I wanted to share this to see if anyone has had similar experiences shopping at our local City Market, and also to warn people about what seems to be some enhanced security measures at that store.
On January 2, I checked out with $198 worth of groceries, using a real live human checker (not the self-checkout). As I was leaving the store, my cart came to an abrupt stop in the foyer. I thought I’d run over something which caused a wheel on the cart to lock up, I struggled to try to move the cart, then heard someone yelling “It won’t go anywhere!”
An employee came up behind me (older man wearing employee vest) and he screamed again, “I need to see your receipt!” I replied “Ok, I need to find it — the guy said he put it in one of the bags.” Then he screamed, “What guy?!” and I replied sternly, “The checker!” I found the receipt and showed it to him, and he just said “Oh” — no apology. Then he pressed a button on a hand held device and the cart wheel unlocked and I was able to leave with my groceries.
What the heck is going on at City Market? There were several customers coming and going when I attempted to exit the store, and apparently an alarm went off when I passed through the inside door. I didn’t pay attention to it because I had no reason to think that I had set off an alarm. Did someone else set off the alarm, and do carts automatically lock up when the alarm sounds? Or did the employee intentionally stop my cart by pressing the button on his hand held device? Huh? You read that right. It was as if I was stopped with a nail strip while driving a car.
Geez, I’m a 70 year old woman — and that employee was very aggressive towards me. I don’t appreciate being treated like that, especially after spending a couple of hundred bucks there. A really unnerving experience.
In December, I noticed a man walking around the store pretending to be shopping. He would stare at items on shelves, had no basket, and never picked anything off a shelf. Then he would abruptly turn and walk away, only to do the same thing again several feet away. He came close to me a couple of times, and I almost asked him if I could help him find something, he was so in-my-face. He was nicely dressed and was not wearing a name tag or an employee vest. I don’t carry a purse, so he wasn’t trying to steal my wallet from a purse left in the basket. Then I realized he must be a store plant looking for shoplifters — but doing a very bad job of being undercover; it was so obvious. And really creepy — I felt like I was being stalked.
I mentioned this incident to my husband and he said he’s seen pretend shoppers at City Market as well, so it’s not just me being paranoid.
On January 2, I called store management after I got home because I was really mad, and talked to the front desk supervisor who was nice but didn’t take my name or phone number. She was sympathetic about the cart incident but stated that they don’t have any undercover shoppers. I don’t believe that’s true. I’ve noticed this behavior a couple of other times as well, with different men than the one I recently observed. One of them was an elderly looking man that was walking around, staring at items on a shelf, again no shopping cart and never took anything off a shelf. Then he would walk away and do the same thing several feet down the aisle. He seemed like he had dementia and was confused. Maybe that was the case — or maybe he had a better disguise! Anyway, I didn’t go down that aisle because it just felt so weird.
I filed a complaint on City Market’s website and it will be interesting to see what response I get (if any). I understand that theft is a big issue for retailers, but I really think most of City Market’s theft issues stem from dishonest customers at the self-checkout stands.
Note: I may be 70, but I am still very active — hiking, biking, skiing. And I still work, remotely, as a graphic designer. I am very aware of my surroundings, having grown up in the Los Angeles area. I lived at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area in California for 40 years before moving here full time a couple of years ago. I continue to be very aware of my surroundings — but mostly watching for wildlife on the trails and roads.
Now I guess I need to watch out for the creepy security staff at City Market as well!
From now on, I’ll shop at Walmart and Natural Grocers — at least they don’t treat their customers like criminals!
Sincerely,
Laura Patterson,
Pagosa Springs
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