Tesco put security tags on make-up for dark skin - but not lighter tones

[Lightning Count]

Tesco put security tags on make-up for dark skin - but not lighter tones

Natalie Westgate went to her local Tesco on a normal shop but was 'disgusted' to find the store had put security boxes around makeup for black skin but nothing at all for the same makeup for white skin

www.mirror.co.uk

Natalie Westgate went to her local Tesco on a normal shop but was 'disgusted' to find the store had put security boxes around makeup for black skin but nothing at all for the same makeup for white skin

Tesco put security tags on make-up for black and darker skins at one of its stores, but not on the light and white tones.

Natalie Westgate complained to the supermarket giant after a trip to her local store with her daughter in Osterley, West London.

There the mum-of-three saw all of the Garnier BB creme products for "deep", black, skin tones had been put in security boxes.

But the exact same products, at the exact same price, that served "light", white, skin remained on the shelf without any such precautions.

Natalie slammed the move as "absolutely disgusting and not to mention racist".

In a tweet, she said: "Can you please explain this? Do white people not steal then? Absolutely disgusting and not to mention racist!!!!"

Then, after receiving a response, she added: "I understand you have to security box items but do you think it is ok to only have the dark range security boxed and not the entire range.

"Please ask your race and ethnicity network and Black Voices Advisory Group what they think to security only boxing the dark range then get back to me."

Initially, Tesco 's response was to ask her to direct message them on the platform. In it they said: "Please let me reassure you that it is never our intention to offend anyone through the security tagging of our products.

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I hate how fucking racist this country is, shit like this perpetuates racial profiling by treating non whites as criminals and normalising these practices.

 

[Musubi]

You'll see this shit a lot even in some Wal-marts with black hair products. Its disgusting.

 

[NickatNite]

Here in the US, this has been going on for years in Wal-Marts, with black/texture hair products.

 

[Lyrael]

Let's say that I'm a card game shop. I sell Magic, Pokemon, and YuGiOh booster packs. I notice that a lot of the YuGiOh booster packs are being stolen, so I put anti theft tags on them. That's a pretty logical decision, right?|

To me, a similar case could very, very easily be happening here. They notice that the darker tones of makeup are getting stolen at a rate above the usual shrinkage rate, so they put security/anti theft tags on them.

They even say so in the article

"Our stores may sometimes use security tags on items which have recently been subject to theft and the decision to do so changes from store to store.

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If people want to fight racism, I'm right there with them. But absent evidence to the contrary, the explanation of "All of our makeup is getting stolen a ton, and we're only going to put anti theft tags on the makeup for black people" seems a bit more ridiculous than "We noticed a few makeup SKUs were seeing higher than expected rates of theft, so we secured those SKUs". The latter seems more reasonable, and the more likely explanation here.

 

[nsilvias]

doesn't a big store like tesco have theft insurance anyways?

 

[Night]

doesn't a big store like tesco have theft insurance anyways?

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I think it's common for insurances to require you to do some basic anti-theft. That or your premium goes down if you do, like a car with better security. I did inventory service for a year or so in my 20s. We'd come into a store and count it all up so they could figure out their shrinkage. It was a boring ass job.

 

[Hagi]

Let's say that I'm a card game shop. I sell Magic, Pokemon, and YuGiOh booster packs. I notice that a lot of the YuGiOh booster packs are being stolen, so I put anti theft tags on them. That's a pretty logical decision, right?|

To me, a similar case could very, very easily be happening here. They notice that the darker tones of makeup are getting stolen at a rate above the usual shrinkage rate, so they put security/anti theft tags on them.

They even say so in the article



If people want to fight racism, I'm right there with them. But absent evidence to the contrary, the explanation of "All of our makeup is getting stolen a ton, and we're only going to put anti theft tags on the makeup for black people" seems a bit more ridiculous than "We noticed a few makeup SKUs were seeing higher than expected rates of theft, so we secured those SKUs". The latter seems more reasonable, and the more likely explanation here.

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or you just secure all your dumb cards so none getting stolen and you don't end up in a situation like this?

 

[ForKevdo]

Let's say that I'm a card game shop. I sell Magic, Pokemon, and YuGiOh booster packs. I notice that a lot of the YuGiOh booster packs are being stolen, so I put anti theft tags on them. That's a pretty logical decision, right?|

To me, a similar case could very, very easily be happening here. They notice that the darker tones of makeup are getting stolen at a rate above the usual shrinkage rate, so they put security/anti theft tags on them.

