Yesterday I popped into a Tesco express for a couple of bits with my baby son.
I was carrying the little one in my arms and had my handbag on the other shoulder. Took my basket to the till and started checking out. Asked if there were paypoint facilities to top up my gas card. Everything was fine.
Then suddenly a female security guard leaned over and asked if there was anything I'd forgotten to pay for. I said no, not unless my little one had just grabbed some sweets from in front of the till. I checked his hands, found nothing and again said there was nothing I'd forgotten.
The security guard asked if I was sure. I said yes, of course. At this point people in the queue behind me were starting to mutter (and there were quite a few people in the shop around me). The security guard then told me this was my last chance and was I sure I didn't have a febreeze air freshener with me. I replied no, I hadn't even been on the cleaning aisle, I'd only got bread milk and coffee.
A young lad in tesco uniform asked the security guard if she wanted him to get a colleague (assuming the manager or another security guard) to which she said yes. By now I was really freaked out. I had my baby in my arms and everyone in the store thought I was a thief. I said look I'll show you, emptied my pockets, took off my coat and opened my bag on the counter so she (and everyone else) could see that I had nothing to hide.
Finally the security guard said "right, you can go now". No apology (at first) despite being heartbroken by this time at feeling so humiliated. I paid for my stuff and rushed to the car, dreading a hand on my shoulder as I walked out, though luckily that didn't happen.
I was still sobbing after driving home. OH asked what had happened and immediately called the store. He spoke to the manager and asked for the security guard to come on the phone to apologise to me personally.
Indeed she did apologise profusely, explaining that there was a group of women in the store, known to security, who were moving things around and I'd been mistaken for one of them.
While I'm grateful for finally getting the apology I needed, I'm still very upset about it. Shouldn't security be absolutely certain before accusing someone, especially in such a public and humiliating manner? I had been nowhere near any febreeze products. The only thing which I'd picked up and put back on the shelf (instead of in my basket) was a magazine I'd checked the price of.
Of course shoplifters should be apprehended and prosecuted, but I won't be going back to that store ever again. I would have liked an apology straight away, in front of all those people who probably now think I'm a thief who got away with it. Has anyone else had an experience like this?