RadioShack and a Thief
I had an interesting thing happen to me today. I went to try and make a return at RadioShack, only to leave the store after being accused of stealing the item I was trying to return!
On Saturday, April 1, I went into the local RadioShack with my dad to purchase something that I needed. My dad paid for it with his credit card because he wanted to give it to me as a wedding gift. Well, I decided to return the item because I realized that I don't actually need it, but I didn't have the receipt. I thought that even without the receipt they could scan the item and see that it was purchased from their particular store, and credit my dad's card.
Apparently, I thought wrong.
The store manager of 14 years (or at least that is what his name tag said) was the man I spoke with and after explaining the situation to him he walked away for a moment. He returned shaking his head and said that he could not do anything for me. I asked him why not and he replied, "You don't have any proof that you actually paid for this item, and we are missing two of them." He said this without making any eye contact with me, and his tone of voice implied in an obvious way what his words were not saying. I then asked him, "Are you accusing me of stealing this item?" He said in response "Well what do you expect me to think? We are missing two of these exact same items, and you walk into my store with one asking for money back with no proof at all that you paid for the item, and look at yourself."
I was shocked, to say the least!
I admit that I am in need of a shave and have some shaggy hair, but over the past month I've been accused of looking like Jesus more times then I can count, not a thief! I guess the Jesus look wasn't helping me today!
I then asked for the name and number of the manager's supervisor and told him that I felt it was completely inappropriate for him to accuse me of stealing from his store, especially in light of the fact that all of this was taking place in front of about 15 customers. He then raised his voice and said that he would do no more business with me and that if I wanted to try and walk out of his store with this "unpaid for item" that I could go right ahead and try to do that. By this point all of the other customers were watching me, the apparent thief. So I again asked him for the name and number of his supervisor (he hadn't given it to me yet) and he wrote it down for me on a card. I took the card and began to walk out, and he mumbled something under his breath. I turned around and told him that I didn't catch what he said and he said back to me, "Go ahead and call my supervisor, you can call him right now if you want but I doubt that you will do that given the circumstances."
I left the store and called my dad to see if he still had the receipt, which he does. So I guess I can still get the 30 bucks back if I want, but this has pretty much gone beyond that now.
I'm still trying to figure out if I'm thankful that this happened or not. In some ways I am. This experience allowed me to in a very small way experience what many minorities face every day.
Unwarranted discrimination, simply because of an outward appearance.
It's a shame that we live in a society and culture that discriminates against people simply because of how they dress or their skin color, etc.
I probably won't be making to many purchases from RadioShack in the near future...
Peace,
M.P.
On Saturday, April 1, I went into the local RadioShack with my dad to purchase something that I needed. My dad paid for it with his credit card because he wanted to give it to me as a wedding gift. Well, I decided to return the item because I realized that I don't actually need it, but I didn't have the receipt. I thought that even without the receipt they could scan the item and see that it was purchased from their particular store, and credit my dad's card.
Apparently, I thought wrong.
The store manager of 14 years (or at least that is what his name tag said) was the man I spoke with and after explaining the situation to him he walked away for a moment. He returned shaking his head and said that he could not do anything for me. I asked him why not and he replied, "You don't have any proof that you actually paid for this item, and we are missing two of them." He said this without making any eye contact with me, and his tone of voice implied in an obvious way what his words were not saying. I then asked him, "Are you accusing me of stealing this item?" He said in response "Well what do you expect me to think? We are missing two of these exact same items, and you walk into my store with one asking for money back with no proof at all that you paid for the item, and look at yourself."
I was shocked, to say the least!
I admit that I am in need of a shave and have some shaggy hair, but over the past month I've been accused of looking like Jesus more times then I can count, not a thief! I guess the Jesus look wasn't helping me today!
I then asked for the name and number of the manager's supervisor and told him that I felt it was completely inappropriate for him to accuse me of stealing from his store, especially in light of the fact that all of this was taking place in front of about 15 customers. He then raised his voice and said that he would do no more business with me and that if I wanted to try and walk out of his store with this "unpaid for item" that I could go right ahead and try to do that. By this point all of the other customers were watching me, the apparent thief. So I again asked him for the name and number of his supervisor (he hadn't given it to me yet) and he wrote it down for me on a card. I took the card and began to walk out, and he mumbled something under his breath. I turned around and told him that I didn't catch what he said and he said back to me, "Go ahead and call my supervisor, you can call him right now if you want but I doubt that you will do that given the circumstances."
I left the store and called my dad to see if he still had the receipt, which he does. So I guess I can still get the 30 bucks back if I want, but this has pretty much gone beyond that now.
I'm still trying to figure out if I'm thankful that this happened or not. In some ways I am. This experience allowed me to in a very small way experience what many minorities face every day.
Unwarranted discrimination, simply because of an outward appearance.
It's a shame that we live in a society and culture that discriminates against people simply because of how they dress or their skin color, etc.
I probably won't be making to many purchases from RadioShack in the near future...
Peace,
M.P.
posted by Matthew Pascal @ 2:54 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Don't know about the deeper interpretions.
But a receipt can make a difference. A close shave helps too.
When in Rome you know....
I wonder how many times Jesus was accused of being a thief? - I can think of at least 3 plausible ones (taking grains of wheat on the sabbath, the "should you pay taxes to Caesar?" challenge, and the upturning of the money-changers' tables). It is also surprising that the manager didn't believe that an unshaven person would be returning it. If you had really been stealing it just to return it, you would have used it in the meantime, n'est-ce pas? some people...
i appreciate the empathy with minorities, friend. it's so hard for ppl in the dominant culture to understand what it feels like in moments like those...
so good to see you on your big day! thanks for the privilege to be a part of it. how was the island excursion southward?
Given my recent experience seeing a guy busted for shoplifting at Ace Hardware you might want to add that to your list of places to avoid :^)
Well it looks like I can walk back into RadioShack to redeem myself if I want... My dad mailed me the receipt a few days ago. :-)
But I've got Ace Hardware on my list of places to stay away from! Wouldn't want to have a re-run simply because I bought the wrong size screws and lost the receipt... I think I'm more likely just to keep the wrong sized ones and go and purchase the correct ones!
Sometimes its hard for people in retail to actually think beyond missing items and who could have done it. But looks like you got something out of the experience...
Its hard to understand that situation unless it actually happens to you.
Racisim still exists.
And if I haven't said it before...congrats on getting Married
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