PINEVILLE, N.C. (WSVN) — A store manager has been fired after she accused a woman of stashing merchandise under her shirt. Turns out, she’s just pregnant.
Sherell Bates said a police officer accused her of stuffing items under her shirt in an attempt to steal from a North Carolina Staples store on Friday.
“Mid-transaction, a police officer approached me and insisted he wanted to speak with me,” Bates told WSOC. “He asked what was under my shirt.”
She responded that she is 34 weeks pregnant with twins, but said the officer didn’t believe her.
“At that point, to avoid him asking me again, I actually lifted my shirt just a little bit, just to expose my belly, so he could see that I’m just a regular pregnant person buying school supplies,” Bates said.
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Pineville Police said the store’s manager asked the officer to speak with Bates because she believed Bates was trying to “conceal merchandise.”
“When I confronted her about what happened, she admitted that, ‘In the past, we’ve had a lot of people putting school supplies or merchandise in their clothes and hiding, so I asked the officer to reach out to you,’” Bates said.
Bates said the interaction left her feeling humiliated.
“You pretty much jumped the gun without any type of evidence, except my stomach is large,” Bates said. “That’s not fair. No mom should have to go through that.”
Staples released a statement to WSOC on Monday, saying the manager has been fired for not following protocol and failing to adhere to the company’s police on how to interact with customers.
Statement from Staples:
“On Friday at our Pineville location a Staples’ manager mistakenly assumed a customer was shoplifting and reported this assumption to a police officer visiting the store. The police officer questioned the customer and quickly confirmed there was no theft. Based on the outcome, Staples’ issued a full refund to the customer.
Staples has since conducted a full investigation into the matter, and determined that the manager in question did not follow correct protocol and also failed to adhere to our existing policy on how to interact with our customers. As a result of this finding, the manager has been terminated and Staples has apologized to the customer. At Staples, we want all customers to feel welcome in our stores, and work with our associates to foster an inclusive culture. As an organization, we would like to apologize to the customer as that was not the case in this instance.”
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