No, such guards do NOT work on commission. But they, as often being on the "intellectually challenged" side get angry if being asked questions they cannot answer. I once, at the Nelson Pub in Zch-dtwn at the entrance was stopped by such 200cm/100cm/50cm man, who angrily told me "I cannot leave you in, unless I can have a look into your two big bags". I put both down on a kind of outside furniture, opened them and told the man "no problem, just have a close look". That he was no Albert Einstein was not a problem to me, and nice was that he gave me info about a new wine they had right then on offer. If you are nice to them they really appreciate it, they really do.

Ask them very clearly and politely what they think is in your bag. If they can't give you a clear answer to that, then they either have no idea and are just randomly checking or they've profiled you (say, by race). If they have no specific answer, then they have no cause. Just walk.

Agreed, but notice the smiley please, i was only joking about the fact that they are on commission, well aware they are not.

Not sure if they are all " on the slow side " now.. have seen some of the security guards? i would not 't like to be chased around the place by one of them..

At most Interdiscount, quite unlike Mediamarkt, there is no place to store your bags. And as I said above, it generally is just random controls which may happen. When I once told such a guard "I neither have secret documents nor goldbars with me" he jokingly retorted "oh, and I just hoped to touch a real goldbar". He had a look, we exchanged some jokes, and that was it. What is the problem really ?


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You are wrong if you feel "restrained" by any such random check. And such checks are not very thorough anyway. You simply should NOT regard them as enemies or "accusers", but simply as guards. Time lost ? 2 minutes, max 3 .


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By asking them such questions, you ask too much to those often rather simply minds. Random checks have not to be based on anything particular. They possibly check every 23rd customer or every 14th non-buying-anything customer.

Thanks guys. Now I understood the problem and I felt sorry for the security. And, thanks for your concerning. I am mature enough to go shopping without losing coins. The only problem is that I don't know he has the right to check my bag. Now no problem for me. Just imagine yourself in a strange land and somebody asked you to take off your shoes. Wont you asking somebody else if the man have the right to do it, or is that a local tradition to ask people taking off the shoes?

I did not say they were on the "slow side" physically as they look often as if 95% of their body is muscles, but quite many of them clearly look "intellectually challenged" while at the other hand most of them if you know how to take them are jolly nice chaps, and in fact quite friendly.

If visiting a mosque, the basic thing is that you take off your shoes

If they are polite I do not have an issue. I once was accused of taking the goods of the gentleman (idiot) in front of me who was with his son. He kicked off into a real tantrum which soon meant security were attending plus the embarrassment of people staring.

I kept my cool, smiled and was happily co-operating with security to check my bags etc. I was sure the guy was going to have a cardiac arrest as he started with full on verbal abuse. When he paused I pointed out to him that his son had walked off with the bag with the goods. Son returned and he checked the bag and went into sheepish mode, security disappeared.

Excellent attempt to try and apologize to me, at least he tried.

Wish I was quicker off the mark and could come up with some witty response in these situations.

Next time, a security guard wants to check you, you could try "Neg's Urban Sprinting"

Doc.

And if you visit Migros?

Cheers,
Nick

This has nothing to with feelings. They don't have the right to look into your bag since it's your property. you might be carrying things which are of personal nature and which you don't want to reveal to the interdiscount guy. If you think i'm wrong please indicate the legal source allowing them to check other people's property.

A bit over dramatic, don't you think? Of course they have the right to check in your bag. Do you know how much stuff are steal and put in personal bags? It does happend to me as well, a french whity. If they ask me to look into my bags I open it without arguing and say Thanks you very WITH a smile. The guy is doing is job and if this prevent us to have higher prices, good! I don't feel insulted or tracked down because I have nothing to hide!

You would have loved it in shopping in Belfast prior to the Good Friday agreement then, your bags were checked thoroughly before entering ANY shop.

Again: no, they don't. People think they do because that process has become common-place due to (legal) baggage searches at airports etc.
Only the police or organizations appointed police privileges by the confederation or the canton (e.g. the security companies on the trains, called "Bahnpolizei") have a right to search private property. A security bimbo at a warehouse is a private person working for a private company and has the same rights any other private person in this country has. You don't go out and ask strangers to open their bags for you.

What a private security guy can do:

- tell you that you're not allowed to get inside the store (which is private property) for whatever reason
- call the police if he suspects that you stole something

What he most certainly isn't allowed to do:

- hold you for any reason
- search your private property
- touch you or your private property


Of course, most people just comply when some official-looking idiot asks them to open their purse / bag because they don't want to make a scene. That's their right - but this way they play their part in legitimizing the further erosion of the private-sphere in this country by forgoing their personal rights.

Apart from that: I fail to see how anyone can feel comfortable having some dirty-looking guy go through your stuff without a legal foundation.

Peter

That was an ass!
This would have pissed me off no limit and yes I would have feel like the OP felt. But the situation is vere different here and it is total abuse of power that he didn't have.

Et Voilà!

I'll go less stupid to bed tonight! Thanks for the info.

Feel confortable, no if this is the attitude of the guy. But to make this experience as a reason to not feel safe in a country? To make it as a racist experience? to make the whole living in this country a bad experience for this sample?

That is what I called over the top.

The fact that we're having this conversation here should actually be rather comforting :-) We are lucky enough to live in a country where there are laws to protect your personal integrity and your private property. For that alone I feel safer here than in most other places.
I don't think there's a racist component to it - most of the security guys are foreigners, anyway and I really don't think they're racists. And they're probably only doing as their employers told them to. Which, unfortunately, doesn't really make this any better.

Actually, while they cannot search your bags (or person!) without your permission, they can detain you and call the police if they believe you have committed a crime. That's a right every person has - you see somebody take the wallet from your friend's bag, you have the right to grab that person and hold them until the police arrive.
Of course, when the police arrive and see you have no store property in your bag(s), the security guys will look a bit silly and (as others have said) the cops may be annoyed at having had their time wasted.

Also, there's a bit of a grey area on "conditions of entry" - some stores (many of them in some countries I've been!) have little signs saying it is a condition of entry that you present bags for checking on leaving the store ... if you had to sign a contract to enter that contained that condition, then you have to submit to the search on the way out, but otherwise they'd have to prove that you read and understood their little sign if they wanted to push a search themselves: pretty much impossible to prove unless the sign is held by somebody who shows & explains it to every person entering the store ...


If you try to go into Migros barefoot, you may be told it is "absolut verboten!" to be barefoot in the drinks aisle ... been there, done that. Didn't get asked to leave, though (not even the aisle!), and have been barefoot in the same store on several occasions. Not in the last two months, though ...

Seriously? That's an awful experience? We really ARE spoiled in this country. In other news - I've had my bag searched too and I'm very white and blonde.

Why? I assume it is in case a bottle is smashed? Oh, this thread is getting very surreal & I am not going to ask why would one go anywhere barefoot...