Is it normal for staff to have their bag searched when leaving work these days?

[nicenewone1]

Dd just started working in a posh clothing store. She says that they all have their bags searched when leaving. Well that might be a slight exaggeration, the manager looks into them as they leave

She was also questioned as to why she was taking her coat to the toilet draped over her arm

Is this normal practice these days? I would be very offended if it were me, but she doesn't seem to mind up to now.

Maybe I am being over sensitive?

I have worked in retail and staff thefts have always been a problem. You just have to suck it up, like you do having your bags searched going into theme parks at Disney or airport security etc.

I'm at this!

I heard they do it at the Sports Direct warehouse as it came out in the investigations into their awful treatment of their staff, but I'm surprised it's so commonplace in other retail jobs.

On a slightly related note, a friend who used to work in retail said that the reason someone in a clothes shop always Hello to you when you enter is not because they want to be friendly and nice, but so that you know they are aware you're there, and therefore you won't steal things.

For anyone saying bosses should trust you I worked in 2 retails jobs and know of 3 separate people who were sacked for stealing in their first few weeks/months.

I worked retail as a teenager in the 90s and it was in my contract that I could be asked by security to submit to a random bag check.

But it never happened, at least not to me - I saw it happen once but the staff member had already been seen on CCTV stealing so it was done to catch them red handed as well.

So it is normal and if they're always checking everyone, not personal. But it is still intrusive and not trusting of staff so it's OK if she feels crappy about it too.

They say hello at the door so that mystery shoppers can't mark you down for not "greeting" the customer within an allotted time!

I worked in a civil service office that had lots of IT equipment. There would be random searches of the boots of cars as we left the site.

I worked in Woolies in the early 80s on Saturdays and we had random searches.

They also had other stuff to prevent stealing....our bags were locked away with access only at breaks and the end of the day, all purchases had to be witnessed and the receipt countersigned by a supervisor both spring to mind. Probably more but I'm going back over 30 years now!

Par for the course in retail IMO.

In the late 70's I worked for a supermarket on Saturdays and it was normal then. Also when I worked for a high street store on Saturday's in the mid 90's, so not a new thing at all. The rule was they could look but not touch, though they could ask us to empty our bags if they had a good reason to. Also all staff purchases had to be checked and signed by security.
On DC worked for a high street store whilst at sixth form and even had to declare themselves as staff if making a purchase at a different branch -i thought that was ott.

I used to say hello in the hope a customer would strike up a conversation in a bid to make the time go faster. Retail is really fucking dull.

I agree, completely normal in retail. We have a spinner and that decides on what gets searched. So bag, pockets, shoes, locker or a combination of the above.

It's compulsory for any member of staff or visitor/contractor to our store to be signed out and a search take place each time they leave the store. This includes for lunch breaks.

Will and Possum I think that might also have been one of the outcomes of Sports Direct investigation?

Because the staff were finishing their shift en masse, then having to queue for 15/30 minutes (can't remember) to get their bag searched and they weren't being paid for that time.

possom in the 90's I had an asshole of a boss who expected staff in the shop and on the shop floor at 8:45 even though we weren't paid until 9, he would bollock anyone who was 'late'. And we often had to to stay behind and clean if he didn't think it was up to scratch. He was a nasty piece of work, I only put up with him for a few months.

Perfectly normal. I'm surprised people are shocked, tbh.

meg I think that's quite common in retail. I was reprimanded on more than one occasion for not being on the shop floor ten minutes before my shift began, and if you worked until the end of the day you weren't allowed to cash up until 10 minutes after the store closed so they could effectively have up to 30 minutes of your time unpaid.
I understand that most jobs expect you to turn up slightly before you're meant to start, etc, but most jobs also pay you more than the bare minimum. I didn't feel obliged to go above and beyond for £6 an hour, really.

Top shop on Oxford street in London has a whole room full of cameras (for shoppers and the corridors where only staff walk) and security people. Every person was searched and I would guess that at least every other shift Id see a member of staff was sat crying in this room begging for police not to called etc. This was around 15 years ago. I didn't like being searched but my god the number of staff thieves they caught was incredible. The irony I think now is that as an employee we were allowed to choose clothes off the shop floor to wear and keep. The longer hours the more money for this you received.

Where do you think all the brand new with tags unworn clothes being sold on eBay Facebook gumtree etc come from?

Most staff don't steal but a significant number do.

Staff who have nothing to hide shouldn't worry about these checks as it's deterring anyone who might otherwise steal and that keeps the profits of the shop healthy and the shop open and safeguards their jobs.

I work in retail, major supermarket, never had bag checked.

I worked retail in the late 90's/early 00's and never had my bag searched. I worked in a jewellery store, so you would think if anyone was going to search, they would.

It was normal when I was working retail in the early 90s. They didn't do it every night, but random bag checks were the norm. We also couldn't carry money on the shop floor, had to keep it in our lockers.

I used to have my bag searched leaving my Saturday job at Boots nearly 30 years ago.

Yep standard in retail. I had it in every retail job I worked. We also weren't allowed our purses on the shop floor. If you wanted to buy things you had to put them in the back then buy at the end of your shift.

I am shocked by this as well.

I saw it happening in Jigsaw one day and was so upset I have boycotted the shop ever since. I knew the girl concerned and was embarrassed for her, both that they would do it in the first place (she has worked there for years) and that it was done in full sight of a customer.

I have worked in Finance all my life. In the early days I often took sole responsibility for counting and banking large amounts of cash. There was no way of checking the cash received (it was donations). No one searched me.

I personally feel that once you start searching people, you must introduce an element of resentment to the employer / employee relationship. Companies get much more out of an employee who feels trusted and valued, so presumably that goodwill just flies out the window at the first search.

I did lots of retail jobs as a student and apart from the bag checking rule most stores had other policies too - only making purchases through a certain till, only making purchases at a certain time of the day, having purchases supervised by a manager, never being allowed to have cash/cards of any type on you while working etc etc etc.

There was a big fuss locally when someone was sacked by Tesco for using their own clubcard to swipe through the till when a customer didn't have one and taking the customer's loyalty points for themselves.

Yeah. Completley normal. I worked in New Look as a teenager and our bags were checked every day when we left by a manager or supervisor.

Yep, normal.