Yah, one thing I hated aobut my last time out shopping was when I bought an Xbox game and the clerk didn't deactivate the damn security tag.

I think during the rest of the eveningI located every store in the mall that used the same system. I was just waiting for Gecko45 to come fast-roping down on my ass.

hehe. When I used to work at Best Buy and then CompUSA, we used to stick those tags to each other and on customers that we didn't like. The best way to do it was to put the tag on the floor, sticky side up, and get the customer to step on it.

ROTFLMAO!!!
That reminds me of when I went to highschool. They had one of those self locking gates in the library. We use to pull the strips out of the book bindings and hide them in the notebook bindings of people we didn't like. Hilarious!!! The unsuspecting person would ALWAYS walk briskly into the gate, do a flip, then get bodyslammed on the floor.
Yea, yea, I know, we were cruel, flame me, I don't care. We were in highschool, and that was many years ago. Even at that, I still laugh when I think about it.

I was A loss prevention manager and a note.  in 1999 a lot of manufactures started source tagging products at the factory.  in some instances the deactivator at one stor might not deactivate another kind of EAS tag.  case in point:  Target uses the Checkpoint system but walmart uses sensormatic they are close in nature but the sensormatic is a 68khz transmitter and the checkpoint deactivator doesn't always get the tags deactivated.  also some higher dollar items loke the PS2 and the xbox usually have multiple tags to prevent shoplifters from removing one and getting out the door unnoticed.  I know it is a pain in the ass but the ammount of money lost to retailers directly relates to the price us honest citizens pay.  I cought a guy once with a list of items to be stollen for his "customers" he had over $900.00 worth of PS2 games in his backpack as he ran out the front door and right into our hands.  he put up a very intense fight knowing that with the other stolen items he was commiting a felony.  I just accept the nusience to help keep prices lower.
john

It's only happened to me, twice I think, and both times I just kept going. Why should I run or stop and try to explain myself?

Nobody ever chased me or anything else, so I guess nobody really cares anyways.

ive had em go off many a time i just flash the guy my reciept and they8 like ok you can go.

Unfortunately many people actually buy into this "theft deterent" story, but reality is a little different.  My brother is a computer retailer and according to an article I read in a retailing industry magazine that was also extolling the virtues of these scanners and tags, 20% of loses are from customers shoplifting.

What they didn't say was that the other 80% is from the employees stealing!!!  But we happily put up with intrusive security measures that are totally ineffective in the name of stopping crime.

Up here in Michigan some guards are real private police. They go to the academy and are certifed to make arrests with the same protection from suit as the real police.
It ends up being about 1 in 10 of the mall ninja, and maybe one or two folks at the boxes.
My firm's pass card sets off a bunch of the systems. When I forget it in my pocket and the alarm goes off I always keep going.
Once I got chased down in the lot by two Hudson's (now Field's) guards. They tried to stop me and demanded I return to the store. I asked them if they were state certifed and if I was under arrest. They refused to answer so I kept going for my car. A manager came running out and I asked him the questions.
I said I would be happy to return to the store if any of them were placing me under arrest.
Guess what? They were not willing to expose themselves to suit.

Edited to say my 1/10 mall ninja is for real malls, the big boys, and that the ninja are guys who put themsleves through police school and can't get hired, even on the DPD, due to being nuts. There was one in my guard unit who did that, and he was a real psycho. After he flipped out on our call up in 95 the Army put him away for a while and tried changing his name to banish some of his odder behavior and his self-injury habits.

You re-write your poll.