MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Verline Thompson was just trying to have a nice shopping trip with her daughter and granddaughters when they headed to the Sam’s Club on Covington Pike. She said that is exactly what it was, until they tried to leave the store.
Employees at Sam’s check receipts before members leave the store, but Thompson said one worker took that to an unacceptable extreme.
“She said, ‘What about the coat?’ Everybody’s like, ‘The coat?’ She said, ‘Yes. What about the coat?'”
The worker was talking about a Polo Ralph Lauren coat that Thompson’s 12-year-old granddaughter was wearing.
It still had a tag on it, because it was new.
Sam’s does not even sell that coat.
The family bought it at Burlington and has the receipt to prove it.
When they tried to explain that at Sam’s, Thompsom said the employee fired back.
“She said, ‘You all took that coat off the shelf’,” she told us.
“It was embarrassing because most of the people were just walking by, staring at you, people just saying stuff,” Thompson’s granddaughter Tymiracle added.
When a manager realized the mistake, Thompson asked her for an apology.
“She turned around real rudely and walked back inside the store,” she said.
This was on Halloween.
The family also called Sam’s Corporate on Monday and got no response. That is, until WREG called them Friday.
A marketing manager almost immediately called to talk to the family and gave us permission to share the conversation.
“I do apologize,” he told them. “I’m going to dig into it. I’m going to have our market asset protection pull video so we can identify everybody involved in it.”
Thompson said she’s thankful for the apology, but it does not make up for the embarrassment.
The Thompson family hopes the store will take disciplinary action against the employee who accused them.
