My complaint:
False accusation by food lion manager – was at self checkout trying to use a form of payment on my phone – and was having difficulties doing so- when all of sudden the manager came in he’s from my face with his face yelling at top of his lungs “get the hell out of my store now” and “I know what you’re doing I’ve seen it a million times- you’re messaging your boy outside and you’re gonna walk out without paying for all this”. I replied with “sir you have this all wrong “. He replied still yelling and inches from my face “get the hell out of my store and don’t come back”. I replied” you can look at my phone I was trying to connect a credit card to my PayPal account on my phone so I can pay that way”. He replied “ no you’re not you don’t have any money get the hell out of my store”. This is when I realized he had a Raleigh police officer with him. The officer said “ you gotta go he don’t want you here”. I replied” man this is wrong- he isn’t even accusing me of stealing he’s accusing me and assuming I’m going to walk out the store” . The officer replied” you gotta go or I’m gonna charge you with second degree trespassing”. I replied to the both of them” I have money man- Can I atleast pay for my things before leaving?” The manager yelling still replied” No I said get the hell out my gd store now!”. I replied again- “can I plz just pay for my things before leaving – y’all have this all wrong- just bc I’m dirty from working the past 36 hours straight doesn’t mean I’m a thief” The officer replied” I’m already going to the jail – you don’t want me to take you with me. He then grabbed me by my arm and ushered me out the store. All the meanwhile the manager still yelling and getting other employees to walk with him outside to the other side of the stores exit doors so he and them could watch me walk to my vehicle- while everybody else in the store stopped and stared the entire time as if I was some shoplifter that just got caught stealing or something . As I’m being made to leave by force- I’m trying to reason with the officer and explain to him I did nothing wrong- I wasn’t showing any suspicion I wasn’t even accused of actually stealing- I was being profiled bc I have dirty clothes on bc I’ve been working all day before and all night(I own my own business and work on cell phone tower systems) . The officer replied before letting me and my arm go “ you better leave before I lock you up “. As I walk across the parking lot- with approaching customers of the entire strip mall all stopping to see what’s going on – and the manager and his cronies pointing at me – I jump in my $120,000 2019 4 door f250 Lariat 6.7 diesel w 8” lift kit, 22” rims,38 mud tires , with all the bells and whistles, and a 20’ black 2022 homesteader enclosed trailer behind it. The manager taking photos of me and my vehicle and trailer – still running his mouth and even yelling. So I take a photo of the police officers car plate involved, and multiple photos of the manager that clearly show him talking junk and clearly showing him in the act of yelling . This isn’t right- I don’t know of what level of legality “ it isn’t right” on . But I’m 36 years old, work 247 for my family to have a good life and have what they need and want in life. I sleep in my truck most days or nights-mostly catnaps from the long periods of having to work . My wife was laid off after 21 years at bcbsnc when Covid hit. So to make ends meet I have to work around the clock. And bc I was ending a 42 hour stretch of working today- stopping at food lion to get some ice and styrofoam cooler to chill a birthday cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory I got my wife yesterday for her bday so it wouldn’t go bad- bc I was supposed to make it back home yesterday but couldn’t bc work just didn’t end quick as I intended. So I looked like I had been working for 2 days straight- no shower- sleeping in a truck . But Again I’m 36 years old- not cried but maybe 3 times in my life- was in tears shaking for hours bc of this. I work in Raleigh a lot and as a small business owner in a big corporation type industry such as Telecom- I get all my work awarded to me by word of mouth and reputation- it’s hard enough being a small business owner that is very small in size contending against multimillion dollars huge corporations for work- but something like this could result in me not ever getting another job in this field of work again bc of how “small world” this industry is. It wouldn’t just be Raleigh. It would be everywhere. Just how this industry is – its huge but at same time very small circle and everybody knows everybody and everybody is out to destroy the other guy. I did reach out to food lion customer service and made a complaint and asked if they had video and audio recording of the location this incident happened (self checkout and the exitentrance to the store) and they replied yes and they can and will review it and since I made the complaint it would be saved and stored for any future purposes . They will contact me within 48 business hours but stayed with the info I gave them- to expect a call back by the end of the day.
Suggested solution:
They need to contact me to begin with
