Gutted I was accused of shoplifting today

[anyoneanyoneanyone]

So I went to Aldi to look for sone antihistamines for my hayfever. I couldn't find them and I was in a rush to get my daughter from her friends. I couldn't get out as I have quite a big pushchair with my toddler in. The queues were so big the only way I could get out was through the entrance. As I was wandering out in my own world a staff member ran out and said excuse me love can I check under your pram? And she did and said it was fine but I sobbed all the way home. I'm a single mum and have been since my daughter was born and life is a struggle. I feel violated and judged and despairing really that they see me like that just because I look young and have a pram. I worked in retail before I had DD so know what it's like but what the hell could I take from Aldi 😳I only went in for sone hayfever wipes ☹️

My family got marched through a theme park by security because we’d been issued the wrong wristbands. I was mortified!

It sounds like you do a lot yourself and are feeling quite anxious and vulnerable in general? Maybe a visit to the GP for anxiety meds would help you as it did for me.

Sadly a lot of people are shoplifting food at the moment to survive. I hate going into a shop for one thing and they haven't got it and leaving empty veryone is a suspect handed. I usually buy something like a bottle of water. I was in Tesco the other week and I overheard a member of staff saying someone had just walked out with £43 worth of shopping. So they have to be extra vigilant.

I had similar, a staff member checked I wasn’t squirrelling away any stolen goods under the bags for life in my trolley
she was very apologetic, it was ok ❤️

It's the pram, not that you're a single parent! They can't tell you're a single parent! I'm a single parent and I would feel mortified for the aldi employee who checked my bag. No buggy anymore.

And I did have self esteem /sense of self issues. I hear you that it was embarrassing but it's not YOU. They are probably told to check buggies. I doubt they're told "look for a wedding band, and if there isn't one then do a quick search".
Being a single parent isn't easy though, I know, don't assume people see you through a particular lens when it has to do with the accessory you were pushing. 💐

In my local Aldi and in others I’ve been to there’s an entrance side and a side you go through once you’ve paid, however I’ve been through the entrance door before and thought “ah it doesn’t matter” and just gone through the exit through the tills? Most of them are usually open so can just walk through..

by going out the entrance (only asking because I’m not sure how you’ve done it unless someone else was coming through) most of them automatically open? If you’re leaving through the actual entrance door (if it was just you) the door wouldn’t open? Because the sensor is on the other side..

basically in a nutshell did you go directly out the entrance door or do you mean the exit door by exiting through the till area?

my husband worked in Aldi for a while and he’s just said they don’t often do checks like this at all, he’s covered multiple stores.. this to me actually sounds really unfair and I can completely understand why you’d feel the way you do.

as for the others saying your wrong to feel the way you do and your “over the top or exaggerating” need to get a grip, this would make anyone feel uncomfortable! Especially if they’ve come out to the car park to do so,

id let it go but if it happens again ask for the matter to be taken further, put in a complaint. Completely understandable they need to make sure nothing is robbed but this sounds completely unnecessary! I’ve worked in retail for around 5yrs and never have I been trained to do this UNLESS I’d actually witnessed someone put something in there coat/bag etc then I’d be expected to stop them or security would do so..

hold your head up high! You’ve done nothing wrong and of course it’s understandable why you feel the way you do! Move past it, sending big hugs❤️

Do shops actually have the right to stop and search you? I think I would’ve just kept walking cheeky arse.

Do all the Aldi stores need you to check in with the app in order to get in or just the Greenwich one?

