Woman arrested after pushing 100-year-old Wal-Mart greeter

[HereSince1628]

http://fwix.com/milwaukee/share/7f48fe5045/woman_arrested_after_pushing_100-year-old_wal-mart_greeter?referrer=http%3A%2F%2Frawstory.com%2F

By Ryan Haggerty of the Journal Sentinel

A 37-year-old woman was arrested Sunday on allegations of pushing a 100-year-old woman working as a greeter at a Milwaukee Wal-Mart, a police spokeswoman said Monday.

The customer apparently became upset when the greeter tried to make sure she had paid for water bottles as she left the store at 3355 S. 27th St. about 6 p.m., police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said.

The greeter was treated at a hospital and released, Schwartz said. The Milwaukee County district attorney's office is reviewing the case, she said.

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Yes, we are living the good life in Milwaukee.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Thank them for their concern and then walk past them

there is no requirement in most environments to tolerate them.

[GKirk]

20. Are you saying

the customer was within their rights to ignore this woman who was most likely asking to see the sales receipt for the item she was walking out with?

[kas125]

25. Absolutely within her rights! We do not have to show them

our receipts and I refuse to do it, too. The last time I was in a Walmart, probably two years ago, I bought two weeks of groceries which included a case of beer. At the door the greeter asked to see my receipt. I said, "what for?" She said it was her job to stop anyone who had an item that was not in a bag and make sure it was paid for. I then asked, "Are you accusing me of being a thief?" She said, "Oh, no, honey, certainly not." Whereupon I said, "Well, okay then." and walked away. I will not ever comply with that request. When I've paid for my items and gotten a receipt, my transaction is over. If they suspect me of wrongdoing, arrest me for shoplifting. If not, leave me the hell alone and stop treating me as if I have done something wrong!

[joeglow3]

28. Bleh. Not the issue I will hang my hat on.

Given that all theft gets passed on to me, I have no problem taking 30 seconds to show it to them. Plus, it gives a person who otherwise would not have a job a form of income. I have bigger fish to fry than to wage a battle over this.

[kas125]

31. I don't battle, I just won't show my receipt when I don't

have to. There is no law that says I must and I just won't. I do my part, which is choosing which items to buy and paying for them. They do not have the right to ask and I truly resent being treated as if they suspect me of being a thief, so I won't help them do it.

[MedicalAdmin]

51. I don't even slow down.

I just walk by them.

On the few occasions that they have trotted after me and asked to see my reciept, I've replied "no, but thanks for your time. Goodbye."



Honestly I am hoping that one of the clerks/security will be stupid enough to grab ahold of me. I, and my lawyer, would love that. However - shoving an old lady? That I'll never do.

[hlthe2b]

29. I take it you don't shop at Costco?

Part of me really agrees with you about this as I find it annoying as hell. But, given the crowds at the warehouse type discount stores, I can sort of see why it might be necessary.

[kas125]

33. I didn't know they do that at Costco. My friends shop there

and I've considered becoming a member, but if you're saying they treat their customers like thieves the way Walmart does, I won't.

[MedicalAdmin]

52. Yah, but at costco it is a little different.

First of all, everytime I have been there it is almost part of the check out process. Most folks have about 8 bazillion things so it's just part of loading up your cart. In fact once, one of the checkers pointed out that one of the items I had paid for was missing and called for one to replace it.

Also, Costco is union. Which is something you can't say about the store-we-do-not-name, WorstBuy or others like that.

[Codeine]

69. Most Costco locations aren't union.

A few are, as holdovers from Costco taking over Price Club.

[Raine]

79. In my area Price Club was taken over by Sam's Club (Sam Walton).

Costco built and opened up their own store.

[madmom]

71. Of course it's "different at costco", because it's not walmart right? gotcha! wink wink

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. It is part of the membership agreement

That is not the case at Wally world, fryes or best buy

[hlthe2b]

36. True... I don't shop at Wally World at all....

Best Buy stores near me don't do that, except when you come in with an item to be returned, which seems ok to me.

