So yesterday I went to the store.to pick up a few things I arrived at about 9:30am I brought my bike in and set it in one of the lanes. Then I walked over a few lanes and noticed someone following me. Then they were gone so I decided to check on my bike and it was gone I was not in the store for more then five min. So a guy walked up to me, the same one who was following me and said "looking for a bike" and I said "yeah "he then said that I should go to the store and buy a lock and lock it up outside. Before that he said "why would you bring a bike in the store". Then I said "so nobody would steal it". Then he said stuff about getting the lock ok order is straight. So I didnt anwser his ?? instead I said "where is my bike" in a way that if he wouldnt have told me I would have beat the living ****.out of him kinda of way he said "I set it outside". There it was out front. I don't really feel like going onto details of how my bike was not in anyways harming anyone by being in the store vs being outside the store. I was so mad on my ride back to my apt. I'm thinking of calling and asking to speak with a manager. Do you think that will do.me any good?? Also what would you have done if you were me?? Would you turn around a bet the crap out of the him if the your bike was stolen like I would've done?? Give him a piece or your mind?? Anyways I'm trying not to think about it to Mich cuz thinking about it is giving me a headache.

Nobody has a right to handle your property. The correct way to have handled this situation, would have been to ask about the bike out loud. After loudly announcing the bike, the next step should have been to place the bike somewhere inside of the store, where it would have been safe.

However, most stores do have a policy of prohibiting the parking of bicycles, indoors. I sometimes violate this rule myself. However, I doubt that anybody would be able to touch my bike, without me witnessing the infraction.

You really shouldn't be that angry, though. It wasn't really respecting the store to park your bike inside. The store really does belong to someone else. Therefore, two wrongs, don't make a right...

- Slim

Stores get law suits every week from customers faking injuries.

Your bike in an aisle was a potential accident for a customer to trip on or say it fell on their child.

Yep, call manager. The store may or may not allow bikes inside, but it is certain that the employee was rude and disrespectful and should not have messed with your property.
A good employee would have politely asked you to move your bike outside, not hide it from you and then tease you when you found it gone. My opinion is he was being a jerk primarially inerested in the satisfaction of scaring you, not in store policy.
Guy needs either retraining in customer service or a new job.

probable the manager will try to deflect the issue to simply 'bikes not allowed' be sure to respect this if that is the case; remember that the true issue is the rude way the situation was handled, focus there. Being 'bullied' is the real problem and the main reason the conflict has carried so much mental distress...


Hope the additional perspective helps get your mind out of the headache loop. Know I've been trapped there after confrontations and hate it...

Well, if its not the LBS why wasn't the bike locked up outside?

What was the store?

I know for a fact the Kroger Brand of stores and Walmart, and most all major Grocery stores can make you leave the bike outside(unless it super busy I guess). It is basically the same as a old person with a walker or their own wheel chair in the store. As long as you don't ride it they wont care.

We had a guy on a Segway ridde it through the store and self checkout. There was nothing management could really do.

If you leave the bike in a checkout lane they might have a problem with that, and could potently move it them self. but just walk with the bike.


I lock up my bike almost everywhere but normally, but bring my bike into large hardware stores. Never had a problem, I feel silly sometimes though because the clicking of the free wheel seems amplified and it seems like everyone is looking at me. but those places are big.

I`ve never thought of taking my bike into a store. I don`t understand why you would unless you were taking it in for repairs, then it`s understandable.

I take mine in, nothing wrong with it at all. The two contact points of the tires equal less space than my two feet so the whole "get that dirty thing out of here" is bogus. I dont feel comfortable leaving my $1,500 worth of bike, lights, and bags outside, despite two locks. If a store doesnt support this I say they dont deserve my business. I would at the very least tell the manager. That guy had no business moving your bike. If he had an issue then tell you to move it.

A Dunkin Donut chain refuse to service me because I parked my bike inside. This is 11 pm, next to the projects, in one of the worst areas. Someone will steal $1,000 bike and sell for 50 worth of drugs. I was so pissed off. The fat fOck manager treated me like a POS. I spend $100 a month in that shop. Thinking about it gets my heart pumping. this happened months ago and it still fires me up.

I work with customers and stuff. If they violate rule or don't know, I let them know for next time.

I was wowed, like this guy chose me to have a power trip.

No reason at all for anyone just to remove the bike without attempting to locate the owner. I'd make a formal complaint to the manager over that one. If taking bikes indoors is prohibited and there's no sign to say as much then perhaps suggest the employee is lucky you're not filing theft charges with the police. You could also point out to the manager that if the employee had damaged your bike you'd have held the store responsible, and give him an idea of what sort of costs might be involved.

Personally I don't like leaving my bike out of sight at all. Last time I went to the bank in town I picked up my bike and walked right on in with it, and nobody bat an eyelid. Smaller shops and more crowded shops might (understandably) not wanting people bringing things in that just block the way for everyone else, but that's still no excuse to just pick up your bike and take it away.

