In the wild world of “What happened this time at Walmart?,” an expecting woman says an employee who didn’t think she was pregnant at first glance later accused her of shoplifting before asking for proof that she wasn’t stealing.
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Mother Patricia Pautke told KOB-TV that while shopping at a Santa Fe, N.M., Walmart after trick-or-treating with her son on Halloween, she was stopped by a male employee on her way out the front door.
Pautke said the man asked, “Ma’am are you pregnant?,” and that she replied, “Yes I am.”
She said he replied, “You did not look pregnant five minutes ago,” and added, “I’m going to need you to lift up your shirt right now and prove to me that you don’t have anything under your shirt.”
The woman complied by lifting up her shirt in front of other employees and customers. She said she got a ‘Have a good day’ after doing so.
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“I couldn’t believe this happened to me,” she told KOB-TV. “I’ve never heard of this happening before and how humiliated and embarrassed I was, that they didn’t even take me into a room.”
“You can’t just apologize and make this experience go away,” she continued. “You know, I’ve thought about it daily since it happened, and it’s just really traumatized me.”
Pautke filed a police report this week and has since received an apology from a manager who viewed the surveillance video.
In a statement, Walmart says it is looking into the incident and will take appropriate action.
“We’re sorry for the experience Ms. Pautke had in our store. We take this seriously and are looking into it. We will take action as appropriate,” Senior Manager of Corporate Communications for Walmart Leslee Wright said.
Pautke, meanwhile, says she has no plans to return to that Walmart for fear of running into that employee.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.