What kind of crazy shit is this? Who calls the police when a customer doesn't want to use a shopping basket? Police are not responsible for enforcing store policies in the Netherlands are they?
Baffling.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
A Dutchman spent half an hour behind bars because he refused to carry a shopping basket around his local supermarket.
Carst Kijlstra, 32, from Assen, had popped into his local Eddah shop just before closing time to get some veal for his evening meal.
But, when he got to the meat counter, the assistant refused to serve him because he wasn't carrying a basket, reports Dagblad van het Noorden.
Mr Kijlstra said: "I told her I didn't want one because it was nearly closing time. She wouldn't listen but came back with the shop owner who told me it was the rules.
"I said: "Don't be ridiculous", left the money on the counter and went home. I was preparing dinner when a police car came to take me to the police station. They put me in jail like a criminal, for half an hour."
A police spokesman confirmed they put Mr Kijlstra in a cell while they worked out what to do with him: "We couldn't just leave him at the desk," he said.
Mr Kijlstra was allowed to go home after he agreed to pay a £95 fine and stay out of the shop for 12 months.
An Eddah spokeswoman said there was a good reason for the rules and they had to be maintained.
"When the goods are all in a shopping basket, employees can clearly see what it contains. It's to prevent shoplifting," she said.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I wonder how short the interlude between my release from this embarassment and inconvenience and the utterly coincidental and very suprising burning to the ground of the store in question would be.
Phaedrus
Baffling.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
A Dutchman spent half an hour behind bars because he refused to carry a shopping basket around his local supermarket.
Carst Kijlstra, 32, from Assen, had popped into his local Eddah shop just before closing time to get some veal for his evening meal.
But, when he got to the meat counter, the assistant refused to serve him because he wasn't carrying a basket, reports Dagblad van het Noorden.
Mr Kijlstra said: "I told her I didn't want one because it was nearly closing time. She wouldn't listen but came back with the shop owner who told me it was the rules.
"I said: "Don't be ridiculous", left the money on the counter and went home. I was preparing dinner when a police car came to take me to the police station. They put me in jail like a criminal, for half an hour."
A police spokesman confirmed they put Mr Kijlstra in a cell while they worked out what to do with him: "We couldn't just leave him at the desk," he said.
Mr Kijlstra was allowed to go home after he agreed to pay a £95 fine and stay out of the shop for 12 months.
An Eddah spokeswoman said there was a good reason for the rules and they had to be maintained.
"When the goods are all in a shopping basket, employees can clearly see what it contains. It's to prevent shoplifting," she said.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I wonder how short the interlude between my release from this embarassment and inconvenience and the utterly coincidental and very suprising burning to the ground of the store in question would be.
Phaedrus
