Stopped from taking my child into a changing room.

[LemingsLemon]

went to my local John Lewis today- more to buy some things for DD, but found a blouse that was on sale so decided to try it on

Went to the changing rooms- I had 3 items for DD (2 dresses and a pair of trousers) and the blouse. Went over to the changing rooms, pleasantries exchanged and attendant handed me a card with my number of items. DD was fast asleep in her small, umbrella fold buggy. Changing rooms are quite large- could have fit me and DD in th buggy in there with room for me to try items on.

Assistant stopped me as I was pushing her into a cubicle and explained it wasn’t allowed. Apparently in case I stole something and stashed it in the pram?!!? Assistant offered to keep an eye on DD for a few minutes while I tried my blouse on. I said I don’t know you, why would I trust a stranger with my daughter unsupervised. Assistant called a manager over who asked me to leave.

Safe to say I won’t be going back

AIBU to think this is batshit?

Yes, totally batshit. What’s to stop you stashing stuff anywhere if you wanted to steal it?

This isn't jl policy. Id take it further.

definitely take it further.

Surely that’s discrimination? That means any parent (and we know it’s more than likely mums) can’t try clothes on if they have a child in a pram!

What about a wheelchair? Are people expected to pop up and walk out of those into a cubicle?

They gave you a card with a number on for a reason. They just needed to check the number of items you come out with, like they normally do. The buggy is irrelevant and shouldn’t have even been mentioned. YANBU.

Is there a drip feed coming?

The escalation to the manager asking you to leave seems quick.

Still, yanbu at all, that's discrimination

So she doesn't trust you with a blouse but she expects you to trust her with your baby. How ridiculous. Are they going to stop women with big handbags or people in wheelchairs from trying things on?

Batshit. I used to take a dc in a buggy with me. Albeit more than 25 years ago. JL never had a problem.

similar happened to me loads of times when my eldest was this age (I mean I was 16 so immediately suspicious) I’ve learnt to just roll with it they’re just doing their job and if they want to waste time instead of going after the real thieves that’s their business

I presume it is due to shoplifting risks I have no issue with it and it was not a wheelchaiir I am not sure the relevance of mentioning a wheelchair is

Where I live it is a very well known tactic of shoplifters to hide things in a pushchair/pram as they are less likely to be challenged, I'm not surprised some stores have introduced a policy like this.

And she allowed you to go in to the changing rooms with her, but wouldn't let you take the pushchair into the actual cubicle with you, why would you need to take the pushchair into the actual cubicle? She was sleeping, so you could have just left her outside the door/curtain or kept the door/curtain ajar while you tried on a blouse surely? It's not like leaving her on the shop floor while you went into another room.. it's a private area with an attendant at the entrance.

You had no need to bring a sleeping child inside the actual cubicle with you when you were already in the changing rooms.

Having worked in retail for many years, its a well known fact that prams are often used in the theft of items from shops

100% agreed.

It's frustrating when you know you're honest but there's an epidemic of shoplifting.
Your dd would have been perfectly safe, asleep in her pushchair, in the changing room, just outside the cubicle.

Sadly it's due to increasingly common shoplifting from people using exactly this technique (i.e. stashing things in pushchairs). Blame the shoplifters, not the shops.

I had a Saturday job working the changing room of a main stream high street store in 1987 - this was a well known issue then.

Never leave a child with a stranger. EVER.

they asked you to leave because you didn’t agree to leave your daughter outside the changing room? I would complain

Yeah, but you don't need to go into a cubicle to do it.

so the only option was that not just take the child out of the buggy and take them in?

I presume the buggy was banned not the child?

Could you and your DD not have swapped over. One tries on then the next? Baby outside cubicle.

Complain. This is atrocious. I have a disabled child in a pram and would have refused also.

You don't need to go to a changing room to stash items in a pram and if they suspect you of shoplifting then they can ask security to check.

Take it to head office.

I work with the public and I do feel like bits of this conversation was definitely left out. But poster who said items should have been counted upon leaving and compared to number on card is correct. Having said that, if the staff member has been trained to say no pushchairs allowed, that’s really not their fault. I feel you’ve been told to leave because either you became angry/showed aggression or because you have been trouble before.

There are customers who come into my workplace and kick off because a member of staff supervises them when they’re in the shop. We are told to do this by management because this woman has shoplifted 3 times. She makes such a fuss when she visits, warning others of our discriminatory behaviour towards her and we are all racist etc. Absolutely no racism involved as both managers are mixed race and the owner was born in Nigeria for crying out loud! But if you listen to her story we are the villains ….

While you may never have shoplifted , maybe you resemble a person who has and now they have to be careful, OP. I stand by that I do not think you were asked to leave because you calmly stated you didn’t want to leave your pushchair outside of the door.
There must be more to this.

Whilst I do understand that prams could be used to shoplift, by that token you should only ever be allowed to go into the changing rooms alone (you could be hiding things on older children), with no handbag or other shopping bags, which you could obviously stuff things in.

The whole point of the numbered cards etc they give you is that they see how many items you've taken in, and how many you bring back out. If you went in with 11 items then came out with 9, that's how they know you're nicking! Regardless of having a pram or not!

If you really wanted to hide things in the pram you could do that on the shop floor, under the guise of getting a bottle or whatever from the pram then stashing the stolen goods.

I wouldn't be leaving my infant with a random shop worker and I also wouldn't leave them just outside my cubicle with the door slightly ajar/curtain not fully closed, for everyone to see my chebs flapping about!

DD is the baby. OP just wanted to try on a blouse.