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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:
Wanderingsheep · 15/03/2010 15:29

I haven't read every post but can only echo what every other poster has said about NOT using the pram basket for unpaid for shopping. It's just asking for trouble.

I can understand what an easy mistake it is to make though and it must have felt awful for you to have made to feel like a criminal when you didn't mean to steal.

In my shame, I remember being about 9 when my sister and I were in a shop buying a nightie for my Gran as a Xmas present. I had the nightie over my arm while my sister carried on looking for something else to buy her.

It got too hot in the shop and forgetting that I had the nightie over my arm, I went outside to wait for my sister to finish shopping [gormless emoticon]!

I only realised that I still had the nightie over my arm when a shop assistant came out to ask me if I could go back inside! it was obvious that I wasn't trying to nick it as there was no attempt to hide it and my sister was still inside the shop in hysterics!

butadream · 15/03/2010 15:32

It wouldn't occur to me to use the pram basket for unpaid for shopping but I did inadvertently shopflift something from Woolworths once - it was in packaging with a handle, I slipped it over my wrist, carried on pushing the buggy, paid for the other shopping and walked out of the shop without realising! I was 2 bus stops down the road before I noticed and did not have the courage to go back into the shop as I was not sure how to explain it to the manager. It was priced at £4.

So the OP has my sympathies but I don't think you can blame Boots for carrying out its anti-shoplifting policy.

Original poster
CarolineFin · 15/03/2010 15:32

Thanks Habbibu, it's nice to know i'm not the only one who makes mistakes.

I've just gone and done a stinky nappy and had a quick cry. Maybe i'm not coping that well but i'm trying my best. I'm not stupid and have worked hard all my life, but having little man is by far the hardest thing i've ever done. I'm shattered, my brain seems to have vanished. It's all been harder than I thought and i'm still having unladylike issues from the birth. Had no idea it would be this hard - and he really is a little angel.

I truely hoped that by posting on here I'd save another mum the horrble, embarrassing situation that I found myself in. Maybe i posed in the wrong forum, or my words were misunderstood but i'm not going though this again.

Bye ladies, have fun with your litle men and ladies x

OP posts:
solo · 15/03/2010 15:40

Habbibu! I'd forgotten about that thread. I now have tears streaming down my cheeks from laughter...was there a second thread of stupidity?

Habbibu · 15/03/2010 15:40

Oh, Caroline, it is hard. If it gets tough, do come back here and post in parenting - people are incredibly nice and supportive, and know what you're going through. You got an unnecessarily rough ride here - AIBU is horrible a lot of the time, tbh - but MN is very big, and can be brilliant. There will be people here to help if you ever need them.

fwiw, having ds knocked me for 6 a bit, even though I have dd (age 3) - had forgotten all the energy a baby requires! It gets better, I promise.

solo · 15/03/2010 15:44

Caroline, don't go...we really are a good bunch on here, but we all have opinions and we are all full of different experiences. Yours is just one such experience. No doubt you'll read of someone else doing just such a thing as you've done and post to then knowingly and have sympathy with them for doing so too.
Stay and join in. Mumsnet is brill once you get into it ~ honestly!

Wanderingsheep · 15/03/2010 15:45

Don't leave Caroline. MN is a great place for support (usually).

Having a child is bloody hard work! DD is 3 in June and I still have baby brain most days.

AIBU is not a great area to post in for your first post. Tis a nest of vipers and you need to be very thick skinned!

MathsMadMummy · 15/03/2010 15:52

Oh dear did we lose her?

that classic thread, omg i am so glad the 2 DCs are asleep (DS is on me so a good excuse to put my feet up) i don't care if it's 41 pages I'm reading the lot!!!

MmeLindt · 15/03/2010 15:53

Please don't leave, Caroline. MN can be wonderful, you have just received the short end of the stick here.

Post about your problems on parenting, or health. There is bound to be someone who can help you.

The first 6 months after the birth is such an emotional time.