[nadinbrzezinski]

74. I avoid Wally world except ... Mexico City, you can't down there

I buy at Costco, it is a pretty blue store.

Their checking receipts, I actually get it... and when I go, I go get bathroom paper, things like that.

electronics, I got access to the PX... so that is where we look first. Even if it is the same price. the money from taxes will make a difference.

[lakerboy]

37. Actually

Stores are allowed to stop and ask you for your receipt, and in some cases even hold you until police can come if they suspect you of theft. This doesn't work everywhere, and I'm not sure if they have this in Milwaukee.

Look up "Shopkeeper's Privilege"

I learned about it working at a low-wage pharmacy job. And, no, I don't like it much, either.

[kas125]

39. Okay, I did just look it up and it says -

"In some jurisdictions of the United States, the courts recognize a common law shopkeeper's privilege, under which a shopkeeper is allowed to detain a suspected shoplifter on store property for a reasonable period of time, so long as the shopkeeper has cause to believe that the person detained in fact committed, or attempted to commit, theft of store property." It says absolutely nothing about stopping each and every person who has purchased an item too large to fit in a bag or asking whomever they please to show a receipt.

Like I said, if they suspect me, let them arrest or detain me so I can sue the hell out of them, or leave me alone after my transaction has been completed.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

41. Sort of...

There are different rules in different states, and those differences are crucial. None of them that I know of allow them to force you to provide identification, search you, or force you to come up with a receipt upon demand. Also if improperly done, it can become unlawful restraint, assault etc. In CA they have the authority to make you wait for the arrival of the police and little more. They can not make you go to their back office, hold still for pictures etc.

Then there is Wal Mart policy, which basically states that they will not chase or restrain anyone. I had an incident some years ago with one of their loss prevention bubbas which ended with Wal Mart firing him and apologizing to me for it.

[MedicalAdmin]

53. Laker boy.

You need to understand not just what you were taught about the law but also how it has been adjudicated.

Yes, they can hold you IF they suspect you are a thief and they can hold you and turn you over to the police. They are not allowed to hold you IF the police are not summoned immediately. And if it turns out that they touched you or held you without proof then they can and will be arrested and sued.

Shopkeepers privilege only goes so far. It doesn't include assault, battery, unlawful confinement, kidnapping (say they take you to another store or building), etc.

[rocktivity]

43. In the real world, stores that don't have bags large enough for their merchandise

supply their cashiers with stickers which say "Paid." Problem solved, duh!

:eyes:
rocktivity

[liberalhistorian]

57. +1,000,000

I never have stopped and I never will. I'm not a thief, never will be, and don't appreciate being treated like one.

[LawnLover]

61. I believe legally

you can't be involuntarily stopped until you've actually left the store. And then you had better be guilty of what they're accusing you of, or they're in big trouble.

[liberalhistorian]

56. She was within her rights to ignore the woman. She was most

certainly NOT within her rights to physically touch or attack her in any way whatsoever.

If I've legitimately paid for merchandise and am walking out the door of the store with said legitimately paid-for merchandise, I am not going to stop at the command of a worker to "prove" a damn thing, especially since most of these workers are positioned where they can see me coming through the checkout line and making my transaction. Stores who do that to their customers will not see a dime from me. And there is no legal requirement that you stop at the command of a worker upon leaving a store. None. Period.

[AlabamaLibrul]

58. Not only was she within her rights, but fuck greeters, generally speaking

I shop at my damn walmart every week because there's no other grocery store here that's cheap enough (seriously, I checked) and EVERY TIME I leave that place the old bitty wants to harass me over my receipt, checking every item. I don't even deal with them anymore.

I think it's because I'm not a 90-year old white guy that can barely walk like everyone else that lives here.

[hlthe2b]

2. Burying the lede: Walmart has a 100-year old greeter?!!!

damn. Is there any other civilized nation who would have so low a social safety net and regard for its elderly as to make them work at 100 years of age?

