AIBU to assume that this shop thinks I am a crook?

[mymoonandstars]

I go in a shop in town a lot. Its a big chain store. They ran a promotion before christmas that said "buy a £20 voucher, get a £5 one for free."

I was buying £40 worth of stuff so I asked to buy two £20 vouchers, pay with those and then I got 2 x £5 free. I had checked the T&C's and assistant agreed it was fine. After all, I could have just bought the vouchers and spent them on another day. I also have a student card even though I am a mature student. Anyway, I got another £5 free the next week when I bought a £20 voucher for a friend. This time the assistant next to the one who was serving me said "No, you cant do that promotion any more. Thats not allowed" My assistant said no, it IS allowed and they had a bit of a discussion about a particular manager of that store saying they weren't doing the promotion any more, even though another said they were. My assistant was lovely and did it anyway because it was all within the terms of the promotion.

The next time I went in, I heard on the radio "That woman is here again"
The next two times I went in, an assistant has pulled the curtain open on me in the changing room 'by accident'.
The last time I went in, I was trying on some shoes and my phone rang. I reached in to my bag to get it and an assistant flew round the corner to see what I was doing.

AIBU to wonder if they think I am a crook or am I being paranoid? I wonder if they think I have a fake student card or something, and I am sure its related to the promotion situation, which was perfectly fine and legal!

Maybe you are a teeny bit paranoid? If you go in twice a week every week and they recognise you enough to send radio messages about 'that woman' then surely they also recognise that you actually buy something every Saturday?

I dont know many shoplifters but it doesnt seem to be a very profitable way to case the joint with intent to steal.

I would have thought anyone intending to shoplift would stay "under the radar" and not be seen in the shop too often asking questions bringing yourself to the attention of the staff!

Going in on a Friday with your DS (who doesn't want to be there) and then returning on the Saturday to try & buy seems like overkill to me. Why not just go in on the Saturday to browse/try/buy in one hit.

And yes, I think I would complain about the way you appear to be being treated.

I'm sooooo going into New Look this afternoon to see if I can get followed!
I get followed a lot because I must look dodgy.

Surely if a shop is open then the OPis perfectly at liberty to go in whenever she wants to, provided she is using the shop as is intended... to browse, try on and purchase where suitable?

Sounds like the staff are bored.

On Saturdays it's so busy you can't get around the place too well for browsing. The Friday visit is just an in/out visit as we pass on the way to the bus stop to see if it's worth going in on Saturday, sometimes there's nothing I like.

I feel a bit that shoppers should have to change their perfectly non dodgy shopping habits just to avoid having a curtain pulled open on them/stuff about them on the radio (if indeed it IS about me)

I'll just go online I think. Or go somewhere else!

I know of an elderly lady (in her 80s) who walked past new look one day with her son on their way elsewhere. The security guard accused her of having just come out of the shop and stealing. He was physically trying to get her into the shop and when he did, the police were called. She was spoken to appallingly by the security guard and staff and on reviewing cctv footage and checking her bags, there was no sign of her being in there and nothing in her bag. Three months later after numerous letters to head office, she received a very reluctant apology by letter - no admittance of being in the wrong, no apology for her treatment. Shops such as these font deserve the business you give OP.

dont

OMG I knew it was New Look! The staff in their shops tend to be such a pack of cunts.

(Apologies to anyone whose kid works in a New Look. It's true though.)

Sounds like they're watching you OP

I had this once in boots and the security guard was blatantly following me everywhere, so I enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the store, picking everything up, examining it, putting it back again up and down each aisle! Took about half an hour then said 'see you later' to him and left