They even say so in the article



If people want to fight racism, I'm right there with them. But absent evidence to the contrary, the explanation of "All of our makeup is getting stolen a ton, and we're only going to put anti theft tags on the makeup for black people" seems a bit more ridiculous than "We noticed a few makeup SKUs were seeing higher than expected rates of theft, so we secured those SKUs". The latter seems more reasonable, and the more likely explanation here.

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Thank you for being a voice for the voiceless, the poor corporations

The card analogy doesn't even hold up anyway because here we are talking about products specifically designed for and marketed to a certain group of people

 

[Lightning Count]

doesn't a big store like tesco have theft insurance anyways?

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This is a great video if you want to understand the bullshit behind corporate anti shoplifting practices.


View: https://youtu.be/aGB7QnOZj3g

 

[RockTiddies]

doesn't a big store like tesco have theft insurance anyways?

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Just because you have insurance for stuff doesn't mean we should just overlook certain items being disproportionally hitting your bottom line

 

[Kill3r7]

My favorite example of this is the bottle of Henny being behind the counter when there are $100+ bottles of liquor on the shelf.

 

[Soap]

doesn't a big store like tesco have theft insurance anyways?

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Every U.K. supermarket as a degree if wastage allowance, but I don't think insurance would cover anything they deem excessive. Now, this has nothing to do with this clearly racist policy or anything but retail is insanely racist and ageist (to the young). If you were old and white and got caught shoplifting where I worked you'd be in the back room for about five minutes for a telling off, but if you were young, a minority or foreign in any way then they would call the police.

As an aside, you would be shocked how many supposedly middle/upper class white brits steal their right wing papers instead of paying for them.

Edit: I will say where I worked there was never a policy like this and I would be shocked if I'm there was one.

 

[platocplx]

Let's say that I'm a card game shop. I sell Magic, Pokemon, and YuGiOh booster packs. I notice that a lot of the YuGiOh booster packs are being stolen, so I put anti theft tags on them. That's a pretty logical decision, right?|

To me, a similar case could very, very easily be happening here. They notice that the darker tones of makeup are getting stolen at a rate above the usual shrinkage rate, so they put security/anti theft tags on them.

They even say so in the article



If people want to fight racism, I'm right there with them. But absent evidence to the contrary, the explanation of "All of our makeup is getting stolen a ton, and we're only going to put anti theft tags on the makeup for black people" seems a bit more ridiculous than "We noticed a few makeup SKUs were seeing higher than expected rates of theft, so we secured those SKUs". The latter seems more reasonable, and the more likely explanation here.

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systemic racism is racism and this is a case of it here. Christ you all would justify anything just based on some silly numbers. instead of just locking all the shit up which is barely a blip. Also white people steal just as much.

 

[Viewt]

Let's say that I'm a card game shop. I sell Magic, Pokemon, and YuGiOh booster packs. I notice that a lot of the YuGiOh booster packs are being stolen, so I put anti theft tags on them. That's a pretty logical decision, right?|

To me, a similar case could very, very easily be happening here. They notice that the darker tones of makeup are getting stolen at a rate above the usual shrinkage rate, so they put security/anti theft tags on them.

They even say so in the article



If people want to fight racism, I'm right there with them. But absent evidence to the contrary, the explanation of "All of our makeup is getting stolen a ton, and we're only going to put anti theft tags on the makeup for black people" seems a bit more ridiculous than "We noticed a few makeup SKUs were seeing higher than expected rates of theft, so we secured those SKUs". The latter seems more reasonable, and the more likely explanation here.

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Is that what they're saying?

A Tesco spokesperson said: "We are deeply sorry that this has happened. This was a case of human error in the store and these products should not have been security tagged. It's really important to us that Tesco is a place where everyone feels welcome, and the tags have now been removed."

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From their own spokesperson, these items weren't "supposed to be" tagged. And even if they were, why wouldn't the thefts merely be applied under skin foundation/make-up. It would be pretty weird for a company to inventory their stock by complexion, I think.

So may I ask why you're assuming that the darker complexion skincare was being stolen in higher numbers?

 

[Orion117]

Let's say that I'm a card game shop. I sell Magic, Pokemon, and YuGiOh booster packs. I notice that a lot of the YuGiOh booster packs are being stolen, so I put anti theft tags on them. That's a pretty logical decision, right?|

To me, a similar case could very, very easily be happening here. They notice that the darker tones of makeup are getting stolen at a rate above the usual shrinkage rate, so they put security/anti theft tags on them.

