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| talkToTheHat |
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 talkToTheHat World Chat Champion

Joined: 21 Feb 2012 Karma :    
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 Posted: 19:09 - 07 May 2014 Post subject: Morisson's appear to be collecting idiots. |
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My bike is quite often used for supermarket runs. I call into the Balby store when I'm passing as it's one of the better ones. Particularly for pies and cakes, and unlike York and Huddersfield, the loos are not some kind of disaster area. All was good until the one member of staff decided that black leathers and an old twin made me a some kind of thief. I wouldn't mind if I'd tripped an alarm, had been concealing my identity in the store or had otherwise been acting suspiciously.
Here's what I wrote into both the store manager (who has not replied) and copied to their customer services.
| Quote: | First, I'd like to say how much I liked shopping at the new Balby store. It has a well designed carpark with nicely defined motorcycle parking. The cakes are fantastic and the bakery staff will go to extraordinary lengths to find out if a particular product is suitable for vegetarians. The checkout staff are really friendly and there are plenty of them and I never feel harassed into using a self service checkout – I don't get on well with self service machines anywhere and they are awkward to use if either tall, encased in motorcycle leathers, or one is less able to bend due to a disability, and I manage all three of those. I've had “write letter praising Balby Morrissons” on my todo list for many months, but I regret I have not gotten around to it as I dislike writing letters.
You will note I used the past tense. This is unfortunate. I am currently quite upset. Friday (11/4/2014) afternoon I called in at the store. I had a nice chat with the lady at the checkout about my roadtrip plans. Something about my deep seated belief that passing through North Yorkshire would cause rain despite the weather forecast. I stopped at the kiosk on the way out as just after I left the checkout I received a text message asking me to buy some stamps. I had just left the store with a few items for dinner and feeling most pleased about your offer on Captain Morgan's. I stopped to send a text message before loading my motorcycle's topbox. I noticed there was a police car parked outside the store again. I remember wondering whether the store had a shoplifting problem as I had seen a police car parked in the same place the last time I was at the store.
I was approached by a member of staff. First he asked me whether I had been offered carrier bags at the checkout. I told him that I did not need any as they would likely have to be unpacked to secure my shopping within the topbox. He then asked to see my receipt and starts babbling about how he'd seen me visit the kiosk but not go through the checkouts. He then starts going on and on and on about catching shoplifters. Apparently he'd caught someone that morning and was feeling most proud of himself. I was a little upset about this and asked him if he was accusing me of shoplifting because of my care for the environment, or because I rode a motorcycle. He didn't have an answer for that beyond demanding my receipt again. It took me a while to find as there are many pockets in my leathers and more than a few old Morrison's receipts crumpled up here and there.
Eventually I found the correct receipt. The staff member continued his lines of conversation about the shoplifter he caught, how useless he thought the people employed by the store to actually handle security were, and the tensile strength of carrier bags. I'm not sure he quite grasped the idea that the appropriate thing to do would have been to apologise and go away. When he finally got the message and left me alone, the police car left.
Whilst it must be a sign that an employer is doing something right for employees to willingly accost villainous environmentalist bikers, I would like to know whether your staff are trained to perform such actions, particularly profiling customers by their degree of environmentalism and choice of transport. I'd also like to know why regular staff are doing this when the store apparently retains dedicated security staff.
Furthermore I would really like to know whether your staff have been making false allegations about me to the police, and whether this is a matter of store policy or merely staff enthusiasm.
I enclose a photocopy of my collection of receipts from that day. |
The reply is EPIC:
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/morissons.jpg
Yep, now I'm a petrol thief too. WTF? |
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| Al |
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 Al World Chat Champion

Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Karma :   
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 Posted: 19:23 - 07 May 2014 Post subject: |
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Your letter drags on a bit about a load of irrelevant stuff.
They probably got half way through and just said 'fuck it, send the man some vouchers and say sorry' hence the mistake thinking you were using the petrol station. ____________________ Yamaha FZR400RR 3tj
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| Clutchy |
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 Clutchy World Chat Champion

Joined: 08 Nov 2011 Karma :   
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 Posted: 19:40 - 07 May 2014 Post subject: |
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Meh, he had a job to do but could of handled it better.
Anyway mr. petrol thief, you got free vouchers!
How much? ____________________ Malaguti F12 Phantom-Dead, Suzuki AY50- Dead, NRG power DD LQ, CBR125.
*33 BHP restriction up on 10/12/14* Current bikes/car: SV 650 S/ MKIV GOLF
Guide to pass your test with no lessons! |
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| Raffles |
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 Raffles World Chat Champion
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| Ben90 |
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 Ben90 Brolly Dolly

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| LaurenceR46 |
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 LaurenceR46 Renault 5 Driver

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| talkToTheHat |
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 talkToTheHat World Chat Champion

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| yen_powell |
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 yen_powell World Chat Champion

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| CaNsA |
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 CaNsA Super Spammer

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| G |
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 G The Voice of Reason
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| LaurenceR46 |
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 LaurenceR46 Renault 5 Driver

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| ScaredyCat |
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 ScaredyCat World Chat Champion

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| CaNsA |
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 CaNsA Super Spammer

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| stinkwheel |
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 stinkwheel Bovine Proctologist

