Barnardo's (Lincoln)

I walked into the children's store of Barnardos with two of my friends last week.Immediately upon entering the shop, the manager called a volunteer down and I heard them whisper to their volunteer that we were thieves. Bare in mind we had just walked in and have certainly never stolen from any shop let alone this one.To add to this, I previously worked in this shop for four years, so I like to still visit from time to time and speak to people I know.My friends left, feeling embarrassed and I confronted the manager who told me that she can't lone work so she had to call someone down. This is untrue for a number of reasons, lone working is expected in charity shops (I know this due to my time with this charity and others) and I specifically heard her say to her colleague that she thought we were thieves.When I said I had worked here previously, she became very patronising and made it clear that she didn't want to listen to anything that I had to say. I left and the manager then left the shop to hang around outside while we spoke to the manager of the adjacent Barnardos, leaving a volunteer alone in the shop with customers. Considering she had just told me that lone working is not permitted, it didn't take long for her to forget her own obvious lie.The manager next door said this manager is still in training as some kind of defense?It's not from lack of training that you make judgements about people you do not know who have just walked in the door. That is a huge flaw in character, not training.A lot of vulnerable people work for charities, shop in them, support them, donate to them, this kind of judgement can really hurt people. Even if you think someone may steal have the sense to handle the situation in a non offensive manner and get to know your customers.And if training is actually an issue in someway then might I suggest a course in Equality and Diversity?

Staff are great , they do a lot of deals and bargains