Disgusting

Am still absolutely disgusted and shocked by what transpired.

I received a phonecall from my daughter asking me to fetch my 1-yr-old grandson, who has hypotonic cerebral palsy from Dischem where she had popped in with him to buy his nappies etc. Upon arriving the manager, police and security told me she was being arrested for shoplifting which had allegedly taken place weeks before. Nobody brought my grandson to me. She had already explained to the staff and police that on that day, her baby had been crying and she had opened a pack of dummies, put the packaging down on the shelf next to her and sorted the baby out. She inadvertly left the packaging on the shelf (right outside the CCTV office!) and when paying for all the other baby goods she was buying she forgot about the dummy.

The police asked the manager and security to take me to the back to explain everything to me. No amount of reasoning from my side made any difference and I asked them to take me to my grandson. The room was empty, both my daughter and grandson gone. I later learned that a man who identified himself as "not working for the police or Dischem" had told the police to just take both my daughter and grandson to the police station. I also learned that my daughter had cried and pleaded all the way to the police car for them to hand my grandson over to me as he has hypotonia (low muscle tone) and has an unstable trunk and neck and couldn't go unrestrained in a vehicle. She was ignored even though I was in the store.

For the next hour approximately my grandson was at the freezing cold police station with no blanket or bottle and my daughter tried to feed him little bits of rice cake as it was time for him to eat. His hypotonia made his ability to swallow anything besides pureed foods almost impossible.

After all of this had occured I emailed Dischem and told them to rethink their policies in an instance like this as my grandson had been put at serious risk. I asked to meet with someone from Head Office.

Two massive men came to the store to meet with me and introduced themselves as Loss Prevention Officers (LPO). I was utterly confused and explained this had nothing to do with the arrest but about the decisions made on that day iro my grandson. I explained everything in detail. The LPO said that it was the police's decision. The more I explained to him that it was a guy that said he was a third party (obviously security employed by Dischem), the angrier he got until he stood up, aggresively got in my face and then walked out the room, as did the manager and the other LPO, but not before saying that I was lucky he had even come to meet with me.

I was utterly stunned. I followed him saying "excuse me" several times until he stopped and turned around. I did not raise my voice even though I was now extremely angry and told him that the reason he was walking away was because his staff f***d up. He told me not to swear at him and that he will have me arrested. I said nothing. Then he said that I am banned from the store and called security to escort me out. I am exceptionally grateful that security know me as I do all my relevant shopping at Dischem and security allowed me to walk out on my own.

I emailed Dischem again, in shock and tears and explained what happened however said that I do not have the capacity to deal with aggressive men who are there only to defend and intimidate. They did not respond.

Months have passed now and I have been waiting for the case to conclude before making this public. My daughter was not prosecuted.

I still cannot fathom how Dischem (who ironically are also Baby City) willingly let a baby with a disability be put at severe risk. I cannot fathom why Loss Prevention Officers were sent to meet with me about the matter of my grandson's safety on that day. I cannot fathom how it was okay for them to be aggressive, intimidating and dismissive without a single word of caring for my grandson. And I cannot fathom why Dischem, knowing ALL of this, appears to not have a problem with it at all.

"Disgusted" and "shocked" do not even come close to describing this experience. All the 'caring' marketing of both the Dischem and Baby City brands are just that - marketing. The facts speak for themselves.