# Customer gives Target cashier a $100 gift card **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 21, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862 "2013-12-21T00:21:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![AHarris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@AHarris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHarris)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862/161 "2013-12-27T17:38:16Z")
> [@lawbuff](#): > > What if the barcode is not scanned, will that set off the alarm at the door? Not in any implementation that I’ve heard of. As noted, RFID tags or magnetic strips are used and they are supposed to be removed/de-activated when the clerk is ringing the item up. Think of it this way: 1. Barcodes are just ink on the paper, plastic, etc. How would the scanner detect or differentiate between them (keep in mind that everything has been bagged)? 2. Barcodes are unique on the product level (more or less). If John and Jane leave the store with the same product and only one of them has paid for it, how does the scanner tell which one is paid for? ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862/162 "2013-12-27T20:05:48Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > That the register won’t process it… The register doesn’t need to process it. The customer just has to be in a rush and not paying attention to the lack of receipt. There would be no record of the theft, except for maybe surveillance cameras… ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862/163 "2013-12-27T20:09:14Z")
> [@lawbuff](#): > > Clerks can attempt that even without a GC. Any item not “scanned” may beep at the door and then what? They go back to the cashier to see why it was not rung up, etc., and detail the customers whole purchase against the register tape! The clerk just needs to deactivate any tags… ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862/164 "2013-12-27T20:32:12Z")
> [@runningdude](#): > > The register doesn’t need to process it. The customer just has to be in a rush and not paying attention to the lack of receipt. There would be no record of the theft, except for maybe surveillance cameras… Yeah, but a LOT has to happen for a gift card not to get scanned. The customer needs to not be paying attention - nothing gets rung up, the gift card doesn’t get scanned, the customer needs to hand the gift card to the cashier instead of running it themselves (like you do at Target - Target doesn’t even want their employees to touch your credit card or gift card). And none of this gets caught by the cameras on each and every register. Employees stealing gift cards in THIS manner isn’t a likely scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862/165 "2013-12-27T20:47:16Z")
> [@lawbuff](#): > > I wonder if any company in the hsistory of time has ever asked thier legal department “We want to fire Joe, here are the facts, give us an opinion”!! Yeah right!! I work in HR for a large retailer (not Target) and I can tell you it happens _all the time_. Usually, it’s when there’s a performance issue but the employee is a member of a protected class, so the manager wants to make sure that they are completely safe to terminate the employee. Or the employee is accused of something like abusing FMLA leave which can be tricky to prove. I looked for our company’s policy on accepting gifts, but I could not find the one for store associates; only for corporate employees. We are allowed to accept gifts that are “nominal” but required to report them to our VP. We are not allowed to accept cash or the equivalent, so even as a corporate desk jockey I would not be permitted to accept a $100 gift card from a customer or vendor. ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862/166 "2013-12-28T14:19:21Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I work in HR for a large retailer (not Target) and I can tell you it happens _all the time_. > > Usually, it’s when there’s a performance issue but the employee is a member of a protected class, so the manager wants to make sure that they are completely safe to terminate the employee. Or the employee is accused of something like abusing FMLA leave which can be tricky to prove. I guess the impact of possible suits has surfaced. I used to work for a company that let some little 19 yr. old Ass. manager fire people if she wanted to, no appeal. There are still some companies that operate by that premise. ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862/167 "2013-12-28T14:21:04Z")
> [@RedSwinglineOne](#): > > What difference does that make? Don’t you think that a business has a right to have a policy that employees need to turn in found items? Or you think each employee should on his own decide who probably lost something, and if it’s “only a customer” who lost it, then the item is up for grabs? Sure they have a right to have such policy, as a courtesy to the customer, I have no problem with that, I was merely pointing out the law in my state. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862/168 "2013-12-28T15:00:33Z")
> [@lawbuff](#): > > I guess the impact of possible suits has surfaced. I used to work for a company that let some little 19 yr. old Ass. manager fire people if she wanted to, no appeal. > > There are still some companies that operate by that premise. There is a difference between it happening all the time and it happening every time. In many cases, there isn’t a lot of reason to contact Legal for an termination issue - the issue is pretty clear. Someone working retail comes in late a lot, you warn them, their behavior doesn’t change, you fire them. Or their register is consistently short. Retail though has a better was to “fire” people, you just stop putting them on the schedule. Or you put them on for one three hour shift a week in the middle of their Saturday - make it not worth the check. ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862/169 "2013-12-28T15:25:05Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > There is a difference between it happening all the time and it happening every time. In many cases, there isn’t a lot of reason to contact Legal for an termination issue - the issue is pretty clear. Someone working retail comes in late a lot, you warn them, their behavior doesn’t change, you fire them. Or their register is consistently short. Retail though has a better was to “fire” people, you just stop putting them on the schedule. Or you put them on for one three hour shift a week in the middle of their Saturday - make it not worth the check. This is TRUE, they effectively force you to quit, that way they can say they did not fire you! ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862/170 "2013-12-28T15:51:27Z")
> [@RedSwinglineOne](#): > > Do you have a cite for this? Which law states that as an employee, you are entitled to keep anything you find while doing your duties, and on your employer’s premises? This may be the case cited in Ohio Jur. 3rd, I won’t know for sure until winter break is over, but I knew I had read it before and as far as I remember, it has not been overturned; Quoting from; Toledo Trust co. v. Simmons, 52 Ohio App. 373, 3 N.E.2d 661, 21 Ohio Law Abs. 624, 6 O.O. 388 Under the authorities, where property is found in a public or semipublic place, it is held that the owner or proprietor of the premises occupies no relationship of agent or fiduciary toward the owner of the property lost, and the right of possession and custody of the finder is superior, even though the finder be a servant or employee of the proprietor or owner of the premises where the personal property was found. The law is clear that the finder of ‘lost’ personal property is entitled to the possession thereof as against all the world, except the rightful owner, and this is the law even though the finder is a servant or employee of the owner or proprietor of the premises wherein or whereon it is found. Silcott v. Louisville Trust Co., 205 Ky. 234, 265 S.W. 612, 43 A.L.R. 28; Foster v. Fidelity Safe Deposit Co., supra; 25 Corpus Juris, 1136 et seq.; 25 \*379 Ohio Jurisprudence, 801 et seq.; 17 Ruling Case Law, 1198 et seq. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862/171 "2013-12-28T16:26:33Z")
And this is relevant how exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862/172 "2013-12-28T16:27:01Z")
> [@lawbuff](#): > > This is TRUE, they effectively force you to quit, that way they can say they did not fire you! I’m going to regret telling you about another legal concept you can completely misunderstand and misapply to every vaguely similar situation, but it’s called “constructive discharge” and if you can prove it, it’s the same as being directly fired in terms of anti-discrimination law, and is a separate cause of action in some states. ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862/173 "2013-12-28T18:00:42Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > I’m going to regret telling you about another legal concept you can completely misunderstand and misapply to every vaguely similar situation, but it’s called “constructive discharge” and if you can prove it, it’s the same as being directly fired in terms of anti-discrimination law, and is a separate cause of action in some states. Whya re you going to regret it? I already know about a CD. Unless it is based on the known discrimination laws, how is it a seperate COA? ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862/174 "2013-12-28T18:01:45Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And this is relevant how exactly? I was asked a question, and I answered it, that is how it is relevant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-gives-target-cashier-a-100-gift-card/676862.md?page=8)