To boycott Aldi

[NameChanger22]

Today I went to Aldi to do my weekly shop. It's my local supermarket and I often shop in there.

However, today I witnessed an incident which I found shocking and upsetting and it has made me think I won't shop there again.

I was walking past the tills with my trolley when I saw a security guard grab a woman as she was about to leave the shop, he didn't speak to her. I instantly thought she must be a shoplifter. He picked her up and carried her across the shop in front of everyone and then slammed her into a wall and pressed his body hard against her. She was screaming that he was hurting her. It looked so brutal and aggressive. She screamed more that he was crushing her ribs. Then he threw her into the staff room and 4 male members of staff bundled in after them. It was really shocking to watch.

I had no idea that security officers are allowed to be this heavy-handed with potential shoplifters.

I waited for the police and told them what I'd seen. They said they would watch the security footage and see for themselves.

If she was shoplifting she was obviously in the wrong, but I don't think she deserved this kind of brutal treatment.

Anyway, even though Aldi is convenient and cheap for me, I've decided to do all my shopping in Tesco now. AIBU?

Yes. I don’t really see why you’d boycott the chain over that one person. Speak to the manager and escalate if necessary. Oh, and don’t shoplift there!

No! That's assault. I hope she's ok. God knows what they did to her in that room. You could write to the manager I suppose.

Yanbu to boycott anywhere for whatever reason, however there's an awful lot of assumption on your part, you didn't see what happened, just the aftermath. She may have had a knife or been threatening someone rather than shoplifting.

You would be unreasonable to do it without telling them that you're doing it and why. If you don't hear back about the incident, I'd put in a formal complaint in writing and tell them you're shopping elsewhere.

I'd be providing my details to the attending officers in case the CCTV goes missing, that's terrible, and I'd also be raising it in a letter to their head office for an explanation - it could be a rogue security team taking matters too far, or a particularly aggressive store manager accepting this as part of the shop culture, and so I'd expect it to be investigated at a central higher hq tbh.

I might write to the manager. I did speak to a manager while I was there. He didn't seem at all interested in anything I had to say.

It certainly looked like assault from where I was standing.

You did the right thing in telling the police what you saw.

You are unreasonable in boycotting a whole chain based on the actions of an individual.

Surely you’d be better off making a complaint and getting sanctions against the assaulting guard rather than boycotting the chain?

The woman wasn't threatening anyone with a knife. She was just walking out of the shop. The whole thing happened right in front of me.

Find out who the area manager or regional manager is, and make a complaint about the security guard and the store manager if you feel strongly about it?

I don't think shoplifters can be apprehended by security until they've actually left the store, and committed the offence?
Obviously this misses the point of your post, but agree with PP that this is an individuals behaviour and most likely not under Aldi orders.

I would phone the police and volunteer yourself as a witness.

Although you don’t know what had happened before that incident, you did see how it was handled.

As an aside (I realise this might not be the reason for what you saw), technically, a person hasn’t shoplifted until they’ve crossed the threshold and left the shop- even if they have a bag/coat full of gear inside the shop.

She hadn't left the store, she was near the door about to go out. I was shocked that he was allowed to pick her up and carry her across the shop. Then when he slammed her into a wall I was even more shocked.

I will write to the manager. For me this was very shocking. I've never seen anything like this before. Other people were also shocked and complaining about it.

Are the security guards hired by the supermarket or through an agency.

It's up to you what you do. I agree that the store has no right to be heavy handed like that, unless there was an obvious threat to someone's safety. If someone had assaulted someone by slamming them in to a wall and someone had shoplifted then you would say the person who assaulted someone committed the more serious crime of the two.

Thieving scum apprehended by security I'm shook

I wasn't doing anything wrong and that happened to me in another supermarket.

I accidentally knocked clothes hangers on the till, it hit the cashier and she went off then a gang of men attacked me, arm over my throat. Because I bit the security guard when he loosened off, I couldn't breathe and didn't want to die, I was done for assault. No CCTV and nothing happened to anyone else. I took a six year thing I went into a huge depression over it.

I don't go out much anymore and that was about eight years ago.

If she was thieving hopefully that puts her off doing it again

This may not be aldi policy, yabu

Coughed - that is really terrible. So sorry.

Rather than boycotting the entire company it’s best to let them know what you witnessed. Btw if they were as heavy handed as you say then they were totally on the wrong. Some security/loss prevention staff seem to have a god complex and massively overreact. A place I used to work one of the loss prevention staff was caught on camera twisting a shoplifters arm right up behind his back til he howled in pain. A shopper saw this and raised it with the manager. As soon as the area manager saw the footage the guy was quite rightly dismissed.

Our local Lidl have terrible problems with shoplifting by the local druggies and they’ve had all their doors broken and the shop smashed up 4 or 5 times. I asked them if they knew who it was and was told it was the same people every time. They’ve now got 2 security guards. Maybe the woman in your Aldi was a known shoplifter?

My children were too young to be witnesses. Trolley man jumped on my back knocked me to the ground and I was pinned against the wall arms behind my back with an arm over my throat by the security guard. That was in Asda.

People are evil.

Polo - I don't think thieves should get away with it. But not this. What if they think you're a shoplifter when you're just putting your phone in your bag or something similar?

Some people are really evil.