Accused of stealing a bag for life

[MindfulMess]

I went to my local supermarket this afternoon to pick up a few bits and pieces. We’re in a big city and I’m in there almost every day. There’s only one checkout with a person working it; the rest are self-checkouts.

I got chosen for a random check. No drama, it happens a lot. Then I was told I hadn’t scanned my bag for life. No , I said, it’s mine. I just took it out of my pocket. The woman repeated that I hadn’t scanned it, and I repeated that it was mine and had just come out of my pocket. She called a supervisor and they told me to wait.
A few minutes later the supervisor came back, and the first woman said (without looking at me), “You can go”. Nothing was said about what had happened but I assume they reviewed security tape or something and saw that yes, my bag had in fact come out of my own pocket.

I pointed out that they had been quite rude and was pointedly ignored. I was shaking. I’m shy in public at the best of times and I really didn’t know what was going on or what was going to happen. I mean, you wouldn’t expect they’d call the cops over a bag for life but I had no way of proving I hadn’t stolen it. They were, if anything, even more rude once they said I could go.

What should I do? I’m honestly quite scared to go back. None of the usual staff seemed to be working today (I’ve been in there perhaps every second day for over a decade, quite a few of them know me by sight.) But it’s my local shop…

(By the way I am well aware that regulars steal things too, and I have no issue with being checked. The attitude, though, was awful. When I questioned it I was basically told to leave the shop now please madam!)

Omg this made me LOL 😂

IKR

loving these solutions 😂

Anyone got a marker pen? I NEED to write cuntychops, wankpuffin, and twatbadger in all of my many reusable carrier bags

You do realise that is theft. Staff members can get into trouble when customers steal bags, they can be accused of not watching the self scan customers enough.

Me too, TJ17 !

On a more serious note, I am furious for the OP, as when she returned home she saw that she had been charged for the bag !

@MindfulMess please take your receipt in to the store tomorrow ( it's probably different staff at weekends) and ask for a refund and an apology for the rudeness.

Yes, go full on Waitrose Anya Hindmarch and do it properly FGS

Next time you go when you get to the entrance stand in front of the cameras. Take your bag out of your pocket and wave it at the camera whilst doing a little dance.

You will look a bit mad but at least you will have proof it's your bag!

Not true. Tesco do not absorb their losses from theft - they are included in the price that every shopper pays. The price of each item includes a percentage for overheads like staff costs, heating, insurance etc etc, plus a percentage to cover ‘shrinkage’ - that is losses due to products breaking or being spoiled before sale and also losses due to theft.

So every shopper in Tesco - and pretty much very other retailer - is paying the price for people who steal from shops.

And people like this are why you were questioned OP

LOL 😆please do!
Aside from that, they treated you terribly!!

In the case of the overpriced bags for life, I think we can safely talk about a reduction in Tesco’s profits rather than a loss.

Paaaaaahahahahaha ain't that the truth.

shout out to @Bluearc77 for keeping it real. 😇

I'm sorry you've had a bad experience. They definitely should have softened their approach once they realised you were innocent. Unfortunately a lot of people don't feel the need to scan their bags and are essentially stealing them, so as much as it feels like they are nitpicking I imagine it must be a policy born out of necessity. I hope you can find the confidence to continue using the shop as normal. It is horrible when you have social anxiety a small thing like this becomes absolute torture, I had this happen to me once and I didn't ever want to go back to the store so I understand how you're feeling, but I did return to the store and continue shopping there, and after a while the anxiety I had initially abated.

I'm a petty bitch and I'd get the 30p they charged me for that bag back or get a bag from them.

Tesco won’t take a hit from any sort of theft out of their profits, @AuntieJoyce. Why would they?

Don't do anything. Just know when you're right. They can prove it was yours.

I'd say 'check your CCTV instead of being pedantic'

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius I confess I’m not a retail expert but a bag for life presumably has a ceiling price at which point shoppers cut back on the amount of shopping that they purchase rather than fork out for a bag when they forget their own.

So, unless Tesco going to charge 31p per bag to cover theft, it is most certainly eating into their profits when PP filches one

TLDR Tesco charge whatever they can get away with relative to their competitors, and would make more profit if people nicked less stuff

Neither do i!!

Ooh I didn’t know people were routinely stealing bags from the supermarkets!!! Every day’s a school day.

You go back in tomorrow with the receipt. Go to customer services and tell them you were wrongly charged for a bag for life at the self service checkout and would like a refund. Like fuck would I let that go.

I'm sorry you've had a bad experience. They definitely should have softened their approach once they realised you were innocent.

Judging by the fact they charged her for the bag anyway, I don't think they ever did realise OP was innocent. It sounds like they continued to believe it wasn't hers, but to save themselves the hassle of treating her as a thief (and possibly thinking they were doing her a favour by letting her off) they converted her "theft" to a purchase.

That’s what a (somewhat nicer) shop assistant told me. Though it doesn’t excuse their rudeness in any way, if you ask me.

If theft is such a huge problem, why don’t they keep the bags by the assistant who stands there watching everyone? 🤷‍♀️

I was wondering about that. I think there’s a fair chance you’re right. I really don’t want to but I’m determined to go in there tomorrow and ask for my money back. If they really did look at the CCTV they will know I didn’t steal it.
If it was any other shop I’d probably let it go, but this one is like 100 feet from my front door. I identified a shoplifter for them last week FFS! (I was walking past when he came belting out of the shop, setting off the alarm. A shop assistant and security came running out and I pointed him out. He was just walking by then, they’re not allowed to confront them on the street I believe, for their own safety.)

Wow that sounds pretty insulting. But they are the ones who should be embarrassed . I would go back and wait as long as it take for an apology