Alamo Aquatics = No Checks

[manny]

..

[fishfancj]

thanks josh. btw: i'm cindy from alamo so a lot of you already know me. chris and troy finally :o talked me into joining the boards

[Ram_Puppy]

well, only slightly off topic, while coming out of walmart the other day (at aroudn 10:30 PM (this is at 281 and 1604) my wife and I were stopped because one of the RFI transmitters they conceal in products now adays was not turned off. The guy at the door came over with a wand and started scanning our cart, then when nothing came up after a few swipes, asked for my wifes purse, I was incensed and told him to try the cart again, that he was going to have to call a cop if he wanted to scan her, or her purse. After diligently searchin through the bags for 10 minutes he finally found the item, her new dayplanner. Meanwhile, people are walking in and out of the store, looking at us like pariahs. Walmart lost our business forever that day, the situation could have, and should have been handeled better, as we had just finished psending almost 800 dollars on office supplies for her company, I think it highly unlikely anyone who goes in and spends that much is going to steal something... ridiculous.

We also had a problem using our card that day, but they let us do it anyway. When someone who is 6'5 and weighs in at 320 or so starts getting mad, people tend to be nicer. I don't make a habit of it, but it sure cuts through peoples bad attitudes in a hurry. I like my wifes way better though, she smiles and bats her pretty eyes... much more effective. (at least on men!)

[captexas]

Ram Puppy -
Coming from one of the people that installs Wal-Marts anti-shoplifting systems, what the employee did was simple procedure, nothing personal. They have rules they have to follow every time a system alarms and they have to document the cause of every alarm in a journal. Also, when you carry something into a store such as a purse or backpack, they have the right to search it or make you leave it outside as the store is private property. The greater at the door was simply doing his job, nothing more.

Unfortunately, most cashiers (especially Wal-Mart) are not properly trained and/or could care less about properly deactivating tags. You would be surprised how much stuff comes from the manufacturer with the tag inside the packaging or even inside the actual item to where it cannot be removed by a shoplifter. Even some clothing now comes with tags sewn inside the material.

As a side note, if you are going to boycott Wal-Mart, don't do it for this reason. If you want to boycott them, do it because they are slowly becoming a shopping monopoly and will be too powerful to stop in the future. If Sam Walton were still alive today, he would be wealthier than most countries!

P.S. - The systems are not RFI, they are acousto-magnetic. Wal-mart is in testing stages of using new RFID technology at some of their distribution centers and will probably be the ones to push it into main stream use as it is too expensive currently. :-)

[Ram_Puppy]

Thanks for clearing that up Cap,

I am not so much miffed at them for scanning the bags, it was the implication of theft that I found offensive, that is the only reason he would ask for her purse, and I felt that, and feel justified that he should have done a better job going through the cart first. And having looked at the reciept, and seeing how much we spent, should have used his common sense and realized the chance of a theft in this instance was incredibly slim, i.e. he should have paid more attention to the cart, not my wife and her purse.

If walmart is going to be so stringent about checking things like that, then they should train their employees better, and hold them to higher standards.

I agree with you as well, if there is a reason to boycott walmart, it is their monopoly status (and the fact that fish bought by them are most certainly doomed. Ugghhh) They are also horrible about paying their bills, I have a friend who would love to put product in their store, but they are notorious for giving small vendors the run around, and not paying on time, he can't afford it, so he doesn't do it.

I would just say in general, it was a sour experience, and I just choose not to shop there anymore... they won't miss my business I am sure.