I have been known to call ahead and ask if a store will let me take my bike inside, with the usual implied rider that if they won't then I'll give my business to somewhere that will. Locking the bike up a couple of blocks away and then having to take off the lights, GPS, pump, bottle, saddle bag etc etc etc just seems like too much hassle.

So write to Dunkin Donuts head office and let them know why that branch just lost $100/month in business.

People like to steal in America, I hear in Japan they have a humogous lost and found, full of umbrellas, ipod and other stuff. During your epic Tsunami no one was looting or shooting at cops. I saw all the safes from the destroyed homes. In some parts of the USA that smells like opportunity.

That guys life looked like it sucks...I will win the self image battle.

Get a lock..or 2. Your lights and computer are removable. The few stores I go into I try to park and lock in front of a window, or right near the entrance. Your bike in a store is a liability. What if some little kid grabbed it when you weren't looking? I know its hard to leave precious alone....but sometimes we have to be strong and let go....*gollum*

It is true. I've lost umbrellas and they have always been returned to the lost and found. When you start living here it's strange but you adapt to it. I've found 3 wallets full of money, a watch, iphone and digital camera and handed them over to the police. One feels pretty good when one "does the right thing". I regret writing my previous post now because I understand the situation over there.

Talk to a manager and see if there's a better place to store the bike inside.

That said, I've never actually brought my bike inside. I always lock it up outside...

Lol- *gollum* - I treat each store differently, after a while you learn which places you can roll your Rig into and which ones you can't. A couple of local restaurants allow me to take my bike into the lobby. A couple others don't. The safety issue in grocery stores is a real issue, however. Places like that can get shredded by lawsuits unless they keep a real close eye on everything going on in the stores. The employee in the OP's post should have been much, much more professional though.

I'm with Slim on this one.

Agreed with the +1 to Slim,

Not exactly appropriate to just leave your bike lying around the store, wheel it with you if you go inside. On the other hand the employee was acting like a complete j@ack*** doing what he did. Moving somone's stuff and then stalking someone and saying "Are you looking for something?" basically is just antagonization. Respectful thing for the employee would be for him to come up and kindly ask if it was your bike, and if it is then ask you to remove it from the lane.

Having worked my way through college in retail, I find it completely reasonable for a business to ask that you leave your bike outside. The employee was being a jerk though, no doubt.

I understand that some of us ride expensive bikes but that's not the store's problem. I've had thousands of dollars worth of damage done to vehicles in parking lots over the course of my life. It's a risk you take.

When I stop on Friday evenings to weigh in at the clinic, I roll my bike right into the waiting room, and when I'm leaving the gal working holds the door for me to get out. I never gave them a chance to object, I just told them what a Bacchetta costs, and that it's always clean, and there was no argument. I have been known to ride push it in the door at some bars and lean it against the wall and head to the bar for a seat...again no objection. I wouldn't give the store another chance...vote with your dollars! Go somewhere else, and see if you can park inside there for a quick stop????

Tractor Tom in Okeechobee

You shouldn't have left it unattended inside the store, but they also should have tried to find you before moving the bike outside. Non-bike people don't understand how important bicycles are to their owners.

I have a phobia about bike illiterate people handling my bike. A few years ago my girlfriend at the time worked in an office building with a fenced in bike area in the parking garage. She only came in for a couple weeks at a time for fact checking and was gone the rest of the time, so she missed the memo the building management sent about the bike area getting cleaned out. She came to get her bike at the end of the day and it was gone. She was able to find a maintenance person to take her to where they took all the bikes that were left locked up. They had cut the U lock but neglected to pull the rope lock out from her rear wheel. The rope lock was wrapped around the rear hub multiple times and had mangled the derailleur. Building management claims they walked the bike out of the area, but obviously the they tried to ride it with the rope lock still inside the rear wheel. People who don't use bikes regularly just don't notice things like this that seem obvious to us.

What would I have done? Locked my bike up outside!

Why on earth would you just assume you can bring your bike into a retail store that isn't a bike shop without permission? Be respectful of people business's. So the employee dude was a dick, you gave him the invitation.

Now go buy a lock.

I see plenty of people bringing bike into stores around here. I wouldn't hesitate to bring my bike in but would make sure it is left in an out of the way place or I'd wheel it with me. If asked to take it outside, I would. Don't know about other parts of the country but it is becoming more and more common for people to brings dogs into stores around here (even grocery stores) without comment from staff so would be surprised if a bike would be an issue.

I wouldn't have left my bike unattended in another aisle, but the guy was clearly being a boy donkey. I have taken my bike into stores before when I didn't feel that it would be secure given the area, or if I didn't have a lock with me. Once I was asked to leave it outside by a store employee, I looked at him and then ignored him. Tires on my bike are no more dirty than the wheels on the shopping carts. If the store were incredibly busy, I just wouldn't go in, but I've always done this on the way into work when the stores are not generally very busy.