Pop store for the same reason.

[zencycler]

The cashier, *as well as the manager*, were too stupid to know that there is a $100 denomination in US currency.

I didn't see that in the story.

[IslamE]

Fine, keep letting our politicians spend us into oblivion! Where is the outrage about China? Both parties have systematically sold us out, Romney is the better of the two, but if he, like other Republicans continues to work with the Democrats, its at our peril! Look at all the Democrats have accomplished, Bush had a majority in both the house and the senate, yet, he did nothing! The United States and our freedom is like a frog in boiling water, soon, one day, this nation will wake up cooked and no longer free!

[IslamE]

I am not, nor have I ever been an operative for the Democrats! I am voting for Romney, but what I am saying is that he had better not sing kumbaya with the Democrats like so many others before him, this nation cannot allow the Democrats anymore room with regards to their agenda, look at all they have accomplished: health care, abortion, took over education, killed our manufacturing and outsourced it overseas(both parties are guilty of this fact), no more prayer in schools, assaulted God and religion through various restraints via the ACLU, gay marriage, they have systematically declared war on the nuclear family and are destroying it through divorce! The Republicans had better wake up and put their faith in God’s law rather than the law of man or else this nation will not survive!

[Rebelbase]

Sacajawea was teenager with a baby when she left from Ft. Mandan to go with Lewis and Clark and back.

[cva66snipe]

Actually Walmart is the brightest company of all. There is no retail company that begins to have the where withall of Walmart. To argue differently is to be just blowing smoke

Really the corporation isn't that smart or rather not as smart as the ones who got the store it's initial national success.

Walmart has gone down hill considerable with it's On Time Delivery Inventory Program it began a few years back. They are never on time. On Time Inventory means it's going to likely be days or a week getting some items restocked because they are forbidden it seems to keep inventory in the stock room. The merchandise is in the regional warehouse and will not be delivered to the store until the store runs out it seems.

They likely loose about a 20% -30% of their sales they could have made daily simply because they refuse to keep their shelves and the local store stockroom properly stocked. Write down a list of a dozen items and go see how many are actually on the shelf. No it's not a matter of they will restock it later that night because the merchandise isn't there at the store rather it's at the warehouse waiting too be shipped when someone in Bentonville finally allows it to be shipped out. I shop very late at night. If I don't see an item I need on the shelf I check the pallets. Usually it's not there either.

Next it their new Unisex Clothing Departments layout. Once upon a time Wally World had their clothing department where you could tell beyond any doubt which darn section you were in. Well the Clowns from Bentonville who know about as much about store layouts as I do spaceships have it all crammed in one big area. The same thing with their shoes department. Their new Super Walmart in north Knox County is the most dysfunctional store in layout likely in the state. The managers have no say in it so I don't blame them.

Walmart used to be cheaper on groceries. Ingles can now beat them on price on the overall total purchase. Walmart gets away with a lot simply because they ran their competition off the market then copped the attitude they no longer had to keep their stores up. And lets not forget their botched attempt of trying to force customers into having no name brand choice in the food section a couple years ago. Remember? They only stocked their store brand on most items? They never quite removed from that mistake either. Walmart is getting sloppy and if/when we have an economic recover they are setting themselves up to become as K-Mart.

If they keep up their current store inventory policies someone will step in and fill the void. It's just common sense. If it's not on your shelves then you can't sell it meaning that is lost sales. I'd love to see a new corp come in to East Tennessee and make Walmart start paying attention to what customers want again.

[BobL]

“I am not, nor have I ever been an operative for the Democrats!...”

That may well be the case, but elections are won by two things: (1) Getting your people fired up to vote and getting them out; (2) Dampening the enthusiasm of the other team for their candidate.

Dems are EXPERTS at demoralizing Republicans and convincing them that there’s really no difference between between the candidates, and they do it by getting on sites like this and calling talk Radio (Rush rightfully calls them seminar callers), and talking down about the Republicans, while posing as one.

My point here is that there is 7 weeks until the election, our candidate is chosen (for better or worse), and there’s no assurance he will win. Beating up Republicans for being as bad as Democrats plays right into their hands - there will be PLENTY OF TIME for that after the election, even before Romney takes office...but he has to be given a chance to win first, and demoralizing Republicans plays right into Obama’s hands.

[Tuanedge]

I don’t think those Walmart employees would have gotten away with this with a man. I think they took advantage of the fact that she was a woman to puff themselves up and exercise their petty power.

Who in the civilized world isn’t aware of the computerized metal strip in a 100 dollar bill? How conceited and arrogant is it to tear up a persons money because you think you have the super power of counterfeit detecting vision, while the rest of the world needs the help of proper tools to reach this conclusion? And speaking of the counterfeit detecting pen, how is it a trained Walmart employee *supposedly* is completely ignorant of its use and every convenience store clerk fresh off the boat from Bangladesh isn’t? One way or another, there’s way more to this story.

And I think you’re being just a bit flippant and dismissive about this woman’s damages.

For example, I’m a 6’ 265# black belt who benches 520# freeweight, and if I choose to detain you, once my hand touches your shoulder it’s statistically unlikely you’re going to be able to do a thing about it.

