Let’s say I go into a drug store and buy a razor. When I get to the door to leave, a security guard asks to see a recipt, do I need to show him one, or can I refuse and just leave? Another words, is the burden of proof on him to show that I didn’t buy it, or is it on me to show I did?
It’s your burden to prove you bought it.
Most stores that will do this have little signs as you enter. They state that upon entering, the management reserves the right to examine all bags and packages. They’ll usually only do this as you leave. But if their security cams see you stuffing things in your purse or jacket, they may stop you even before you have an opportunity to go to a register.
A local Walmart examines all packages, just to be fair. But I’ve noticed that they will spend a bit more time on the packages of those whose ethnicity makes them stereotypically suspect. *But those doing the inspecting are of the same ethnicity. :dubious: *
Inspecting my packages won’t determine if I paid for it or not.
We’ve done this many, many times. Here’s a small sampling of threads on the subject:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=398169
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=393251
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=359437
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=160812
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=145718
No, it will determine if you have something that should have been paid for. If you do, then the next step is checking for receipt, which should determine if it’s been paid for.
So, they can ask me to prove I bought the very clothes I am wearing, and if I do not carry around reciepts for every item I wear, they can detain me? :dubious: 
At the risk of hijacking, is this a new usage, regionalism or just an individual thing?
It’s a perfectly valid alternative, right up there with “all intensive purposes” and “law-biting citizen.”
I think it depends what the laws are in your area. In some states you can’t be physically restrained legally so you could probably walk right out and they couldn’t do jack.
My husband is a very radical-looking guy. When we were moving my stuff from my apartment to his house, we were pulled over for a light malfunction or something. The cop looked into the back of the car and saw my 10 year old stereo. He asked if it was ours, and we said yes. He asked if we could prove it. I told him I couldn’t, but that I didn’t think he could prove ownership of his old stereo, either. He let us go, but I wondered how much shit he could have given us if he really wanted to.
As for the clothing on your back, they’d have a hard time proving it wasn’t yours without video or eyewitness accounts of you taking it into the dressing rooms.
So just to be absoululty clear here, I can just ignore the security guard and walk straight out of the store?
I’m curious as to how you determined that. Did you actually stand around with a stopwatch and make observations? If so, how much time did you spend on it and why? How much more was “a bit more” on average? Coupla seconds? Ten seconds? Several minutes? Me, I can’t tell the Italians from the Greeks. But I’ve never been good at that sort of thing.
Well, let’s separate a few issues. One is whether the security guard would face criminal or civil penalties for forcefully detaining you. I suspect this will vary from state to state.
The other is what the store policy is, and what the security guard is trained to do to suspected shoplifters, he may be trained to tell people they have to open their bags and submit to a search, but also trained not to touch them if they refuse, or he may be trained to detain you. And this policy was probably crafted by the store’s lawyers to follow the state law. Whether this particular guard follows store policy or not is another matter.
Another is what crimes you could be charged with for having an item on your possession you don’t have a reciept for. If the security guard detains you because you’re wearing brand-new shoes and you don’t have a receipt for them, the prosecutor still has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you stole those shoes. Even if the security guard had the legal right to detain you or search you (not saying he does, IANAL, but perhaps he does in certain circumstances) that still doesn’t mean that you can be charged with a crime, much less convicted.
Can’t be certain about AWB’s remarks, but I’m reasonably sure that if I’d have been alone, the cop in my anecdote wouldn’t have questioned ownership of the stereo. My long-haired, bearded husband gets the stink eye frequently.
Management can “reserve” the “right” to do a lot of things, but you do not have to stop and submit to them. Security guards are not policemen (except in the case that they ARE policemen, which some stores utilize in off-duty hours, although still wearing uniform; see, for example, Dillard’s Dept. Stores). Forcibly detaining you is a potential tort; the extent of this is discussed in the threads linked above.
Whoa, whoa! Be serious, man. Never, ever, assume that you can casually flout a large aggresive man paid to intimidate people because it’s written down in some law school book somewhere that you have these things called ‘rights’. If you’ve done nothing wrong and you’re being treated like a criminal, you won’t get anywhere by complaining to the person who is treating you like a criminal. You have to be nice to that asshole. If he assaults you, you can sue him- afterward. If he’s very rude, you can complain to the manager- afterward. If he ruins your ‘shopping experience’, you can write a letter to the company- afterward. But while he’s standing between you and the door, he has the upper hand, and you better believe it. He’s stopping you because he thinks he might catch you doing something illegal, and for him it’s worth the risk of possible repercussions, partly because he knows most people don’t have the time and energy to be assertive.
This applies to police officers as well- about half of them, unevenly distributed geographically, are on a power trip. They can and will ruin your life on a whim- Do you have an important job interview? “Sorry, sir, I need to take you down to the station for questioning.” You can be evicted from most apartment complexes simply for being arrested anywhere on their property- not convicted of commiting a crime, merely arrested. It’s in your lease. Never assume an officer won’t arrest you for back speeding tickets while you’re standing in front of your own building. Always respect an officer. They have tremendous discretion, and you don’t want them angry with you.
Unless you were naked when you walked into the store…
In cooler weather, I’ll often have a paperback book in my coat pocket. I try to leave the book in the car if I’m going to be going into a store that might sell that particular book, but I’ve wondered what would happen if I forgot, and brought it in with me, and was accused by store personnel of trying to swipe it. How could I prove I had brought it with me? Would it be enough if it had a bookmark in it, or if I had hilighted or underlined or written my name in it? Could I summarize the story up to the point I was at in the book?
Just this past weekend, I was in a big box office supply store and purchased a print cartridge for my photo printer then found out when I got home that I’d picked up the wrong magenta [homer]stupid HP[/homer]. So, I went back and made the even exchange and upon exiting, the store’s automatic theft alarm went off.
I had the receipt in my hand, but I also had a clear conscience and kept walking. No one tried to stop me at all.
I’ve also exited the local WalMart at the same time as other people and the alarm has gone off. Again, I’ve continued to my car unaccosted.
He’s not stopping me, he’s stopping everyone who leaves the store. While most customers just show him the receipt and leave, I feel it’s a haassle for me to look inside of my pockets and would much rather taunt the officer.
The Future-Mr.-Kairos used to work in loss prevention, so I asked him about this.
According to him, as long as you are on a store’s private property (including the parking lot), the security and/or employees of a store can demand to look at your receipt and compare it to what you’re carrying out, anywhere in the US. More specific laws vary from state to state. Here in Colorado, the laws are even more in the store’s favor - employees can detain you and search you if you are suspected of shoplifting, even if they didn’t see you conceal the item. Usually, the employee will insist on having a police officer present during any search, to prevent complications, but it’s not legally necessary. Furthermore, if you are searched and the employee/police officer doesn’t find anything, they will try to get you to sign a waiver stating that you will not file a civil suit against them. Even if you refuse to sign the waiver and file a suit; unless it is a clear case of harassment, sexual harassment, profiling, or the like; you will probably lose the case. Also, in Colorado, if you leave the store while under suspicion and refuse to stop when asked, the employees of the store are within their rights to stop you forcibly - they can wrestle you to the ground, slap handcuffs on you, and drag you back to the store, if necessary. In Ohio, where the Future-Mr.-Kairos used to live, the laws aren’t as much in the company’s favor.
If it is a store’s policy to check every customer’s receipts as the customers walk out of the store, they are within their rights, and are legally allowed to detain you if you try to ignore them. If you disagree with this policy, don’t shop at stores that do this.