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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be annoyed by store security for following me with my pram?

67 replies

Hotmad · 05/03/2014 20:12

Since having my baby I have noticed that I have been followed by security guards in shops, one in boots, one in a sports direct and one In sainsbury who was undercover but so blatantly a secret one. I never have been followed like this before so I can only assume it's because I have a pram and probably look like someone so has been dragged through a hedge backwards
Is this fair that they target mums with prams if this is the case?
Do mums with prams steal a lot?
Does this happen to others or is it just me?

OP posts:

ShadowFall · 06/03/2014 09:31

YANBU to be annoyed, but I can see why they do it.

DS1 shoplifted a Peppa Pig book from the supermarket the last time he was in there in a buggy. I didn't notice he'd stashed it down his side until we'd finished and were walking out through the carpark.

Luckily the security guard hadn't been following us. They must have been stalking someone else that day.

We went back in to pay for the book anyway.

TheReluctantCountess · 06/03/2014 09:37

I get followed a lot - I must look dodgy.

I was once in Accessorise and the guard followed me around. I got fed up and left. Outside the store, a giggling group of girls were very pleased with what they had stolen while the guard was following me.

dandelionsRflowers · 06/03/2014 10:05

I like to suddenly stop when the Sainsbury's guard is following me. Sometimes I suddely change direction. Just for my own entertainment really. This has probably made me look suspicious but I got fed up with him.

nennypops · 06/03/2014 10:21

I'd be tempted to turn round and point out loudly that they're not doing their job effectively because it's so obvious who they are and what they're doing.

Friend of mine who is Asian (no buggy, no suspicious bags etc) was so hacked off by the security guard following her all round Top Shop that she deliberately didn't point out to him the somewhat obvious shoplifter that he'd missed whilst wasting his time following her.

42andcounting · 06/03/2014 13:38

Puntastic - I've got a my3 too and don't have the problem with alarms.... maybe they've left the security tag on it? Mine just blows over when its windy, and is a pain to put up, I still haven't worked out how to do it without dragging the handle on the ground.....

TillyTellTale · 06/03/2014 14:34

I once spent a day in town, wondering why the alarms kept going off in each shop. After a while, I suddenly spotted that a sticky security tag had somehow got stuck to one of my children's jackets!

Has anyone else's toddler somehow managed to filch a security tag and nothing else?

TheReluctantCountess · 06/03/2014 15:47

Bending those sticky tags in half usually stops them working.

OhTheDrama · 06/03/2014 16:22

I used to get followed all the time, pointless getting angry with the shop, they are just doing their job.

Incidently DD1 used to be a champion shoplifter between the ages of 18mths to 2. She was a nightmare, nobody ever saw her take anything but open up her cosytoes and there was all manner of stuff in there. She was well known and I always used to stop at the doors before leaving to hand it back to security guard. They still remember her now and she's 9!

mrstigs · 06/03/2014 16:33

My husbands fob for the petrol pump at work used to set the alarms off at sainsburys every time. It's very local to us and he pops in several times a week for odds and ends, so the security know him and always wave him on when he sets them off. I often used to tease him that he should pick up a nice big TV and walk off with it just to see if they would still wave and ignore him.
Wasn't so funny when a new security guy started though. He set the alarms off as usual and he stopped him. My dh saw he was new so didn't mind and offered to show him it was the keys (ie hand keys over to guard and walk through without the alarm going off, then guard could walk through with keys and the alarm would sound) but this guy had none of it and refused, loudly insisting that my dh must go to the office for a thorough search. At this point everyone was looking and dh was mortified bless him. He went to the office and the guy was making him empty all pockets then the manager walked in. He said hi to dh, apologised to him and told the guard he was known and not a shoplifter and the guard should have let him demonstrate the key problem. He then let dh pick a new outfit for our youngest as a gift to apologise. So by not shoplifting we got something for free.

puntasticusername · 06/03/2014 17:07

42 ah, good point, perhaps I should take it back to the shop and get them to check...

The only way I've found to not drag the handle on the ground is to release the catch on the frame (labelled Step 3, I think) as you're lowering it. Then by the time it hits the deck, you have had time to grab the handle (with your third hand) and start raising it, thus cunningly avoiding draggage.

If I've shown DH this manoeuvre once, I've shown him a hundred times...and yet...grrr

42andcounting · 06/03/2014 18:15

Puntastic - ah thats where I'm going wrong, I'm using my third hand for my car keys! I tried it when DD was first born and gave myself a beautiful bruise, but may be more successful now the c-section has healed and I'm getting more sleep - will give it another try, thank you

Good luck with the beeping pram!

puntasticusername · 06/03/2014 18:38

Ah, well I never had a c section to contend with - take it easy, good luck!

Sparklymommy · 06/03/2014 18:46

When I worked in woolworths a few years ago a young girl with a buggy came in close to closing time on Christmas Eve and was caught shoplifting.

I will never forget the howls from the office as the police were called and she was taken into into custody, and her young son into care. It's just not worth it. I have often thought of her over the years, and wondered what happened to her.

It is true that prams are a big one to look out for.

sandiy · 06/03/2014 19:17

I was followed in virtually every shop I ever went in with my pram!It was a fuckoff massive triple pram with huge wheels and massive storage space.Mothercare was the worst, The security guard was obsessed with the idea I was a shoplifter I do wonder if you have to be a special kind of stupid to assume that a woman as obvious as I was would be shoplifting.He used to watch me buy stuff all the time you think he would notice a pattern Knackered looking woman with three babies in a pram comes into the shop heads straight for what she needs buys it and leaves.Really I'm fairly certain I was the only woman with a bright red American import triple in that shop regulary.Why is it assumed that women with prams are shoplifters.A bit judgemental I think.

OhTheDrama · 06/03/2014 19:19

Sparklymommy that's so sad. I can't believe anyone would take their child shoplifting but it happens more than people think.

My DM has a friend who is a foster carer, she only does emergency placements. About a year ago she was asked to go to the local station to collect a 3yr Romanian old boy who had been with his mum when she was arrested for shoplifting. Anyway he only had the clothes he stood up in so she popped to Asda to get essentials. As she was putting clothes in the trolley he was very quickly pulling the tags off and putting things up his jumper. She said he looked bewildered when she was telling him to stop. Totally heartbreaking.

Original poster

Hotmad · 07/03/2014 07:33

What would be a funny remark to make next time it happens? (Hypothetically, as I prob wouldn't do it for real!)

OP posts:

Sparklymommy · 07/03/2014 07:38

ohthedrama that is shocking! Poor little boy. It just goes to show how low some people can go. Sounds like a career shoplifter to me.

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