Another California Secret Shopper Sting Goes Badly
Last week GamePolitics reported on a "secret shopper" sting run by KESQ-3, a television station in Palm Springs, California.
A Christmas Day story in the Napa Valley Register details the newspaper's own secret shopper operation. Once again, the retailers did not fare very well.
The Register employed a 15-year-old named Jeremy Bomar. In order to make clear that Jeremy looks like a kid, the paper describes him as 5'2" tall with no facial hair, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Young Bomar succeeded in buying M-rated games at five of seven retailers.
A Target location in North Napa sold Blitz: The League
to the lad. The cashier told the Register reporter that he usually cards younger-looking players, but forgot to ask Jeremy.
"It gets busy," he said. "We usually card. But there's only two people back here."
The store's manager added that Target cashiers are trained to card customers for alcohol, medication and M-rated video games.
A second Target location in South Napa also failed the test, selling Gun
to the boy. Jeremy also was able to purchase Dungeon Siege II
from a Staples location, Halo 2
from an Office Depot, and Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
from Warehouse Music.
Heroes of the story were Rachel Prudente, a Wal-Mart cashier who turned Jeremy down in his attempt to purchase Spartan: Total Warrior
, and a clerk at Game Crazy who refused to sell Bomar an unspecified M-rated title.
Prudente credited her cash register's automated I.D. check notification for reminding her to card Jeremy, and even refused to sell the game when an adult in line behind the boy offered to purchase it on his behalf.