In 2007 I went to Palm Springs Wal-Mart and while i was shopping I noticed someone looking around the corner of an aisle a couple times, ducking back when I would turn my head to look. I walked over in that direction and around the corner to see someone quickly walk around the far end of the next aisle. I left the area I was in and a few minutes later witnessed the same thing happening again. This time I headed off the person as he tried to quickly walk around another aisle, and told him that it was obvious to me that he was Wal-Mart security and to stop following and harassing me. He denied knowledge of what I was talking about and quickly walked away. I followed him at a distance for a moment so that when I complained to Wal-Mart management he would not have the opportunity to vanish into the back room without me being able to tell management where he went. When I told the manager at the front of the store they acted like they didn't understand what I was talking about, and that they would "look into it". This did not satisfy me, as it was clear to me that they knew, but were trying to cover for their "undercover" security guard. After a few minutes I spotted the man who had been following me, so I took out my cell phone to take a picture to show the manager, and the mas started walking towards me in a threatening manner and stated that he was going to "wrap that around my f*ing head" (I assume he was referring to the cell phone) and he called me a "faggot".
While I am a heterosexual male, I consider it completely unacceptable for an individual to engage in bigotry, especially when they are supposed to be acting on behalf of their "employer". At just about that moment the manager I had spoken to was close by and I pointed the "perpetrator" out to the manager and stated what the man/security guard had said to me. Nothing was done about it, and I was told by the manager and security that I had to leave Wal-Mart property. I then told them I was going to call the police because I had been threatened with physical injury, and a man who appeared to be the security guards supervisor, another man in "plain clothes" then told me that they were also going to call the police accusing me of threatening the man / security guard who had been following me. I waited for the police in front of an adjacent business, and when the police arrived, he spoke to the store management and security for about 15-20 minutes, and then came over to where I was and told me that I could perform a citizen's arrest on the man / security guard, but that the security guard could do the same to me. I went back into this location a couple months later to accompany a friend and was told by management that I was banned from that store, presumably because I could "identify" their undercover security.
Please tell everyone you know about these abusive and malicious tactics Wal-Mart engages in.
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