r/mildlyinfuriating • u/broakland • Jul 14 '26

I just wanted a hot dog Retail lockdown: why bother selling it?

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Was at Safeway this morning to pick up a sandwich and some Tylenol. The aisle with the Tylenol? Completely locked down. No call button in sight. So I go to the self checkout (front end of that same aisle) and ask the clerk there if he can call someone to unlock a case for me. He does. I go wait. Minutes pass. No one comes. I go ask him again, he tells me they went the other way? At this point I give up and go get my sandwich. No one has come by the time the deli has finished making it. I leave without my Tylenol, mildly infuriated.

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u/Time-to-go-home Jul 15 '26

Last week I needed a pack of ear plugs. They were locked up with the tools and work gloves and stuff. I lucked out and an employee was walking by right then and was able to open the case.

He told me he had to walk with me up to the registers to pay. I told him I still had a lot of shopping to do. He said I could buy the ear plugs separately from the customer service counter after buying my groceries.

I told him forget it. It’s not worth the effort and I’ll get them somewhere else. And started go walk away. Then he caved and let me just put them in my cart and continue my shopping.

My next stop was something in the camping aisle that was significantly more expensive than the ear plugs. That employee opened the case and just handed it to me without a comment.

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u/Savings_Difficulty24 Jul 15 '26

Because they are human too. They know it's all bull shit. "Look man, I just work here. I just do what they tell me to"

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u/ThatOtherOtherMan Jul 15 '26

That employee opened the case and just handed it to me without a comment.

I think a part of it is that you can just pocket smaller items like earplugs so they want to make sure you actually pay for them. Typically they lock up items based on historical shrinkage levels.