[wtmusic]

6. She probably enjoys the job.

Many elderly people like to have non-strenuous jobs where they get to meet and talk to people. IF that's the case then more power to her.

[hlthe2b]

11. How can we assume either way. They didn't even ask...

thus, the buried lede.

[wtmusic]

22. We can't

I was responding to your implication that she's being made to work at 100 years of age.

[hlthe2b]

23. That would be the logical assumption, given how rare it is

for a 100 year old person to be working, given the state of the economy, and given the difficulties that rising drug prices and lack of cost of living increase to social security has had on many seniors. Even if she were the rare person who just wants to work for the social aspects and is physically able to do so, this would be the less common of the two explanations.

[wtmusic]

26. OK.

I'm not arguing, but in my experience I actually see elderly people in "greeter" roles quite often, especially where they're likely to run into others in their age group (a lot at hospitals, nurseries, libraries, etc).

[hlthe2b]

27. I do too... well into their 80s...

[Le Taz Hot]

83. It's in the article.

She states clearly that she HAS to work.

[Obamanaut]

7. Is it possible the 100 year old greeter *wants* to work rather than

sit around watching teevee?

[hlthe2b]

9. Thus the buried lede... Did they even ask that?

[Gormy Cuss]

38. No! We don't want to know if she needs the money.

It's much better to assume that she's just a go-getter. :sarcasm:

I wished the reporter had asked that question too, just because I think it matters. In this area there was a centenarian who still worked as a bagger at a grocery store because he liked feeling useful. He only works a few hours one day a week at that age. At 102 he had to give it up; at 104 when he died he was one of the last survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. I hope that the Walmart greeter is doing the job because she wants to, rather than has to work.

[liberalhistorian]

59. I know that that was the case with my husband's grandmother,

who just died last year at almost 100. She always wanted to work and enjoyed keeping busy, long after she was required to do so for financial reasons. Even during the last couple of years of her life, when she could no longer physically and mentally handle working, she wanted to work and was upset when she couldn't.

[elehhhhna]

75. if she's collecting widows SS she probably only gets 300 a month

so we should freeze SS.

[emilyg]

10. Perhaps she's working

by choice?

[hlthe2b]

12. And once again, my point is they didn't even ask.

It is a story that a 100 year old woman is working at Walmart. Yet it didn't even bear discussing?

[kctim]

13. No, its a story of a 100 year old woman being assaulted

[hlthe2b]

18. That's like saying...

You report on the robbery but ignore the fact that a plane flew through the bank window during the incident....

:eyes:

[HereSince1628]

17. There was news coverage of her back in August

when she had her birthday. She claimed at that point she wouldn't have made it to 100 without the job at Walmart.

I was wondering if she'd be fired for over-stepping her job description and losing time for being in the ER.

[hlthe2b]

19. I hope not..... n/t

[Arkansas Granny]

30. There are many people who choose to work past retirement age because they want to.

I work with a gentleman who is 77 years old and works because he wants to. I've known other people who continued to work well into their 80's and 90's. Not everyone looks forward to retirement.

[hlthe2b]

35. If you would read through the other posts, you would see that is

not an argument that I am making-- at all. Of course we see elderly people working. But a 100 year old woman is quite the exception. Please don't make this an argument that I have repeatedly demonstrated that I am NOT making. I absolutely salute (and personally agree) with those who chose to work throughout their life time. I will too, though will not have the choice that most have had in generations up to now.

Please stop trying too make this out to be my suggesting older people shouldn't work, or would never WANT to work. That the paper didn't comment on how rare it is to have a 100 year old working and her reasons for doing so, is my point.

[liberalhistorian]

60. I think part of the reason people work beyond retirement when

they don't have to do so financially is because, unlike during their decades of "work" work, they have the freedom to decide if they'll work and more control over it; their lives aren't run by it. A lot of older people like that aspect of it.

[JackintheGreen]

42. Which is worse at 100? Working or begging?

I've seen the latter in India.

