As a teen, my sister & I were trying on clothes, and we realized that it was nearly the alloted time when our mom was going to pick us up. If we were late… there would be hell to pay and we wouldn’t to be able to go out for a while. So I scrambled out of the clothes, and, in a rush to not drop any of the stuff I was trying on, I stuffed it all into a pair of pants and draped it over the hanger for clothes you don’t plan to purchase outside of the dressing room. We thanked the attendant and headed for the exit.
Suddenly, she was following us. As we exited the store, she yelled from the entrance “You are banned from ever setting foot in here again!! I will call security if I ever see you!!!” pointing at me. I was already in a rush, so I was confused af.
The only thing I can think I did was putting clothes in the pants…? Did she think it was a shoplifting attempt…? But I had legt it behind…? I dunno.
Anyhow, I’ve literally never purchased anything from there before or after. I hung with goth kids. I was just there because my sister liked it. Lol Plus, it was so ridiculously dark in there, you could barely see anything anyhow. No desire to shoplift their tiny, low-quality clothes. Ever.
It closed down years ago. I still remember that angry woman & how stunningly confused I was lol
EDIT: oh… the title says “fun places”… oops.
Well… to make up for wasting people’s time, I also got banned from our local county fair because my sister’s idiot friends were throwing coins at people from one of rides that went up in the air.
Slightly related, a friend of mine got fired from being manager of a Bed, Bath & Beyond because he followed a shoplifter out through the door and confronted her on the sidewalk. Apparently that was against company policy. This is after he had worked for them for years. Moral: don’t work in retail.
I worked at a hardware store that had hired security at the doors, to check receipts. One day, a customer was leaving when the theft detectors beeped. One of the security guards requested to see his receipt, but he ignored her. So she asked him a second time.
That customer kept walking out. He then complained to the security company that employed the security guard, claiming harassment.
Next day, that security guard was fired.
Which is how I learned that airports aren’t the only places that spend a ridiculous amount of money on pure security theater. Apparently the guards had been instructed to ask for a receipt once, and accept it if the customer ignores them, even if the alarms go off. I can understand not wanting someone to follow a customer out of the store, but that is a weak-ass bluff right there.
BONUS STORY! In that same store, someone was stealing tons of high-quality equipment. There was a guy who worked the lot, which meant that among other things, the outdoor trash bins were his responsibility. They were brought in during closing time, then back out the next morning.
Apparently this guy used that as his cover, over the course of several months, to sneak thousands of dollars worth of product out of the store. He knew where security cameras were (and weren’t), and he knew nobody would question him dragging trash bins around. So he hid items on the bottoms of the bins, covered the top with a trash bag, and brought them outside. He’d then move them to an area where the cameras couldn’t see and retrieve the items. Eventually loss prevention noticed something was fishy and caught him, but he’d gotten away with it for quite a while until then.
I’m banned from Hollister.
As a teen, my sister & I were trying on clothes, and we realized that it was nearly the alloted time when our mom was going to pick us up. If we were late… there would be hell to pay and we wouldn’t to be able to go out for a while. So I scrambled out of the clothes, and, in a rush to not drop any of the stuff I was trying on, I stuffed it all into a pair of pants and draped it over the hanger for clothes you don’t plan to purchase outside of the dressing room. We thanked the attendant and headed for the exit.
Suddenly, she was following us. As we exited the store, she yelled from the entrance “You are banned from ever setting foot in here again!! I will call security if I ever see you!!!” pointing at me. I was already in a rush, so I was confused af.
The only thing I can think I did was putting clothes in the pants…? Did she think it was a shoplifting attempt…? But I had legt it behind…? I dunno.
Anyhow, I’ve literally never purchased anything from there before or after. I hung with goth kids. I was just there because my sister liked it. Lol Plus, it was so ridiculously dark in there, you could barely see anything anyhow. No desire to shoplift their tiny, low-quality clothes. Ever.
It closed down years ago. I still remember that angry woman & how stunningly confused I was lol
EDIT: oh… the title says “fun places”… oops.
Well… to make up for wasting people’s time, I also got banned from our local county fair because my sister’s idiot friends were throwing coins at people from one of rides that went up in the air.
Slightly related, a friend of mine got fired from being manager of a Bed, Bath & Beyond because he followed a shoplifter out through the door and confronted her on the sidewalk. Apparently that was against company policy. This is after he had worked for them for years. Moral: don’t work in retail.
I worked at a hardware store that had hired security at the doors, to check receipts. One day, a customer was leaving when the theft detectors beeped. One of the security guards requested to see his receipt, but he ignored her. So she asked him a second time.
That customer kept walking out. He then complained to the security company that employed the security guard, claiming harassment.
Next day, that security guard was fired.
Which is how I learned that airports aren’t the only places that spend a ridiculous amount of money on pure security theater. Apparently the guards had been instructed to ask for a receipt once, and accept it if the customer ignores them, even if the alarms go off. I can understand not wanting someone to follow a customer out of the store, but that is a weak-ass bluff right there.
BONUS STORY! In that same store, someone was stealing tons of high-quality equipment. There was a guy who worked the lot, which meant that among other things, the outdoor trash bins were his responsibility. They were brought in during closing time, then back out the next morning.
Apparently this guy used that as his cover, over the course of several months, to sneak thousands of dollars worth of product out of the store. He knew where security cameras were (and weren’t), and he knew nobody would question him dragging trash bins around. So he hid items on the bottoms of the bins, covered the top with a trash bag, and brought them outside. He’d then move them to an area where the cameras couldn’t see and retrieve the items. Eventually loss prevention noticed something was fishy and caught him, but he’d gotten away with it for quite a while until then.
😂 both these answers surprised me