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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Boots - not Mum friendly. word of warning.

160 replies

CarolineFin · 15/03/2010 14:02

Went into boots last week to swap a pack of nappies to a bigger size. Ended up not taking them straight to the till, thought i'd check they had the size 1st. I got distracted by some perfume, mothers day presents and my phone. Went to the till and paid, walked out of the store. Was standing outside sending a text and got stopped by securtity. When i'd been talking to the cashier and taking stuff out of the buggy basket i'd missed a gift set i'd put in. To cut a long story shorrt i was in the office for 2 hours, they called the police and everything. i was morfified and called hubby in tears.

Really i just wanted to warn you, I'm sure you all know how easy it is to stuff bits in your buggy basket as your doing your shopping. I've also been banned from Boots stores for 12 months, which is crazy seeing though i'm a member of the mother and baby club and buy a lot of food, nappies etc. They also accused me of taking the nappies i'd swapped and just wouldn't listen to me, even when they'd seen the cctv.

Anyway, thought i'd share, really wouldn't want it to happen to anyone, but they don't seem to trust harressed stressed out mums in a rush. mistakes don't happen....

A most pissed off caroline xx

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 15/03/2010 14:17

Why would you register on a site just to rant against a store who stopped you after you walked out without paying for something?

justallovertheplace · 15/03/2010 14:17

Was it 2 hours or 3? I think you have some kind of beef against Boots tbh

Kaloki · 15/03/2010 14:18

"I would have thought it would have been obvious to security that she was not some kind of hardened shoplifter. She actually went to the till and paid for everything, bar one item and, as she said, hung around outside sending a text. Keeping her for two hours, reducing her to tears and banning her from Boots for a year sounds completely over the top. "

Actually that's not that unusual. Shoplifters tend not to want to draw attention to themselves, it's quite normal for them to pay for some items while stealing others. They know it makes it harder to spot. Same goes for hanging around outside the shop.

SoupDragon · 15/03/2010 14:19

I know for a fact that shoplifters use babies in buggies as a cover for stealing so I'm not surprised they took a hard line. I bet they hear "it was a mistake!" all the time. It's not their fault, it's the fault of those who do steal.

StewieGriffinsMom · 15/03/2010 14:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

FrazzleRock · 15/03/2010 14:21

Oh dear, so when I do my weekly shopping, other customers must think I'm shoplifting

maybe I should patent a trolley which attaches somehow to a pram....

Now that's an idea!

How many times do you see mothers with buggies folded up in the trolley...?

porcamiseria · 15/03/2010 14:22

oh it does amuse me when people don't hear what they want here and get all huffy!!!!

StewieGriffinsMom · 15/03/2010 14:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

cluckyduck · 15/03/2010 14:23

Caroline for whats it worth Mumsnet is a really supportive helpful tools, for new mums and old hands alike.... just dont go near AIBU!!

cluckyduck · 15/03/2010 14:25

Freudian slip - didnt mean to call you all tools!

That should have read "...supportive helpful site, for new mums..."

AccioPinotGrigio · 15/03/2010 14:25

I would occasionally use the under buggy basket to pop shopping items in when ds was small, and the hood and all whilst carrying a basket. It's not that unusual.

It must have been upsetting OP but I don't think you could reasonably expect the staff at Boots to have immediately recognised that weren't a shoplifter. There are no obvious outward signs.

Bufty · 15/03/2010 14:25

I dont think Caroline is saying they shouldn't have question her about the unpaid item, just that keeping her there for so long and causing alot of distress isn't really right for an honest mistake. I'm assuming her child was there the whole time too.

Caroline, i would just try to forget about it. At least now you have a rock n roll story to tell! It's going to be hard for them to stop you going in to boots (sure you don't want to though) I mean, what are they going to do, put your picture up in every store! Warning! Dont serve this woman!

Kaloki · 15/03/2010 14:25

sgm I had to read your post a few times!

frazzle I'm amazed it doesn't exist already

ImSoNotTelling · 15/03/2010 14:25

Agree that it is a warning against using your buggy basket for shopping. It is too easy to forget something.

Also be aware of the response on MN. I was on one of these threads and told the story about when I had my new baby (pushchair doesn't have handles to hang stuff/baskets off) and I was having trouble carrying stuff so I asked the woman on the tills in the course of chat what people normally did and she said stick it underneath.

So next time I stuck the heavy item underneath and forgot about it. Realised when I left the shop, went back in and paid.

MN jury said that what I had done was the same as stealing a laptop, that they should have called the police and had me arrested, and that stealing is stealing.

So be warned, OP. I was feeling a bit fragile at the time and got really upset about the whole thing.

AccioPinotGrigio · 15/03/2010 14:25

that you weren't a shoplifter.