And as I’m detaining you by force, I’m proudly telling all passersby that I’ve just caught a thief, while absolutely ignoring your protests and the proof positive right in my hand that I’m telling a lie.

After hours of being publicly violated, degraded and defamed in this manner, finally it requires the police to force me to let you go, and I make sure to let you know that I don’t believe them either, that you’re still a thief, and I shove your torn bills and a couple 100 dollars at you just because I’m still right, you’re still a thieving dirtbag, and I’m just moving you along because I have better things to do with my time.

Now tell me, are you satisfied?

And if not, is the only reason the woman in this scenario should be satisfied, is because she’s a woman, and Walmart is a place that’s just so special, that violating a woman in this manner, in public, should be shuffled under the rug to protect their good name.

Remember, you’re in the court of common sense and I think the bullshyte detectors are turned up to maximum at this point.

Prosecution rests ;^)

[BobL]

“My wife worked for Walmart before her condition got to bad to work. Walmart bent over backwards to keep her employed. “

OUTSTANDING post, as usual. I really think there’s a large portion of our population (liberal and conservative) that needs to beat up on companies like Walmart, to feel like they have some self-worth in life.

Here’s how I see it: I have a bigger and nicer house thanks to Walmart, and I have nicer cars thanks to Walmart. Why? Because I remember the mom and pop stores that we love to reminisce about, and I STILL remember their prices. Sure you got good service, at least if you fit their preferred profile (i.e., high school kids, any color, were not liked), but you PAID THROUGH THE TEETH for it. Why? Because that nice merchant had big bills to pay and kids to put though expensive private schools for their liberal arts educations. He also had ZERO clout with his suppliers - if they raised the price, then tough, he had to try to pass that on.

But thanks to Walmart, I can STILL buy jeans for less than I paid 40 years ago to that idyllic merchant, in other words, next to nothing. Same for motor oil, and many, many, other things. Is there stuff crappy? Maybe, I’ve had bad stuff from them - and Sears, and Penny’s...and everyone else. People have choices, and if Walmart only sold crap, they would be avoided at any price - but they are not avoided.

[cva66snipe]

ROFLOL...Walmart buys from the same suppliers that every store in the country buys from. Yes, they do put some smaller companies out of business with lower prices but that is called competition. Specialty stores seem to survive and prosper against Walmart even though they also buy from the same suppliers. You have to figure out what the public wants and are willing to purchase for a higher price.

You might want to read this then The man who said No to Wal-Mart. Walmart encourages name brand companies to off shore production and produce a lower quality product in the name of that everyday low price. They might buy from the same company but which production facility does the other retailers purchase from?

I would not buy any name brand outdoor power equipment at Wally World for example. What you get at Wally is not the same product as what you get at the dealers.

I bought a best model Wally had Poulan weed-eater a few years back. It barely lasted the summer even with resonable residential use.

[cva66snipe]

I’d blame a lot of the mistaken currency problem on the federal government. They keep changing the face of our currency both paper and coins. I do not appreciate nickles and quarters that look almost identical now either.

[kcvl]

“What you get at Wally is not the same product as what you get at the dealers.”

It most certainly is the same. There is not one name brand supplier for Walmart and one for everyone else. They all buy the very same merchandise. Walmart just buys a whole lot more and gets better prices. And yes, some products are duds even at the dealers.

[kcvl]

I find the guy’s story absurd...

This is the Walmart headquarters

http://mypbrand.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/walmart-headquarters.jpg

No lawn chairs.

[cva66snipe]

Did you even bother to read the article I linked? I think that man knows what he’s talking about. I mean the man in the article was CEO of Simplicity Mowers. He goes into detail about the difference. With Wally you get Rivets instead of nuts and bolts and machines with no grease fittings, lighter gage metal ETC.

[kcvl]

Snapper mowers back at Walmart...

Mr Wier’s company is now owned by Briggs. Someone in Milwaukee said yes for him. The Brute mowers are made in west Tennessee on the same line as Snapper and John Deere push mowers.

[antceecee]

...and fired TSA employees...they qualify for management training program at Walmart!

[cynwoody]

Are we really at the point where any mistake made by a store must result in some kind of a lawsuit, simply because a customer had cause to be angry until the mistake was rectified?

The most Walmart had a right to do in this case was to refuse her cash. If her story checks out, she's due a LOT more than $200.

[cva66snipe]

I find the guy’s story absurd... This is the Walmart headquarters No lawn chairs.

Well for one thing the article I linked is posted January 1, 2006. Another thing Wally IIRC corp has changed top management several times since then.

On another note though. Do you remember those highly annoying entrance alarms Wally used to have in Electronics every time someone entered the department? Do you remember them being taken out? The VP's at Wally used to have direct hands on with the operation of the stores and actually interacted with the public. If you had a complaint and called or wrote Corp you would get a reply from a higher up in corp.

I know because years ago I called and complained about those blasted alarms. VP of Loss prevention called me actually. Try and address any issue with corp now and you'll get a call from a local associate who can't do Zilch. Walmart has lost it's way from the beginnings that made it the success it became.