Do store security guards have any authority?

“My professional rate is about 30x the checkout wage”

Why wasn’t the butler doing the shopping?

Why wasn’t the butler doing the shopping?

Hahahaha. Sadly I’m PAYE. The rate we pay contractors, however…

Maybe ChatGPT is useful after all….

In the supermarket’s silent glow,
Where whispers of convenience flow,
A row of screens, a digital glow,
Invites the shopper’s hand to show.

No longer need we wait in line,
For cashiers with their practiced shine,
Now self-service is the sign,
Efficiency in a sleek design.

A beep for each item scanned,
The shopper is now in command,
A subtle dance, a swift demand,
Technology at our command.

Yet in this progress, there’s a trace,
Of human touch, a fading grace,
The friendly chat, the smiling face,
Replaced by screens, a quicker pace.

In aisles where voices used to blend,
A quiet hum is now the trend,
Transactions without a friend,
A modern way, a digital end.

But in this change, a choice we find,
To move ahead or lag behind,
Embrace the future, ease of mind,
Or yearn for what we’ve left behind.

In the self-checkout’s gentle beep,
Lie stories of the time we keep,
Of change that’s both profound and deep,
A world awake, yet half asleep.

/Sigh.  I should have seen how this would pan out.  I was simply asking whether store security had any official authority vested in them beyond, uh, a hi-vis vest.  I neither needed nor wanted a critique on my conduct whilst out buying a bottle of milk.  The less interaction with people the better as far as I’m concerned.

That security guard may well remember you better next time if you’d explained what you’d just done and why., you know, in a friendly fashion.  It might have reminded both of you you are simply human beings going about your daily business.

I’d have explained what I’d just done and why in a friendly fashion if he’d asked in a friendly fashion.  As it was I responded in kind.  He gruffly asked if I was alright in a manner presumably meant to intimidate, I replied that I was and went about my day.

Cougar – you behaved in a manner likely to rouse suspicion, then seem surprised when the staff tasked with monitoring for suspicious activity did their job.  They have no authority to search you, but if they believe you have committed theft they can detain you.  A person who has innocently been wrongly suspected would normally be quite happy to “show” their innocence by revealing the contents of their bag.   You can of course refuse them permission to search your bag and insist they call the police.  That is likely to be a bit of a waste of your own time.  They probably now have even more suspicion so are hardly likely to let you leave.  The cops have shoplifting on low priority so you’ll be waiting for them for ages; all so you can score a point against the high vis wearer who was alerted by your unusual behaviour.  I could understand someone taking a stance because they believed they were being discriminated against because of their colour etc – but someone who knowingly has just acted suspiciously…

your local supermarket does sound odd, but it’s not unique – I assume Tesco is well enough managed that this isn’t random store managers but is based on data about theft rates in those stores.

Cougar – you behaved in a manner likely to rouse suspicion, then seem surprised when the staff tasked with monitoring for suspicious activity did their job

Again, you’re missing context.

I have zero issue with being challenged by a security guard in a professional manner, and I fully admit that my actions were atypical.  But.

a) He wasn’t professional, his approach was very much making his presence felt.  There was no need to engage with me at all, if he was suspicious then he could have followed me round the store on his little screen with his little joystick and I’d have been none the wiser.  Indeed, if I was stealing, it’d have been in their interests to lie low and catch me doing it.

b) This store has previous, it is deeply weird.  It’s like no other Tesco I’ve ever shopped in, and I’ve shopped in a lot.  The staff are clearly trained to treat everyone as a guilty shoplifter until proven otherwise, which gets my back up as a paying customer.  My previous local was the Tesco Extra in Accrington, I find it vanishingly doubtful that Padiham has such a greater shoplifting problem over Accy to merit a store-wide hostile attitude towards its customers.  I shopped at the old store for years and not once was I ever I been told “I’ll come back to take the tag off after you’ve paid.”  Frankly, it’s offensive.

c) None of this is relevant to the thread.  I’m not questioning the actions of the staff, I posted to ask what legal rights they have.

