Wrongly Stopped for shop lifting

bod1467

The incident in the OP reminds me of how newspapers act ... SHOUTED HEADLINES on the Front Page about something, but tiny apologies in the middle of the paper when they've got it wrong.

The sales person should have made the apology as prominent as the accusation.

vyle

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

You could still write to the manager of the store concerned explaining exactly what happened, and say that in your opinion it might be better if the employees thought that someone had forgotten to pay for an item, it might be better if they were to approach them to make enquiries instead of announcing their concerns in public and at the top of their voices

It sounds, (unless I misread the OP, which I may have) that the staff member was at the till. In retail it's usually a golden rule not to leave the till point unattended, for obvious reasons, so calling to the customer is the only option.

The only other way would be for the staff member to shout at the nearest other staff member to "stop that woman who I think nicked something." Which may be even worse.

ZsaZsa wrote: »

we were told that we were only ever to approach someone if we'd actually seen them take something, and only when they had crossed the threshold of the shop.

Funnily enough, my training has been the opposite, in that we cannot pursue thieves out of the shop, and the store security can't do anything outside of the shop confines, so to stop suspected thieves before they escape, especially as the police refuse to come out for anything below £250 worth of stolen goods.

What's this SCONE stuff by the way, other than an overrated accompaniment to tea?

Valli

it IS mildly embarrassing but it happens.

I've been stopped in Boots when perfume paid for upstairs didn't have the tag de-activated at the till - and I set the alarm off at the door - got it out, checked, job done.

Slightly more embarrassing was the washing liquid (ariel) bought from Savers - went in Superdrug - and was asked to walk back to the till and empty my bag (and since I didn't buy anything in Superdrug I suppose it looked more 'suspicious'.

it's the price those of us who are honest have to pay.