Forget it, you did nothing, you know you did nothing and they were just reacting via a script. The dogsbody involved would get his/her arse kicked if they did not check you when told. I wish you well and you get some deserved luck in life. ❤

That would have annoyed me and I would have asked do you think I have shop lifted?have you seen something on CCTV?is it the policy for staff to do random checks in the car park?what would happen if i refused a check?don't worry about it too much,I don't think you were targeted.im nearly 40,work full time,often shop with my kids and still get followed.i do see women followed more than men tho,and makes me wonder if security are more comfortable with not pulling men for shop lifting.infact,it's very rare i have seen a man followed.always women,pushchair or not x

Please don't feel violated and judged. The store may have a policy to check everyone who walks back out the entrance. There may have been other incidents where this route was used by shoplifters. It may have been compulsory for the person who checked you to stop anyone taking this route. The Aldi queues are a nightmare - I would also have walked back out of the entrance if I was with a pram.

She didn’t accuse you though did she? She asked to check.
I hope you feel reassured that she was checking for good reasons, she didn’t look at you and think “SHOPLIFTER!” because of how you looked!

You say you didn't go to the middle aisle?

Right there you became Suspect Number 1.

Schoolgirl error OP.

Don’t take it personally, it is the same when they come round and check your ticket on the train or on the bus. Not everyone is as honest as you, which is why you got upset, but they have to do it, just imagine what would happen if word got round to the dishonest people that no one wheeling a big pram out of a supermarket ever got checked! The shelves would be empty.

I really can’t imagine, that must be awful. I remember when the story about Anthropologie and racial profiling came out about three years ago. Never shop there now, my principles aren’t for sale. Sorry about your experience last week.

As an aside I was in Sainsbury's this morning and saw a little boy easily under ten walk out with a stack of boxes of chicken nuggets, at least six, he checked his exit was clear and then just walked out, then ran away . I told a staff member who just shrugged and said "that's why we're putting all these barriers in " pointing to newly installed gates that will need receipts scanned to get out.

I got followed round Waitrose once by the security guard. At first I thought I was being paranoid but he definitely did follow me, probably because I used the shopping basket of my buggy as a trolley so he was watching that I didn't sneak anything in that I wasn't going to pay for. I felt a bit embarrassed but he obviously then went and saw me pay so he didn't confront me. It's just what they're employed to do, don't worry about it.

Don’t take it personally . Last week I paused before going in to look at flowers in the lobby part and ds7 did not notice , wallows in an got a basket . He then saw me and came back out through the entrance with the basket . A security guard was there like a flash because the basket set off the alarms . I didn’t feel embarrassed for a second because I am not a thief and he said sorry , he was only doing his job .

It’s also age. My dd looks about 17, she’s 15. She was stopped leaving a shop and the security guard asked to search her bag. She immediately handed him her bag and was so visibly frightened that he handed it back without looking in it and said it was ok

thing is op, shoplifting is happening all of the time

It’s not just adults that the security guards have to have an eye on. When I was in a pushchair my mum and I left a shop and I was squawking “ bicky,bicky ,bicky.” “ No bicky” mum insisted, and then discovered the packet of fig biscuits I’d nicked as I’d been wheeled round and secreted in my pushchair. She had to go red faced back to the shop and turn me in, staff thought it hysterical. That was over 50 years ago and I can confirm I did not turn to a life of crime . These things happen,don’t let it worry you.

At our local Aldi we are asked to pick up bags in trolley to check nothing is underneath with good reason .

I went to Morrisons yesterday - went through checkout as packing bags a pack of chocolate bars had fell between the bags . I obviously handed it to cashier to scan.

I just looked at he and did a 'yikes' face but yes I was really offended but on reflection now maybe it's a sign of the times and in too naive/scared

Wish it wasn't so though.

My husband used to be a manager at Aldi.

They don't random spot checks (that's to colleagues) they only check when they suspect. Prams generally get chosen and young people! I do believe it's because you went out through the entrance way!

No need to be upset.

Oh don't take that to heart. Aldi make me turn my bags for life inside out at the till every single time to make sure I've not stuffed stolen items in them. Seriously, don't give it a second thought. It's just their policy.

How are you meant to leave aldi if you don't buy anything? I've always wondered that!

The old Aldi Donut dog beds were ACE!
{about 18months ago} Haven't been able to find another one as good, even paying double.