None of this is relevant to the thread.  I’m not questioning the actions of the staff, I posted to ask what legal rights they have.

If you’d left the actions off the staff out of your post, no one would be talking about them.

If a guard takes issue with my self checkout, I am happy to point out that they’ve just had five to ten minutes of my time. My professional rate is about 30x the checkout wage, and I will be happy to receive my remuneration.

Nice. Are there any other areas of life where you object to the lowly paid minions bothering you based upon your superior salary?

Don’t be silly of course I don’t! My comment is a tongue in cheek comment on the company’s expectation of removing jobs and shifting the labour costs to customers. In the name of “convenience”, whilst not holding to the trust side of the bargain and the changes in their corresponding security practices. If you are using self checkout, you are working on behalf of the supermarket.

I am considerably richer than ye-ow.

The amount of money shops lose to theft is staggering

But cannot be anything like the same amount of money they save for not having checkout workers. I don’t mind security, it must be a thankless task, and I’m not shoplifting, so if they want to look in my bag, they’re welcome. Checkout mangers insisting on checking my shopping and comparing it to the receipt when I’ve used a self checkout can, on the other hand **** right off. If you want to do that, do the checkout work yourself.

If you’d left the actions off the staff out of your post, no one would be talking about them.

Because heaven forfend that we might provide anecdotal or otherwise irrelevant detail in a post.  I could have said he was wearing a top hat and there are those who would leap up screaming “what have you got against hats?!”

a) He wasn’t professional, his approach was very much making his presence felt.

Much like the Police, they’re so used to dealing with scum 99.9% of the time, they often forget how to interact with non-scummy people.

I wouldn’t be a security guard in a shop for 30x the salary anyway. Thieves are scumbags.

The daughter of the farmer who runs the local farm shop was pinned against a wall by her throat when she tried to prevent thieves stealing from them. This particular scumbag stealing vodka was pregnant. The Police didn’t even show up. The thieves come in regularly and steal stuff while their accomplices wait in a car outside and they cannot be stopped. CCTV doesn’t help and they can’t afford security guards they tell me when I asked why they don’t get some.

I shopped at the old store for years and not once was I ever I been told “I’ll come back to take the tag off after you’ve paid.”

I think that’s standard Tesco policy. Last time I was buying something tagged, I asked for the tag to be removed, and the woman said she wasn’t allowed to remove it until I’d paid for it.

Because heaven forfend that we might provide anecdotal or otherwise irrelevant detail in a post.

it would help keep the readers focused on the important things

Koalas are marsupials, not bears.

What about drop bears?  (Oh and check the marsupials in your store – they have pockets)

👌🏻👍🏼🎩👏🏻🤣

My late partner worked checkout at B&M, a job she genuinely enjoyed doing, because of the interaction with the customers, but they didn’t have store security and staff were specifically told not to attempt to stop shoplifters because of the risk of harm to the staff. She regularly came home and told me about yet another trolly-dash incident, where several hundred quids worth of goods had gone out the door into the car park outside.
It was easier to deal with the little kids trying to buy a couple of items with a £50 note, though, because the notes were obviously bogus.

They were often with the adults who’d done the trolley dash, and everyone knew exactly where they went back to afterwards…

I have zero issue with being challenged by a security guard in a professional manner, and I fully admit that my actions were atypical.  But.

a) He wasn’t professional, his approach was very much making his presence felt.

you don’t think he was professional but nothing you’ve described sounds unprofessional to me!  Of course he was making his presence felt, as per the point you think the thread is about he has no special rights, so he is there as a deterrent.  That involves making his presence felt.

There was no need to engage with me at all, if he was suspicious then he could have followed me round the store on his little screen with his little joystick and I’d have been none the wiser.

You clearly have a problem with him.  Focussing on one weirdo behaving oddly is a common tactic by shoplifting gangs to distract from the others who actually do the lifting.

Indeed, if I was stealing, it’d have been in their interests to lie low and catch me doing it.

