An Old Navy employee in Ontario, Canada, is out of a job after she accused a Black woman of shoplifting. The exchange was caught on the customer’s cell phone camera, and the video has since gone viral.
In one of the three clips posted to Facebook by Lisa Calderon, she can be seen being accosted and grabbed by the Old Navy employee who she identifies as “Stephanie.” According to the statement that accompanied the video, she visited the retailer inside the Square One Shopping Centre to make a return and while there, tried on a dress. Because she felt she was being racially profiled during her visit, she left the store without purchasing anything.
Once at another store in the mall, Calderon says staff member “Stephanie” walked up to her claiming to have watched video footage of her recent trip to Old Navy and saw that the shirt she was wearing, that still had a price tag on it, was not the one she walked in with.
“She then proceeded to put her hands on me in front of security guard Quesada 10830909,” Calderon recounts. “After getting very irate they advised her to let go.”
After a back and forth, during which a number of security guards stood idly by, Calderon agreed to go back to the store with “Stephanie” while she reviewed the video footage. That’s when a store manager apologized for the actions her employee had taken.
“I would’ve been more calm and understanding if she didn’t accuse me first, and would’ve been happy to show my receipt, especially because I voiced my racial profile complaint to the employee before I left the store,” Calderon expressed in her post. “This needs to stop, Stephanie had no right to aggressively lay her hands on me and accuse me of stealing a $13 dollar top, had she not have done that this situation would’ve ended quietly.”
Old Navy Canada’s official Twitter account has since apologized to Calderon for the June 10th incident. They also released a public statement on their social media. In part, they said, “We are so sorry that our customer Lisa Calderon had an unacceptable experience in one of our stores, and we apologize for letting her down. We investigated quickly & thoroughly. The employee involved in this situation is no longer with Old Navy.”
Calderon shared in an update that Old Navy told her that the retailer will undergo a national sensitivity training that may possibly extend to international employees.
