A man in Colorado claims he was given the boot — and a trespassing notice that bans him from the property for one year — from his local Safeway. But it wasn’t over shoplifting or anything like that; he says it was all because of a misunderstanding about his poultry order.
According to the 61-year-old shopper, he recently stopped into the Safeway to purchase some chicken breasts from the deli counter. And when the woman behind the counter asked which ones he preferred, he says he pointed out his selection and said, “I like the large ones.”
It’s unclear whether or not he had intended on the double entendre, but the man claims the female employee “chuckled” at his statement.
But thinks weren’t quite as funny for him the next week. When he approached the deli counter, he saw the woman who had previously served him walk away from the counter, leaving a different female employee to take his order.
He says that this second woman was so rude to him that he felt compelled to complain to the store manager. And that’s when he got the earful, he says:
She said, ‘The last time you were here, you giggled about this woman’s large breasts.’ And I said, ‘Oh, baloney.’ And then she opened up her flip phone and called the police, and I listened to her make up this whole story about me cussing and threatening her.
As he exited the store, the man was stopped by a police officer who issued him a trespassing notice, effectively forbidding him from entering the Safeway for one year.
While the man feels his rights were violated by summarily being banned from the store, a rep for the Lakewood Police Dept. sees it differently:
[He] faces absolutely no criminal charges… We issued him a trespassing notice, which is a civil type of thing. When a business would rather someone not come into their place of business, we can issue these notices that ask a person not to come back for a period of one year — and if they do, then they can be charged with trespassing.
What do you think of this situation? Couldn’t both the store and the customer have handled it better without getting the police involved?
Man gets trespassing notice for telling deli clerk he likes large (chicken) breasts? [Westword.com]
Thanks to Alice for the tip!
More From Consumerist
-
Target Sign Wording Leaves San Jose Residents Scratching Their Heads
-
Mom Ordered To Stay Away From Nordstrom For Leaving Kids In The Car To Shop
-
Attention, Costco Shoppers: Joan Rivers Handcuffed To A Shopping Cart Is Today's Special In Aisle 4
-
Banned McDonald’s Customer: I Didn’t Even Hit Employee With The Chicken Sandwich I Threw At Her
-
Yep, Shoppers Started Camping Out For Black Friday This Wednesday
Seems like there’s a big chunk of the story missing here. I’m automatically filling in the blanks in my head.
No employee, no matter how bitchy they are and no matter what kind of day they were having, would act like that. However, I’m sure she has to deal with idiots all day who think they’re being funny and original when they are in fact NEITHER. She is probably made to feel uncomfortable several times a day and is sick of it.
Having dealt with enough of them myself, I’m guessing this old hasn’t yet realized he is past the point in his life where that kind of comment might be funny. This woman might be able to tolerate it a little better it from a hot young guy (let’s be honest here), but not some pervy, creepy old dude.
‘Oh, baloney.’
First he talks about breasts and then moves quickly to sausage???
The man is a deviant…
I’m a leg and thigh man myself, I love some drumsticks.
Why would you buy “big chicken breasts” from a deli counter? The guys story doesn’t add up. The only way I know how to get chicken breast from a deli counter is sliced thick or thin.
It seems like everyone in the US now tries to screw absolutely everyone. Before it was just the matter of suing that person, but now it’s just to screw each other. That’s so ridiculous.
The article probably is misusing the term “deli counter”. It’s probably the meat counter, where you can buy steaks, ground beef, pork chops, chicken, etc.
Maybe the guy should have started the conversation with, “So, how long have you been handling meat?”
The store has the right to ban him for ANY reason. They have the right to not do business with him. Period.
Sucks, but its the truth.
‘And when the woman behind the counter asked which ones he preferred, he says he pointed out his selection and said, “I like the large ones.”‘
Uhm, no. You reply with; “I want 4 pounds of chicken breasts please.” Or, “organic”, “the cheapest”, etc. This guy was being an ass on purpose and he needs to stop acting like he is the victim here.
