That sounds ridiculous to me. Whatever happened to common sense? And how brutal can such a fight get? I can't imagine that women and children would be bashing each others heads in, so a couple of authoritative Walmart attendants could have easily stepped in and "verbally" separated them. It also doesn't take much for some male attendants to simply push the shopping trolleys out of the way and create order again. I'd say it can all be safely done without ever touching a single customer.
It's just a corporation protecting themselves. Yes, most fights could probably easily be stopped. But most businesses simply do not want to take the risk of being sued by an overzealous customer or employee. We live in a sue happy society, so I can understand where they are coming from. Judges award millions upon millions of dollars in damages every year for pretty trivial things. So I can definitely see where they are coming from.
Oh wow, I'm impressed that the employees are not allowed to stop a fight!!! What if it gets heated and someone has a gun or a knife? Shouldn't the store do some damage control before it may be too late? I think stores should have a policy about that, because not only it can get potentially dangerous to those fighting, but also to every other customer around. Not to mention a heated fight inside of a store can do wonders to keep customers away!!
I would think that they would step in. I saw a Youtube video some months ago - although I think that it was on World Star Hip Hop first - and basically there was a fight that broke out in a store, and I can't remember what the name of the store was now, but there were security guards stepping in. They had tasers and everything. The taser was used on one of the aggresors, so I'm forced to think that that the policy on this sort of thing varies from store to store??
Quite a few people nowadays are on edge with many things in their daily lives. In time, it really wears you thin. Combine this with a sense of entitlement or simply less consideration towards others and it can get downright nasty when two people of a similar flavor meet. That said, from a business stand point I can completely understand why you're not allowed to intervene. People may sue Walmart as someone who was a representative of them intervened. There's a difference between the money you'd get if you could sue a minimum wage employee versus say a mega corporation.
Wow, that's just crazy!! I doubt something like that would happen in the UK, the security staff would intervene for sure. Although having said that, the UK is nowhere near as litigious as the US. If I were a shop assistant, I would not get involved either. But I definitely think at the very least, someone should've called the police to break it up (even though they too have more important cases to sort out). I just don't understand why the US courts entertain such nonsense and not throw out some of these ridiculous cases! Given the absurdity of some of the cases that do win huge payouts, surely it's not too far outside the realm of possibility that someone could still sue for having been attacked in a Walmart and as result got traumatised, developed insomnia and chronic pain blah blah, all due to Walmart not taking steps to protect them as a valued custome? It's a sad state of affairs!
My local Walmart is close to two schools so there are always police officers nearby, because sometimes the high school kids bring their fights to the Walmart parking lot. It's pretty sad that adults who should know better fight in Walmart too.
I would never stop a fight between two customers when I worked retail. It's just too dangerous on a personal level. We really didn't have any security guard. The only security we had was responsible for catching shoplifters. They wore plain clothes and pretended to be customers to follow possible thieves.
I have never been to the USA, but it does seem a whole lot wilder - in terms of what would/could happen in every day life. Or just during a trip to the store. I have never witnessed a fight break out in a store in the UK. Yes, there have been disagreements. But never confrontations and actual fist fights. Over here, it seems as though the security guards don't have to intervene. Even so, they will go over to the scene of the disagreement and try to diffuse it before it escalates, which is usually doesn't.
Soooo if a fight breaks out in a store and the employees do nothing about it, but call the cops...if I get knocked down and trampled on or even injured during the fight (that did not involve me) does that store cover my medical bills (if needed)? I have never seen a walmart that has security. That would be nice though...most big stores like that SHOULD have security or something.
Wow, really, they have to wait that long to call the police. Maybe that is only at some Walmart stores though. The Walmart store I go to has a policeman there all of the time. The car is parked just outside one of the entrances. If I were an employee I wouldn't touch fighters either. I'm sure the store could be liable if an employee intervened. Some people would start a fight just to get a large store like Walmart involved.
It's so weird that I join today and come across this thread. I was at WalMart yesterday and I saw something similar right in front of me in line. There was a gentleman two place in front of me in the express lane with clearly more than the number of items the sign said. The sign said 7 - he was somewhere around a dozen. The man in front of me was agitated because I think this guy cut him off to get into the line. Anyway, while the cashier was ringing up the first man something didn't ring up right and they had to call for a manager on a price. He then turns to buy a pack of gum and throw it onto his pile and the man in front of me went bananas! He started screaming some strong language on how he can't read and how dare he put another item on the pile. The man said nothing in reply and asked the girl to take the item off and move on. She couldn't do it, she needed a manager and that's when the guy in front of me got even more mad and pushed the man out of the line and told the manager her was taking his stuff for free because of the inconvenience. He started to walk out and two security guards stopped him and took him to the manager's office. What a mess, all over a few extra items in the express line.
I'm pretty sure that the reason store employees don't attempt to stop fights is that they don't get paid enough to do so! They are not there to provide security services, merely to operate the tills etc, so I couldn't imagine why they would want to put themselves at risk. Of course, if stores were to allow employees to break fights up, they would need to be heavily insured to cushion themselves from any subsequent "injury at work" lawsuits.
I fail to see the role of the security guard, I am assuming that Walmart have them. I don't blame the staff for not wanting to be heroes and get involved. This is the role of security. They don't get paid enough, especially in the US where people carry firearms. I am not sure whether fight means argument or there actually was a physical fight in this instance. If the advice they have been given by their employer is to steer clear then that is what they should do.
Locally after the holiday we had a huge fight break out in the shopping mall. There were just groves of kids beating on each other. The word mob is exactly right. I hear this also happened in a mall in PA. My son used to work at the mall and said this was more common then we knew. I just don't understand why someone would go to a shopping center and want to start slugging it out. It so very dangerous for other people, some shoppers have small children. At the mall there are armed security and the policy is that young people under 18 must have an adult with them during certain evening hours. This is not a bad policy. Years ago I used to work the third shift at a restaurant. We would get the evening crowd that had a few drinks. I only recall once there ever being a fist fight, there would be loud altercations occasionally. In the restaurant the floor was staffed mainly by woman. We had a very old woman named LaVon that worked there for years, people thought of her as a grandmother, she was well known. When the guys were duking it out she told them to knock it off and they did, then she made them clean up the mess they made and leave. They actually both tipped her and apologized. It was sort of surreal.
That sounds like total bullflowers. What is the security guard paid for? Is that a retail store or an arena fight cage? Do not touch the customer is a crap policy if you're customers are having reckless behavior. Security should be called immediately and use their position to remove the threat from the store. Remember the saying " Take it outside!"? Well, it should apply there also.
