It is always a very embarrassing moment when someone accuses you of stealing. It is even more embarrassing when someone wrongly accuse other of stealing. One need to have valid proof before making accusation on other. If they don’t do that, then it can become very embarrassing. Unless the person making accusation has himself seen the person stealing or there is a solid evidence, he/she should never make accusation on others.
If you don’t have evidences to back your claim of stealing then you are at your own peril. If you fail, then it is you only who would be blamed. Same happened with employees of an Old Navy store in Des Moines, Iowa.
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The employees of the store accused a black man of stealing a jacket in the store. Their mistake was that they did not have proof. As the person in question was black, the store is now been accused of doing racial profiling.
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A customer with the name James Conley III walked into the store in Jordon Creek to purchase some clothes. When he was about to checkout from the store, the employees questioned about the blue padded jacket that Conley was wearing. When Conley was interrogated by the employees, he said that the jacket was gifted to him during Christmas. The employees haven’t got convinced and they asked Conley to hand over the jacket so that they could verify the true story.
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At this point, Conley got sure that they are suspecting that he has stolen the jacket from the store. In fact, Conley came to the store wearing the jacket. Then, he started making video of the rude actions of the Old Navy staff.
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“I was accused that I didn’t pay for my blue bubble jacket that I got for Christmas that I wore into the store,” Conley wrote in Facebook post that has already received over 150,000 shares.
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“As I was checking out to purchase some hoodies, I was asked if I wanted to also purchase the jacket that I was wearing. First, I started laughing because I didn't believe what I was hearing. The store manager Beau Carter was very unprofessional and stereotyped me because I was a Black male (sic),” wrote Conley.
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“He says ‘anytime someone wears Old Navy clothing they have to always scan that customers clothing to insure that it was previously purchased’. (Where do they do that at?) Every time I go to this store I have on my same exact winter blue jacket and have never been asked to scan my clothing and the previous ‘non-black’ customers had on identical apparel as me from old navy but was never asked to scan their clothing, (sic)” wrote Conley.
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“Then after they scan my jacket they try to make me repay for it?? Finally, the District Manager Shannon (who refused to give out her last name) came out and I made her check the surveillance tape to prove that her and her fellow employees were in the wrong for racially profiling me because of the color of my skin,” added Conley.
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“Once she confirmed that I was telling the truth (after watching the tape) she never came back out to apologize to me nor did the store manager Beau Carter as you can see in my videos below,” said Conley.
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As the Conley’s post went viral online, the Old Navy had to come out with investigation of the matter. The store also released their statement in a Facebook post. They apologized for the behavior of their employees and they also said that they are going terminate the services of three members for peculiar profiling.
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“Earlier this week an Old Navy customer, James Conley III, had an unacceptable experience in our Jordan Creek, Iowa store. The situation was a violation of our policies and values, and we apologize to both Mr. Conley and to those we'he disappointed. All of our customers deserve to be treated with respect. Following a thorough investigation of the incident, three employees who were involved have been terminated, We take this matter - and every conversation around equality - very seriously. Old Navy is committed to ensuring that our stores are an environment where everyone feels welcome,” said Old Navy in a statement.
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Despite the statement from the Old Navy, Conley was in mood to forgive them. He is planning to file a civil damages lawsuit against the store. He said that he wants to bring this case into light as people should know how much racial profiling is rampant.
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Conley also got a lot of support after his Facebook post. People started flooding in their support to Conley. “James sorry you had to go through that but what you are doing will not only put Old Navy on notice but will send a strong message to the masses that such behaviors WILL NOT be tolerated,” wrote one supportive user on Facebook.
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