Asked for receipt.

cymruchris

eskbanker said:

cymruchris said:

eskbanker said:

It would have to be a pretty brazen shoplifter to leave a store with a fully laden trolley of unpaid goods!

It's surprisingly common in recent times. Many of the big supermarkets experience it daily in a large number of branches...

photome said:

I would guess that’s a common occurrence 

Fair enough, but my main point still stands, i.e. it would be self-evident to the employee that the trolley had been removed from the premises so it's not unreasonable to challenge OP on that, but on what grounds would the employee have had reasonable suspicion under which to demand proof of purchase for the shopping itself?

The only time I think there'd be grounds on challenging the contents of the trolley, would be if that employee had witnessed someone leaving the store when they hadn't seen payment being made. The usual thing that any shoplifter should be continuously obvserved, and a challenge made once they've passed the final point of payment. 

So if the OP for example had paid for his goods - then went wandering off back into the shop to find (let's call him Jeff) Jeff to say 'I'm borrowing the trolley mate see you in ten minutes' - then wandered back through the exit doors without apparently going through the checkouts might raise someone that's near the doors suspicions that the OP hadn't paid for his goods and then went chasing after him to challenge for proof of purchase.(This is just a hypothetical example - to answer your question - not suggesting this is what OP did)

pinkshoes

Dorrian said:

Went to a shop purchased my items paid got a receipt & left, I always use a trolley to take the heavy goods home & return it afterwards as I live around 400 metres from the shop . I exited the shop property & got to about 20 metres from my home in another road when all of a sudden an arm shot out & grabbed the trolley & asked what I was doing with the trolley, I explained I was using the trolley to take my purchased items home & I would return it as normal, they then asked to see my receipt & I flashed it but did not hand it to them & they would not let me proceed any further by holding the trolley I asked them to ring the store but they would not they wanted the receipt. I asked him for I.D & he showed me his work shirt logo from under his fleece So my Autism & anxiety was in overdrive so I was a bit stroppy but not rude or threatening & I took the whole back to the shop for a refund. They explained he did everything correct so after I got my composure I apologised for everything. Now I was wondering 1 Is there any distance from a store they can stop you. 2 Must they identify themselves 3 Does showing a company logo on a polo shirt count as I.D. It also seems the person who stopped & asked me about the trolley & to see the receipt was not actually working at the time but on their way to work. 

Ultimately you stole a shopping trolley. You might have a long standing agreement to borrow it, but the security person was just doing their job, as shopping trolleys are worth quite a lot of money so cost the store to replace them.

Why didn't you phone the store yourself and put the store manager on loudspeaker to confirm it was OK for you to borrow the trolley?

The employee was quite right to check that you also hadn't stolen the goods; people do just put them in trolleys to make it look like they've paid for the item, then walk out! Why did you not let them check your receipt? Flashing it would have made you appear very evasive.

I would suggest you buy some sort of shopping trolley to carry heavy goods if you need to borrow trolleys on a regular basis. 

powerful_Rogue

eskbanker said:

cymruchris said:

eskbanker said:

It would have to be a pretty brazen shoplifter to leave a store with a fully laden trolley of unpaid goods!

It's surprisingly common in recent times. Many of the big supermarkets experience it daily in a large number of branches...

photome said:

I would guess that’s a common occurrence 

Fair enough, but my main point still stands, i.e. it would be self-evident to the employee that the trolley had been removed from the premises so it's not unreasonable to challenge OP on that, but on what grounds would the employee have had reasonable suspicion under which to demand proof of purchase for the shopping itself?

Why would the employee new reasonable suspicion? I could stand outside a supermarket and ask to see peoples receipts, doesn't mean they have to.

eskbanker

powerful_Rogue said:

eskbanker said:

cymruchris said:

eskbanker said:

It would have to be a pretty brazen shoplifter to leave a store with a fully laden trolley of unpaid goods!

It's surprisingly common in recent times. Many of the big supermarkets experience it daily in a large number of branches...

photome said:

I would guess that’s a common occurrence 

Fair enough, but my main point still stands, i.e. it would be self-evident to the employee that the trolley had been removed from the premises so it's not unreasonable to challenge OP on that, but on what grounds would the employee have had reasonable suspicion under which to demand proof of purchase for the shopping itself?

Why would the employee new reasonable suspicion? I could stand outside a supermarket and ask to see peoples receipts, doesn't mean they have to.

Sure, but the issue here is that OP states that the employee physically grabbed the trolley and prevented them from proceeding, while demanding sight of the receipt, so OP's challenge is whether they were entitled to act in that way, which seems a reasonable question to ask.

If the employee had simply said 'that trolley is my company's property and I'm going to take it back, please empty it' then that would have been far more justifiable IMHO than 'show me the receipt for the goods', which is unrelated to removing the trolley from the shop's premises. 

ArbitraryRandom

powerful_Rogue said:

eskbanker said:

cymruchris said:

eskbanker said:

It would have to be a pretty brazen shoplifter to leave a store with a fully laden trolley of unpaid goods!

It's surprisingly common in recent times. Many of the big supermarkets experience it daily in a large number of branches...

photome said:

I would guess that’s a common occurrence 

Fair enough, but my main point still stands, i.e. it would be self-evident to the employee that the trolley had been removed from the premises so it's not unreasonable to challenge OP on that, but on what grounds would the employee have had reasonable suspicion under which to demand proof of purchase for the shopping itself?

Why would the employee new reasonable suspicion? 

I'm wondering if the shopping was bagged? 

Someone walking away from the store with a trolly full of loose items could easily LOOK like someone doing something they shouldn't... and since stores have started charging for bags/fewer places seem to leave boxes customer can use near the checkouts, more people do seem to take their goods to the car to unload/unpack in the car park. 

Okell

ArbitraryRandom said:

... But if you don't want to do that then perhaps you could ask the person you normally check with to write a little note (maybe they have headed memo slips in the office) that you can keep in your wallet with their details at the store and that you have permission to take the trolly to (your address) to unload your shopping? Then you can show it to someone if they stop you in the future. 

That's a really good idea.  In fact I'd suggest the OP ask customer services in the store to provide a typed authorisation on letter-headed paper.  If the OP suffers from autism and anxiety I'm sure the store manager would be more than happy to oblige a vulnerable customer.

The security guard's approach might have been a bit over the top but none of us witnessed what happened.  If the OP suffers from autism it's possible that the security guard might have felt they were acting suspiciously - or had reacted oddly to the security guard's approach.  (Sorry don't want to sound ableist but the truth is that many people misinterpret the behaviour of people with autism, and misunderstandings - by both parties - can easily happen.  Nobody is necessarily at fault)