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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To boycott Aldi

147 replies

NameChanger22 · 22/11/2018 18:50

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?

OP posts:

FannyFifer · 23/11/2018 10:06

There is no safe or appropriate restraint technique that involves picking a woman up and slamming her against a wall.
I am qualified in MAYBO which is used by a lot of security organisations, police, health services etc
Also in MAPA and CALM which are used in health services.
All different training methods, none of which involve what is described above.

ChanelPlease · 23/11/2018 10:10

'The OP and her army of armchair detectives have no idea what goes on in the real world. She's probably a well know shoplifter, who is banned from the store and who carries knives or needles - or is know to have HIV. '

Look, it's a chat forum. People post a scenario and others comment. We aren't psychic so none of us know exactly what happened but complaining is actually what people do when they witness a distressing event. Not ignore it because she probably deserved it anyway.

Its a bit of a leap to diagnose the person assaulted as having HIV isn't it?

Raven88 · 23/11/2018 10:13

Why do you call not shopping there a boycott? The word is over used and it's getting silly.

It sounds terrible and the member of staff responsible should be dealt with. Don't shop there but they won't notice one customer leaving. You will get a few people on social media agreeing but it won't stop them shopping there.

Sallystyle · 23/11/2018 10:35

There is no safe or appropriate restraint technique that involves picking a woman up and slamming her against a wall.

That is what I was thinking. I don't think picking someone up and slamming them into a wall is what anyone would be trained to do.

It is interesting how so many people assume the women has a history of violent behaviour when all the OP witnessed was her walking out of the shop. She was clearly not waving a weapon around putting lives at risk.

Surely brute force is only needed if she was an immediate danger and no matter her background, at that point she was walking quietly out of the shops so they weren't trying to wrestle a weapon off her.

BertrandRussell · 23/11/2018 11:45

"She's probably a well know shoplifter, who is banned from the store and who carries knives or needles - or is know to have HIV."
Then the security guard should have let her leave the shop and call the police. What if he had bungled the restraint and she had run amok with her knives and needles and - shock horror-HIVness?

Original poster

NameChanger22 · 23/11/2018 12:00

I only know what I saw. What I saw was enough for me not to go in there ever again and complain about it. I wasn't the only witness, other shoppers were also complaining about it. There were no weapons in sight. She was a young, slim, woman who looked well. I don't know her back story or whether she had shoplifted there before.

I started the thread because I was shaken by what I saw. I also wanted to see what other people thought about whether security staff are allowed to do this or not.

Thanks for the advice. I will make some complaints over the weekend.

OP posts:

sanpelle · 23/11/2018 12:09

A security guard should not touch anyone unless they have posed a threat/been violent to him. Fucking disgusting that they think they can do this, in an Aldi as well. Disgraceful. I was working in a quiet bar doing photography of a few DJs there. I hadn't purchased any drinks and was outside smoking. We had to smoke on the pavement as there was no smoking area and the security guard was in a bad mood as he'd just kicked someone out for having a bit of cannabis in their bag. I threw my cig near the door where everyone else did and it just so happened to be next to the security guard. Que a grown man freaking out because a very petite 20 year old threw an unlit fag butt in his direction. I tried to return into the venue to get my 3k worth of equipment, he assaulted me and then proceeded to drag me out the venue when I managed to get past him for my stuff. I was covered in bruises head to toe and I never touched him. Vile.

BoooForYou · 23/11/2018 12:15

Lidl where I live are as bad.

I bought and paid for shopping one morning, spent around £60. The woman on the till was like lightning at it as they all are.
Bagged it all up and began pushing the trolley to the exit.
As I went through the alarm went off, I stopped immediately and got my receipt out. As I've turned, two male staff members jumped over their booths and ran at me. Another ran from the side of me, and a manager started shouting at me, I could barely understand what he said. One of the males grabbed my shoulder and I kept saying, look, I have my receipt. He started pulling at my coat and shouting "meat! Meat!" at me.
I burst into tears. A gent in there came over and said he had seen me pay for my shop and to get off me. The staff then conferred in Polish and then unblocked my path. As I left, the one who had grabbed me shoved me to the exit and told me not to come back!
I was so upset, the place was packed. I wrote to their head office but they were hardly bothered and made excuses about stock loss. I've never gone back since.

