ON Oct 19, I was shopping at a supermarket in Taman Pertama, in Kuala Lumpur. Since I had my 8-month-old baby asleep in her stroller, I was unable to manoeuvre another shopping trolley or carry a store basket, and was using a Cold Storage shopping bag to hold my purchases.

I noticed that a man was following me as I cruised through the aisles. Just to be sure I wasn’t imagining things, I tried to walk in circles among the aisles to watch him. I caught him staring at me. When I confronted him and asked him why he was following me, he denied doing so. He said he was there to shop.

When I called for the security guard, he identified himself as a security man and waved his staff ID card within inches of my face. He was arrogant, argumentative and unprofessional. There were witnesses to this incident as a crowd had gathered round to observe us.

One of the store’s employees explained that he had thought I was shoplifting as I was putting stuff into my shopping bag. I was really peeved and demanded to see the store manager, but he was not in. The store supervisor did not offer any apology whatsoever, but merely mentioned that the security staff did not know that customers were allowed to shop with their own shopping bags. So much for doing my bit for the environment by reducing plastic-bags usage.

I have shopped in many supermarkets with my baby in tow in the same manner, and not once had I been tailed, harassed or suspected of shoplifting. No one in her right mind would try to shoplift by taking stuff from the shelves and putting them into a shopping bag in full view of the public and suspicious security staff.

If it is a store policy that the cloth shopping bags can only be used at the check-out counter, then notices should be put up to advise the public. If the supermarket was having problems with shoplifters, they should install closed-circuit TV cameras (CCTV) to monitor the traffic and not inconvenience customers.

My advice to the management: make sure your staff are properly instructed and trained in customer service, if you know what that means.

This distasteful episode had caused me immense mental anguish, loss of face and embarrassment. To be suspected of shoplifting is doubly infuriating when my intention to shop at the supermarket was genuine. This trip to the supermarket was my first and it will be without doubt my only one.

E.Y., Kuala Lumpur

Source: NST – October 31, 2008