Anti-theft tags in clothing… an induction coil in a very obvious blank tag next to the washing/drying instructions tag. I get it, shoplifting is a serious issue and has to be fought somehow. What I don't get is, what a thing, which anybody can remove with nail scissors without attracting attention, should do in this regard. It does literally nothing against thieves.
Why is it an anti-feature for me? Because it triggers false alarms so d*mn often!
It was one of the rare instances I bought clothing… and I had an unpleasant discussion.
Sinchen: “Please cut off the anti-theft tags.”
Till girl: “They’re inactive now.”
Sinchen: “Cut them off. They WILL reactivate at some point.”
Till Girl: “They won’t ever reactivate.”
Sinchen: “I won’t buy that stuff then. Bye.” (I didn't yet hand over the money)
Till Girl (panic mode): “But you can’t return it without the tags!11!!”
Finally she cut off the garbage. I've zero interest in fashion. I just bought stuff in order to wear it, not to return it and run around naked very soon (many of my old clothes were beyond any repair).
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My concerns in this regard didn’t come from the void: I had been in an electronics store with a friend. After paying what she needed, we wanted to leave. The alarm went off… and what we just bought didn’t have such a coil. Normally nobody cares. This alarm goes off literally hundreds of times each day for no reason. But this time they didn’t allow us to leave. The store detective (“loss prevention agent”) arrived quickly and he wanted to search my friend.
I asked him if he had any evidence of a shoplifting attempt (like having watched us with CCTV doing shady stuff and being able to show the recording). Of course he hadn’t any evidence. He asked again if she was okay with being searched. I answered for her (she was trembling in fear) with: “No. You may not do this.”
Detective: “I just want to help you. I’ll find out what falsely triggered the alarm.”
Sinchen: “So you know it is a false alarm. Problem solved. We’ll leave then.”
Detective: “Really. Not a big deal. I want to help you. It will trigger in other shops.”
Sinchen: “We’re heading home and don’t care. We’ll find the coil without you.”
I asked him again if he thought we were stealing. He said “No.”, but didn’t want us to leave without searching. At this point I had enough and said:
“Either you let us leave the shop now this instant, or you’ll have to call the police for searching my friend.”
“Have a nice day.” he said and walked away.
I would have enjoyed waiting for the police to come and an officer searching us… finding no stolen goods at all. That is what happens when a store detective doesn’t reach the target number catching thieves. They even go after innocent(!) teenagers with false claims, threatening them with the police (or just their parents).
Outside I searched my friend and found the problem: Her jacket – she already had it for more than a year – still had that induction thing on it. Somehow it reactivated. F… these induction coils!
Why is it an anti-feature for me? Because it triggers false alarms so d*mn often!
It was one of the rare instances I bought clothing… and I had an unpleasant discussion.
Sinchen: “Please cut off the anti-theft tags.”
Till girl: “They’re inactive now.”
Sinchen: “Cut them off. They WILL reactivate at some point.”
Till Girl: “They won’t ever reactivate.”
Sinchen: “I won’t buy that stuff then. Bye.” (I didn't yet hand over the money)
Till Girl (panic mode): “But you can’t return it without the tags!11!!”
Finally she cut off the garbage. I've zero interest in fashion. I just bought stuff in order to wear it, not to return it and run around naked very soon (many of my old clothes were beyond any repair).
========
My concerns in this regard didn’t come from the void: I had been in an electronics store with a friend. After paying what she needed, we wanted to leave. The alarm went off… and what we just bought didn’t have such a coil. Normally nobody cares. This alarm goes off literally hundreds of times each day for no reason. But this time they didn’t allow us to leave. The store detective (“loss prevention agent”) arrived quickly and he wanted to search my friend.
I asked him if he had any evidence of a shoplifting attempt (like having watched us with CCTV doing shady stuff and being able to show the recording). Of course he hadn’t any evidence. He asked again if she was okay with being searched. I answered for her (she was trembling in fear) with: “No. You may not do this.”
Detective: “I just want to help you. I’ll find out what falsely triggered the alarm.”
Sinchen: “So you know it is a false alarm. Problem solved. We’ll leave then.”
Detective: “Really. Not a big deal. I want to help you. It will trigger in other shops.”
Sinchen: “We’re heading home and don’t care. We’ll find the coil without you.”
I asked him again if he thought we were stealing. He said “No.”, but didn’t want us to leave without searching. At this point I had enough and said:
“Either you let us leave the shop now this instant, or you’ll have to call the police for searching my friend.”
“Have a nice day.” he said and walked away.
I would have enjoyed waiting for the police to come and an officer searching us… finding no stolen goods at all. That is what happens when a store detective doesn’t reach the target number catching thieves. They even go after innocent(!) teenagers with false claims, threatening them with the police (or just their parents).
Outside I searched my friend and found the problem: Her jacket – she already had it for more than a year – still had that induction thing on it. Somehow it reactivated. F… these induction coils!
Rotflmao