Joined: 12 Jul 2004 Karma :    
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 Posted: 20:46 - 07 May 2014 Post subject: |
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Letter of complain should have three parts.
1) What happened. -A statement of fact.
2) Why this is a problem. -How you feel about it.
3) What action they should take. - What you want them to do about it.
If it is an isssue which might involve future legal action add 4) When you want this to be done by.
So if I'd written your letter, expressing your concerns, it would have been more like this:
I shop regularly at the new Balby store.
On Friday (11/4/2014) afternoon I called in at the store. I had a nice chat with the lady at the checkout. I then stopped at the kiosk on the way out to buy some stamps. I had just left the store to load my bike when I noticed there was a police car parked outside the store again. I remember wondering whether the store had a shoplifting problem as I had seen a police car parked in the same place the last time I was at the store.
I was approached by a member of staff in the carpark. First he asked me whether I had been offered carrier bags at the checkout. I told him that I did not need any. He then asked to see my receipt and starts babbling about how he'd seen me visit the kiosk but not go through the checkouts. He then started going on and on and on about catching shoplifters. Apparently he'd caught someone that morning and was feeling most proud of himself.
I was a little upset about this and asked him if he was accusing me of shoplifting because of my care for the environment, or because I rode a motorcycle. He didn't have an answer for that beyond demanding my receipt again. It took me a while to find as there are many pockets in my leathers and more than a few old Morrison's receipts crumpled up here and there.
Eventually I found the correct receipt. The staff member continued his lines of conversation about the shoplifter he caught, how useless he thought the people employed by the store to actually handle security were, and the tensile strength of carrier bags. When he finally left me alone, the police car left.
I would like to know whether your staff are trained to perform such actions, particularly profiling customers by their degree of environmentalism and choice of transport. I'd also like to know why regular staff are doing this when the store apparently retains dedicated security staff.
I'm not sure your member of staff quite grasped the idea that having effectively accused a customer of leaving without paying, the correct course of action would be to offer an immediate and sincere appology for trespassing on both my time and reputation.
Furthermore I am concerned about the police presence in the vicinity of the motorcycle parking bay co-inciding with my attendance to your store on more than one occasion.
I eagerly anticipate your appology on behalf of your staff member. I would also appreciate your undertaking that the importance of diplomacy and tact will be stressed in future training of staff to deal with suspected cases of shoplifting. Finally I would like your assurance that you have not erroneously passed my details to the police in respect of this matter.
I enclose a photocopy of my collection of receipts from that day.
However, if it had been me in your situation, I would have ignored him entirely once I'd picked up the gist of what he was on about, got back on my bike and ridden away. ____________________ “Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles. |
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| thx1138 |
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 thx1138 World Chat Champion

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| Northern Monkey |
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 Northern Monkey World Chat Champion

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| LaurenceR46 |
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 LaurenceR46 Renault 5 Driver

Joined: 28 Dec 2013 Karma :     
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| Sparkss |
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 Sparkss Nova Slayer

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| CaNsA |
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 CaNsA Super Spammer

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| talkToTheHat |
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 talkToTheHat World Chat Champion

Joined: 21 Feb 2012 Karma :    
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 Posted: 21:28 - 07 May 2014 Post subject: |
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Northern Monkey: Already on it
| Quote: | I am confused by your letter of 30th April (copy enclosed) in response to my letter of 11th April (copy enclosed). I was not up to this point aware that I had been accused of stealing petrol. I am still awaiting comment on the issues raised in said letter.
As it seems that an as yet unknown number of accusations of been made and you have refused to comment on whether such statements have been merely internal or passed on to the police or other agencies I must make the following request:
Under the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003, I wish to make an access request for a copy of any information you keep about me or my vehicle, on computer or in manual form.
Of specific interest are incident logs regarding any accusations of theft from your stores and petrol stations.
<my details here>
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thx1138: I think this will be my future strategy. I'm fairly sure a trolley pusher has no power to stop and search. The fuzz, a few metres away might just view that as reasonable cause for such, but at least then they'd have correct records.
| Quote: | Having recently heard that you persecute self proclaimed evironmentalists, I'm going to endeavour to make every effort to patronise your business more often, despite the logistical issues. |
Dude, we gotta stop wasting oil on carrier bags so there's more petrol to use recreationally :p
| Quote: |
Manager >>> It is because the thermite reaction between the nozzle, petrol and petrol tank can cause a fire |
Ok that wins.
What do I want out of this? To now what crap they may or may not have told the plod, and any false information to be corrected. And a clarification of the store policies as requested. But mostly if a buisness is shit to me because of some hatred of motorcyclists, attempting to cause a rethink of policy. Worked against the rubbish shell garage. |
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| The Shaggy D.A. |
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 The Shaggy D.A. Super Spammer

Joined: 12 Sep 2008 Karma :  
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 Posted: 21:30 - 07 May 2014 Post subject: |
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I'd accuse Numpty McEagerton of persecuting you every time you visit, ask to see the manager and let him know how distressed you are. Then start shoplifting there. ____________________ Chances are quite high you are not in my Monkeysphere, and I don't care about you. Don't take it personally.
Currently : Royal Enfield 350 Meteor
Previously : CB100N > CB250RS > XJ900F > GT550 > GPZ750R/1000RX > AJS M16 > R100RT > Bullet 500 > CB500 > LS650P > Bullet Electra X & YBR125 > Bullet 350 "Superstar" & YBR125 Custom > Royal Enfield Classic 500 Despatch Limited Edition (28 of 200) & CB Two-Fifty Nighthawk > ER5 |
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| Northern Monkey |
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 Northern Monkey World Chat Champion

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| lihp |
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 lihp World Chat Champion
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| covent.gardens |
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 covent.gardens World Clap Champion

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| lihp |
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 lihp World Chat Champion
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Old Thread Alert!
The last post was made 12 years, 194 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful? |
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