Uh no. When I want the large steak I say I want the large steak. When I want the large tenderloin I say I want the large tenderloin. When I want the large chicken or turkey breasts I say I want the large breasts. I expect that as adults everyone can be mature about a normal grocery sale without childish double entendres.
Maybe he pounds the breasts flat and stuffs them. A larger breast would be easier to stuff. When a clerk asks a customer’s preference, then customer is allowed to respond without consulting an an answer sheet written by you.
I work at a deli counter and I have people order “large breasts” constantly. Unless the customer has repeatedly done this schtick, this was a gross over reaction on the part of the employee/cop/manager.
If the employee really did feel threatened/offended, the duty/store manager should have been informed and intercepted the customer. We have those customers and all the employees no them on sight.
This happens at KFC all the time. I have heard the woman taking the order yell back that she needs large original breasts up here…
Grow up people…
For any legal action, it is very important what exactly was said to the police officer by the manager. If she did what she should have, the only statements to the police would have been about the specific conversation between the manager and the customer, and not the alleged harrassment. If she followed this approach, there would be no legally actionable case. If the manager even once mentioned the harrassment without expllicitly clarifying that it was only an alleged harrassment, the customer could sue for defamation.
Now, the whole matter could have been avoided by the customer simply buying the groceries and leaving. It’s not our job as customers to “fix” every personell issue at a business. Sometimes, it’s best to just walk away.
I used to get lunch at a supermarket deli because it was next door to the shop. One particularly busy day whilst checking out I remarked that we were getting our asses kicked. The middle aged korean man working the checkout nodded in agreement, completed the transaction, and I left to sit under a tree and eat. When I got to the shop there was a police car waiting for me, and I got to answer a bunch of questions and get searched. Apparently my comment translates into Korean as: “I am in the mafia and am going to kill you. Look, here’s a gun!”, as that is what the officer told me the complaint was. We straightened that out, and life went on. About a week later, I decide to have lunch from there again. Get back to work, cop car again. I ended up having to get lawyers and everything involved after the cop told me “enough of these calls and someone is gonna believe him”. Crazy Korean Man got transferred, as grocery store workers are unionized and impossible to fire. How’s that for protecting my right to shop?
The older gentleman should be made aware that bigger breasts aren’t usually as moist and tender as smaller ones. Or maybe he should have inquired about her thighs. Personally, my thighs are usually juicier than my breasts. I can’t abide dry breasts at all.
I wonder if this is all Safeway managers or just this one. While checking out at a Safeway here in CO I was stalled because the clerk was under 21 and was unable to ring up my bottle of wine. He asked for the manager to approve it twice and then paged overhead. When the manager arrived who had been standing just 2 lanes over ignoring the casheir’s request. She admonished him for using the paging system and he said, “I asked for you twice and you ignored me.” She said, “Don’t argue with me in front of customers, it’s inappropriate.” So I called her on that. “You shouldn’t verbally discipline your employee when he has a legitimate point and what you’re asking him not to do, you just did. He followed your protocol and you ignored him while you talked to your friends. My time is valuable, too.” Or something to that effect. Not being satisfied with that I also called the store manager to complain about the manager on duty.
Ah, so that’s where Chevy Chase is!
As with many, many reports on Consumerist, this is only part of the story. We’re hearing the customer’s side of it (and to be fair, it’s not necessarily untrue, nor is it necessarily a bad thing to have an informational outlet where a customer can tell his or her story), and the Lakewood PD’s side of it, but not Safeway’s.
Video or audio giving the exact conversation would be really, really helpful.
And people wonder why I don’t like talking to women.
Kudos to Safeway!! At every retail job I have ever had, there has been some creepy dude(s) who come in there just to harass the women because they know the employee HAS to be nice to the customer. FINALLY a store is standing up for its staff!!
Except in this particular customer’s case, he was only talking about the large chicken breasts he wanted, not that of the deli clerk’s. Either she took the statement out of context by mistake or she was probably so bored at work she made up a fake sexual harassment claim just for some cheap thrills.
You read this story and get the feeling a big portion of it is being left out by the customer
large breasts don’t matter when the woman has an ugly outlook on life.