Shopper noticed an employee ‘tracking’ her at Ross before she spent $500. Then he accused her of stealing — and found himself in the hot seat instead
'I laughed and asked if they were serious considering I just bought so much stuff,' the shopper wrote
Bad customer service is bound to repel customers just as much as good service is bound to retain them. One customer (u/abject-ad-2459) will probably never visit their local Ross outlet again after they found an employee stalking and prowling around them while they were busy shopping. The staff member even accused the customer of shoplifting at the checkout counter, even though they'd shopped items worth a whopping $500. At first, the customer humbly emptied their purse to prove their innocence, but then they avenged the employee’s intrusion by cancelling their order. While the employee begrudgingly unloaded their cart, the retail chain lost one customer due to his meddlesome behaviour. Their August 10, 2026 Reddit post has amassed over 20,000 upvotes.
Ross run gone weird
The episode occurred a few years back during the fall when the author bought a new house and decided to grab some decorations from their local Ross outlet. Right from the beginning, they got this uncanny feeling that they were being watched. Each time they tried to walk to this elusive employee and confront him, they would move into a new section, only to reappear again. All the while the customer shopped, the employee remained in close vicinity, evoking their darkest suspicions. At the checkout counter, after the customer processed their items and cleared the bill, the employee interrupted them by asking them to dump their purse.
Suspicion backfires
The employee suspected the customer had stolen an item from the store. “I laughed and asked if they were serious considering I just bought so much stuff,” the customer recounted. Frustrated, they immediately asked the staff to unload their cart and return all the items worth $500. The customer even dramatized compliance by announcing they would call the corporation if the outlet didn't refund their money. "They said that this would look bad on the store for having a massive return. I reiterated: That's the consequences," the customer told the store staff.
Good service goes a long way
We often hear stories about customers treating store staff badly. But as psychologist Paul Spector explained, sometimes employees can act with just as much incivility as customers. In fact, a study by McKinsey (cited on Industry Analysts, Inc.) found that 70% of customer satisfaction depends on how they're treated. Stalking, therefore, is the last thing that a customer would expect when they enter a store to buy their household supplies.
'Report to corporate'
Meanwhile, reacting to the Reddit post, u/idonotshare commented, “Yeah, go ahead and report to corporate. You were obviously profiled. Whether it was age, race, overall appearance, or just because they felt like it. It was wrong. I am fairly sure you weren't the first or only person stopped like this. You had the most practical approach." Similarly, u/Dlodancer asserted, “And you should still call corporate because they need to know what their employees are doing.”
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