Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think the shop assistant was a bit harsh about my dc stealing.

195 replies

Isabellaandthepotofbasil · 27/02/2017 18:13

We were out shopping at the weekend and I went into a shop with dd in the buggy . The shop has quite narrow aisles and the one I needed had a pillar in the middle so I parked dd up at the end and nipped down the aisle to get what I wanted, paid and we left. Yesterday morning I was cleaning the bottom of the buggy and I found a lipstick and two nail varnishes. Dd must have reached out from under the rain cover and picked them off the shelf whilst I was down the aisle! Obviously I'm mortified!

So I went back to the shop today with the stuff, offered to pay or return it and apologised profusely. The woman was awful to me. What kind of person let's their kids steal... I really should have checked before I left etc. She said they couldn't take the lipstick and nail varnish back in case I'd tampered with them. I said that I would pay for them so she scanned them through, I paid and I went to pick them up when she said that there was no way I could have them, she said 'did you really expect to be able get away with stealing them then get to keep them!'.

Now I didn't go in expecting to receive my mother of the year certificate but AIBU to think that I didn't deserve to be humiliated either?

OP posts:
Silverthorn · 27/02/2017 19:09

Me and dh managed to walk out of tesco with a bag of pampers (we each,thought the other had scanned it), dh went back the next day to pay and they said we could have it for free because most people wouldn't have been honest!
Yanbu, the shop assistant is crazy.

GatoradeMeBitch · 27/02/2017 19:09

Sorry, Superdrug. Complain!

And Superdrug seems to have form for arse-twitching over-involved employees. I once got a ten minute lecture from one because I managed to buy a tester foundation instead of a sealed one and took it back to exchange.

roundaboutthetown · 27/02/2017 19:09

Definitely complain. The woman was totally out of order, offensive and probably kept the makeup you paid for for herself - after all, she had already told you it couldn't go back on the shelves... Exasperated, my eye. Pleased to have found herself a sucker, more like. No sane thief would return to the scene of the crime and offer to pay for items they claimed their 16 month old baby had stolen.

ChasedByBees · 27/02/2017 19:12

Please please please complain. She has now stolen from you!

poppy2021 · 27/02/2017 19:15

Definitely complain to head office. She was out of order

Welshmamma · 27/02/2017 19:15

I would most certainly write to the manager and complain! You can't call a 16 month d picking things up stealing!! That's ridiculous xx

Broccolirevolution · 27/02/2017 19:16

Tweet them! It's so wrong. If you're not on twitter I will do it for you.

TSSDNCOP · 27/02/2017 19:16

That's crazy. There's just no logic to what she did at all. I would have loved to have seen your poor face though when she wouldn't hand them over.

Was it a Heather Shimmer or did you take a real hit?

DS was a bugger for nicking gear. We were well known in John Lewis and Boots but treated with nothing but tolerance.

acatcalledjohn · 27/02/2017 19:18

I bet the shop assistant got herself a freebie that way. I'd absolutely complain, because she has now effectively stolen from you by making you pay but refusing you the items (if she did put them back on the shelf she has effectively stolen in her employer's name). You came in, apologised for not noticing your DD had grabbed items, and paid for them, which is behaviour that should be appreciated.

We were in a supermarket yesterday afternoon and you know when they start marking down the almost out of date stuff... Well, DP went over to see if there was anything worth getting from the trolley, but the assistant put her hands over the items and said something along the lines of "you can't have them, they are mine", like a child preventing another child from playing with a certain toy.

He had a quiet word with the manager about making customers feel uncomfortable.

Megatherium · 27/02/2017 19:19

The assistant just seemed very angry and exasperated so maybe they get a lot of stuff stolen.

All the more reason not to be so unpleasant to an honest customer. It hardly incentivises anyone else who finds yourself in that position to come back and fess up, does it?

Please complain formally. The assistant stole from you, and is badly in need of some serious training.

Valentine2 · 27/02/2017 19:20

Report her. That's the worst customer service you can ever encounter anywhere. What supermarket was it?

roundaboutthetown · 27/02/2017 19:21

Of course a 16 month old baby cannot steal - she is not old enough to have the understanding to be guilty of the necessary intent. The act alone does not make you guilty if you have no understanding of what you are doing. You are the one who is the victim of theft, as unlike your dd, the shop assistant knew exactly what she was doing - breaking the law.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 27/02/2017 19:22

The assistant just seemed very angry and exasperated so maybe they get a lot of stuff stolen.

Doesn't matter. They shouldn't assume you also did just because you had a pram with you. If they have stuff stolen that regularly they should invest in a security guard.

Cagliostro · 27/02/2017 19:26

You paid for items and she wouldn't let you keep them? And she says YOU are the thief?!

aintnobodygottimefodat · 27/02/2017 19:27

Write it on their Facebook page OP! What a nasty woman Angry

AwaywiththePixies27 · 27/02/2017 19:29

No sane thief would return to the scene of the crime and offer to pay for items they claimed their 16 month old baby had stolen.

This x 1000.

Trifleorbust · 27/02/2017 19:31

Some people are just gobshites, OP. Flowers

AddUpToNothing · 27/02/2017 19:31

I'm a manager of Superdrug and I can assure you our customer relations team will take this very seriously. It's not acceptable customer service at all and I'm sorry that you experienced it.

The assistant really should have known how to deal with this situation, it's not uncommon. She certainly has no right to withhold the items you have paid for. If she was unsure, she should have called over a member of the management team.

acatcalledjohn · 27/02/2017 19:35

Report her. That's the worst customer service you can ever encounter anywhere. What supermarket was it?

Assuming this is aimed at me: quiet word with the manager is suitable for the situation. Shan't name the supermarket.

The OP's case is much worse (theft by the assistant) and warrants serious action. If she has pocketed the items after effectively gaslighting the OP then I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that this is unlikely to be a one off occurrence.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 27/02/2017 19:36

We had this once with ds2 - when he was a similar age, he took a little toy from a toy shop, and as soon as we noticed, we went back and he handed it back and apologised (he might have been a little older than the OP's child). The shop were lovely.

thunderbuddy · 27/02/2017 19:46

Please complain, she has stolen from YOU and she needs her attitude in check.

I knew it was going to be Superdrug. I went in with the dc the other day and dc was looking at makeup. I was stood with them, a member of staff immediately approached us and asked if they could help which was fine until he followed us down every aisle and stood at the end, then stood by the till, then stood by the door until we left, made me feel very uncomfortable!

Obviouspretzel · 27/02/2017 19:53

So you paid for some items, the woman refused to give you them, and you just accepted it and left the shop??

seagazer · 27/02/2017 20:11

You're lucky she didn't call the cops.
What, on herself? Confused

MrGrumpy01 · 27/02/2017 20:24

Ds did this once in the newsagents. I didn't realise until I was stood in the library and he was sat waving two snickers. I went back to the shop, threw them at the assistant and ran away. he then did it again the next week

But the SA here was out of order.

AlmaMartyr · 27/02/2017 20:27

I would absolutely complain about this, that's an appalling attitude. It's not an uncommon event and she has now stolen from you.

Swipe left for the next trending thread