Some people get bothered by some things than other people. I, honestly, don’t find stores checking my receipt and bag on the way out to be all that onerous. Whether it’s quality checking on the cashiers or an anti-shoplifting measure, it’s not a big deal to me.
Some folks, though, like this gent who visited Best Buy, like to stand on their rights, dagnabbit!
But this verification step is purely voluntary. Merchants basically have two rights covering people entering and exiting their stores. They can refuse to let you enter the premises and/or to sell you anything, and they can place you under citizens arrest for attempting to leave the premises with any property that you haven’t paid for. But the second you hand over the appropriate amount of cash, they lose all rights to the items. They can’t legally impair you from leaving the store with your property.
To be fair, if there’s a long line (something I’ve never encountered in this context at a Best Buy, even during the holidays) I can see where it would be more annoying. But I don’t see myself doing what the writer did, declining to stand in line and letting Best Buy blue-shirts and yellow-shirts scamper after me into the parking lot. I’m just not that kind of guy. If it’s a big enough hassle — in time or vendor attitude — I’ll simply not shop there.
But, then, that’s just me.
(via kottke)