ImSoNotTelling · 15/03/2010 14:26

I was also told that I shouldn't go shopping by myself if I couldn't be trusted to remember that I had put something under a buggy.

So there you go.

alurkerspeaks · 15/03/2010 14:26

YABU.

don't use teh buggy basket for storing groceries. Balance a basket on the hood or dangle it from the handle.

As others have said lots and lots of shoplifters use their children as cover to shoplift. Many do actually pay for some items to provide further cover.

If you didn't have a baby you would never dream of, I assume, placing shopping in a personal bag or coat pocket while you wandered round. Why is it any different now you have a baby. If it really is too much for you to manage a basket and a buggy try using a sling or backpack that way your hands would be free to carry a basket.

Sorry you had a horrible experience but as you said you've learnt from it.

Original poster
CarolineFin · 15/03/2010 14:26

I thought this was a forum for mum's to support one another, obviously not.

It was 2 hrs, I made a type mistake.

I'll repeat what I said before, I wanted other mum's who use their baskets to be extra careful. Yes i'm pissed with boots but in the same situation you would too. My baby is only 5 months old and i never dreamed i'd be in this situation. I'd donly nipped out to swap them.

I just don't want it happening to anyone else. Sop if a new mum reads this and decides not to use her basket then my jobs done.

As the policeman said it was obvious i wasn't a shop lifter, would would think boots would have been able to see the same.

OP posts:
Undercovamutha · 15/03/2010 14:28

OP I can see it from your pov, but also from Boots position. They probably get a lot of people using pushchairs when stealing. Your OP title was a little badly worded!

However, if I am in a shop and I pick up something heavy (e.g. 4 pinter of milk), I put it in the pushchair bottom basket. I used to hook the shopping basket over the handles until I had a very near miss with the pushchair falling backwards. I have seen LOADS of pushchairs do the same when people pile bags of stuff on the handles.

123andaway · 15/03/2010 14:28

When DC's were little I hung two t-shirts on hangers on the handles of my buggy that I was thinking of buying while I was looking around the shop. I managed to get out of the shop and down the lift to the car park before I realised I still had them!!! Of course I took them straight back, and fortuntately the staff were very understanding. To make matter worse I was a police officer at the time!!!!

I think however putting things in the pushchair basket and therefore concealing them is a very bad idea. It sounds like boots acted quite fairly given the circumstances, after all they didn't know your intentions. I mean you leave the store with a concealed item which you haven't paid for, you can see how it looks yes? - I would have taken you back to the police station and interviewed you - so it sounds like you actually got away quite lightly!!!

BexieID · 15/03/2010 14:28

You can walk round a shop and stuff things in your pockets, it is only when you walk out without paying that it is theft.

I really hate shopping with a buggy. Royal PITA, but it's sometimes unavoidable. Erin is usually in car seat as I often nip around town whilst Tom is at nursery, and place things around the seat. I nearly walked out of Home Bargains with cushions in my hand, as was carrying shopping . Even Tom stole socks once, and had to go back and apologise.

I like the idea of bunging it all into a bag though. Think shops should have bags and not baskets for carrying the goods round shop.

I was in Boots last year and there was quite clearly some guy stealing, giving the staff alot of abuse.

cluckyduck · 15/03/2010 14:29

Stop sulking, you asked for an opinion and have got it.

Now try looking at the sections of the sites for people with small children, the conception forum, the bereavement forum and tell me this isnt a supportive site.

Chin up, stop throwing your toys out the pram (or should that be pram basket, ho ho ho etc...)

FrazzleRock · 15/03/2010 14:30

Kaloki - you can get them for wheelchairs can't you so it would be similar to that idea. I've never seen one for prams. What a good idea!

Kaloki · 15/03/2010 14:30

caroline it is supportive. However you did leave the store with unpaid goods, which is technically shoplifting. So they were wihtin their rights to question you.

Howver it is now over, you weren't charged (obviously they realised it was an honest mistake) and both you, and I'm sure other people who've read this thread, have learnt this lesson.

It all ends well.

You would probably have got another response if you thread was titled with something about people remembering not to leave things in the basket. However it isn't, instead it blames Boots - when it wasn't their fault. Hence the repsonses.

ImSoNotTelling · 15/03/2010 14:32

The woman who started the thread where I got clobberd, had accidentelly walked out of M&S with a magazine underneath IIRC.

They shut her in a room with some "heavies" who shouted at her, having barred the door with a heavy fire extinguisher (how do I remmeber this stuff?).

MN said she got what she deserved.

This is not a very nice place sometimes, caroline, and AIBU is the worst.

BUT mainly it is full of lovely supportive people, and I would urge you to hide this if it gets aggressive, and go over to chat instead!