I was the SC, but it was worth it.

[blas]

I was falsely accused of shoplifting at a JCPenny when I was about 12 years old. I went with two friends to the local mall, and while they were at Bath and Body Works, I went to good old JCPenny.

Back then, those little mini backpacks were popular (so that might have been a red flag for ANY retail employee at that time, even though that backpack contained a shirt and about 10 tampons and some makeup that was heavily used, nowhere near new). I can kind of understand how employees would panic at the sight of a preteen girl with a mini backpack, but anywho...

I was browsing around, didn't see anything I liked, so I left.

An older gentleman followed me out and said, "Excuse me Miss, I need you to step inside."

I was extremely confused. He said, "Did you happen to steal a pair of sunglasses?"

Of course I said, "NO!" because I hadn't. Even to this day I hate sunglasses.

He wasn't convinced. He kind of chuckled and said, "He he he, I'm pretty sure that you DID. You wouldn't mind if I took your backpack, would you?"

I'm sure he was just taking advantage of the fact that I was a helpless little 12 year old with no parents or anyone to defend me, so he grabbed it right off of me (not forcefully, but still took it off of ME). He looked at the shirt, was extremely grossed out by the tampons, and wasn't satisfied with the other contents of the backpack.

He handed it back to me and said, "I guess you didn't. Do you have anything in your pockets?"

Me, not knowing my rights or anything like that, showed him all my empty pockets.

When he finally let me go and he angrily stomped back into the store, I ran to my friends nearly drowning in tears. I was humiliated. He did all that RIGHT in front of the store, in front of customers! People were looking at me like a juvenile delinquent! *sorry, that was a bit dramatic*

I didn't want to tell my mom, but one of my friends was extremely angry. What we did was kind of immature, but it was worth it in the end.

My friend's mom called JCPenny back and tore the manager a new one about an older man employee who accused me of shoplifting a pair of sunglasses, taking advantage of a defenseless 12 year old girl by nabbing her backpack without her consent, then still convinced she'd stolen something, so demanding to see her pockets. And doing ALL of this in front of other customers, no LP and nothing discreet. Granted it was kind of SCish, but she really played it up all dramatic and she sounded SO angry and evil, she threatened a lawsuit (which probably wouldn't have went anywhere, but still), and she demanded an apology from that horrible man, and demanded that if he couldn't be written up or fired, that he AT LEAST be spoken to about being more certain about people stealing things, and not taking advantage of a poor 12 year old who has no idea about their own rights and doesn't have a parent with them.

A few days later, a formal apology came in the mail. Luckily I snagged the mail before mom came home..........

EDIT: I previously stated at the end that I'd never shop at a JCPenny again......but then I remembered the few times I have had to go there while playing chauffeur with my mom. I will restate that, now claiming I will never shop for myself at JCPenny again.

[SuperDan]

As I understand the LP policies at my store (not Wal-Mart), in order to make a stop you have to personally witness the item being lifted, know what the item is and how many were lifted, and be damn sure the shoplifter didn't ditch them. LP and management will not make a stop unless they KNOW exactly what you have on you. It is clear from this story that they didn't know anything, they just saw you touch the bottom of your shirt and assumed you must have lifted something in electronics. Even after that, once you proved your shirt was empty and showed a receipt for the other items you had, you should have been appologized to and allowed to leave. You were not an SC, they were SWAs (Sucky Wal-Mart Asshats). You were within your rights to complain about that treatment to the DM (it appears from your story that the police even encouraged you to do so and provided witness to your claim).

And yes, you do tell a damn good story.

[Gypsy-Rose]

Have you ever considered going into writing?...
I sat here reading this, LMBO, all the while being able to picture what was going on.

And yes,..Latex doesn't go over oil base really well...lol, I ended up stripping a door by just peeling it all off...

As for Wal-Mart, they do have a right to stop you, however, they have to be 100% guranteed in order for them to do so. What they did to you could have easily been turned into a lawsuit, which you'd have every right.

Managemnet on the spot should have been bending over backwards in order to apologize, which seems they didn't.

As for Wal-Mart firing them...Wal-Mart can not afford any more bad publicity right now, they are so concerned with customer satisfaction that they will go to just about any legnths to keep a customer. Also, in this case, the Store Manager might have been on his way out anyways, so this made Home Offices job alittle easier.

Though when all is said and done.... Reading where you whipped off that shirt had me ..

How I wish I could have saw their reactions!!!!

[ladyklack]

I'd say you definitely were NOT a SC! In my experience, if a good employee who has been with the company 15 yrs and is in management screws up big time he/she would probably get written up, not fired, b/c the aggravation of training new management staff isn't worth it. For this guy to get fired I'd bet he makes a regular habit of screwing up big time.

[JustAGirl]

I'd like to read the disturbingly scary!

and, when I read the part where you took off your shirt I'm like WHOA!!! Headlights!

lol

[repsac]

I've thought about it, but the best I can do is tell my ghost stories. I do that every halloween at the local church. It's gotten to the point where possibly this year I'm going to be giving two shows, one the day before, and the day of.

I'm tempted, if anyone wants to read one or two, to posting a good spooky story in off topic. It's up to y'all really. Some are rather disturbingly scary...

[Lace Neil Singer]

I have to admit, one of the things I thought of after reading was "Is Repsac male or female?" The other was, "This is hilarious and surely Repsac has a future in standup?"

[ditchdj]

Not too long ago near Detroit a security guard tried to detain a suspected shoplifter and the guy died.

[Kogarashi]

I didn't check the site yet, but didn't she sue and win?

Settled out of court.

[repsac]

Repsac if you think yours was bad read what's on the link below. Some pregnant lady got accused of stuffing a basketball up her shirt and because of the stress that they put her through she had the baby the next day.

http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/shoplift.asp

I didn't check the site yet, but didn't she sue and win?

[ditchdj]

First off, I dont understand why stores are legally allowed to "detain" anyone they feel is "stealing" from them. From what I understand you simply cannot forcebly confine anyone simply because you feel that they broke the law. If you feel somebody stole something just call the cops and let the law deal with it. I even heard of someone being charged for aggravated assault for stabbing an LP employee. WTF???? Some stranger grabs you and you fend him off and YOU'RE the "criminal"???? I dont know. Maybe someone can straigten that out for me.

[Becks]

Respac, that was a great story.

You were NOT an SC.

Those guys sucked, and I'm glad they got what they deserved.

[Boulder_Bear]

Repsac if you think yours was bad read what's on the link below. Some pregnant lady got accused of stuffing a basketball up her shirt and because of the stress that they put her through she had the baby the next day.

http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/shoplift.asp

[repsac]

Mike, our gardener, thought I was rather sucky. Then again, considering I heaved old Thog Thog of the deck with a battle cry that would make Thor cringe? I guess he had a point. Still, I would like to add a note. If you heave rather nicely, a Ryobi power sander will fly a rather good distance.

[Rahmota]

Wow! That was not being a sucky customer that was being a victim of profiling gone way wrong! I'm glad to see that the idiots got what they deserved. But they should most definately have been quit a bit more apologetic.

Originally Posted by repsac
Ultimately, I was asked politely (by the PD) to put my shirt on and requested not to return to that store.

Uh. I had to check your profile to mmake sure if you where male or not as that would definately have changed things had you not.