There are right ways and wrong ways to do everything. On Thursday, June 4, 2009, 41-year-old Phillip R. Wright gave us a prime example of how not to act when attempting to return an item to a Wal-Mart store.

According to a story released by Tampa Bay Online, Mr. Wright exercised a poor lack of emotional control when he was not allowed to return some items to his local Wal-Mart store. Apparently, the chagrined customer proceeded to set three racks of clothing ablaze and then left the store.


Luckily, no one was injured in the fire, but the store suffered "significant" damage. Later in the day, Wright entered another Wal-Mart store and was apprehended by deputies soon thereafter. At the time of this writing, no explanation had yet been released regarding exactly why Mr. Wright was not allowed to return the items in question.

The arsonist in this story might have been well advised to avoid playing with fire, and to review Wal-Mart's return policies. Those policies are clear, fair, and quite liberal in their scope. As always, keep the receipts for all your purchases in a safe place until you are certain that you are satisfied with your purchases. For items which have manufacturer's warranties, it is recommended that consumers retain their original purchase receipts for one year or until the term of the manufacturer's warranty expires.