They even say so in the article



If people want to fight racism, I'm right there with them. But absent evidence to the contrary, the explanation of "All of our makeup is getting stolen a ton, and we're only going to put anti theft tags on the makeup for black people" seems a bit more ridiculous than "We noticed a few makeup SKUs were seeing higher than expected rates of theft, so we secured those SKUs". The latter seems more reasonable, and the more likely explanation here.

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19 posts since 2017. Whats you main account?

 

[platocplx]

So may I ask why you're assuming that the darker complexion skincare was being stolen in higher numbers?

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Exactly... Pure bullshit.

 

[mael]

Good thing the megacorps' honor is getting taken care off.
wouldn't want anyone to think that treating PoC badly is because of anything but PoC's fault after all.

 

[Speedstersonic]

Let's say that I'm a card game shop. I sell Magic, Pokemon, and YuGiOh booster packs. I notice that a lot of the YuGiOh booster packs are being stolen, so I put anti theft tags on them. That's a pretty logical decision, right?|

To me, a similar case could very, very easily be happening here. They notice that the darker tones of makeup are getting stolen at a rate above the usual shrinkage rate, so they put security/anti theft tags on them.

They even say so in the article



If people want to fight racism, I'm right there with them. But absent evidence to the contrary, the explanation of "All of our makeup is getting stolen a ton, and we're only going to put anti theft tags on the makeup for black people" seems a bit more ridiculous than "We noticed a few makeup SKUs were seeing higher than expected rates of theft, so we secured those SKUs". The latter seems more reasonable, and the more likely explanation here.

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This ain't the correct take here jack.

 

[MasterYoshi]

Hahaha, the fucking defense force in this very thread. Jesus fuck

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Let's say that I'm a card game shop. I sell Magic, Pokemon, and YuGiOh booster packs. I notice that a lot of the YuGiOh booster packs are being stolen, so I put anti theft tags on them. That's a pretty logical decision, right?|

To me, a similar case could very, very easily be happening here. They notice that the darker tones of makeup are getting stolen at a rate above the usual shrinkage rate, so they put security/anti theft tags on them.

They even say so in the article



If people want to fight racism, I'm right there with them. But absent evidence to the contrary, the explanation of "All of our makeup is getting stolen a ton, and we're only going to put anti theft tags on the makeup for black people" seems a bit more ridiculous than "We noticed a few makeup SKUs were seeing higher than expected rates of theft, so we secured those SKUs". The latter seems more reasonable, and the more likely explanation here.

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You wrote all this bullshit when they already admitted it was done in error and apologized to cover their shit asses

Thank you for bravely standing up for the corporations getting unfairly maligned for partaking in what is clearly a textbook case of systemic racism

o7

 

[OtakuCoder]

Let's say that I'm a card game shop. I sell Magic, Pokemon, and YuGiOh booster packs. I notice that a lot of the YuGiOh booster packs are being stolen, so I put anti theft tags on them. That's a pretty logical decision, right?

Click to shrink...

No, you'd protect them all, as they all fall under the umbrella of easy smuggled items with decent resell value. Not to mention: if you only protect one, what'd you think the shoplifters would move on to?

 

[Lightning Count]

Let's say that I'm a card game shop. I sell Magic, Pokemon, and YuGiOh booster packs. I notice that a lot of the YuGiOh booster packs are being stolen, so I put anti theft tags on them. That's a pretty logical decision, right?|

To me, a similar case could very, very easily be happening here. They notice that the darker tones of makeup are getting stolen at a rate above the usual shrinkage rate, so they put security/anti theft tags on them.

They even say so in the article



If people want to fight racism, I'm right there with them. But absent evidence to the contrary, the explanation of "All of our makeup is getting stolen a ton, and we're only going to put anti theft tags on the makeup for black people" seems a bit more ridiculous than "We noticed a few makeup SKUs were seeing higher than expected rates of theft, so we secured those SKUs". The latter seems more reasonable, and the more likely explanation here.

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Holy fuck this take is awful.

Willfully defending systemic racism, oof.

In the example you cited I would put all those items in a cabinet which only staff can access so customers have to ask for them. Not put tags on one specific item.

 

[mael]

You wrote all this bullshit when they already admitted it was done in error and apologized to cover their shit asses

Thank you for bravely standing up for the corporations getting unfairly maligned for partaking in what is clearly a textbook case of systemic racism

o7

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It cannot be racism!
Can you see in the hearts of hearts of Tesco that they didn't want to do racism?
How unfeeling of you!

