I went to the mall today, and upon arriving; I went into Claire’s to look around. It makes me feel more calm to go into a store and only look before going to another store to lift. When I went to leave; the towers went off. I normally wouldn’t turn around, but I was truly confused, so I looked at the SA and she waved me off.
I looked at my body to make sure that nothing got stuck to me and I didn’t see anything, so I went into Victoria’s Secret and nothing went off, so I assumed that Claire’s towers were wacky. I did my thing; I grabbed a bag and stuck undies and 2 bras in there (only planning to get the bras) and then stuck a hoodie over them and went into the dressing room to detag. I ended up just putting the bras on under my shirt and left the bag in the dressing room, then I walked out and decided to buy one of their little cheap perfumes. Upon leaving, the towers went off and I just decided to keep walking (mind you that my VS has 2 different entrances and I went out the opposite of where I came in).
The SA started hollering after me and I just decided that I’d stop since I didn’t have anything in my purse and another lady had walked out with me and also stopped. The SA asked me why I didn’t stop and I told her “Well, I assumed that it was her and not me..”
The SA asked me if she could see my VS bag then looked in it and said that their perfumes aren’t tagged and asked me to go through the tower again while she still had my VS bag. Once again; the tower went off. She asked me if I accidentally took something and I said No. She then asked me if she could search my purse to see and I said no. She laughed and said “Well, if you didn’t take anything then why can’t I search your purse”. And I said “No offense, but I don’t like the idea of people thinking that they have a right to go through my things, so I’m exercising my right to say no. If you really think that I took something, then you can call the police to search my purse.”
She told me to wait while she called security.
A man showed up and she explained what happened and she also included “I’ve seen this girl in here before and she never buys anything. I’ve suspected that she’s stolen stuff before because she tries on stuff and never buys any of it. I haven’t said anything because there isn’t proof.”
He looked to me and waited for me to say something and I said “Well, my wife has a gym membership for the gym in this mall and I don’t have a car at the moment, so I come to the mall with her and browse around and try on things while she’s in the gym. I just come to get out of the house and I actually do end up buying stuff.”
He nodded and asked me to come with him and so I did and the SA also came with him, along with the manager of VS. He brought us to the mall security room and asked me if he could search my purse. The SA butted in and said “She said that she doesn’t want anyone going through her stuff, unless it’s the police.”
The man looked at me and said “Ma'am, calling the police will just take up more of your time and they will want to take you to the police station to perform the search. If that’s what you want, then fine, but if I don’t find anything, then this shouldn’t take long”.
I agreed to the search and he asked me to have a seat while he searched my purse, so I sat down and crossed my legs. After searching my purse, he said its all clear.
The manager said “Well, something made the towers go off..”
The man sat down, looked at me, then began to laugh and I looked at him confused.
He said “What’s on the bottom of your shoe??”
I grabbed my foot to look and saw a pair of earrings stuck to the bottom of my pair of Toms. The needle of them had dug into my shoe. I pulled them off and laughed. He took them and turned to the manager and said “This is what set your towers off”.
I apologized and he said “I can tell tell that this was a mistake. There’s nothing to be sorry for.”
He apologized to me and so did the manager.
The manager also got furious with the worker for her attitude towards me.
The whole time that all of this was going on, she kept scoffing and giving me dirty looks and also kept making remarks about how she knew that I took something and all this other stuff.
Security dismissed me and I left the mall. Haha.
So, here are the lessons from this story:
-Even if you bought something, an SA may still hold your bag while you walk through the towers again. Buying something may relieve suspicion, but it won’t always cover up the towers going off.
-Don’t keep your hook in your purse. I always keep it in my pocket or my bra. If I had kept it in my purse; this could’ve gone differently.
-If you’re only lifting something small; try to hide it somewhere on you. Once again, it would’ve gone differently if I stuck those 2 bras in my purse.
-If towers go off and you didn’t lift anything; don’t go into another store until you figure out what it was. Go to the bathroom and check yourself really well. VS didn’t have towers on the entrance that I went in, but I assumed that they had one of those hidden things above the door. This wasn’t the case, I guess.
