Viral
Man Kicked Out Of Asda Because They Didn’t Like The Way He Shop
“I had no choice but to put my basket down and leave the store.”
Matthew Scholes was absolutely dumbfounded when a female worker at the Asda he frequented spoke and asked him to leave the store while he was in the middle of grocery shopping. The 49-year-old was told they “don’t like the way you shop,” and as baffled as he was, he had no choice but to leave.
Matthew had just finished a 12-hour night shift at a care home and was picking up a bottle of Ouzo.
He couldn’t make head or tail behind the reasoning of being asked to leave. He recalled the words the worker told him, “We have seen you in here before. I want you to leave the store right now.”
The care worker with over 30 years of experience told the woman that he hadn’t done anything wrong, but the woman only repeated her words, and he left. The disgruntled shopper sent an email to Asda on the incident and was once again in disbelief with their reply.
“I have spoken to the store leadership team, who have informed me they do not like the way you shop,” read the email. “I appreciate this may not be the response you were looking for, and I am sorry for any disappointment this may cause.”
Asda has allowed their employees to ask “suspicious” shoppers to leave, but Matthew only felt “humiliated”.
“I feel discriminated against and humiliated. I picked up a bottle of Ouzo and, at that point with a bottle in my hand, the woman said, ‘can I have a word? I want you to leave the shop right now’,” he recalled.
“I said, ‘what’s going on? I haven’t done nothing wrong; I haven’t stolen anything’. She was repeating herself over and over again like a parrot.”
“The only other thing she said was ‘we have seen you in here before’. I was just so stunned. After the fifth time she said ‘leave the store’ I had no choice but to put my basket down and leave the store.”
He added, “The email said they have had a word with the team and they don’t like the way I shop and that’s it! It’s ridiculous, there’s no explanation. I have not done anything differently, I have just shopped the way I have always shopped.”
“My coat was open and I had a baseball cap on. I wasn’t acting suspicious, it just makes no sense,” he explained himself. “I’m baffled. If they have saw something in my manner and the way I do my shopping, I was completely oblivious to it.”
“I made a point of saying ‘I’m a key worker during the pandemic’. I thought that may show my character but obviously, it didn’t do any good,” said the man who says the incident left him feeling wary now when he shops in other stores.
“I’m a full-time worker, I have got no reason to steal. I have always paid for my goods. I have tried to get the message across that I’m a genuine person and I have never had problems shopping before.”
“That is disgusting, it’s a bad case of mistaken identity. I’m shocked about the whole thing. I’m glad I’m not going in there anymore if they are going to treat people like that. It is just wrong. I have been shopping there since that store became Asda. Even when Aldi and Lidl opened I stayed loyal to ASDA.”
“The other morning I went to Aldi, I thought I’m done with Asda now. I have told a number of people and they are just as surprised and stunned. My family isn’t going to shop in Asda anymore,” the man added.
A spokesperson from Asda had explained, “Whilst asking a customer to leave is always a last resort, if our colleagues suspect any customers of suspicious shopping behavior then they can ask them to leave the store.”
Just back in December, a student was kicked out from another Asda chain in the Isle of Dogs for allegedly looking “almost naked” when she wore two layers at the store and long sports pants.