Submitted by RobinsHood in axolotl

I need advice. Also, learn from my mistakes. I had a walkout planned at a ₩@1m@rt far from me. I primarily needed food and a few house goods like paper towels, tampons, and utensils. I brought my reusable bags, had an old receipt, and parked as far away as possible. I dressed nicely, shopped normally, loading my stuff up in my bags. It was all going fine, I was never sussed. Then it comes time to walk out. I walk through an empty check out lane, seeing the receipt checker away from the station. She's a different one then the one that was there when i entered. It's then I realize I lost my old receipt. No problem, I think to myself, checker isn't even there. I pretend to call someone, and about 2 feet from the door, she returns. I continue on my way, so close to the sweet escape when she puts her hand on my cart. She asks to see my reciept.

I pretend to pull away from the call for a moment, to dig through my bags, hoping I could find the old reciept I threw in there. I knew I threw it in there. I couldn't find it. Panic. I tell her I must have left it at self checkout because I was sure I grabbed it. I thought she would just send me back to check and I could dump and run. No, she took my cart and went to check with me. At this point, I was still thinking I could wriggle my way out of this. Someone just took my reciept right? Sorry, I swear I paid for it. But no, they go to check the system for my purchase. They make me point out a register that I "went through" and asked what I paid with. They took me to customer service to go through this process. I made up something and then was like, look, I've got a meeting soon I gotta go, so I'll go through, buy everything again, and when I find the reciept at home, I'll just come back. Lol I knew that wasn't going to work but I was desperate. All these SA's are looking at me. At this point I consider just bolting, but I knew it was too late. There were too many people who could stop me and I am not fast. The SAs are like we're just gonna look for you through the cameras and if we see you you're fine. Enter me just sweating bullets. Everything I've ever learned flew out the window. So I pull the main sA to the side and I'm like "look I'm so sorry but I didn't pay blah blah blah it's my first time, I don't want to waste anymore of your time, I'll pay for everything blah blah blah." She was super nice and was basically like "okay, I gotta talk to my manager, but it's okay."

Then this rude ass customer who just looked at me and was like "What did you learn in school? God you're a piece of scum." Then she turned to her son and was like "Don't be an idiot like her." I had half a mind to just turn around and say "I only learned the fucking quadratic equation bitch." But I refrained because I was scared shitless.

I go and the SA begins ringing up my items. I figured it was just to total my stuff because the SA was trying to call her manager but he wasn't answering. Then the main SA tells another SA to finish ringing me up and to enter code 161 when she's done and walks away to deal with the growing line of angry customer. I make small talk with this new SA, hoping being nice to everyone will save my ass. After bagging up all my stuff, she asks me cash or card. At this point I was like, oh, I'm getting to pay for these items but I'll probably still have to sign something that says I'll never come back and deal with security. I paid with card (which is a no-no I know but the total was more than I expected and I didn't have that much cash on me, and I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to pay) and she hands me a receipt and tells me to have a good day.

I was shocked. I took the reciept, walked away, packed up my car, and vowed to never return and to take a break from lifting. I'm still shook up honestly. I don't know if that SA was supposed to let me go or not but I'm thankful either way. I know that I was beyond lucky that I didn't get anything more, especially because my total ended up being $262 which is over the w@1m@rt's $250 limit.

I am still concerned though since I paid with card. Will they track me? Will they send me something in the mail? Will they tell my bank? Should I "lose" my card and get a new one? I wasn't IDed or asked for my name or anything, so the only real thing they could trace me down for was my card. Since they just let me pay and walk though, do they really care enough to do that?

Overall, here's a breakdown of what I think I did wrong:

  • I think this reciept checker might have seen me enter the checkout line, only to exit a few seconds later. That's sus af. I should have gone down to the other side to exit.

  • I lost my reciept which (obviously) was a big issue. Maybe bring more then one reciept

  • I stopped for the checker even though it wasn't completely my choice.

  • I panicked and forgot everything I've learned. Be comfortable enough that you won't forget stuff, and always always have a plan B.

-I had too much stuff. The people repeatedly said they would have let me just go without the reciept if I hadn't had so much stuff. Plus I had a clothes steamer because I got greedy, and for some reason the checker was very concerned about me needing to return it.

Overall, I should have just left when i realized I didn't have my old reciept, and I definitely shouldn't have been greedy and grabbed so much stuff. If you do have thoughts though on my concerns, please let me know.

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Comments

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negroni wrote (edited )

Yeah if you're going to do a walkout, you gotta have the balls to follow through because you already own the items.

Imagine if you did pay and forgot your receipt at the checkout. You're a nicely dressed business lady and you're very busy. You would likely be annoyed at having to waste your time trying to prove your innocence to a bunch of lowly ₩@1m@rt slaves. You might even tell them to get their hands off your stuff, and just keep on walking. That's the attitude you gotta internalize for walkouts...

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zeebra wrote (edited )

You're too nice. Next time be a bitchy career woman who has a good job and a busy life and no time to waste at a discount store. Tell them to get their hands off your stuff and leave. Do not ever stop for an employee or some rude nosy customer.

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glenna0 wrote

This is my M.O. I act outraged and insulted and tell them I'm calling corporate. The managers/employees try to intimidate you, I just intimidate them right back.

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ravens wrote

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe they can’t legally stop you if they want to check your receipt. They can ask to see if, but if you say no, they can’t do anything about it.

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RobinsHood OP wrote

I don't think they can, but I panicked. Plus, the lady there apparently gave 0 shits about the legality of it.

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[deleted] wrote

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[deleted] 0 wrote

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jert_the_gnarwhal wrote

Maybe my reasoning abilities are failing me but it seems to me that as long as they're not preventing you from grabbing the bags with the stuff you bought out of the cart and continuing on your way then you're not being "held against your will." Am I not understanding something here? There's stores I've been to that put poles vertically on all they're shopping carts so to prevent the carts from being taken any further than the entrance and exit doors. Wouldn't this be considered being detained, given your logic?

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Spudnuts wrote

Yep, this.

The other thing is to grab the bags out of the trolley and keep on going to the exit.

Fuck em.

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