No, it’s almost certainly in their interests to deter rather than catch thieves.

b) This store has previous, it is deeply weird.  It’s like no other Tesco I’ve ever shopped in, and I’ve shopped in a lot.  The staff are clearly trained to treat everyone as a guilty shoplifter until proven otherwise, which gets my back up as a paying customer.

Then don’t go there.  It might be closest but you are not on some outer Hebridean Island with only one choice.

My previous local was the Tesco Extra in Accrington, I find it vanishingly doubtful that Padiham has such a greater shoplifting problem over Accy to merit a store-wide hostile attitude towards its customers.

Have you shared your views with Tesco senior manageMent?  One thing Tesco are very good at is data.  They know if that shop is doing better or worse than its neighbours both with missing stock and with customer complaints, spend per customer (presumably customers who feel unwelcome spend less) etc.

I shopped at the old store for years and not once was I ever I been told “I’ll come back to take the tag off after you’ve paid.”  Frankly, it’s offensive.

but I think this is an evolving policy – I’ve had it here (not everytime) in a Tesco, and it was policy at a sainsbos in centre of Edinburgh – they’ve learned the ways shoplifters work and have procedures to avoid that.  If it’s not being followed the staff are probably breaking the rules.

c) None of this is relevant to the thread.  I’m not questioning the actions of the staff, I posted to ask what legal rights they have.

you ARE questioning the actions of the staff, you’ve done it throughout the thread and even in this post!

I’m not sure if anyone has answered Cougar’s question. So far as I know, the civil law of trespass applies; as agents of the occupier, they can ask you to leave, and if you decline to leave they can use reasonable force to make you leave.

Somebody posted about what you can do if you have reasonable grounds to suspect a criminal offence – that may also be correct, it’s not something I know much about.

Just back from America, they have a slightly different approach…

chap wandering around the front of the shop with a bulletproof vest with a large ‘private security’ Velcro tag on, big holstered handgun.

Thieves can be a little more robust there

“I know the procedure”

Thieves are scumbags.

Or maybe they’re just people who can’t afford to make ends meet on ridiculously low incomes or insufficient benefits? People shoplift for many reasons, those doing it for fun or out of evil intent are probably a tiny minority.

^^ so those of us in retail are to put up with shoplifting and all the sh!t that comes with it because it’s a result of government policies or other employers pay rates? No bother, I will let my colleagues know and explain this to my customers, in fact I will stand at the door and hand bags out the the poor theives as none of it is their fault. They are not nicking life’s essentials where I work, the vast majority are nicking luxuries they want or things they can sell for their next fix so your comment does wash with my experiences of the thieving shoplifters. If their benefits/wages don’t stretch to that nice fragrance, top of the range razor blades or makeup then go without or buy the cheaper ones. They certainly aren’t nicking the multi vitamins to help them supplement there poor diet/health or the medicines for their sick child.

would you have the same sentiments for someone who stole your bike or entered your house and took your TV, maybe threatening you at the same time but it’s ok because they can’t make ends meet and your insurance will cover it, it’s not any inconvenience to you.

Or maybe they’re just people who can’t afford to make ends meet on ridiculously low incomes or insufficient benefits

Perhaps you should get a job a as a security guard, then you could help them out by paying for all the stuff they’ve nicked. Win win. 👍

As above, the majority are not stealing life essentials either.

Wow! It’s turned in to a Nick Ferrari phone-in.

Or maybe they’re just people who can’t afford to make ends meet on ridiculously low incomes or insufficient benefits

A couple of weeks ago I saw two guys running out our local Tesco express with arms full of booze and snacks. One had so much that he dropped half the snacks, tried to pick them up, dropped them again then ran off with what he had left.  These weren’t poor people desperately trying to get by without starving – they were thieving scumbags who knew that the police would probably be way too busy to deal with them , even if the shop bothered to report them.

“I’m not sure if anyone has answered Cougar’s question.”

It was answered correctly in the very first reply, which is why I didn’t bother saying the same.