There is an entertaining read out there about a guy who buys a television at Wal-Mart, and refuses to show his receipt to the guy at the exit because local state law says he does not have to.

The Czar does not get the point. The incident took place in Virginia, where according to the author no receipt needs to be presented after purchase. Seems that is a peculiar and specfic law to have on the books; however, the Czar did not bother to research it to verify whether it is true.

Evenually, Wal-Mart management threw up their hands and let him go. But what was the guy’s point? He mentions that he bears no ill will toward them; they were just ignorant of the law.

Perhaps, but maybe the author bears them no ill will because he knows he was an insufferable ass. Somewhere, there are libertarians high-fiving each other, and celebrating this guy sticking it to the man. But the man is an idiot. He does not evidently understand the difference between a principle (what he called his decision) and acting like a jerk. He goes to great lengths to assure us that he was polite, but he comes off as condescending. He says he never lost his temper, but evidently he has nothing better to do than to make store employees anxious and insulted.

Frankly, whether the law says you do not have to present a receipt at the exit is so completely off the point that it becomes imaterial. The store has a vested interest in protecting itself against theft, and in the long run this protects other shoppers against higher prices due to loss of inventory. That position greatly outweighs the eight-second inconvenience of him having to put down a 37-inch television and fish the receipt out of his pocket.

He certainly wound up holding the television set longer than he wanted, if you add the time he spent there bickering about it.

You know, state law says he can stay in the right lane and hide in another driver’s blind spot. That makes such behavior neither desirable nor a good idea. Like the guy who holds up a line in a fast-foot place that he still wants breakfast because it is 11:59:42 am, or the coffee-addled ass who wants his order redone because he couldn’t witness whether it was truly half-half, or a slight imbalance in his flavor of the day.

You are no hero to the little guy: you are a tremendous jerk. And the world has had enough of people like you.

[Perfectly worded update from GD:]

Dear righteous and almighty Czar,

As a libertarian I respectfully submit that, in fact, high-fived no one… Evidently I am one of the rare libertarians who recognizes (a) my shared interest with the retailer in keeping shrinkage costs low, (b) my confirmed right (not suspected, like the receipt check) to not shop somewhere if I am offended by their loss-prevention strategies, and (c) the difference between being correct and being successful, and knowing which is more valuable.

Your humble operative,
GD

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.