False Accusation Of Shoplifting Very Disturbing

Many people have been caught shoplifting. As teens you hear all the time about people who did it and what sort of punishment they got.

What you don’t hear about are the young teens who are scared out of their minds by security guards who accuse them of shoplifting when they did nothing of the kind.

Recently, I was at the mall with my best friend Kristen. We went into JC Penney to try on swimsuits. After we were done, we put them back on the rack and went across the mall to have a milk shake.

About 20 minutes later, a guy walked up to us, flipped us a badge and said he was a security guard for JC Penney. He told us we were going to follow him. Kristen and I were shocked; we didn’t know why he had stopped us.

As he walked us back through the store to a back room, many things ran through my mind. What did I do? Is this guy really a security guard? What if he isn’t?

Once we got to the room, he started asking us questions. He told us his co-worker saw us go into the dressing room with two swimsuits and come out with one. I was so shocked I just listened while Kris did all the talking.

She told him we came out with two suits and we would show him the ones we tried on. So, we did. He took our word for it and let us go, telling us they just wanted to make sure the swimsuits were put back where we found them.

It may not seem like much, but an encounter like that can really scare two teenage girls. Kris and I didn’t stop shaking for an hour. Two hours after the incident, I had a panic attack.

I know I’m not the only person to be falsely accused. If it had been two elderly people, they wouldn’t have been stopped, and certainly not hunted down in the mall. Security guards need to check things out before they scare people.

And the kids who do shoplift need to know the store isn’t the only victim. Other teens are, too.

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