First, a quick back story. For months, I had been setting off the theft alarm contraptions at retail stores. I had no idea why. I never steal, and I feel incredibly guilty even at the implication, so this meant that every time I entered or exited a store, I was extremely stressed out waiting for the siren to stare blaring. It made the holiday shopping season a dread-filled pain in the ass.

But here's the funny thing: Nobody ever stopped me. Ever. Not once. A conservative estimate would be that I set off 100 alarms over the holidays, and I was stopped exactly zero times.

Then in January, I went to Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC, apparently pronounced "em-ee-see," not "meck") to spend some gift certificates I'd received for Xmas. When I went in, the alarm immediately went off. Obviously I hadn't stolen anything yet, but the smiling staffer by the doors stopped me. Not to frisk me, but to help me figure out why I was setting of the alarm. She took my jacket and vest, ran them each independently through their alarm, and we determined my jacket was the culprit. She went and demagnetized it, and then explained that sometimes when you put your clothes through a wash/dry cycle, they can remagnetize (for the record, I did wash my jacket in the early fall). I haven't set off an alarm since.

MEC's choice to staff their doors with people who deal with alarm events not only deters and identifies actual theft situations, it also quickly and considerately dismisses innocent shoppers. Both of these are great for business. In my case, the staffer went the extra mile to ensure I wouldn't be bothered by the uncomfortable feeling of being thought a thief ever again--they made my life better. There's little more a retailer can do to earn my trust and patronage.

Thanks MEC!

[Postscript: I used my GCs to buy a down winter jacket. The next day, a chinook started and the average temperature hasn't dipped below 0 degrees Celsius since. Go figure.]