got accused of shoplifting last night at the nearest grocery store

[Chrysalis_Changling]

went shopping for some things with my dad last night and while he was waiting at the deli section of the store i decided to knock off a few things i needed and made a quick routine of going from an aisle back to the cart...rinse and repeat...unfortunately when i returned to one of the aisles i was previously on because i forgot something that was on the list..one of the employees stopped me dead in my tracks and interrogated me like i was some criminal because he saw me walking around carrying all sorts of stuff and suddenly all of it was gone by the time i came back(he didn't see the shopping cart so he just assumed i stuffed a couple of things into my jacket and pants)

i had to inform him that the groceries were in a shopping cart a few aisles down...didn't really ask anything else after that and just walked away' it was the first time i was ever confronted by a store employee about shoplifting so i just froze on the spot...has anyone else ever been accused of stealing from a store in a situation like this or something like it for that matter?

[Doc Omega]

No, but I have worked loss prevention at retail / grocery stores before. The employee should be in deep doo doo for a false accusation like that. We weren't allowed to do stuff like that until it was 100% certain a theft had been made

[Arvandor]

I have.

Course, I was guilty. But still.

[CSTowle]

Back when I worked at a bookstore (Borders) we were told specifically never to accuse a customer of shoplifting. We were told we could ask someone hiding something if there was anything else they wanted to purchase, and if they hadn't come to the counter yet we were told to inform a manager and let them handle it. Even then they couldn't stop and frisk them, and we weren't supposed to detain them. They could follow them out and look at license plate numbers (assuming they had a vehicle), but that was about it.

Of course Borders would let you buy a book then return it for the exact price you paid days or weeks after purchasing them, so you didn't really need to steal things outright.

[Chrysalis_Changling]

No, but I have worked loss prevention at retail / grocery stores before. The employee should be in deep doo doo for a false accusation like that. We weren't allowed to do stuff like that until it was 100% certain a theft had been made

i don't even know why he suspected me of being a thief....i guess to him wearing a hefty jacket and magically making tons of items vanish(when i put them in the shopping cart)made me some kind of criminal that he could kick out of the store

i wondered how much trouble this guy would be in if he didn't believe my explanation and tried to search me

[Michael24]

This happened to my brother a few years ago, although he was on the opposite side. He was working Loss Prevention for Sears and stopped a woman leaving the store that he swore had shoplifted something. It turned out she hadn't and he was very worried it was going to cost him his job. Fortunately, he had already been working there for years and had an otherwise spotless record, and the woman (thankfully) didn't make as big a deal out of it as she easily could have. She and his bosses both knew it was simply an honest mistake and an isolated incident, so he didn't have to face any sort of reprimand. But he knew how bad it had been and was on edge for about a week after that.

So mistakes do happen, but in your case, it sounds like the guy jumped the gun and took things too far too quickly, not to mention without any proof, and should face serious consequences for what he did.

[Shawn Hopkins]

No, but one time a grocery store manager came and hassled me for spending too long reading a Mad Magazine. He was like, "We really expect people to buy those." In his defense, I did not intend to buy it.

[Chrysalis_Changling]

This happened to my brother a few years ago, although he was on the opposite side. He was working Loss Prevention for Sears and stopped a woman leaving the store that he swore had shoplifted something. It turned out she hadn't and he was very worried it was going to cost him his job. Fortunately, he had already been working there for years and had an otherwise spotless record, and the woman (thankfully) didn't make as big a deal out of it as she easily could have. She and his bosses both knew it was simply an honest mistake and an isolated incident, so he didn't have to face any sort of reprimand. But he knew how bad it had been and was on edge for about a week after that.

So mistakes do happen, but in your case, it sounds like the guy jumped the gun and took things too far too quickly, not to mention without any proof, and should face serious consequences for what he did.

strange thing is when me and my dad were at the check out....i couldn't really see him around so perhaps he was at the back of the store or maybe he just left the store completely...either way i never saw after that scene

and without any other employees around me at the time nobody could really say he did that....so I'm gonna guess he'll face no penalties for what he did

[CSTowle]

No, but one time a grocery store manager came and hassled me for spending too long reading a Mad Magazine. He was like, "We really expect people to buy those." In his defense, I did not intend to buy it.

Ha, reminds me of Borders again. We'd have people come and hang out and read magazines in our café (oh look, they auto-corrected the little accent thingy on to café) without purchasing anything for hours at a time. High school kids mostly. Same with manga. At least the manga people re-shelved after reading.

[Doc Omega]

i don't even know why he suspected me of being a thief....i guess to him wearing a hefty jacket and magically making tons of items vanish(when i put them in the shopping cart)made me some kind of criminal that he could kick out of the store

i wondered how much trouble this guy would be in if he didn't believe my explanation and tried to search me

It could've been many reasons, but none that excuse his actions. He's probably overly eager, and untrained

[Selena Musić]

Nope. Never.

[John Ossie]

Hasn't happened to me thankfully.