Would you have unpacked your shopping and repacked?

[SweeetFemaleAttitude]

Just did a huge weekly shop at Tesco and as I was leaving I was asked for my receipt, that was fine. Then after a pause the shop assistant and security explained they were doing random trolley checks, and asked to check the receipt against the shipping.

I wasn’t impressed, but calmly stood back and said ‘please ensure everything goes back in the correct bags, I’ve sorted it for a reason’.

They then said they expected ME to unpack items as they ticked it off the receipt.

I just laughed a bit inside at the idea. I’d just done a big shop and pissed around with a self service machine wasting a lot of time compared to a human scanner. Red lights for no reason, waiting for tag removal, waiting for another random fault, waiting to weigh my own bags and check them before I started. The idea of then standing there and unpacking for their pleasure was not something I was prepared to do! I’m talking a big trolley load of stuff, and a big job to stand there bending over it lifting. Not like a Costco check for the big items, loads and loads of tiny bits and cans.

I just calmly said ‘no’. I was told it was a policy to do random checks and I wasn’t suspected of theft. I said they may have a policy, but I didn’t work for Tesco and therefore they were unable to direct me to complete any tasks. I’d fulfilled my contract, paying for goods. If they had reason for concern then I’d wait for them to check it themselves, or go through cctv but I expected it to not delay me unreasonably or my shopping to be left unpacked or manhandled.

Ended up with ‘permission’ from a grumpy manager to leave, who had been watching from a distance and came over. I was honestly calm and kept my tone polite, I was quite annoyed by the self check out already and was making an effort to remain calm knowing I was a bit irate. Never been to this store before, not planning to go again! My usual store always has a open checkout to use with a person.

aibu- you’d have stood there and unpacked, it’s policy

yanbu- nope, you don’t work there and it’s not your job to facilitate their security checks.

It’s insane anyone is trying to justify this shop’s actions.

They’re a supermarket not the police; the goods and bags are yours; even if you were to permit access to your bags, they can pay someone to check; they’re making billions a year. From everyone on this thread.

Tsk. Someone’s going to use the Dictator’s Defence citing ‘security’ and ‘risk’ in a minute.

To fuck would I have unpacked, they want me to check out my own shopping, then they have to trust me to do so. Otherwise I want bloody human and a till.

honestly. Ridiculous

@Paddleboarder they can pull it off from the till. The till stores a copy of all transactions. Often used for fraud detection.

Out of date advice now, but if you ever get cashback always check the amount you receive against the amount on the receipt.

I agree.

You know if you go on the self scanners, you may end up being checked.
They’ve been around long enough now that people aren’t shocked by this.

OP chose to accept a random check by going on the self check out.

It probably took longer for her to argue and try and belittle them for just doing what they’ve been told to do, rather than letting them just check it and be done.

Some of these replies are so cringey!

Why did they expect you to shift through it all ? When this happens in Asda they do it themselves

I’ve never ever been stopped for a check before, except for in Costco where they stop very trolley and it’s signposted

I think you're right but probably wouldn't have dared!

Bravo !!! Good for you!!

I'm going to remember your excellent response and use it in the event I am asked to do the same.

I think you were marvellous! Shops wants you to do their job on all fronts! Plus once you’ve paid it’s your property surely? Can’t stand these trolly searches where they just rummage about carelessly

Well done!!! Although their theory doesn't stand really as a lot of tills now ask if you want a receipt. What happens if you said no so you don't have one?

I’ll admit when I posted this I thought it was a more unique situation, but it seems common in varying forms.
I’ve never been checked before. Aside from getting a bit cross at those stupid glass gates some shops have to block the exit it seems I’ve had an easy ride!

I've never had a check after I have been paid. The till will sometimes flag up for a check to be done and that's when I stand back and let them get on with it

It certainly was not faster to unpack a whole trolley and repack a large family’s weekly shop! I could have probably redone the entire shop faster than rummage and pick out items one by one and wait for them to tick it off the scroll of a receipt. Factor in the middle spread of a woman bending over a trolley and it’s certainly no speedy process 😂

Who can accept a random check before it’s happened? Hint’s in the ‘random’. There aren’t even any signs up to tell
people. You can’t consent to something you don’t know about.

I can see this from the trader’s pov. The police aren’t any good - so the supermarkets are trying to reduce loss through pretending to be some sort of honesty authority themselves.

But they’re not. No matter how official they sound or how flashy the staff uniform. Supermarkets are privately owned by billionaires.

In any case, losses are paid by the customers, not the trader.

‘Only doing their jobs’ is another 1984 favourite. It’s quite freaky when you remember the sort of stuff people have done using that excuse.

Oh I'm sorry I didn't see the bit where you had to take everything out. They usually do it. YANBU

To everyone saying the op handled that brilliantly, how would you respond if it were your 17yr old Tesco worker on the end of this woman?
God knows why, but I'm ALWAYS asked to scan ten items, and I'm very very helpful to the worker who has no choice but to do that.

Did you read the OP? There was no cashier for her to go to!

I had this in sainsburys recently, they wanted me to unpack.

I just replied along the lines of, that I had lots of other shopping/errands to do, I'd leave them to go through the trolley and repack it, they could put it in the cold store and I'd be back when convenient to me to collect it.

I left the trolley and just walked off.

Came back an hour later and I don't think they had even bothered to go through it.

Why don’t you put it on Twitter? You’ll need to name the branch and time so they can check it.

My nephew works for Tesco. If they have to do a check then they repack.

If you’re found to be telling the truth, you’ll get an apology and some vouchers.

If you don’t have a twitter account, it’s easy to make one and we’ll worth doing as you’re annoyed.

I'd have asked for a refund and the left.

Surely though it'd be quicker for them to run it all through a till to make sure the amounts matched. They wouldn't have to cross off the list unless there was a discrepancy in the totals.

What do you mean, 'this woman'? OP was firm but polite. She said nothing unhelpful.

From her very first post: I just calmly said ‘no’

17 yr old? I was called patronising… but that’s a bit of a presumption.
The store, like most, seemed to be employing perfectly intelligent and competent adults as the majority of their staff from what I saw.

At the scan as you go, the check comes up before you've paid, so in that case you can't leave with your shopping.

They are taking the piss to expect you to do it. For staff fine, it's their job, pain to wait around though. No way should they try and make paying customers do it, hard enough to do a whole shop and you might have invisible disabilities like a bad back. The policy needs to be changed if it really does direct staff to make customers work! Which I highly doubt it does, the staff were chancing it.