I used to love shopping at Ross Dress For Less. My fiancé and I went there after we were at the gym, about an hour to closing, to look for a suitcase for my stepson for an upcoming trip. We went over to the luggage, didn’t find anything he would like, and proceeded to look at other items. We found some new running shoes for my fiancé and then split up to look separately. My fiancé went to the men’s clothing and I went to the athletic wear. While browsing, I received a call from my dad. He wanted to talk about an unfortunate event that took place earlier. It was a private conversation, so I moved to the women’s shoes since nobody was over there. I had noticed a blonde employee had moved over there and was re-racking items. Well, I noticed that she kept following me. The event that took place was really upsetting to me, so I would walk around while on the phone and kept looking at other things to keep me from crying. Well, each aisle I went to, she followed. I noticed that she kept staring at me. Each time I looked at her she had her eyes wide open and right on me. I was getting nervous because who wouldn’t?
I also noticed that they kept saying ‘rotate cameras’ over the store intercom. I walked to the back of the store from the side to look at other items and she continued to follow me. My blood pressure rose and caused me to burn off all the sugar in my system. I am diabetic and started having low blood sugar, which causes me to be shaky and weak. My fiancé came over to me with purchased items. I informed him of both issues, the blood sugar, and the employee. He proceeded to the front to get me something. I followed and the employee was still watching me, along with many others. I went up to one of the employees at the front and informed her of what was going on. The blonde came up to me with a nasty attitude. I asked her what her issue was, and she told me that I was ‘a person of suspicion’.
I was furious. I got a little loud, asking her how I was and if browsing was an unusual act in a store. She told me yes, and to get out or else she was going to call the cops. I proceeded out of the store and she had followed me nearly to my car. I yelled at her that I was going to inform the higher-ups about her causing my diabetic issues and preventing me from treating myself. She clearly saw me checking my blood sugar and saw that I was having a hard time standing, but instead of offering help, she forced me to stumble to my car.
I called corporate the next day and received a call from their lawyer, who told me the bare minimum. She wasn’t even the manager and had no right to throw me out when I did nothing wrong. I am furious with Ross and will never shop there again. I wish I would have brought the ADA into this matter and threatened them better. I never received anything from that store, not even an apology. The next few weeks were actually pretty stressful for me. I found it hard to go into any other store, out of fear that me being my normal self would throw suspicion somehow. I really do encourage people with disabilities to not shop at Ross anymore. Next time it might be you.”
