Assault On Integrity

I had an experiance at Wal Mart today that has bothered me to no end. Maybe I am making a big deal out of nothing, but when a persons honesty and integrity are challenged, a person must take a stand. Following is a copy of the letter I sent to the Wal Mart corporate office after receiving no satisfaction from the local store manager.

"I recently had an encounter with a door greeter that I have never in all of my years of shopping at Wal Mart ever experienced.

After checking out and proceeding to the exit door, I was asked for my receipt to prove that I had actually purchased the two cases of water that I had in my cart. I was greatly offended, and told the door greeter how offended I was, as she questioned my honesty and integrity.

In all of my years of shopping at Wal Mart, I have never, ever stolen a single item, that is not how I do business. I have shopped at Wal Mart stores accross this great country of ours, and never once have I had an experience such as this one.

I contacted the store in question, and asked to speak with Michael Wilde, the store manager, instead I was connected to a gentleman named Greg, who said he was a manager, but he never did offer his last name. I asked him what the store policy was for checking customers that are leaving the store, and do not set off the door alarms. He informed me that if I was coming from the check out area, and I did not trigger any alarms, I should not have been stopped.

With all of the security cameras in this store, I think a person would be a fool to try and steal something in the first place. Secondly I had the cases of water in the front of my cart where the checkout clerk could clearly see them, plus I informed the clerk that I had two cases of water. My receipt reflected this fact.

My burning question is this, why was I stopped and why was my honesty and integrity questioned? Did I look suspicious? Did store security ask this woman to stop me and check my receipt? Why was I treated like a thief?

On average I spend between 3000.00 and 4000.00 a year at Wal Mart stores. You can check your records and see that I have never written a hot check, and I am always polite to the clerks and the door greeters. As I have stated earlier, I was, and am greatly offended by this situation, and feel that this particular door greeter was completely in the wrong with the handling of this situation.

I am not sure how far I should take this matter. I have considered posting this experience on the internet, and possibly contacting the news media to highlite this harsh treatment of honest law abiding customers.

If I get the same response from you that I received from the store "manager", I will undoubtedly cry foul, and carry this as far as I can.

The store in question is located in Mcpherson, Kansas, and the door greeter was an older woman with white hair named _____. I personally am a 45 year old hispanic male and am also disabled, and am also a veteran.

I am sure your company can do without my buisness, it's just a shame that I ever got treated like this in the first place. Shame on your company. I am sure Sam Walton would not have approved of these practices."

I am not sure what I expect to gain from this, but an apology, in writing would be nice. I just wonder how many other people are stereotyped because of their looks and receive the same type of treatment I did. I suppose I should start shopping at Dillons again.

Article From
http://numbereddays.blogspot.com/2006/06/wal-mart.html