Why those alarms at stores are useless
You know the ones I mean…you walk out, go through the detector things, and it sets something off. Happens to me all the time, and the culprit is often the Mobil SpeedPass thing on my keychain. Or, it’s just that the detector things are, well…DEFECTIVE. So, usually, when an alarm goes off, I just keep walking, and if someone chases after me, then I’ll stop. But I’ve yet to be chased down by anyone.
So, on Halloween night, I escaped trick-or-treat hell by going to the mall, where I had Mike come and meet me for dinner at that place with the bar when he got off work. I ended up buying our Red Sox World Series gear at Sears, as all MLB stuph was on sale. I got Mike a long-sleeved T-shirt, as he requested, and I got a hoodie and a short-sleeved T for myself. I also picked up one of those suitcase-on-wheels things, for Vegas next week. No way could I carry my regular duffel bag through an airport.
After I made all of my purchases at Sears, I walked out of the store and into the mall, heading for the Ironworks restaurant. The alarm thingy went off. I looked quickly to see if anyone was chasing me, but there was no one in sight. Then, I realized, what do I have to worry about…I paid for everything, what do I have to hide?
Tonight, I was doing some laundry, and was going to wash our new WS gear before wearing. To my horror…my hooded sweatshirt had one of those plastic security tags on it! I didn’t see it there when I bought the thing, and the cashier never took it off, as she was supposed to. That explains why the alarm went off. But still, the Sears Police never chased after me. The Ironworks place is right across from Sears, they could have seen me go in there if they’d been paying attention.
So I was wondering what I should do about this plastic thing.  My first thought was to take it back to the store and ask them to remove it, showing my receipt…but that could have gotten me into more trouble…I still could be accused of stealing it, and just showing a receipt for another purchase.
I ended up just using some fine-tipped craft scissors and CUTTING it off. I cut the fabric AROUND the metal thing holding it on to get the whole thing off. Yeah, now there’s a small hole, but it’s under the hood and not visible. After the hoodie comes out of the wash, I’ll stitch up the hole to keep it from coming apart further.
It beats the crap out of being falsely accused of shoplifting!
1Kat
wrote on 3 November 2007 at 1:09
Wow, I would have probably taken it back, afraid to cut it off and ruin the hoodie…LOL
2christine
wrote on 3 November 2007 at 1:39
The way I see it, other than getting sick (I am feeling MUCH better now), it’s been a good week. I got my trip to Vegas AND my refund from TracFone in one week…why jinx it by risking getting arrested by Sears? Knowing that store and mall, I doubt they would have believed me, that the receipt was for that exact shirt.
The hole I made was VERY small, hardly noticeable. The only way I could do it with no big damage was with the craft scissors…regular scissors would have butchered it to death.
I was also considering using a pair of metal snips to cut through the metal part of the thing. But as it was, the hole was not much bigger than the hole that would have been there if the cashier had DONE HER JOB and removed the damned thing in the first place.
3Les
wrote on 3 November 2007 at 2:12
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cheers
les
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4Nicole
wrote on 3 November 2007 at 8:30
Sears is famous for this. A few years ago I bought a beautiful linen skirt there and when I got it home, they had forgotten to remove the security tag. Pain. In. The. Ass.
I took it back to the mall and the stupid woman at the checkout went to remove it and BROKE IT!! This particular device was filled with red ink that releases when it’s removed incorrectly. So now, my lovely lime green linen skirt had a big, quarter-sized, red stain on the waistband. Nice.
They ended up refunding my money, and I got to keep the skirt. Luckily, the stain is on the side of the waistband and it’s not noticeable with a shirt tucked in and a blazer over it. Now, whenever I purchase something, I make damn sure that those ridiculous tags are all gone before I leave the store.