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Home / Business

Young mum 'humiliated' as Woolworths accuse her of 'stealing' items she bought from Coles

news.com.au
7 Feb, 2020 06:13 AM4 mins to read

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A young mum has criticised Woolworths staff for how they dealt with her at a checkout. Photo / Getty Images

A young mum has criticised Woolworths staff for how they dealt with her at a checkout. Photo / Getty Images

A young Australian mum said she was left "embarrassed" when Woolworths staff members confronted her and accused of trying to stealing items at a self-checkout.

In a Facebook post, by Dianne Renner, she said her anonymous friend "Sue" was "publically humiliated" by the incident and criticised the store for their behaviour.

Later on, the Pakenham Cardinia Leader revealed the woman who was accused of stealing at the Victoria, Australia supermarket was Megan Rogers.

Feel the need to be Publicly Humiliated, Items Stolen from you, Embarrassed, Made to look like a thief, Upset to the...

Posted by Dianne Renner on Wednesday, 5 February 2020

Rogers told the publisher that an employee made a big and public deal about items she had at the bottom of her pram while she was at the checkout.

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The mum said the other items were snacks she bought from Coles for her kids to snack on while she was at the doctors and that she visited Woolworths on her way home to get lunch.

However, she was told by staff members to pay for the items of forfeit them as she couldn't present a receipt.

"I didn't have a receipt as I never get them when paying for items," she said.

Rogers said she was incredibly embarrassed by the attendant and had to cope with screaming kids at the same time as she tried to explain that the items were from Coles.

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The worker was asked to check the cameras as Rogers said she had not even go into the aisles where the items came from.

"My children were screaming and I was crying my eyes out — I ended up just walking out feeling humiliated," she said.

"The worker then chased me out of the store and gave all my items back to me and said she was just doing her job."

Woolworths issued a statement apologising to Rogers and said they would find ways to improve from the incident.

"Like many retailers, our teams may ask to check customer bags or similar storage devices from time to time in line with our conditions of entry," said Woolworths.

"We always aim to do these checks in a respectful and professional way, and we've reiterated the importance of this with our team."

"We have made arrangements to meet with the customer face-to-face to apologise and hope to welcome her back into our store again soon."

On the original Facebook post commenters were split, with some saying that the checkout staff were just doing their job.

"So yes it possibly could have been handled slightly better but sue also needs to be accountable for the fact she went into a supermarket with groceries that are sold there without any proof of purchase so really cannot be upset or outraged a staff member did there job and asked for that proof (sic)," said one commenter.

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"People get upset when nothing is done when people steal. Then they're upset about people checking … a no-win situation."

"Harden up … when you go into store you need to show them the items you have … it's all very fair," another said.

Others were quick to anger and blamed Woolworths for the treatment of Ms Rogers.

"Discrimination at it's best I think what about all the teens who walk out of Woolies and other stores so blatantly loaded with stolen goods, and nothing gets said (sic)," said one.

"So Woolworths have stolen from her. She should have called the police."

"They aren't allowed to do this at all," said another.

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The store has in the past received praise for its customer service, with a number of consumers complimenting an employee called Jayne.

We'd like to make sure that she gets recognised for her amazing service. Can you please let us know which store she works at so we can let the relevant store management team know? Thanks. 2/2

— Woolworths (@woolworths) August 30, 2019
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