I was wrongfully accused of stealing and chased out of the HEB on 999 E Basse Rd by two unprofessional, young slackers who were casually surfing their cell phones before blindly making the unfounded assumption that I was a shoplifter. Here is my story....
I was originally shopping at HEB at 999 E Basse Rd for a quick bottle of water before remembering I already had extra bottled water back at work. Realizing I didn't need what I was originally there for, I casually observed two HEB employees standing along an isle near a sample station or grocery cart and they were each huddled over a cell phone sharing and discussing cell phone pictures. The male was "Jeremy" according to his name tag and was likely some sort of security-related HEB staff member. The female was a younger chubby hispanic girl either pretending to work at a sample station or slacking off at slowly returning groceries in a cart. Just as I observed them slacking off and surfing images on a cell phone, the female saw me notice them and took offense to it. She said, "Can I help you?" I nodded and was like "I'm good" before walking away and headed towards the exit to return back to work.
As I casually walked towards the exit of HEB, both people followed closely behind me and the female continuously made accusatory statements to suggest that they wanted me to slow down and suspected me of theft. She started with, "Can I help you? What are you doing? Why are you walking away? What are you hiding? Why don't you slow down and talk to us? Hello? What are you trying to hide?!?!?" In that moment, they were clearly insinuating that they were accusing me of theft without a shred of any evidence to suggest I was stealing. They were surfing their cell phones and casually jumped to the conclusion that just because I changed my mind about buying the water, I was a shoplifter despite having not seen anything to suggest I was stealing anything from HEB.
So I circled back and spoke with the store director, Kim Taylor, who provides me with a cookie-cutter apology followed by a generic statement that she will hear "their side of the story" before deciding upon the appropriate action. I told her that I am not seeking anything free. I want nothing out of it but a follow-up with some assurance that these people will be held accountable but she refused to even give me that. It felt more like a brief apology on their behalf and "have a nice life!" I want Jeremy and his female associate held accountable for this outrageous experience. read more