I purchased a fishing pole from McGuckin Hardware on 4/4 but took it back the following day because it looked defective. I walked up to a cashier and showed her the fishing pole and she said it was ok to take it back to the sporting goods department and someone there would help me. I took it back to the department and a guy with a pony-tail (very nice sales associate) helped me. We came to the conclusion that all the poles looked like that so I decided to keep it. I walked out of the store and was approaching my car when a security guard asked me to show the receipt for the fishing pole. I showed it to him and he said "it was yesterday's receipt". I told him I purchased it the day before. He then asked me to walk back to the store with him and he held on to my receipt. I told him to go to the same cashier who verified my receipt and fishing pole as ask her. For some reason, he did not do that. As we got in the store and walked by the cash register, the same cashier who I showed the receipt and fishing pole to didn't say anything to the security guard about the fact that I did show her the receipt and the fishing pole. I got extremely upset, raised my voice and arms and asked the security guard why he was accusing me of stealing and that I'll sue them for doing that to me. The security guard got upset and shoved the receipt into my chest. I was holding my wallet and he shoved me so hard that my wallet fell to the ground. There were 3 other cashiers who also witnessed what happened. I turned around and asked a cashier if he saw what the security guard did to me (shoving) and he nodded. At that point, I asked for a manager. There were two managers who came but really didn't do anything and asked me to lower my voice and get out of the store. The security guard then bowed (mockingly) to me three times. I am Asian and that gesture to me was demeaning. As I was walking out of the store a woman came up to me and said she was sorry for the way McGuckin Hardware treated me and that they were wrong, and she will never shop there again. I then decided that I didn't want to keep the fishing pole from a store that treats their customers like this. I walked back into the store to return the item and another security guard said to me, "so you think you are so tough huh?"
It seems to me that Mcgukins's security is to intimidate and bully, and it is not truly about loss and prevention. I told a friend of mine what happened to me (my English is not very good) and asked her to call the manager. My friend called and talked to a store department manager (who was extremely nice and very apologetic) who confirmed that all this including the bowing was on video and he apologized. He even confirmed the presence of the customer (she was on the video) who walked up to me to apologize. He then told her that the store Manager Bob Mulder would get back to her.
Bob Mulder did get back to her but was less than professional and was like a bully on the phone and really just talked down to her. She felt the whole conversation with him was insincere and he was not very nice to say the least. He did admit to her that what the security guard (bowing to me three times) did to me was inappropriate and asked what he could do to make up for it. She said I wanted a letter of apology for the bowing and he said he would do that. He said it was not racially motivated and that the security guard just got carried away and he was just bowing because "the customer is always right". No security guards in any situation or circumstances should get so carried away that they bow to customers when it is not part of the culture. Does this mean that their security guards bow to any or all customers who are falsely accused of stealing?
It has been almost 2 months and I have yet to see the letter. McGukin Hardware needs to re-train their security personnel and change their return procedures so that this does not happen again to other innocent customers.
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