>>>Some local colour:
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>>I usually delete things like this when they arrive in my mailbox, if they contain stuff I saw before. But this time it's all so original, so I... had to pass it around.
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>>And I believe it's all true. I've had cases. Come to think of it, half of them were with Walmart staff :). The best one was about the clerk at clothes by yard, who didn't know how to type 5 2/3 yards into their label printer, which requires decimal yards. It took her less then three minutes (OK, less than five, to be on the safe side) to find 2/3 in the list of fractions and their decimal equivalents (and how to round them up). Probably because the list was sorted by numeric values, not alphabetically :). At least she was so embarrassed with her lack of skill, that she hastily typed .667 into the machine... and we got 5 yards for free.
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>That story makes me sad.
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>The service industry is tough. I have some friends and acquaintances in the restaurant business, so I'll use that as an example.
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>Imagine for a moment you're at a favourite restaurant, and you're served by a new, cute young waitress. What may actually be behind the short skirt, tight blouse and great smile may be:
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>- a high-school diploma borderline pass. Unrecognized literacy problems, let alone arithmetic - her friends thought math was for nerds and brainiacs so she avoided it
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>- twenty years old, a couple of years out of high school (too much for it to be charitably called a "gap" year), no way to get into university or college, and no idea what she wants to do with her life
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>- she may be a single mother
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>- a very high chance of living paycheque-to-paycheque, only a few missed paycheques away from being financially desperate
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>- she's new. At the very least, she's unfamiliar with that particular restaurant. She may be completely new to serving.
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>- because she's new, she doesn't get a lot of shifts, and they tend to be on the less-busy, less-desirable nights, so she's getting fewer hours (at minimum wage), and quite a bit less tips
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>- because she's new, she's more prone to making mistakes. She's putting on a brave face, but she's nervous
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>- at some places, she gets to eat her mistakes. Out of her minimum wage and small tip base, that really stings. Some bigger places or chains have training programs, and don't charge servers for mistakes while they're training - but a lot of those places won't hire without at least some experience, a classic Catch-22
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>- if she makes mistakes, it doesn't exactly endear her to the managers, making it harder to get more/better shifts
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>Most of the above is directly applicable to a lot of retail/service jobs. At least with waiting tables, if you do a good job at a busy mid- to high-end place you can make a decent living in a reasonably congenial environment, and actually become a professional. A retail clerk/cashier at a place like Wal-Mart - not so much.
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>I find service staff are usually really appreciative when you point out errors to them. Not just a perfunctory "thanks", more a "Gee, you helped me dodge a bullet" i.e. avoid a reprimand, avoid a direct cash loss out of their own pocket etc. The value of the learning experience vs. actually getting reprimanded or losing money? - debatable, but I like to think it's comparable, and it makes me feel better to avoid potential hassles like that where possible. The ones where pointing out an error doesn't make a real impression? Well, they're not cut out for the service industry, and they won't last long. But, at least you gave them the opportunity.
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>Unfortunately, one does not always get the chance to correct errors like this before they're committed. Sometimes you don't notice until you get home, and take a close look at your receipt. A true honest mistake, welcome to retail, the world keeps spinning on its axis.
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>Too bad, because the damage to you has already been done.
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>What if the friendly Wal-Mart loss-control officer randomly asked to check your bags as you left the store? You have 5.667 yards of fabric, and your receipt says 0.667. You and the clerk or cashier have some 'splainin' to do.
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>If you avoid a random check, I'm willing to bet Wal-Mart has one of the best inventory-control programs in the world, and I bet it's getting better all the time. Maybe it's not good enough to spot 5 missing yards of fabric and identify the transaction and operator, but maybe it is.
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>If it is, the cashier might get reprimanded. Maybe you think she deserved that, maybe you don't. In either case, welcome to retail.
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>But, from an IT POV, here's where it gets cool. If you paid for that transaction by credit card, debit etc., Wal-Mart knows who you are. Now, your card gets flagged as having caused them a loss. And the thing we love most about computers? They never forget.
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>Now that your card has been flagged, maybe those random loss prevention checks at the store exit aren't so "random" any more. Far-fetched? Maybe today, but 5, 10 years from now - who knows?
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>Bottom line, for anyone to knowingly take advantage of these types of errors is not just bad karma, these days it's plain stupid.

Do Walmart randomly stop people to check receipts against what in the bag ?

I agree with you about the karma . If someone gives me too much change or makes an error I notice I will point it out to them.