Kohl’s has had a controversial year. The retailer recently fired its CEO, Ashley Buchanan, for questionable conflicts of interest after just one hundred days on the job. Now, the $16 billion retail giant is facing customer backlash for an entirely different reason.
A Black woman in Florida was followed out of a Jacksonville store by a white employee, who rifled through her shopping bag and demanded to see receipt after receipt after receipt.
The customer, who goes by Sunshinebabe222, captured the troubling interaction on video and posted it to TikTok. The clip has nearly one million views just on Sunshinebabe222’s account alone, and commenters are rallying around the woman — and also sharing their own horror stories of racial profiling.
In the clip, posted on July 24, Sunshinebabe222 had already exited the department store and was making her way to the parking lot when a store associate, named Shelby, stopped her and began frantically digging through her shopping bag. “You’re saying I need a receipt for what? Why are you checking my bag?” asked the rattled customer, who had bought pants for her young son and a few other items.
“Ma’am, I just need the receipt,” the employee responded, and Sunshinebabe222 eagerly handed it over, proving she paid for the pants — but that wasn’t enough. The employee went on to imply the customer had shoplifted sweaters instead: “There were sweaters, they said.”
@sunshinebabe222 @kohls @wow
“I paid them for the sweaters! I paid her! Do you see the sweaters on there?” the increasingly upset customer said. When she asked for the employee’s name, Shelby responded, “You’re good,” and quickly walked away, but not before ripping off the bottom of the receipts. It was “so she couldn’t do the [customer] survey. They always circle and tell you to fill it out online with the cashier’s name who checked you out!” explained a person in the comments.
The video quickly blew up, with many sympathizers stating that retailers, “are NOT supposed to do this. Call corporate.” Another said, “Most retail stores don’t let regular employees apprehend [alleged] thieves.”
Under the new interim CEO, Michael Bender, who is also Black, the company has continued to bolster its security efforts, including the hiring of more loss prevention staff; however, it’s unclear whether the employee in the video was a trained loss prevention officer or held another position, such as cashier.
Retail employees in Florida are entitled to detain customers suspected of shoplifting, provided they have probable cause, such as directly observing someone steal an item. Mere suspicion is not enough, and many supporters want justice for Sunshinebabe222.
“Follow her back in and return everything while on the phone with CORPORATE,” urged one person. “I didn’t hear an apology from that girl!” wrote another, followed up by “Refund on everything!”
Another noted, “People be taking some jobs way too serious because she did all that, and didn’t even take anything.”
Great Job Grace Jidoun & the Team @ Atlanta Black Star Source link for sharing this story.