Surely you aren't suggesting that India isn't civilized. :P

[hlthe2b]

55. Surely, you aren't suggesting I was criticising...

anyone who WILLINGLY chose to work. ;)

[Enthusiast]

50. But people are living longer!

:sarcasm:

[MedicalAdmin]

54. That is probably true.

But my father (age 77) is super active with volunteer and other activities. He works longer hours than I do sometimes.


But it is a different story if the old bird NEEDS to work, which is, you must admit, much more likely here than in other industrialized nations.

[AnArmyVeteran]

64. And I bet they were paying her the same wages earned in 1925 when she was 15 years old.

[displacedvermoter]

3. Isn't it great that our 100-year olds are healthy enough

to be working at Wal Mart? And isn't it great we have Wal Mart to hire them?

Who said that our health care system isn't the best in the world, and that the job situation sucks?

[AnArmyVeteran]

66. Yeah it's wonderful.

I heard Limblah moaning about how lazy people are and how they should work until they drop. He thought people should work into their late 70s and 80s. This from a thug who has never worked for anyone producing anything of value for society. Limblah went on to savagely attack unions and believed people are paid way too much. Again, this from a slug who is making tens of millions a year to spew hatred, racism, division, anger and lies.

[displacedvermoter]

4. Dupe!

[LisaM]

5. It also doesn't say whether she'd paid for the bottles or not!

Bad enough that we have 100-year olds working - but, had the woman paid for the bottles or not?

[leftstreet]

8. That greeter had 100 yrs to pull self up by bootstraps, but works at SprawlMart?

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[HereSince1628]

15. In Aug. in a column she claimed she'd be dead without WalMart

The various stories on this don't ay if she still loves people as much as in August or if she still feels that without Walmart she'll make it to 102.

[glen123098]

14. This story is terrible in every way imaginable.

Anyone who would push a 100 year old woman is pure trash. And the fact that a 100 year old woman is basically in charge of security at walmart is terrible. I think the 100 year old woman should sue walmart for putting her in this position. Its a sad society that a 100 year old woman is having to work for a living, and gets treated like trash.

[bluedigger]

16. That is horrible but the 100 year old lady should not have been there.

It's great that she would choose to work if she wants - hopefully she doesn't have to - but she should never have been allowed to be in that position. I met a 106 year old woman once, and I was afraid to breathe near her. She was fully ambulatory and cogent, but you could just see how fragile she was. That is just the wrong job for her, with predictable results.

[TNLib]

70. She doesn't sound that fragile the person pushed her down

she went to the hospital and was released. Sounds pretty tough to mean. I'm 41 and if I got knocked down I might still be in the hospital with a broken bone or something.

[madmom]

72. I was bowling with a gentleman who will be 104 next summer, he won!

[flvegan]

21. Ah, peace on earth, goodwill to men.

:sarcasm:

[Still Sensible]

24. It wouldn't have happened

if she was packing a .357.

:sarcasm:

[Hannah Bell]

32. omg.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

40. Why get upset at an inquisitive 100yr old?!? Just walk away briskly and they can't keep up.

No reason to push a 100yr old. Just walk away quickley and they'll be eating your dust.

[earth mom]

44. Why in the world is a 100 year old woman WORKING at her age?! WTF?!

:wtf:

I'm sorry about how badly she was treated but even sorrier that we live in such a sick and twisted society that a woman of her age has to work at that age to begin with!

Obviously the Social Security the cat food commission is trying to STEAL from all of us is not enough to live on! :grr:

[ProgressiveProfessor]

45. Choice I would suspect

Many older folks enjoy getting out and doing things. I am technically retired and yet continue to teach. It keeps me going.

[earth mom]

47. The article said she works because she needs the money.Walmart says the people there are like family

to her which, of course, makes them look good and totally in line with their anti-union low cost employee tactics. :puke:

[Kaleva]

49. I don't see in the article wher it says she works 'cause she needs the money.

It does say this:

"She has been widowed twice and started her job as a greeter at the store when she was 90. She retired at age 95 but returned two years later, after her only living son died."

