Not using a bag in a store but having the receipt

[Anonymous]

I'm not really sure where to post this. Figured I'd try here. What is the rule/law on this issue.

DD 12 years old went to dollar store with 3 friends. A 4th friend was meeting them there. They each had their own money. I waited in the car and was taking them to a park. My DD paid for 5 items and took a receipt. The parent of the 4th child asked my DD where I was. She left the store with her items in her hand and the receipt (no bag). She then walked the parent to me and returned to the store to be with her friends.

The manager yelled at her about walking in with items in her hand. She showed him the receipt and explained that she just purchased them there and pointed to the time stamp on the receipt. She then held out each of the 5 items and let him hold the receipt to review. He still yelled at her and said she can't come in with open items in her hands.

I did not know any of this happened until after she and her friends went to the park and I took them home. She didn't want to talk about it with me in front of them I guess.

My question: Is this a law? If people have to pay for bags and they don't want to and they forgot a reusable bag, why is the receipt showing proof of purchase not enough? I fully understand he can make this a store rule tomorrow, but it is not a publicized store rule today. Was DD in the wrong? Under what standard? Is there a law to this effect?

[Anonymous]

The manager should have been calm and explained. (Maybe he didn’t yell, but either way he should have been calm.) If they didn’t give your daughter a bag, what was she supposed to do.

I was falsely accused of shoplifting when I was around 9. I’m estranged from my father as an adult, but I’ve always loved him for going back to that store with me and sticking up for me, sorting it out with that store employee who had accused me. If you wanted to, you could go back to that store with your daughter and tell him they should post clear signs if this is their policy and reiterate that your DD had done nothing wrong, especially since the store didn’t give her a bag.

[Anonymous]

If this is true, the manager was horrible. You could call the store and complain.

[Anonymous]

He's yelling because she's a kid. He'd do the same with any powerless person. If he thinks the person would put up a fuss, I'd bet he'd say it more politely.

[Anonymous]

There's no law that you have to buy a bag or bring items in enclosed in a bag. He was just being a jerk. If a group of 12 yr old girls come into a store, the store owner will absolutely assume they will shoplift. It's easier for him to make sure they don't if all items are in a bag. Your DD did nothing wrong.

[Anonymous]

Stores are really suspicious of teens. Had she walked in with a bag, he would have yelled at her for that also.

[Anonymous]

It’s the Dollar Store. Sorry your child was not treated like the queen OP, but…it’s the Dollar Store.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The manager should have been calm and explained. (Maybe he didn’t yell, but either way he should have been calm.) If they didn’t give your daughter a bag, what was she supposed to do.

I was falsely accused of shoplifting when I was around 9. I’m estranged from my father as an adult, but I’ve always loved him for going back to that store with me and sticking up for me, sorting it out with that store employee who had accused me. If you wanted to, you could go back to that store with your daughter and tell him they should post clear signs if this is their policy and reiterate that your DD had done nothing wrong, especially since the store didn’t give her a bag.

Love this. I'm sorry about your dad but glad that he did such a dad thing here.

[Anonymous]

Was he yelling at her because the items were opened? Were they opened bags of snacks and drinks?

He shouldn’t have yelled at them.

[Anonymous]

Teens are notorious for shoplifting. She got profiled.

He should have been nicer when she showed him her receipt and her items.

[Anonymous]

Attorney here. Legally your daughter was in the right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If this is true, the manager was horrible. You could call the store and complain.

Or got to the police station and say your 12 year old was threatened by an adult

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Attorney here. Legally your daughter was in the right.

You don’t know that. (Attorney here is such an odd thing to say; there are no laws on this either way.). Maybe it is store policy. Stores can set rules and enforce them by scolding or kicking out customers who don’t comply.

[Anonymous]

Your daughter got a taste of what customer service is like these days. The Dollar Store will take anyone with a pulse willing to be a manager and accept the low pay. Your daughter needs to learn to be resilient and expect more bad treatment that we have all come to expect in retail stores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teens are notorious for shoplifting. She got profiled.

He should have been nicer when she showed him her receipt and her items.

It’s this. Your daughter didn’t do anything wrong and the manager behaved poorly. But shoplifting is rampant with teens and stored like the Dollar store or 7-11 are often targeted. I hear stories from my kids how they know others from school who constantly steal from local places and get kicked out. It’s really bad right now. The manager probably caught more than one group already that day and your daughter was unfairly treated because he was sick of kids stealing.