I accidentally shoplifted - advice needed

[iamsodumb]

NC as this will be outing.

I work in the NHS and there is a shop on the premises which I go to near enough every day Monday-Friday. Today at about 11am I went and bought (?!) my usual packet of crisps and can of Coke. I used the self scanner as I always do and walked out.

This afternoon I got a call from my supervisor saying the big boss wanted to speak to me. When I went to her office she said I hadn't paid for my items and the shop have me on cctv not paying. I was absolutely mortified and checked my online banking and sure enough there's no charge from the shop today so I don't dispute I have done it. I don't know if I've tapped my card and it's not gone through or if I've absent mindedly scanned the items then walked off with them. I genuinely haven't got a clue. She said the shop wanted to escalate it to head office but advised me to go and speak to them myself.

I went to the shop and apologised and offered to pay but the manager had gone home. The shop assistant phoned her manager and he said I was not to pay but was to come and speak to him on Monday?! So instead of this being resolved on the day I have to worry about it over the weekend.

I'm not particularly worried about police involvement etc, I know I didn't mean to do it and have never stolen in my life so can't imagine it would go anywhere. However, I am concerned about work. Could this impact my job?! I asked my own supervisor and she said she doesn't think so but couldn't say for sure. I'm so worried! I can't believe all of this drama for less than £3 which I have offered to pay!!

If anyone has any knowledge I would appreciate any insight you have on what I can expect the outcome of this to be.

He may have just been really inexperienced. Was he from England? If not, it might have been a cultural thing

And that would definitely stop him from coming out to speak to OP, apologise, she would also apologise, they'd acknowledge faults on both sides, and then just accept her payment, wouldn't it?

I’d also be really tempted to grab a pen and notebook, head over to the WHS Manager and ask him for the store number, confirmation of whether the CCTV footage of you was shared with anyone etc.
Getting the shits put up him might give him cause to worry for a few days- see how he likes it.

Indeed!

Sorting out a case of suspected theft is one thing, doing to ham-fistedly needs to be called out. There are two offences against you, both of which would make me angry if they were done to me.

One is that you were accused of theft to the manager in your place of work, who was showed film of you. This may have done you reputational damage. (It probably hasn't because it sounds as if both your immediate manager and the manager who was told you'd stolen some crisps and a drink have the sense to realise that there was no criminal intention or particular dishonesty on your part, but the WHS manager was not to know they were sensible people when he chose to make the accusation.)

The other is that the shop manager first declined to allow you to pay as soon as you were made aware on Friday that you had made a mistake, and then having summoned you to meet him on Monday was not available to see you when you courteously acceded to his demand. That is plain old-fashioned rudeness on his part, and he needs to be pulled up for it by his bosses: bad customer relations lose money for the shop.

I really would try not to worry about it. Honestly, for the sake of £3 and it was very obviously a genuine mistake. I once did not pay for a full tank of fuel (£60). There was a BP garage locally to us and they opened up a M&S shop - honestly it was the talk of the county as I live rurally and to get an M&S you needed to go to the big towns. I filled the car up and then got distracted filling up my basket with all the lovely M&S items and got to the till and forgot to mention the fuel. I just paid, left and thought nothing of it. They wrote to me about 4 mths later, I didn't believe them but checked my bank account and yes sure enough I had only paid for the shopping! I just went it and paid and they were absolutely fine about it - no drama.

Omg OP. I work in the NHS and something ditto happened to a very respected colleague who was a regular WHS smith customer. He was super busy at work that day and accidentally "shoplifted". Next thing we know he gets a call from our trust CEO for disciplinary action- over a chocolate bar and a bag of crisps. It caused such unnecessary grief for him- and it was something that he had to ultimately declare on his annual review. I think the bosses knew it was joke but had to act on WHS managers report and held a disciplinary hearing where my colleague had to apologise to the manager. Nothing came out of it ofc, but needless to say none of our team ever visit WHS anymore.

@Curiousforever That is absolutely terrible! I really don't understand how it seems to be acceptable that all normal protocol goes out the window when the shop is on hospital premises? If that had been a shop elsewhere he surely would have been able to state his case before any judgements that could affect his work were made?!

I would restrict the complaint solely to the data breach and the impact that has for you (reputation and working relationships).

Making you wait over the weekend was rude and upsetting but not related to the breach. Complaints are far more powerful when they are focussed on an irrefutable error. Also try to focus on the actions rather than the person. Something like:

"After an accidental failure to complete a transaction on a self-service till, WHS failed to keep my information secure and disclosed CCTV information to a third party, my employer, contrary to data protection legislation. In doing so, WHS have caused me reputational damage and personal distress."

@curiousforever Your colleague's treatment sounds awful.

A few people saying it's a breach of my privacy,

He may have a reasonable excuse as this situation could fall under one of the exemptions

Eg

@BrownMilk Thank you for your help, I've been trying to write the complaint for half an hour and I've written a load of waffle 😂 What you've written is much better!

@cerseii Do you think that would apply to sharing with employers? Or more of an exemption so law enforcement can be given information?

Surely if he thought it to be a crime though, he should be sharing that with the polis and not the employer?

I don’t know - I’m just surmising.

It doesn’t sit comfy with me - it was an accident not an out and out theft.

Accusations can linger. (False allegation from a bully colleague has stuck to me)

I don’t think he had any business contacting her boss. If he really really thought a crime had been committed he should have contacted the police.

If he thought it an accident, he should have contacted the employer but kept the whole situation private. (Please ask so and so to pop into the shop at their earliest convenience yadda yadda)

He has handled this all wrong. He really has.

@cerseii the code of practice is clear that if they suspected a crime, they can disclose to law enforcement agency. Disclosure beyond that would need to be justified (and would almost certainly involve trail of paperwork way beyond store manager level).

@iamsodumb I don't work in retail/ HR/ data protection/ law or anything useful to your issue but I do respond to complaints.

@SheldonesqueIsUnwell Yeah, that's what I think. If he truly believed I had shoplifted on purpose he should have contacted the police. And if he thought it was an accident I could have been identified by management without the situation being divulged and the CCTV shown. Or he could have been decent and took me aside discreetly when I inevitably turned up for my next wotsit fix this week

Disclaimer-I've not read the full thread. But :

How did he know how to contact your boss but couldn't contact you first? You're a regular customer. The sensible way to handle it would have been to say "hey, your payment didn't go through yesterday, can you add it to this one?"

I can't see how they'd have a protocol for shoplifting that says "find and contact their employers".

Yes go to the ICO.

Wotsits are the downfall of many OP!

Cheesedust love is not worth this though.

I am even more wound up on your behalf after today than I was on Friday!

If anyone attempts to bring the matter up, again, I'd say that I no longer wished to discuss it. As far as you are concerned it is resolved.

What a waste of your time.

Did you contact the head office OP and very overinvested in this and really cross on your behalf with how badly it’s been handled.

See one reason I don’t like self service and paperless shopping! If I’m ever in a hospital with such a store I will think twice now

Any update OP? I'm still fuming on your behalf.

Any update OP? Hope this has been resolved! @I amsodumb