No, you can’t search my bag!

Good for you! Sodders can sod off!

What can I say, you look like a criminal. You have a beard! A BEARD! are you crazy!?! no seriously man, do you have a deathwish? Please don’t tell me you also carry one of those bigger BLACK bulgy bags,… oh wait no, you do! in the subway too?

They can’t force you. They can call the police and retain you. They can’t touch you. If you feel harrassed, ask for a “hoja de reclamaciones”, the official one, not some internal one (they have to give you one, otherwise tell them you call the police, and do it.. at this point you start making a lot of fuzz and you’ll see how the manager starts to panic), and fill it with a complain on the “security” agent (picking you out for no reason, discrimitation, aggressive attitude, etc); you may find the agent is no longer there next week.

Of course, the guy is there to do a job, doesn’t know you, and might be a good guy after all… so think about it before escalating.

I don’t know if they can force you to show them, but as a matter of fact they can’t check what you have in your pockets, etc, if you refuse. They can, however, retain you until the police comes. A person of the same sex as you has to do it, and you can refuse to have it done in public.

Treating customers like criminals has been proven to earn more money than treating them nicely.

Just economics

It doesn’t matter if you look like a criminal, like a robber, etc. The looks isn’t important. If the checkpoints in the store didn’t beeped when you passed by them, then they don’t have any right to search your bag! Why should they? Because you SEEM suspect, because THEY don’t like tour face or because your bag is to BIG? Bullshit! They don’t have the right to search your bag without your consent. And just entering the store is hardly a consent.

I was born in Barcelona and I live in Barcelona too. I’m sorry to know that you have been disturbed by some ‘vigilantes’.

I also have been disturbed the same way sometimes, but if you know well Barcelona you should accept that this subject is not a distinctive ‘feature’ of our city. I hope you can find more interesting and less anecdotal things to say about Barcelona.

Enjoy it!

Even if there is a sign, who is to say that everybody sees it?

What if you were distracted by their window-dressing, or some interesting-looking new products.

Or a cute ass …

Stick to your position. Polite. Firm. Tell them to go directly to hell, and if they want, call the police but you will sue them for your lost time if you have to wait for the police and they search your bag and find nothing.

hehe,

i seem to have the opposite problem in barcelona. i’m a redhead, blue eyes and milkwhite skin. they will never ever ask me to open my bags! But the cassiers barmen, regularly take me for a guiri and will more often then not try to short-change me. Obviously i make a big riot at that point. The funniest is the horror on their faces when they suddenly realize i understood their insults spoken in Catalan/Spanish. hehehe, right back at ya!!

But I agree, never let them search you, call the police yourself, next time they ´attack´ you

You’re lucky.

I walk through a mall to and from work. My bag gets checked a total of 8 times daily on this route.

Even though I have worked at the company for 4 years and am a senior manager, my bag still gets checked in and out.

Best of all, they won’t know a bomb if they spot one.

I had a similar situation. I was leaving Zara when the alarm sounded and the security gaurd asked to see my purse. I opened it so that he could have a look, but the dude wanted to dump its contents. I told him no. Heasked if my shoes were from the store and said yes. I slid my foot out of the sandal so he could see the stamp and he TOOK MY SHOE. I hobbled after him barefoot, yelling at him in spanglish. And he told me it was for MY own good. He slid my shoe across the thingie that disalarms the merch and gave it back to me. I was humiliated but I stood my own, as I proceeded to tell him off. What a horrible experience. Turns out that the security gaurds in the stores can’t really do anything but ask. If they detain you for no reason you can press charges. Now, the court systems pretty much suck and if the Judges hear you speak with any sort of accent you will be most likely be passed off as just another foreigner stirring up trouble - “es lo que hay”

This is a disease. I call them BackPack Nazis: http://www.matusiak.eu/numerodix/blog/index.php/2006/01/01/backpack-nazis/

Here’s a top tip. Why don’t you shop online? That way, you can spare us your boring blog posts too. Non?

I don’t recommend trying this same attitude with airport security. I found out the hard way that even though they say “would you please remove your shoes and put them on the scanner belt”, they really mean “take off your shoes or you are a goddamn terrorist and you want to kill us all”.

Sounds like it happens almost daily in Barcelona? Why o why I doubt Barcelona is a friendly place…

I was in Barcelona years ago, for only *one* day. And I still remember, there were 2 places where I had something to eat, and in both I felt the serving people were utterly rude to us, customers.

I felt Barcelona was a beautiful city, but these things I’ve never forgotten.

Out of curiosity, under what law can a private individual (store security) detain another with no cause? Certainly can’t be done in america. Here, they can threaten you, but they can’t detain you.

wooooooooow this is an old one.

funny, you look like you’re a thief to the seguratas because of your dark hair and beard. I have never ever had to open my bags to anyone. i’m redhaired, blue-eyed, and look innocent. long live those racist security people! in my case, that is.

But then again being a guiri, I am the prime target of the millions of thieves here in Barcelona because of my skincolor. Aaaargh racism suck.

