Security guards at big shops to check your shoppings

[kovaltech]

Everybody have seen them around the big shops, just after you paid at the cashier and wants to walk out the shop...

They want you to show them your purchasing ticket and check in your bags...

Most of the time its just a laugh...

But i am getting annoyed with it, especially when you already have your ticket stuffed away in your wallet with your change and are in a hurry...

So, as from yesterday, i started to ignore them when i walk out to my car

What can they do ? Its my stuff, i already payed for it, its my bags where the stuff is in... Do they have my permission to search my stuff without any warrant ?

Do they have probable cause ?

Do they have the right ?

Or do i have the right to refuse ?

anyway.. being a bit anarchistic towards this system gives me some satisfaction or compensation for the numerous headaches that some of these systems give me...

Oh, i am not being a bully towards them, i just give them my best Thai smile and say " no Thank you"

[Costas2008]

Kovaltech, I have exactly the same thoughts and feelings like you.

I do get annoyed also, especially in Global House that they stand next to the tills and the exit door, they watch you paying and the cashier or a helper puts your items in a bag and then, 3 meters later they stop you to ask for your receipt.

When you want help in the store, nobody seems able to help you, but there are 2 or 3 of them at the exit door, just to make you angry.

I think I'm getting more and more like Victor Meldrew in One foot in the grave in my old age.......................

[lust]

I don't like it either but I wouldn't be surprised if you some ninja security guard threw a shuriken into your jugular here or something lol.

[kovaltech]

The fun part is: my wife likes it if i enjoy doing this, making a polite point towards this kind of situations.

to know she is Thai..... she's always polite, she's shy... but also she has a boiling point....

I am trying to teach her not to be submissive..

To the topic:

Most of their clients, farangs , are responsible for a huge part of their turnover. ( aka profits )

Most of us have earned our money by hard, smart working, saving carefully and are willing to spent this in Thailand and in their shops...

Why would we accept this kind of situations if we would not accept this in our country's ? even here in Thailand the law is clear and most of the time similar as elsewhere.

My point of view is; the moment i pay the goods, receive the ticket, it becomes my property and it is in my privacy.

as long as i don't break the law, i want to be treated respectfully and as a valued customer.

Big Shop owner: respectfully: if you want to search my belongings, make a complaint with the police, i will offer you my time and enjoy

My joy would be, make you, the big shop owner, to follow the rules...

And by rules i mean the law of Thailand, not yours

[CharlieH]

Standard practice to exit makro, they stamp the receipt.

I suggest its more a check on the staff than he customer, yes you can have the receipt etc, but maybe the girl on the til is a freind or relative and didnt ring half of it, or more expensive items through the checkout at all ? You buy 3 of something she charges for one, and so on.

Just another point of view, stop being paranoid, it isnt you, its the staff they are checking who operate the till.

[kovaltech]

@CharlieH,

exactly my point,... if they are checking the staff, then why bothering the clients ? Most of the time they don't even check but just pretend...

Better they take position near the cashier...

i am not paranoid, only annoyed ;-)

But as stated earlier, i will politely refuse with a smile and also enjoy the result :-p

[CharlieH]

@CharlieH,

exactly my point,... if they are checking the staff, then why bothering the clients ? Most of the time they don't even check but just pretend...

Better they take position near the cashier...

i am not paranoid, only annoyed ;-)

But as stated earlier, i will politely refuse with a smile and also enjoy the result :-p

Your call your decision, but in my opinion, its not worth the hassle and stress that "could result", just remember some stores also have armed security on call, you really want to argue the toss with a wanna be cop with a gun in his hand ? not a scenario I would want thanks. Let them do whatever they like, it takes seconds and is no big deal, try to be obstructive or dismissive and it immediately appears suspicious and is, in my opinion, asking or inviting trouble.

But hey, your life, your call, you do what you feel is right, but hate to see a headline where someone got shot because of a refusal to co-operate, and the gun "just went off" by accident during the fracas. Honestly, how would you feel or react, if a another guy appeared and pointed a gun at you ? I suggest, not only scared, but pretty foolish too given the actual cause of the incident.

Your choice, and just my opinion.

[kovaltech]

@CharlieH

The power of a polite smile and a firm no.... the result is priceless... bor mi, bor dai, bor ow and a lot more bor's

about: "how would you feel or react, if a another guy appeared and pointed a gun at you ?"

Actually this did already happened to me in Thailand...

"hey farang, come with me..." with a revolver holding behind a bunch of flowers...

My reaction: i started laughing, not joking... i told him very friendly but firmly "Bor ow, pai gai kai, lew..." ( aka, i don't want, get lost, fast... )

But yeah, choosing the way of the least resistance is also a lifestyle...

So is giving up your rights...

It all depends if you see yourself as a part of the cattle herd....

[Brit_Doggie]

Doesn't bother me in the slightest, security protecting revenue is what it's all about, and why not indeed.

[RolandRat]

@CharlieH

The power of a polite smile and a firm no.... the result is priceless... bor mi, bor dai, bor ow and a lot more bor's

about: "how would you feel or react, if a another guy appeared and pointed a gun at you ?"

Actually this did already happened to me in Thailand...

"hey farang, come with me..." with a revolver holding behind a bunch of flowers...

My reaction: i started laughing, not joking... i told him very friendly but firmly "Bor ow, pai gai kai, lew..." ( aka, i don't want, get lost, fast... )

But yeah, choosing the way of the least resistance is also a lifestyle...

So is giving up your rights...

It all depends if you see yourself as a part of the cattle herd....

"hey farang, come with me..." with a revolver holding behind a bunch of flowers..."

Another Super hero ex SAS special forces guy retires to Thailand....yeah right....

[kovaltech]

@RolandRat

"Another Super hero ex SAS special forces guy retires to Thailand....yeah right.... "

Just an ordinary person who is to stupid to be afraid...

[curtklay]

The big stores all seem overly security conscious. At Tesco, I see them body frisking employees as they go out and in for lunch breaks. The pilfering and shoplifting must be much more serious than we know. I just wish the customer service people were as diligent as the security people.

[ttthailand]

If you owned a big store would you check the people leaving ? They could be stealing you blind.....

[Stan42]

I've only been stopped once at Ikea. I suppose I just have that innocent, retarded look that makes people feel sorry for me.

[Torrens54]

I get very annoyed with one particularly off-handed Doorman at Makro, Hang Dong Road.

He never smiles, looks at you as though you are something the cat dragged in. When we returned after living abroad for a few years, this "charmer" was on the door and I smiled and handed him the receipt. NOT a word of THANKS or a smile or even a courteous nod. This happened a couple of times so now, I make a point of screwing up the receipt and tossing it in the bottom of the trolley for him to pick up.

My wife of course thinks I'm being a Nasty Ferang but I refuse to be treated like a common criminal by Makro's Hired help.

[berybert]

If you don't like it, you can always go back to where you come from.

Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

Edited April 18, 2015 by berybert

[kovaltech]

mmm @berybert

its exactly this kind of behavior or un politeness that causes the anarchy....

where you the bully in kindergarten ?

yesterday i walked out of Global house... the security asked my ticket.. i said very friendly ; dont have...i pointed to the cashiere and walked to my car...

priceless feeling

priceless look on his face...

no door on the way out...