The Hindu Business Line : Wait a sec...

The other day, with my teenage daughter in tow, I walked into the new outlet of a big retailing chain in Pune — and promptly, and inexplicably, set off the store alarm.

The security staff looked at me suspiciously but since they saw me arrive at the shop entrance just then, they let me in. My nightmare began some 20 minutes later when, having tried and discarded a couple of shirts, I reached the exit and promptly set off the alarm again.

This time, the security staff, including a hefty young girl, did not even pause to think before they loudly asked me to move aside for inspection.

Handing my purse to a colleague, the girl asked me to accompany her for a body check.

I protested, saying the alarm had beeped even when I entered the shop, but they said regulations required them to check anyway.

Imagine the horror of being marched up a few hundred feet of shopping space, watched all the way by sales staff and curious shoppers, all of whom had probably concluded that I was a shoplifter.

In the `inspection' room, instead of a metal detector check, or whatever else is required, the security staff subjected me to a full body check, alongside relentless questioning.

Had I tried out lingerie? Did I pick up a bra perhaps?

I cooperated fully with the check, wanting only to get the whole thing over with.

Finally, my daughter and I headed towards the exit, but my troubles were far from over.

The minute I reached the exit, the alarm went off again.

With my daughter in tears by now, I insisted on meeting the store manager and got to meet one of the floor managers.

On seeing my identity card, he apologised for the incident and let us go.

But that, as it turned out, was not the end.

A few minutes later, we entered the store of another retail chain in the vicinity — and the alarm went off again.

Now, this is where I found the difference in treatment. Watching all this happen, a woman on duty at the store immediately took me aside.

She told me there was a possibility I was carrying something on my body with a magnetic tag.

"Don't go into any store until you check this out," she advised me.

I lost no time in heading towards the nearest hotel where I used the rest room to make my, by now distraught, daughter do a minute check on my person and bag.

Nothing turned up but this time my daughter decided to take charge.

"Why don't we go back, and take help from that security lady," she suggested. And this lady cracked the puzzle fast enough.

"Are you wearing anything imported on your body?,'' she asked as she led me to the changing rooms.

When I said yes, she asked me to turn the apparel inside out and check for a tag.

For the third time that evening, I went through the disrobing routine.

But this time I found the culprit — hidden under the pocket of my trouser was a tiny cloth pouch that had something hard inside it. The sales girl identified it quickly as a `soft tag' that stores are supposed to cut out or de-activate when a product is sold to a customer.

I don't know if what I found was an RFID (radio frequency identification technology) chip but I do know that I had become a victim of technology!

I headed back to the first store I had visited, to meet the store manager and the staff I had interacted with.

I asked the same security staff to search me, and this time too, she found nothing.

I then pointed out the tag to her, got it cut off my trouser and displayed it to the same gathering of curious store staff who were now waiting to know why I had come back.

I explained to the store manager that the trouser had been bought at a local store that sells export surplus goods and that the tag had remained there without my knowledge.

This time the apologies were more fervent.

The security girl was new on the job, such a thing would not happen again, they assured me.

I should hope not. I have sympathy for that girl on duty, though she was overzealous, but I have none for companies that spend crores on the latest technology but do not keep their staff trained for eventualities such as this one.

Admittedly, shop-lifting is a growing menace but why must unsuspecting consumers like me be made to pay?

Also, retailers could do their bit about training their staff in discretion - which is definitely not marching people to inspection rooms at the other end of the store, or stopping work to gape at the person being taken away.

After the incident, I spoke to colleagues and friends and was not surprised to find many had had similar experiences.

I don't know if the Indian consumer is paying the price for his chalta hai attitude.

Had this happened anywhere else, the consumer would have claimed compensation for the time lost, mental trauma, the cost of consulting a psychiatrist to help one recover, what not!

I walked away from the store with a few meaningless apologies, which did nothing to assuage the feeling of hurt and the complete loss of dignity that I endured.

And I am determined I shall not spend a single rupee of my hard earned money there again.

P.S. (I went back to the store I had bought the trouser from and the lady who owns the store told me she is not even aware that her merchandise carries such tags!

In the meantime, I now have very lonely shopping trips to look forward to, since my daughter refuses to accompany me. HELP!

eworld@thehindu.co.in

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