Absolutely sick of the shop workers and there headsets

[Pjsallday]

I live in a very working class town. There's a fair bit of shop lifting etc and I know the shop assistants have alot to deal with it but I'm sick of feeling like a criminal when I walk into a shop. Went into sports direct today to buy my kid a tracksuit and immediately as I enter I hear the man on the door describe me (height, approx age, hair colour) to all staff on the headset. I was taken aback. Anyway I looked around for what I needed and couldn't find the right size i asked a assistant and he recommended i order online as theres more choice. Fair enough. I ended up purcasing some sports socks instead. Person at the asked me did I get everything I needed I replied no, there wasn't much to choose from and I'd take a look online once I got home. I put my socks in my bag. And as I walked away from the till the assistant on that served me again told.all other staff my description and that i had the purchase in my own personal shopping bag and not a sports direct one. I was then asked for my bloody receipt at the door and could they see the socks in my bag. I was embarrassed as there a 3 pack of bras I got from another sholq in the bag and he was proper peeking in. I know they have to prevent shoplifting etc but it was a uncomfortable experience. I don't really know what I expect from this thread and I probably am bring unreasonable but those headsets really wind me up!

They could always try recruiting more staff...

These days, I do all my shopping online. You Dave time and don’t get all the hassle.

personally they were doing a good job, bottom line thefts happen and its us consumers that pay for the theft via cost increases,

that said i can see your view

but even then usual company policy is that you cannot stop them incase of injury or legal etc

This is why I hate shopping in Lidl, Aldi, Boots, Superdrug, and Home Bargains. I always feel watched and followed. It’s so uncomfortable. In lidl I once got asked to search my personal bags in front of a long queue of people, so embarrassing and insulting.

Gosh, how rude! And some shop staff have the nerve to bash some customers, and accuse them of being rude.

Not all retail staff are bloody perfect!

I have to say, this never happens to me. (In any shop!) I wonder why it happens to some but not others......?

And shops wonder why they are losing custom.

It’s stereotyping. I’m a youngish mum who often gets mistaken for being Eastern European 🤷‍♀️ they get a shock when they hear my middle class British accent!

Our old sports D occasionally would report to the other staff if someone had purchased something with no bag so that they wouldn’t be apprehended at the door for stealing (I assume), but I never saw anyone stopped and bag/receipt checked. We have a new store now and I’ve not seen or experienced that at all. Sounds enough to put customers off.

Sports Direct stores are utter piss holes

We hear an awful lot about retail staff being in the firing line of rude, unreasonable customers, and I don't doubt that this a major problem nowadays. But,some retail staff should look at their own behaviour. I have witnessed (although thankfully not been on the receiving end of) the most appalling rudeness from retail staff towards customers lately.

Things aren’t the same in shops anymore (especially when they’re telling you to buy online!). Was in M&S today, in a capital city, large queue. It’s lunchtime, a bank holiday weekend coming up, and they have a Sale on. One girl on the tills. She calls to colleague (on shop floor) to hop on.

Colleague says “can’t you ring the bell for someone?”. Girl (and all of us) give her the face. She says “I’ll jump on for five minutes” Once on the tills, she starts throwing the customers purchases around saying “They’ll kill me if they find me here!” (management), staring the other girl out of it. I won’t be back.

I know right. I have experienced a few quite rude and ignorant retail staff lately. Most are not I have to say, but around 7 or 8 have been this past month or two. Just rude, or ignorant, (not acknowledging me or greeting me or smiling. Acting like they're bored, like they hate their job, and zero eye contact.) Like they wish they were somewhere else.

Yet I believe these same people would kick off if a customer was rude. One was a rude and snappy young woman in McDonalds the other day, who spoke to me like I was shit when i was just asking if my order was ready as it came up on the screen as ready. I have also found 3 or 4 staff on checkouts in Tesco and Morrisons quite grumpy, and as I said, Aldi spend half the time on their headsets chatting shit to colleagues out the back!

I am always nice and polite to them, but don't always get it back.

Have fun with it next time you go in, fancy dress is a must

Where is this?

I’ve never had to scan a receipt to exit B&Q? And I don’t know what the rubber bumps are, are they an entry and exit barrier?

I live rurally in the north, shop in large towns mostly if I need B&Q/ petrol/ other, often visit London (although wouldn’t go to B&Q while there obvs!) and I’ve genuinely seen nothing like this or heard of it.

About 20 years ago I was in town and I became aware that in every shop I went in security staff were on their radios saying things like ‘I see her’ or ‘she’s in here’. I’d just gone in to Boots, where I happened to work but this was my day off, when I was stopped by a uniformed police man. He asked me where I was that morning. I told him I was at home until about ten and then came out. He then told me that someone matching my description, including a bright red trench cost, had robbed a post office that morning and the thought it was me. It was not me!

Yep, this is becoming the norm here, too (NW).

My local Morrisons has gates that you have to pass through when leaving self-scan. This is operated by staff. You can be waiting 2-3 minutes whilst they finish what they are doing to open the gate. There are also usually two security staff on duty too, one at the entrance, one walking around the store. The spirits are on the main shop floor but are behind glass doors and so if you wanted to buy them you have to find one of the non-existent shop floor staff to unlock the shelf.

My local (large) Tesco is similar. I've stopped shopping there entirely now after being stopped (seriously) every single time leaving the store last year. I am fed up of the overbearing security. I do not understand why they cannot put RF tags on all goods, not just the higher value stuff. Surely doing this would cost less than all the other security apparatus they're installing. It really is becoming infuriating and they're putting off regular shoppers. I'm certainly in and out as quickly as I can these days.

I’ve told the kids recently no matter what make sure you get a receipt, can’t imagine what you describe if it happened to one of my sons, he’d be terrified to go in ever again!

No, you're not a criminal but there are plenty about that need stopping!

My daughter works in retail and has a headset. It’s far more subtle than that sounds though. They will alert people if known shoplifters come in, she has also used it to alert security when she has seen someone hide something in a bag. Funniest thing was when she heard an alert that there was a group of young teens coming down an escalator (they have a problem with them shoplifting makeup particularly) and her sister was one of them 🤣 (just to make it clear her sister is not a shoplifter was just brought to attention as being in a group of prime aged people for it)

I don’t understand why they give a description? What benefit is there of everyone in the shop knowing a description of every single person who has walked in? That doesn’t give anyone anything to look out for or do? Maybe it will deter shoplifters who know the staff have seen them but I doubt it - but they’re not deterred by cctv, or being seen by staff in other shops.
If a staff member hears through their headset “man in dark jeans and white hoodie has just come in” what do they do that they wouldn’t have done if they’d seen him walk past them without previously hearing a description?

It’s understandable if OP was a known thief but she’s not so it’s over the top behaviour which makes their shop an unattractive place to spend cash. I wouldn’t even purchase online from the same store if this happened to me.

for entertainment I’d be tempted to send a mini bus load of teens into the store to give them a minor heart attack

Oh wow! I wonder what they base decisions on, eg is this more common in cities? Or do they have shops with high crime rates where they use this to justify putting these measures in? As it surely can’t be good for business?

I’m sorry that’s the experience in some places. When I shop in large shops like that it tends to be in sleepish towns, or locations in between several villages, and I’ve honestly never seen/ heard of this setup 😏

I’m in the NW also.

Surely most Sports Direct stores are like this? Because of the types of people who shop in there. It’s a rough shop, totally understandable to me. When you attract the waifs and strays it’s essential to protect stock and staff at all times. I’m surprised they don’t operate more like Argos, their stock loss must be through the roof.