>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.

I actually tried to help, but got a sort of snotty "don't disturb me while I work" off-the-cuff remark, so I stepped back and watched.


>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.

Why me? I paid what was asked (including the case below). I am not their quality control, nor am I their security officer. They have the damn cameras. And they do racial profiling - I don't get spot checked because of how I look, and neither do my daughters, until it came to buying something over $50 late in the evening, when accompanied with a darker-skinned citizen... there was a lengthy scene with the Cerberus.

At which point we have decided that if they try to pull a spot check on us, we'll gladly do it, and then just turn around and go to customer service and ask the money back on everything - there being no doubt in the validity of the sale and payment, as it was just checked.

>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.
>
>If it is, the cashier might get reprimanded. Maybe you think she deserved that, maybe you don't. In either case, welcome to retail.
>
>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.
>
>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?

Well, in the total they must love me. While there were maybe two or three such mistakes in my favor, in the $3-$8 range, there was one very bad one which cost me $50 - the sticker price was brand new, while the price in the system was not updated yet, and still considerably higher. And we didn't notice what was wrong until we were off the parking. But never mind that, we minimized our visits, and even when we go there, we buy only the few items that we usually buy there (with which we were satisfied before) and we specifically don't buy anything with moving parts, or anything that may die prematurely if manufactured from inferior materials (because it usually is).

>Bottom line, for anyone to knowingly take advantage of these types of errors is not just bad karma, these days it's plain stupid.

In the balance, my total is negative; occasionally reverting the trend closer to zero just serves to wash out the bad feeling.