sanpelle · 23/11/2018 12:20

I don't use them anyway but definitely won't be doing now. I won't be using Lidl either as I often get stalked round the whole store by the security guard as I apparently look like a shoplifting teenager according to the till staff They have a responsibility for how their staff behave and it certainly was not correct. I have a deep hatred for most security guards after several incidents I've experienced and they're so horrific towards women. A security guard almost killed a man in a town near me last week and the bar is somehow still open! Unbelievable. The victim was trying to stop a fight outside and the bouncer just dragged him away and started beating him up instead of solving the actual problem. He's got serious head injuries and the bouncer has still got his job! Do not touch anyone unless they touch you. Only
Police have that power. I think sometimes security think they are the police

EmeraldShamrock · 23/11/2018 12:29

I think lots of retail security staff are confused, Some believe they're the police, the ones that follow around the shop like a spy. As a younger women when I went out socialising I came across some horrible door men. There are decent ones too.

scaredandindebt · 23/11/2018 12:38

My ex punched a shoplifter full on in the face years ago. His manager told him to. She was a known addict and had a blood disorder - she pulled a used needle out of her pocket to stab him with. I'd have punched her too

easyandy101 · 23/11/2018 12:42

Security are allowed to take reasonable measures to prevent theft. The idea they can't touch you is a total fallacy

Having dealt with many many violent shoplifters in my time if I saw what was described in the op I'd think fuck it, don't care. The police literally will do nothing about it, there is no disincentive for lifters at all. I've had people arrested who then came back and attacked me on their immediate release from the station

Can't believe the level of sympathy for lifters on this forum and elsewhere, the majority of career lifters are fucking scum

CondomsLubricantAndFlapjack · 23/11/2018 12:52

Its a bit of a leap to diagnose the person assaulted as having HIV isn't it?

'Assuming' what every other poster is doing

wrenika · 23/11/2018 12:52

Boycott if you like but she's probably well known to security. Every shop has there regular chancers who have it coming to them.

user1457017537 · 23/11/2018 16:04

Well, quite frankly I find the amount of collusion for security and doormen being able to use violence quite staggering. So you think it’s alright to be beaten up by security staff then. Well as long as said security realise that some people may fight back and be better at it than them.

FooFighter99 · 23/11/2018 16:13

is it possible she verbally/racially abused him? not that it's an excuse but it may explain his excessive reaction, especially if she is a repeat offender

7emckinnell · 23/11/2018 16:16

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Noodella18 · 23/11/2018 16:18

I'm not sure but I'd think supermarkets subcontract out security to specialist firms, so the ones you get in Tesco, Sainsburys etc etc may be no better. If you're upset, why don't you report it to the store manager and see what he or she says?

ChanelPlease · 23/11/2018 18:26

'Can't believe the level of sympathy for lifters on this forum and elsewhere, the majority of career lifters are fucking scum'

Yes there's lots of people feeling sorry for 'lifters' isn't there? Oh wait no there actually isn't.

Just lots of people saying security staff do not have the right to assault people.

ThereGoesTheAlarmRinging · 23/11/2018 18:40

...if I saw what was described in the op I'd think fuck it, don't care...

Wow, just, wow!

Why are people who lack empathy placed in a position where they can harm others?

alltoomuchrightnow · 23/11/2018 23:47

It may be that by acting like that they were protecting others
But I guess we'll never know

HIVpos · 24/11/2018 12:17

What if he had bungled the restraint and she had run amok with her knives and needles and - shock horror-HIVness? that made me @BertrandRussell .

I always wonder how people think someone can contract HIV in this sort of situation . I mean....the mind boggles..... that this woman might be HIV pos and not on, or adherent to, medication, and either
a) start having full on unprotected sex with someone in the store, or
b) decide to do some sort of blood brothers pact with someone else (both with open wounds and grind one into the other), or
c) sit down in the middle of the store with a syringe and have a drug rig sharing party, or
d) grab someone’s baby and start breastfeeding

Unfortunately newspapers are a lot to blame for this with their sensationalist click-baity headlines mentioning HIV. There was even something in the newspapers last week about a migrant ship and HIV contaminated clothing...I mean, I ask you!

Sorry, going off topic a bit. I would have probably been shocked too to see this happen, and the only reasoning I can think of for this being that this customer is known to the staff for shoplifting, and can also be aggressive/threaten with a knife etc. Although the force used sounds extreme, perhaps lifting her up from behind and therefore pinning her arms to her side, and putting her in another room, is putting her out of harm’’s way of the other customers?

I would probably write in too - but certainly not boycott.

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