It appears she works there because she wants to as her husband(s) and children have passed away.

[earth mom]

62. Speelman saidMonday that her employers treat her well but that she works because she needs the money

From the story:

"Speelman said she works five days a week. A spokeswoman for the store said at the time of her birthday that her co-workers are like family, helping with lawn mowing and snow shoveling.

Speelman said Monday that her employers treat her well but that she works because she needs the money. She also said she's had previous run-ins with customers."

[Kaleva]

68. Thanks! Somehow missed that sentence completely.

[slackmaster]

63. She probably likes people, and wanted something to do that she'd get paid for

My mom does a lot of volunteer work. She has no need for money, she just likes helping people and interacting with them.

[Alcibiades]

76. She may not even get Social Security

Some people don't. My wife's grandmother was married to a man who was self-employed and also liked to drink and gamble. She's 80, and works at her local Shaw's.

[KillCapitalism]

80. Mental illness?

I think people that work even though they can retire are suffering from a mental illness to some extent. I guess some people love misery, who knows. I'm just 34 & if it were possible for me to retire tomorrow, I would do it in a heartbeat.

[emilyg]

46. We have a greeter at

our WalMart - well in her 70's. Has gone through hip replacement surgery, loss of her husband and daughter. She said she'd be lost without WalMart - calls it her "family."

[Tsiyu]

48. He wasn't an off-duty cop

like the big burly jerk who did the same thing to a greeter in Chattanooga.

No arrest there.

Boggles the mind, it does.

[4_TN_TITANS]

65. Exactly the reason you won't find me in Walmart...

With all the other reasons we don't go to Walmart, the fact that it seems to attract the crude and rude is my biggest reason. Still having to work at 100 yrs? Good God....

[xchrom]

67. Unless it's their own business - you really should not

Be working at 100.

My mother is 100 -- in great shape -- but it's extraordinarily inappropriate
For people who must be considered frail elderly to be working.

[madmom]

73. see post #72

[xchrom]

77. I read the whole thread before I responded.

You have a point to make?

Bowling for pleasure is different than being out
Bowling on your own.

There responsibilities a nd liabilities associated with
Being elderly frail that should put them or an employer at risk.

There ways to approach this.

[madmom]

81. I think the older person knows more about their frailty than an anonymous internet

typist. I know plenty of YOUNG people who are way to "frail" to hold their job, should they be pushed aside also? Where do we draw the line? If she is doing the job according to their expectations, NOT yours, then what's your problem with her doing it? The employer has obviously taken into account their responsibilities and liabilities or they probably wouldn't have given her a job. I say more power to her if that is what she wants!


frail adj. frail·er, frail·est
1. Physically weak; delicate: an invalid's frail body.
2. Not strong or substantial; slight: evidence too frail to stand up in court.
3. Easily broken or destroyed; fragile.
4. Easily led astray; morally weak. See Synonyms at weak.

[xchrom]

84. anyone -- anyone who is 100 years old is this: 3. Easily broken or destroyed; fragile.

it's inappropriate.

[madmom]

85. Oh bull shit. I know young people who are "frail" why not push them aside as well. Get off your

high horse. The lady wants to be there, she is meeting the employers expectations, nuff said! According to you only strong people can work? Have you ever heard of Stephen Hawking? He is not 100, but he is by all definition frail, and he does a pretty good job at what he does.

[xchrom]

86. whatever -- it's irresponsible and inappropriate.

but you can have it your way.

[madmom]

87. Nope it's not my way, it's the way of a free society that let's people decide on their own whether

they retire or keep on working. We don't push our seniors aside like bad rubbish, we let them live the life they feel they can live. It's not inappropriate if they can do the job. Funny you never commented on the "frail" young people who work, but I guess that's different huh? :eyes: FYI you bias is showing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ageism

[Liberal_in_LA]

78. 63 year age difference. Unfair fight!

[Le Taz Hot]

82. The REAL crime here

is the fact that she HAS to work at age 100. Maybe one of these rich sons-a-bitches will see this article and lend a hand.