I because I look like from upnorth the police doesn’t give a shit, because i’m a second class citizen to the catalans anyway.

hmmm sucks to adam or sucks to me…..

Why cant they just have cameras like in the US ?
Agreeable it is more expensive, but in the long run, they can justify the expense, and keep their customers. Unless its Winona.

This is pretty common in the UK now, too. After too many search requests, just because a machine went ‘beep’, with the implication that I’ve stolen something, I’ve decided not to allow security staff to search my bag any longer. It’s degrading and a waste of time. I try to be polite but firm about it, and it’s worked really well so far.

I wrote about one experience recently:
http://po-ru.com/diary/shop-and-search/

How not nice! You should visit Sweden where it’s far more polite than what you described.

(IANAL, but) in Canada, if they stop you and find nothing, you can sue them for false imprisonment. Even if you “agree” to the search, you can claim intimidation.

I’ve never been stopped in Canada, but if it ever happens, make sure you tell them that you’re prepared to act on your rights. If they’re educated in the law and aren’t 100% sure you’re shoplifting, they’ll back off immediately.

It’s illegal to bag-search in the UK. You can only be detained by shop staff if three specific things have happened:

1) You have been seen removing items from the shelves/rails/whatever.

2) You have made no intention to pay (i.e. walked past, or avoided the cash registers)

3) You have attempted to exit the premises.

If ANY of these criteria are not met, you CANNOT be stopped. So, you go shopping, put loads of stuff in your bag, then walk up to the register and pay for it: fine. You stuff your bags and pockets full of merch and then walk towards the door, past the register. Before exiting the premises, you dump all the stuff inside the store: fine.

Even if you set off a security detector, you are under no obligation to stop, UNLESS the shop staff can identify, without seeing, what is in your bag (and so, have witnessed you putting items in your bag).

Retailers just assume that an air of authority is good enough for you to “volunteer” the information they ask for (”what’s in your bag?”).

It’s not. So don’t.

I can’t stand being asked this either.

Recently, my responses have been, “Sure, you can look in my bag, if you let me take photos of you not finding anything.” People are real thrown off by this.

Once I peeled a magnetised sticker off an alarmed product & hid it in a friend/rival’s mobile phone cover, then forgot about it. He set off alarms in shops every time he entered or left for about 9 months, He thought it was the steel plate in his leg. Lots of shop staff got to know him & waved him through with a laugh eventually.

Legally you may have to show your bag if it is a “Condition of entry” but they cannot physically force you, they have to get the police to do it if you object, which is too much hassle most of the time unless they saw you pinch something.

What does a thief look like?

I refused when leaving a Wal*Mart in the U.S. They ASKED me if they COULD check my receipt. I said NO! The employee almost lost his marbles. I asked him if he thought I was stealing? He said no. I said great I am leaving. I left and he was yelling at me that the law was gonna git me.

The reason they ask is because they really have no right to search you or your possesions, next time insist they call the police, when they find nothing, sue them for flase imprisonment.

I’ve stopped caring about the things that beep when you walk out of the store. I just keep walking. I personally don’t have enough free time to protect some corporate bottom line. (Plus, I don’t really like to shop at stores that treat me like a criminal… so I mostly buy everything online these days.)

Another thing that’s irritating are stores that want to check your receipt on the way out, and require that you wait in line for the privilege. I’ve started ignoring that too, and nobody seems to care.

I never understood those signs, “We reserve the right to to inspect all packages.” What right is that? Who gave stores that “right?” I’m not a lawyer, but if a store posted a sign that said, “We reserve the right to intercept your cell phone conversations.” would they have that right as well?

What’s in my bag is no store security guard’s business. If it’s the police, or security guards at an airport, train station etc., that’s different. Not thrilled, but OK. I’ll happily comply.

I guess we are all prejudged to be criminals. No benefit of doubt, no innocence before proof, burden of innocence rests on us and not the prosecution etc. etc.

fugg’m all, I moved to s.e. asia 15 years ago, better life style, no stress, here they are just after my money and not my sanity

This happened to me one time in Carrefour in Madrid… I just showed them my bag - but afterwards I got really pissed - about it… and yeah just call their bluff - they got no fucking right to look in your bag, even if they put the notice… sure as hell these loosers (security guards) wont call the police.

Mink: “Why cant they just have cameras like in the US ?”

My opinion:

Ok, the guy is do the job, BUT can’t see in my bag and can’t “kidnap” me …
If the BIG store want to assure their product, well seal it! through the glass, or whatever they want but can’t accuse or suspect I’m thief just because a strange “equipment” ring !
If this guy have some suspect to me, well, inhibit me to get in … in this case I call the police !

In Austria - under most circumstances - the show owner has no right to look through your stuff. Of course that doesn’t know almost anybody and of course we get asked the same questions by security and salespersons. Just saying NO will work, of course you will get a scene and all the others buyers will stare at you…but NO privacy violations and NO police [Its probably a different story if you really have stolen something and someone saw that...]