Spoiler

/s
I feel like it shouldn't be needed but you never know.

 

[Sirhc]

From their own spokesperson, these items weren't "supposed to be" tagged. And even if they were, why wouldn't the thefts merely be applied under skin foundation/make-up. It would be pretty weird for a company to inventory their stock by complexion, I think.

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It would be weird to not do this, these would have different SKUs used to track inventory and purchases.

Shit move by Tesco though, should lock all that shit up if theft is an issue, not sure I buy that "in error" excuse at all, seems like it was quite intentional and targeted from the sound of it.

 

[Viewt]

It would be weird to not do this, these would have different SKUs used to track inventory and purchases.

Shit move by Tesco though, should lock all that shit up if theft is an issue, not sure I buy that "in error" excuse at all, seems like it was quite intentional and targeted from the sound of it.

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Oh, sure, I understand that each product has a unique SKU for tracking purposes. But this doesn't sound like it applies to a single SKU/brand, but rather a range of SKUs/brands that hit a common demographic. It's having those various SKUs/brands collected under a tracked demographic that seems weird to me.

 

[PinkSpider]

This is clearly bullshit, most the shoplifters in Tesco are probably teenagers (Judging by ours they should be watching them on CCTV and they have security by the door) and the rest is minimal.

Heck I've walked out a few times and left security tags on stuff (Had to hammer one off my shorts and that bottle of wine was fun to open), the alarm beeped but as a 30 something white (Not sure that's a massive issue in my city) guy just walked on, no questions asked. I just assumed it was someone else both times till I got home.

 

[Saganator]

Been a while since I've worked in retail (thank god) but I believe theft counts towards shrink (% of money lost due to inventory issues), and shrink is a major KPI for the GM of a store, so even if items are covered by insurance, it's still in their interest to prevent theft.

 

[Conal]

Obviously there are numerous socio-economic reasons for why a higher percentage of darker skinned people are in a financial position where they can't afford make up but these tags are put on the products that are stolen the most.

No, you'd protect them all, as they all fall under the umbrella of easy smuggled items with decent resell value. Not to mention: if you only protect one, what'd you think the shoplifters would move on to?

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Dark skinned people are not going to steal make up designed for lighter skin for personal use, come on. You can't tag every item in the store that's not a viable solution.

 

[brawndolicious]

This is a great video if you want to understand the bullshit behind corporate anti shoplifting practices.


View: https://youtu.be/aGB7QnOZj3g

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Good video. Shoplifting basically has almost no effect on overall profits.

Makes me think that the motivation for security tagging products specific to darker ethnicities is simply to discourage those groups from shopping there.

 

[Sirhc]

Oh, sure, I understand that each product has a unique SKU for tracking purposes. But this doesn't sound like it applies to a single SKU/brand, but rather a range of SKUs/brands that hit a common demographic. It's having those various SKUs/brands collected under a tracked demographic that seems weird to me.

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You seem quite oblivious to how much stores track your spending habits lol, grouping those up makes them easy to track demographics and makes marketing/selling your info much easier.

 

[Trup1aya]

There's a joke in here somewhere about attendants following black shoppers around the store , unaware of the white shoppers robbing them blind.

 

[Senator Toadstool]

There is so much "hidden" racism at retail stores. Once you notice it is infuriating.

Look at what products are locked up, which have cameras, which neighbors DON'T have surveillance, which products they always have to "go to the back" to find (which they only do for certain customers, aka white) security guards, etc

 

[Soda]

There's a joke in here somewhere about attendants following black shoppers around the store , unaware of the white shoppers robbing them blind.

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Wasn't this a scene in Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood?

 

[Trup1aya]

Wasn't this a scene in Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood?

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That's right! 🤣

 

[jerf]

You'll see this shit a lot even in some Wal-marts with black hair products. Its disgusting.

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I was gonna say Walmart had been doing this for like a decade

 

[OtakuCoder]

Dark skinned people are not going to steal make up designed for lighter skin for personal use, come on. You can't tag every item in the store that's not a viable solution.

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No, but it broadcasts that one type of product is above suspicion. Given time, enterprising shoplifters will notice this.

If you can't afford to tag everything, then alternative solutions exist. You could tag intermittent items at semi-random, for example.

 

[El Bombastico]

Let's say that I'm a card game shop. I sell Magic, Pokemon, and YuGiOh booster packs. I notice that a lot of the YuGiOh booster packs are being stolen, so I put anti theft tags on them. That's a pretty logical decision, right?|

To me, a similar case could very, very easily be happening here. They notice that the darker tones of makeup are getting stolen at a rate above the usual shrinkage rate, so they put security/anti theft tags on them.

