We were asked to publicize the matter by our Reader. In an email to the editorial office, he wrote:
After a hard day at work, I went shopping at the Carrefour store in Bolesławiec [do zdarzenia doszło 18 kwietnia – przyp „ii”]. I wanted [...] to buy myself some good cosmetics. I could not decide on the scent of the cream I wanted to buy. Several times I picked up the product and put it back on the shelf. When I was already returning to the checkout with my purchases [...], I approached the shelf and took the cream I had finally decided on.
Once I had paid and was leaving the checkout, a security guard ran up to me and, without any explanation, told me to go to a room. A woman also came over and immediately told me to take out the product I had allegedly stolen. [...]
I took everything I had in my pockets out. The woman said that I had a hidden cream that I had stolen. I asked them to call the police. [...] The officers searched me and checked the store’s surveillance footage. They stated that they had no objections to me. But the woman still insisted that I had stolen the cream. The police officers explained my rights to me and drove away.
Meanwhile, the store employee told me to sign a report, which I had many objections to, so I did not sign it. [...] I wanted to see the store manager or director, but the woman told me to leave the room, which I had earlier been almost dragged into, and walked away without a single word of explanation or even an “we are sorry for the misunderstanding.”
I felt that the store employees had treated me like a criminal.
We contacted Carrefour Polska’s press office about the matter. “On April 18, 2012, at approximately 6:30 p.m., the surveillance operator noticed a man behaving strangely. The customer took a stick cream from the cosmetics stand, unwrapped it, and then put it back on the shelf in the drugstore section. The security officer on duty went to the indicated location, where she found empty packaging. Actions were taken in accordance with procedures. After crossing the checkout line, the Customer was asked to go to the security room in order to clarify the situation. The security officer on duty asked the Customer to explain the situation. When asked what had happened to the aforementioned cream, the Customer responded rudely, without providing a specific answer,” Michał Wierzbicki wrote in an email to us.
He added: “He then demanded to be searched. However, since store security cannot conduct searches, the police were called. The officers stated that he did not have the aforementioned product on him. The error on the part of the officer on duty was failing to apologize to the Customer after the explanatory procedures had been completed, for which she was reprimanded.”
As the representative of the Carrefour chain’s press office stressed, “all procedures were carried out in accordance with the law in force, and the surveillance recording provided full grounds for initiating the necessary procedures.”
(information: ii)