Habbibu · 15/03/2010 16:00

I'm still laughing at "he will almost certainly be the King of Sweden". I miss Desi.

darcymum · 15/03/2010 16:01

I was shopping in M&S once and bought a wallet for DH birthday. The next day I was trying to fold up the pushchair and having trouble, I looked in the basket underneath and found another wallet (better and more expensive than the one I bought) that my 2 year old had 'chosen' and put in there. Thank god they didn't catch me leaving with it.

oldenglishspangles · 15/03/2010 16:01

I have walked out of stores several time witn unpaid items. Normally they are hanging off the side of the pushchair - I would hood things off the handles. Sometimes I would put things in the hood, never in the basket. Although ds did once and we got all the way home before I realised. I would usually go all the way back in and either pay or return the item. Usually I would walk up to an assistant and say sorry I have just walked out with this if it was an item I didnt actually want. I tend to find that shops will often have assistants tail people with a few young children if they are not smartly dressed. Your AIBU would have been better to have been AIBU that parenting books should warn against the dangers of using your pushchair as a basket when your hands are full ... and then recounting what happened at boots. I have name changed a couple of times after an e flaming - I think a few of us have. Its a nice (sometimes place)

Habbibu · 15/03/2010 16:04

Oh God, yes, Caroline - wait until ds actually starts choosing the shopping himself...

Fimbow · 15/03/2010 16:11

I bought my dd some pick n mix (flame me!) in Woolworths, she decided she was desperate for the loo, we run out and down the street to the public toilets of the market town we were in. Dd does what she needs to do and then announces "but mum we haven't paid for them". Yip I was standing there in the loo with a bag of unpaid sweets in my hand.

thesecondcoming · 15/03/2010 16:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Clothilde · 15/03/2010 16:17

I have two children, and I've never managed to dangle a wire basket from the handles of my Maclarens pushchair. How do you do it? I just balance stuff on the hood, but this tends to lead to breakages when DD decides to wriggle violently, so I'd be very keen on learning how to get back o using a basket.

solo · 15/03/2010 16:18

I was looking around Claires Accessories when Dd was in a rather wide pram and when I got to the car park, I discovered a pair of Hannah Montana ear rings in the basket as I'd had to push through some of the tight gaps and they'd obviously fallen in. I didn't have time to go back there and then, so when I next went into town, I took them into Claires, handed them over and said 'I found these in my pram basket last time I came in'. They were a bit mouth open, jaw on the floor. I don'tv suppose that happens very often.

solo · 15/03/2010 16:20

I've got a Maclaren and usually put the basket over my arm, which is really painful, but works.

oldenglishspangles · 15/03/2010 16:21

You can hook a basket over the handles of a pushchair. i did on my mclaren and my mama and papas. Its absolutely knackers the frame though.

Habbibu · 15/03/2010 16:40

I bought one of the flaming M&P chassis with unbroken handles, iykwim - one big upturned u, and nary a bag hook in sight.

darcymum · 15/03/2010 16:51

I was in Claire's Accessories once with my dog. I was looking at something when I turned to look at the dog she was chewing (you know the in her jaws shaking her head style chewing) a feather boa. I pulled to off her, not easy as she didn't want to give it up, and quickly made my exit.

oldenglishspangles · 15/03/2010 16:52

serves you right for getting a posh one habbibu Mine was one of the cheaper ones with two handles.

Habbibu · 15/03/2010 16:57

Do you think if you (or, more correctly, MIL) buy the posh one, they expect you to have staff to carry your bags?

Ivykaty44 · 15/03/2010 16:58

my dd was with someone who left boots without paying - she was hauled back in aswell and banned from the store.

she came home told me and I called to find out what had happened - they expalined as she was withsomeone who had shop lifted and even though they knew she didn't have anything she was banned - its there policy.

TheCrackFox · 15/03/2010 17:01

Well it doesn't sound like a very pleasant experience - being questioned by the police for 2 hours sounds upsetting. However, shops lose a scary amount of revenue from shoplifting and the "heavy handed" tactics put most people of from entertaining the idea.

In future, you need to use a basket on the handles of your buggy. If you are returning anything make sure you have a receipt.

As for the 12 month ban, well Boots is over priced and I have found Superdrug to be cheaper for just about everything.