Walmart (3)

I'm obsessive-compulsive: things tend to linger in my mind. I also generally avoid conflict (though if you've been reading this narrative, you likely find that hard to believe!), so when a conflict occurs, I spend a lot of time mulling over my actions. And so after much mulling, I decided to email Walmart again with more detail (see post one and two on the subject). Below is the second message I sent:

Hello: I know I already emailed once to complain about a situation. I felt I should email again to provide more detail.

As I was leaving the Sauk Centre Walmart on Friday, November 28, I heard an employee say "Wait, I need to see your bag."

I want to be very clear about this. I did not see or hear any security alarm going off. And the employee did not simply ask to see my bag. She ordered me to stop, claiming she needed to see my bag. I felt she had no authority to give me such an order, and so I had no obligation to follow her order. I told her I did not want her to look at my bag, and that she had no right to look at my bag. I then continued to walk outside.

At this point she yelled, followed me into the parking lot, alerted another employee to follow me (and I believe that employee attempted to write down my license plate number). After being treated with such suspicion, I felt I should turn my car around and explain further.

Bag/receipt checks are voluntary: once I have purchased items, they are now my property, and if I don't want to let another person look at them, I don't have to. And if the employee had 1) been trained to know that bag/receipt checks are voluntary, or 2) had asked to see my bag rather than simply ordering me to stop so she could see my bag, perhaps I wouldn't have been yelled and and followed into the parking lot treated with suspicion.

I am not looking for any employee to be punished. But after being treated with such suspicion, I felt compelled to contact you to give you my feeling on the situation. I did nothing wrong, but I don't feel I was treated very well.