(AlishaV)
A woman in Chicago who purchased $40 in groceries at Whole Foods but was later snagged by security with a purloined bottle of kids vitamins in her bag is now persona non grata at the overpriced grocery chain.
According to the banned shopper, she had just wrapped up a bit of food shopping with her two kids at her local Whole Foods when she remembered that she had forgotten to get some chewable vitamins. And amid all the distraction — kid needing to pee, husband texting her, etc — she says she didn’t realize she’d put the vitamins in her bag until after security flagged her down in the parking lot.
When confronted, she expressed her embarrassment and offered to pay, but the guard escorted her inside where a manager photographed her and officially exiled her from Whole Foods forever.
Displeased with being labeled a shoplifter, the woman escalated her complaint to Whole Foods management. She received a response from that store’s team leader, in which he defended both the store’s policy and the actions of the guard.
And though he told her he would reinstate her, allowing her to shop at Whole Foods once again, he did bring up a good question: “Would you want me in your home if you found me leaving your home with property of yours?”
Things then went from bad to strange for the woman, who subsequently received a demand from a collection agency for $250 on behalf of Whole Foods. A rep for the grocery chain now says that was a mistake and the woman is not expected to pay.
It’s all left her with a bad taste in her mouth:
Protocol or no protocol, Whole Foods projects an environment of community and friendliness, and it’s not real… They didn’t leave the slightest margin for human error. I’m just a frazzled mom.
Where do you come down on Whole Foods’ zero-tolerance policy? Should they have just let her pay for the vitamins since she’d already purchased $40 worth of groceries? Or is it better that they show their policy will be enforced regardless of the situation?
Whole Foods Versus Shoplifters: The Conundrum [Chicagomag.com]
Thanks to Gene for the tip!
More From Consumerist
-
Shoe Store Allegedly Bans Mom Over Son’s Negative Yelp Review
-
Mom Says Vodka Drink Turned 3-Year-Old’s Boat Ride Into A Booze Cruise
-
A Rancid Dairy Queen Hot Dog In A Moldy Bun Is As Disgusting As One Might Imagine
-
Mom Ordered To Stay Away From Nordstrom For Leaving Kids In The Car To Shop
-
Mom Not Happy About Finding Nose Ring In Daughter’s McDonald’s Breakfast Burrito
To all the people who say that her being a Mom and buying other stuff means she obviously couldn’t have been shoplifting, think again. I’ve seen fragile-looking old ladies try pasting on new UPCs to buy everything at the cheapest prices possible, old ladies with children who tells them just to eat whatever bananas and bagels they want and not pay for them, a guy bringing in two kids while committing mass credit card fraud, etc, etc, etc. I’m not at all saying that I know what’s in the woman’s heart, but race, reproductive status, and prior purchases mean nothing.
Now, I could understand if it was left in her basket and she didn’t see it…that happens all the time and I’ve never seen anyone be less than understanding of it. I’ve had lots of people come back into the store and paid for it once they realized. However, the item is not concealed–just hard to spot because it’s small or on the bin under the basket. Concealing a purchased item is really all the evidence you need to bring her to court. And really, no matter how frazzled I’ve been or started consuming the item before checkout, have I ever put it in a pocket or other concealed place. It just doesn’t come natural. While it does seem like a lame thing to shoplift compared to the other stuff she bought, some people are just doing it for the thrill and figure little stuff like that’ll go under the radar. There’s all kinds of shoplifters doing it for all kinds of reasons.
I have caught myself more than once starting to put a small item in my pocket or purse so I could pick up another item. When I was a teen, I walked out of a store with three 45 rpm records and two other items (can’t think of what they were) in front of the security guard, and I didn’t have a problem getting by. When I realized what I’d done, I went back into the store and paid for the items. The problem occurred because I had a shopping bag from another store in my arms, and the other items were in my hands. Nobody made a big deal of it.
Too bad this lady wasn’t arrested…Whole Foods need to get on the game with these Shoplifter’s. Banning them from the store, that’s it?
The security guard they had at the wfs I worked at used to steal crap all the time. The company later invested in security cameras and hired a different security guard. Unrelated events I gather.