They even say so in the article



If people want to fight racism, I'm right there with them. But absent evidence to the contrary, the explanation of "All of our makeup is getting stolen a ton, and we're only going to put anti theft tags on the makeup for black people" seems a bit more ridiculous than "We noticed a few makeup SKUs were seeing higher than expected rates of theft, so we secured those SKUs". The latter seems more reasonable, and the more likely explanation here.

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At least have the guts to post on your real account, chickenshit.

 

[Conal]

If you can't afford to tag everything, then alternative solutions exist. You could tag intermittent items at semi-random, for example.

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What? You tag what is being stolen. This is some 'all houses matter' bs.

This is a great video if you want to understand the bullshit behind corporate anti shoplifting practices.


View: https://youtu.be/aGB7QnOZj3g

Click to shrink...

I've liked a lot of this guys work but this video seems pretty ridiculous. It implies that 0.5% of revenue lost to shoplifting is basically nothing when that is clearly not the case.

 

[Conal]

EDIT: Oops double post.

 

[Helix]

Let's say that I'm a card game shop. I sell Magic, Pokemon, and YuGiOh booster packs. I notice that a lot of the YuGiOh booster packs are being stolen, so I put anti theft tags on them. That's a pretty logical decision, right?|

To me, a similar case could very, very easily be happening here. They notice that the darker tones of makeup are getting stolen at a rate above the usual shrinkage rate, so they put security/anti theft tags on them.

They even say so in the article



If people want to fight racism, I'm right there with them. But absent evidence to the contrary, the explanation of "All of our makeup is getting stolen a ton, and we're only going to put anti theft tags on the makeup for black people" seems a bit more ridiculous than "We noticed a few makeup SKUs were seeing higher than expected rates of theft, so we secured those SKUs". The latter seems more reasonable, and the more likely explanation here.

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Let's say.... go fuck yourself

 

[Volimar]

What? You tag what is being stolen. This is some 'all houses matter' bs.

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Tesco is not going to go broke tagging the entire make up line instead of just the darker tones.

 

[Taco_Human]

That's right! 🤣

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do. we. have. a. problem?

 

[Conal]

Tesco is not going to go broke tagging the entire make up line instead of just the darker tones.

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This I agree with. It's also stupid of Tesco not to see how optically terrible this is, but there is nothing inherently wrong with tagging products that are stolen more. 0.5% of revenue is a lot of money lol

 

[Flanker358]

the year is 2022......gawd

 

[Mr. Snuffleupagus]

So basically, depending on the store size, they have a certain allowance for waste by theft - a Metro-sized store will have it roughly in the £1,000 per week range. Going over that considerably (think x4 or x5) will get the store closed.

In recent years they have started tagging meat as unscrupulous butchers around the stores are happy to accept the meat at discount and resell (everyone benefits) but yeah, only tagging certain ethnicities cosmetics is bullshit.

Security guards aren't even allowed to stop shoplifters anymore plus they often don't get paid even to want to try and bother deterring anyone.

 

[Fisty]

"Please ask your race and ethnicity network and Black Voices Advisory Group what they think to security only boxing the dark range then get back to me."

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Tesco: "our what?"

 

[Greg NYC3]

There's a joke in here somewhere about attendants following black shoppers around the store , unaware of the white shoppers robbing them blind.

Click to shrink...

I worked in that store. To make things worse when I specifically pointed out white shoplifters in action one of the managers would jump in to excuse them because "they shop at the store all the time".

I stayed way too long at that racist ass place.

 

[Trup1aya]

I worked in that store. To make things worse when I specifically pointed out white shoplifters in action one of the managers would jump in to excuse them because "they shop at the store all the time".

I stayed way too long at that racist ass place.

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Yeah, whenever I notice I'm being followed around the store I go into extreme pettiness mode. I'll take my sweet time "shopping" and then walk out without purchasing (or stealing) anything. Just completely waste their time.May the shoplifter's haul be plentiful!

do. we. have. a. problem?

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Hahaha I think I know what I'm watching tonight.

 

[Cantaim]

Racism in retail color means shocked!

 

[Lightning Count]

I worked in that store. To make things worse when I specifically pointed out white shoplifters in action one of the managers would jump in to excuse them because "they shop at the store all the time".

I stayed way too long at that racist ass place.

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That's disgusting that they defended known thieves and made staff harass innocent non white customers.