RRettinger
New Member
My 16 year old son was in a grocery store in New Mexico shopping for a toothbrush and some candy. While in the section looking for a toothbrush, he was apparently approached by a customer service manager and another employee and asked if he was stealing eyedrops. They asked him if he had the eyedrops in his pocket. When he told them 'no', they asked him where he put the eydrops down on the shelf. He was told that if he didn't tell them, they were going to call the police. My son was getting angry at this point and began cussing at the manager and employee. He was told to leave the store and on the way out, they told the front end manager that my son was now permanently banned from the store.
The fascinating situation is he used to be a bagger at this store and worked for the front end manager. He quit about 2 months before this incident. My son has plenty of money saved up from working there and had no need to steal eyedrops. We have eyedrops at home. Additionally, he is comfortable shopping in this store since he used to work there and knows where everything is in the store. In my opinion, he was only approached because he was a teenager in the store shopping alone. He does wear oversized clothes that might make him appear to be someone that might shoplift. They may also think he is a typical teen that needs eyedrops to cover up the illegal use of drugs before going home to his parents. But, stereotyping him to the point of accusing him of taking something before he leaves the store is violating his civil rights.
We have sent a letter to the store manager and the corporate offices of this grocery chain requesting investigation of this incident. I know there are rules/laws in effect that prevent them from arresting him until he leaves the store with unpaid merchandise, but he didn't get that far in this case. We believe he wasn't stealing, but that being beside the point, is there any legal action that can be taken against the store company for this treatment of my son? We are dealing with a regional manager, (I think) and he has already told us they cannot release information on any disciplinary action they take against these employees.
The fascinating situation is he used to be a bagger at this store and worked for the front end manager. He quit about 2 months before this incident. My son has plenty of money saved up from working there and had no need to steal eyedrops. We have eyedrops at home. Additionally, he is comfortable shopping in this store since he used to work there and knows where everything is in the store. In my opinion, he was only approached because he was a teenager in the store shopping alone. He does wear oversized clothes that might make him appear to be someone that might shoplift. They may also think he is a typical teen that needs eyedrops to cover up the illegal use of drugs before going home to his parents. But, stereotyping him to the point of accusing him of taking something before he leaves the store is violating his civil rights.
We have sent a letter to the store manager and the corporate offices of this grocery chain requesting investigation of this incident. I know there are rules/laws in effect that prevent them from arresting him until he leaves the store with unpaid merchandise, but he didn't get that far in this case. We believe he wasn't stealing, but that being beside the point, is there any legal action that can be taken against the store company for this treatment of my son? We are dealing with a regional manager, (I think) and he has already told us they cannot release information on any disciplinary action they take against these employees.