AIBU to think staff shouldn’t be searched after work?

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My 16 year old son has got himself a little part time job at a discount clothes store, beginning with M. Pay is dreadful (£4 odd an hour,) job is mind numbing, but he’s sticking at to gain experience. I’m sat waiting to collect him at 9pm last night and I wondered what the delay was for 5 mins by the door.
I witnessed the manager searching all the bags of the staff leaving. My son didn’t have a bag, but still had to wait to be let out afterwards. He said this is standard practice each shift.
I am already disgusted by the pay, finding out he wasn’t paid for his induction and chasing 8 hours pay he’s not received, to now witness this! Utterly appalled that they would treat their staff this way.
I am trying To convince him to resign but he wants to find another part time job first.

If we had bought something from the shop, it was generally best to not wear it to work for a while. I you did, either keep the receipt or show that you were already wearing it as you came in.

And yet there are jobs where you are expected to wear the clothes the retailer sells (and the up-to-date ones, being sold that season). There was a thread a few weeks ago when someone was saying she was concerned with how much it was going to cost her. How does that work then?

I'm pretty sure when I had my induction before starting work at Tescos they stated something like 20% of new starters get fired for theft. It was definitely an astonishingly high number.

Yes I have worked in retail and I thought it was dreadful back in the late 80s.

As I said above, it just betrays the contempt with which retail staff (especially youngsters) are viewed.

Why? What has her age got to do with whether she might steal something?

She was 15; and it lay her vulnerable to sexual assault - she wouldn’t have the confidence or experience to deal with someone, who used it as an opportunity to. touch her inappropriately.

Actually, she went onto work at another major retailer, in her gap year, and she was sexually assaulted by two colleagues - one the security guard!

I worked at the Hilton as waitress for events when I was at uni and we used to be subjected to random searches. Apparently for good reason as someone stole a load of fish knives on one occasion. It was a pain as I was always worried about missing my bus home and having to wait ages for the next one which wasn't much fun late at night.

This is standard in every retail job. YABU

DH currently works in the distribution warehouses (he's a manager) of one of the supermarkets. He gets searched when the senior manager decides to do it. DH also performs searches of other staff.
The usual pilfered stuff is high value stuff like wines and spirits or joints of meat.

Those who think it shows contempt for the staff, it does but what do you suggest? That they stop, the already high number of thefts massively increases and they just take that on the chin? As numerous people have described, theft from employers is a huge problem especially in retail. Even in a hotel I worked at I saw an employee, a perfectly nice and apparently respectable older woman, put some bedding in her bag. I was shocked.

Just because something is standard practice doesn't mean that it's ok. I am with you OP, it's wrong. It happened to me in one Saturday job I had, but only with an arsehole manager. It didn't happen in any of the other retail jobs I had, because they treated their staff with respect.

For me, it's just a symptom of the contempt in which retail staff are held, by employers, and indeed all the MNers on here saying it's ok.

It's nothing to do with 'respect'. Theft by staff is quite common so it is only sensible for retailers to have precautions in place such as CCTV and the random searches as deterrents. I say this as someone who worked in retail for 15 years.

When I worked in retail as a teenager theft was rife amongst staff. We had bag checks but people would throw goods out of the stock room window to friends. There was also a lot of people having friends come in to buy things and massively undercharging them. I would imagine cctv is a bit more prevalent now though - we had none either in the store or stockroom

Not the point of the thread, but what a good boy he is! So sensible and strong work ethics.
How easy it would be to walk away from such low pay and mind numbing days when you know you live with your parents and will be fine without the £4ph but he wants to stay because he knows it's a stepping stone. I won't lie, I would want my child to quit too, but would still be proud of his thinking and work ethic if he were my child.

Even Waitrose do this although they do try and sweeten up the ordeal by giving chocolate bars to random searchees

Aren’t you contradicting yourself here? If there are dozens of young people going for each job why have they doubled the pay?
Surely they gave increased the pay because they are short of applicants so he must stand a good chance?

Presumably you've always worked in environments where staff are paid well enough to be trusted to have loyalty to the business.

Me too at mountain warehouse
Left after a week
Boss was a bastard, told me to come in straight from hospital after a laparoscopy - as it was "day surgery"

Never ever ever worked in a shop again
I was broken to pieces and shaking by a leaf by my bullying boss who had a really narcissistic personality

I think they should search on paid time not after he's finished and not being paid

Wankers

I volunteer in a charity shop (large chain).
Not long ago guidelines were sent out to all shops on carrying out staff searches.
Volunteers refused to be searched, said they would leave.
Paid staff refused to carry out searches so it was never pursued as compulsory.

I think it's standard. And you're teaching the very best life lesson to your son as to why he should work hard, get experience, get qualifications and progress so he doesn't have to work in jobs like this. You're also teaching him humility, and that this is some people's lives, they won't ever escape this, and that he's fortunate to have a choice.

Hopefully with this experience he'll get a better job soon OP.

i have had bag searches in all 3 of the retail jobs I have worked in. Not a big deal.
in my current job one of the managers was sacked for nicking stuff.

Searching staff is commonplace in retail but seems to be worse in retailers which are bad employers in general.

When my kids were this age searches would be randomised (as a pp describes) not everyone and also had to be done within something like 15 mins of the end of the shift. If they were delayed more than normal packing up type time they were entitled to be paid more.

I'd encourage him to keep looking for a better employer. The discount store will be left with whatever staff it can get.

Back in the day I worked nights at Tesco. This was before the store opened 24/7.
One of the workers jobs was to be in the yard at the back pulling in cages. The yard ran along a footpath.
Searching as we left wasn’t a regular thing it they did look in bags occasionally and he knew this.

It became obvious as time wore on he had an issue with alcohol and the final straw came one Friday when he was clearly drunk. I don’t know how it came about but the manager had followed him into the toilets where he’d hidden many miniature bottles of whiskey in the cistern.

He was taken to the office where he admitted for the last six months he’d been pushing alcohol through the back fence into the long grass beyond and collecting it as he walked home. When management looked there were three bottles there waiting to be picked up.

He was fired obviously and they did press charges. Staff searches became a lot more frequent after that.

Another saying its normal for retail. Also some shops do shoe searches. Wages don't come into it, we're all underpaid for what we do and have to put up with.

I worked in M&S when I was younger. They did this here.

I strongly believe that if staff were well paid and working conditions were favourable, thefts would sharply decrease. In my experience people are less inclined to steal from an employer who genuinely values them and demonstrates that with good pay, terms and benefits, as opposed to an employer who pays starvation wages and treats them with contempt.

This is very common in retail. Here in Ireland now a lot of the clothes shops both high and low end don't allow you to bring a bag, you are given a clear plastic bag for both your necessity's and lunch, even that is searched at times. Worked for a well known drinks company, when you left the factory each day you had to open your boot and security would check your car to see if kegs were being taken. Even when i was in college they had to screw the projectors to the ceiling as students managed to rob a few the previous year. Its everywhere. I would defo be looking for another job for him though at that wage