I think this is the first time we have featured Aldi on the program. Congratulations. All the employees falsely accused a black woman of theft. We got the video. Here it is. Okay, so you're telling me that out of all of this stuff. [00:00:15] I just saw it. You just saw it? Yeah. Okay. Showed me everything up here. I can go print out your receipts if you'd like. Okay. Peyton, I need you up here. Now, let me show you this. Okay. [00:00:33] So now why didn't you just show me that a minute ago? You. I didn't I didn't get a chance to. I just asked you, ma'am. Honey, look at this. Let me see the date. Okay. You didn't tell me. I asked you where the rest of them was. There was only two items on the first receipt, [00:00:50] so I just asked for the second receipt. Okay. And so you just accused me of stealing. I just said I'm going to look. I came out of the bathroom and I'm just asking you for your receipt. And you only had two items on the other receipt, Frosted flakes and something else. You can just go. Ma'am, I don't even have, sir. [00:01:06] Can you? But I should be. I should be, because I just. But do you see how hostile she is? She just accused me. She just accused me of stealing. So whenever. - It games. - We have to come check receipts. So if you hand somebody a receipt, you have a cart full of stuff with two things. I'm going to ask for another receipt as well. [00:01:22] Okay. So basically. So you're accusing me of stealing? - No, I'm not accusing you. - Okay. But when you look at. But when you look at this receipt, you guys see this? Look. You see this? I'm being. He's escorting. He's taking my things out of the store with my purse. [00:01:40] My purse is in that cart. My purse is in that car. You just. Y'all just accused me of stealing. I don't even have Frosted Flakes in my in my basket at all. Ma'am, I'm sorry. We've had a really long day. Can you please just leave? So, because you had a long day, it's okay for you to accuse people [00:01:55] of stealing already? Come on, put a full mask. The customer service has just gone to at Aldi. This was in Minnesota. Keep that picture up. [00:02:12] An interesting part of the law. Your receipt is evidence of a contract. I learned this first year. Law school contract. Contracts won. The receipt is evidence of a contracted service. [00:02:28] The service of retail. Okay. That is proof of the contracted service. Contracted service has already taken place. You are the owner of said goods. The receipt does not. [00:02:45] Make you the owner of the goods or not? It provides evidence of a contract being executed. You do not have to provide a contract to anybody. Definitely not the person you just contracted with who also should have [00:03:02] a copy of that contract in their records. So if somebody says, and I'm not saying go out and just don't show your receipt, I know the courteous person at Walmart, they got very smart by hiring the loveliest senior citizens to greet you at the door. [00:03:18] But when they ask you for a receipt, you don't have to. It's not required by law. Now, some people may try to enforce it like they did, but she's not breaking the law by showing them or not showing them. It is her discretion because it's simply proof of contracting. [00:03:35] That's what the receipt is. All right. Minnesota woman was falsely accused of theft at an Aldi grocery store, and in a shocking move, the white manager kicked her out. Instead of simply doing one thing, apologizing. [00:03:52] That's it. Apologizing. The shopper, Wendy B Blount, was outraged by the treatment and decided to put two employees at the a location on blast. Now, I want to say this. Why withhold the apology? [00:04:09] You said, madam, you're just coming out of the bathroom. So that means you probably don't know what's going on. You're just coming out the bathroom and you engage with this woman. You should know the law. The law is clear. Just because somebody doesn't provide a receipt after they've purchased items, [00:04:26] that doesn't mean they've committed theft. Nor are they obligated by law to provide the receipt that's not statutory. They can just keep walking. You can check the camera. You can go back through the register to make sure that you are satisfied that a legal contract has been served. [00:04:43] But you cannot detain them. You cannot take the items back because legally they own them. That's the law. That is the law. Now, why did you just not say, I'm sorry? Because if you would have apologized, you probably don't end up on indisputable. Because I respect that. We respect that. [00:05:02] We respect a mistake and an apology. That's authentic. Okay. As a matter of fact, we will highlight how the person who made the mistake apologized and made it right. But you decided to withhold that. You know why? [00:05:18] Because you didn't want her to leave with her dignity. That's why you didn't want her to have dignity even though she did nothing wrong. [00:05:34] Blount went to Aldi to stock up before a fierce winter storm. We're experiencing some of that here in Atlanta. This storm slammed the state in the March 15th video. [00:05:52] She had just finished paying at a self-checkout kiosk when a white female Aldi employee pulled her aside, claiming she had only paid for two items in her cart, even though [00:06:08] the employee also admitted to being in the bathroom when she checked out. When Blount produced a receipt for the groceries, she likely thought that would be the end of it. Instead, the Audi worker seemed even more irritated and condescendingly addressed [00:06:24] her as honey, let me see the date. The employee said as she grabbed the receipt from the customer's hand. Things went from bad to worse at that point and eventually flew off the rails. [00:06:43] Once a male manager stepped in without asking questions. He waved at Blount to move along. But you can just go. You're good, he said as he brushed off her complaint about being stopped or stealing. [00:06:59] Okay. According to the video, the manager suddenly grabbed her receipt and pushed her shopping cart, which also had her wallet and purse, all the way to the exit. Come on, you're leaving, he yelled. And when pressed by Miss Blank to explain his actions, he responded, [00:07:15] quote, we've had a really long day. So because you had a long day, it's okay for you to accuse people of stealing? She asked, so flummoxed and frustrated quote, I will be reporting this quote. [00:07:32] You took my cart. You removed my things, my purse, my items without my permission. Did I do something wrong? Clearly she had done nothing wrong, but citing her, rude behavior, the manager yelled, I'm. I'm removing you! [00:07:48] And rude is in quotations. Okay. And then escorted her out. The the irony here. She's the accused. She did nothing wrong. That makes her the victim. She simply stating her case and wondering what in the world [00:08:04] made you think I'm stealing? Okay. Manager. Comms manager. Supposed to be the guy that said. Okay, listen, guys, let's let's all just have a conversation. Tell me what happened. He comes in, he's completely biased against the customer who has once again done nothing wrong. [00:08:20] And. Was having a long day. All right, dear brother, thoughts here. I'm always fascinated by the tonal shift that happens when these folks realize that they're wrong. I understand that being wrong is not a fun experience, and it can feel [00:08:39] really invalidating and humiliating, but it's also part of life, and it's what everyone goes through. This was a mistake. And I think the key word, like you said, is apology. Like it's okay to go, okay, you know what? I made a misjudgment. My mistake. You know, please go about your day instead. [00:08:54] They also like they took her cart with the purse in it, which that seems to me like closer to actual theft than what this customer was doing. Unless that guy, I guess, could have provided a receipt for the transaction for the purse, and I doubt he would have been able to do that. But the whole you know. Oh, we're having a long day. [00:09:11] Can you just like she's the one causing the inconvenience. Like this isn't a problem that they completely generated themselves. I mean, it's just another. And by the way, I don't have any envy toward folks working in grocery stores. And I know, especially prior to a storm, that's going to be a stressful [00:09:27] environment, which is all the more reason to be able to say, I'm sorry, like I am stressed out. There is a lot going on right now. You have every opportunity to. Instead of using all your defenses to justify yourself, you can just explain where you were coming from and these folks chose not to do that. [00:09:42] Yeah. I mean, damn, that's in customer service. 101 first day training, right? The customer is always right. But even if they're wrong, you be courteous. And when you have accused them of being wrong and they're not, [00:09:59] please, for the sake of everything. Aldi, apologize. All right. We'll see if all the releases a state.