I have yet another story. I love gardening so I applied at a local greenhouse/garden center/Country store for a seasonal job...got the job. I worked with a lady I will call Pat in the houseplants and herbs area. Sometimes we worked together and then other times it was just one of us. One of the perks of the job besides a discount was...if there were plants that started to look sick you would pull them and put them in a separate area to see if you could nurse them back to health to sell. If they didn't perk up then you were supposed to ask one of the owners/managers to look at them and they would decided if it stayed or you could take it home.

One day one of the owners came to me and asked me why there were so many plants on the floor under the tables. I told her that Pat had put them there to take home...WRONG answer. This was the point in time that I found out the manager had to OK taking the plants. Pat was walking out the door with all of these...some were very expensive...plants. Her little game was...she would see something she wanted and then avoid watering it. Of course it would look bad and she would pull it and then let it suffer long enough that she would then take it home and nurse it back to health. Her little game got her let go. This place had cameras all over the place and the person who answered the phones had all of the screens in her little office so the whole store was monitored all of the time. One day I was talking to her and she said she was watching a particular screen because the "customers" were acting strange...and then we both watched them put stuff into a large tote bag that the woman was carrying. She alerted the manager who then followed them to the cashier to see if they removed the items to pay for them. I had to get back to work but they were caught trying to steal stuff from the gift shop/country store. There were huge signs all over the inside of the store...and outside on the porch area where they had stuff displayed...telling people hidden video cameras were being used...and yet people still thought they could get away with it.

Most retailers have an employee search policy. My daughter worked at American Eagle for years and anytime she took a purse or had a bag when she left it had to be searched by the manager. It's really not a big deal. She was never offended by it as it applied to every employee. Even the manager was searched by another employee when she left!

Sad, but true - employee theft is a HUGE problem everywhere. My sis and BIL used to own a small deli in a professional building. Food, plastic utensils, napkins, cups & plates, even cleaning supplies routinely disappeared. One time my BIL stopped by at closing time and two employees were removing ten five gallon buckets of ice cream for a big party they were throwing that weekend.

They tried to act like, "how did that get in my car?!?"

Yes it is Joannes policy, I worked there when it first started, I felt terrible insulted by this, yet I knew the reasoning, But I think it is more because of what I seen at first, We had a black girl in our store and a new Asst mgr, who on one night checked her bag and no one else's. Now that was strange. and awfully rude. My personal Opinion is they should keep a better eye on some of those teen agers roaming around with there backpacks that are very obviously up to some mischief.

Well in the example of the government, it IS a violation of your 4th Amendment rights and people should be crying out over it.

But, the 4th Amendment only applies to actions of the government. A buisness demanding to look through your bags is not at all a violation of your 4th Amendment rights. That is not to say you wouldn't be right in claiming violation of personal privacy, but its not a violation of the amendment against illegal search and seizure.

It is sad, but this is the kind of world we live in now. Times have sure changed.........not for the better either.

I sold Viking machines in a JoAnn store so technically wasn't their employee but my purse was looked into every night when I left. I didn't think much of it because I would never take anything. I think you can only be worried if you have things in there that shouldn't be.

Yes! When I was mgt at JoAnns, I had to inspect purses, and have my own inspected.

Well, if Walmart does this and they still have more employee theft than customer theft, I'd say their policy isn't working.

Sorry to say this has been a policy in many stores for quite a few years. Thirty years ago I had to carry a see-through purse when I went to work. Sad, isn't it?

:cry: