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Pack searcher at Target....
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Posts: 3,127
Okay, these guys have some bigger balls than I thought. I went to Target tonight to pick up a couple of items. Stopped by the card section. There were 2 managers standing there talking while this guy is searching packs. So, instead of getting mad like I usually do, I just play dumb about what he's doing. I ask him politely what he's doing and he explains the whole process of pack searching to me right infront of the 2 managers. At this point I was thinking this is crazy. Then I asked him the age old question about the kids and the dissappointment they would have not finding anything. He was like "F" the kids. If they were smart they would be doing this too.
So then, I turned a looked at one of the managers and asked him if he was hearing this. He said, "Yeah. This happens all the time. No big deal." The guy smiled and walked away to make his purchase. I stuck around and was still casually talking to the managers about other stuff and then the one interupts and says, "Yeah, the cards. We've got people on staff that will hide them all over the store. They do it a lot, but we really don't say anything. It's not like you can fire someone over that."
So, I'm really just beside myself. I mean, I never buy retail other than blasters. But, this was like being in the twilight zone.
So then, I turned a looked at one of the managers and asked him if he was hearing this. He said, "Yeah. This happens all the time. No big deal." The guy smiled and walked away to make his purchase. I stuck around and was still casually talking to the managers about other stuff and then the one interupts and says, "Yeah, the cards. We've got people on staff that will hide them all over the store. They do it a lot, but we really don't say anything. It's not like you can fire someone over that."
So, I'm really just beside myself. I mean, I never buy retail other than blasters. But, this was like being in the twilight zone.
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HK
... When he grabbed the 2nd box, I asked him, "Hey, can I get a few of those packs before you search the box?" He handed the box to me and walked away, quickly.
Yeah, best to stick to Blasters or the blister packs at retail. Loose packs in a box is just throwing away money.
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Ditto.
That explains it! I did not know that!
Point 1) Yes, these guys are sleazy. I don't think anyone would dispute that.
Point 2) You guys really need to start giving the average nine year old a little more credit. Odds are that a typical fourth grader, if he's into cards and has heard of 'pack searching' (which he probably has if he has an internet connection) is not only fully aware of the fact that these packs are searched, but would gladly search them himself-- and, in fact, has probably done so- when/if he has 30 minutes to kill at Target while his mom is searching for deals on flushable wipes.
A vast majority of this board like to stereotype the typical American 'kid' as this dew-eyed babe in the woods who has no idea what kind of sinister motives lie in the hearts of adults. Nothing could be farther from the truth. When I was a kid we had to constantly lock our bikes up-- not because another kid would steal them, but because adults looking to feed their narcotic habits would boost them off the rack at the local Venture and sell them for parts at one of the bike shops in Maplewood. We were constantly dealing with a-hole grownups, and kids today-- who have all probably fended off countless sexual overtures on the internet, and otherwise been exposed to the seedy underbelly that is adult life- I am sure are far more savvy to the risks associated with buying loose packs at Target then any of us would like to give them credit for.
By the time you're nine or so you're much less of a kid then you are an adult. Sure, you have some work to do in the emotional maturity department, but when the question at hand is an understanding of the evil that lies in the hearts of men the average fourth or fifth grader is a great deal more worldly-wise then most adults would ever suspect. That was true when I was in elementary school ('80 to '84) and I'm almost positive it's even more true today.
In sum-- pack searching, by adults, is sleazy. If it's done by kids it's still a little sleazy, but it's also kind of endearing; albeit it in a 'look-at-that-enterprising-boy' kind of way. But in any case, we should get beyond the notion that kids are being victimized wholesale by fat guys searching packs at the local retail outlet. Kids get victimized by alcoholic dads, and by emotionally abusive moms. They are, on the balance, prepared to withstand the petty crimes perpetrated by grown-ups, so long as we raise them right.
<< <i>Yeah, whatever ^^^ said. >>
I second that
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My ghetto sportscard webpage...All Scans - No Lists!!! Stinky Linky
want to get even go into the store and bend every single pack, after a while something will be done.
Kevin
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Before 1960, my elementary-school gang and I had already done every bad deed we could think to do.
The kids today are just the same as they were when I was a kid. No better, no worse. They do have
better weapons than we had, though.
BTW- I agree with Boopotts!
After reading Boopotts response and thinking about all the crap I did when I was a kid, I would have to agree. I guess in all honesty, it just kinda pissed me off because it's just really wrong. Just my opinion though.
Actually, I guess you can still have lottery cards as long as they are the same as the others.
Don't know much about the blood sport that is UFC, but it looks like it might go for something. Hah!
<< <i>
The kids today are just the same as they were when I was a kid. No better, no worse. They do have
better weapons than we had, though. >>
Finally! Someone who gets it! To hear my mom talk, she makes it sound like kids today are so awful and her generation growing up was a Mayberry utopia. Give me a break.
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Quarters: 52S, 47S, 46S, 40S, 39S, 38S, 37D+S, 36D+S, 35D, 34D, 32D+S
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1997 Finest silver: 115, 135, 139, 145, 310
1995 Ultra Gold Medallion Sets: Golden Prospects, HR Kings, On-Base Leaders, Power Plus, RBI Kings, Rising Stars
Listening to the story I get the feeling that thr two manager guys may having been running cover for their friend the professional pack searcher
Target would not refund the money I paid for the packs because they had been opened and there was nothing they could do. Call me an a-hole or whatever, but I wasn't stopping there. I filed a complaint with my credit card company and reported that the items I purchased were damaged goods and the company would not honor a refund on them. They sided with me and refunded the money to my account and Target never filed a petition on it.
This is no lie - I have not bought a pack of retail cards from Target/Walmart/wherever since this incident and I don't think I ever will again. Sure, I'll buy blasters or sealed boxes, but not loose packs. I also followed it up with two buyer guides on ebay about the differences between retail/hobby and pack searching. Someone give me my medal
Bill
Are these the same people that complain about the state of the hobby?
It just boggles the mind. It is wrong plain and simple. Maybe im misunderstanding most of you it is early and Ive yet to have my coffee....
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<< <i>Please don't crucify me I have delicate wrists. >>
I bet you do.
So one day im standing there in my local Wal Mart with my delicate wrists, searching the packs, it was Payday and i just got off my shift at the diner so I was all greasy and this short midget like ass clown comes up to me; pushes me aside and lisps move aside pretty boy those are my packs! I replied "sir your manners are atrocious, what charm school did you flunk out of?" Then he tries to lift me off the ground, but because he is so short he can only grab my kneecaps, it was rather comical. Next he pulls a $4.99 ping pong paddle off the shelf and start flogging me. I was in therapy for weeks. On the way out the door I grabbed a box of Allen and Ginter and pulled an authentic madonna pube card.
<< <i>On the way out the door I grabbed a box of Allen and Ginter and pulled an authentic madonna pube card. >>
I believed your story until you said this line. Madonna has no pubes, trust me on this one
Yours truly,
plifter
Oh and to screw with the pack searchers, I crush all the corners of all the loose packs I see in the store. j/k
Lou
Guess it is good I dont really collect anymore..
Luckily for the manager she/he didn't say you have mental issues huh?
Steve
<< <i>
<< <i>Please don't crucify me I have LIMP wrists. >>
I bet you do. >>
quote fixed