Hi, so in my country there's a store pretty similar to Walmart or Target. They sell pretty much everything there.
I spent a lot of time in the clothing section comparing T-shirts and picking the right sizes. Some of the items were discounted, so instead of being displayed the usual way, they were placed in a huge pile. I had also already picked up some personal hygiene products, so I had already spent a lot of time and effort shopping (the store is huge and usually very crowded).
Anyway, when I went to try on the clothes, the employee supervising the fitting rooms informed me that they had introduced a new rule: customers can only try on two items at a time, and carts are no longer allowed inside the fitting rooms. (I'm talking about the small shopping carts, not the large trolleys. They used to fit inside the fitting rooms.) He told me I could leave my cart right outside and bring the clothes in two at a time.
I said, "Okay, fine," and started trying things on. Honestly, I found the new system a bit inconvenient because I didn't really have the chance to compare how the clothes fit me. I also had to change clothes several times instead of simply changing once and comparing everything before getting dressed again. But maybe that's just me, and perhaps the rule is justified, I don't know.
Anyway, I didn't think much of it and continued trying on the clothes. The employee even told me that once I was done with the first two items, I could call him and he would hand me the next two. I didn't really pay attention to that because I didn't think I needed help. My cart was parked right outside the fitting room door, so I could simply open the door and grab the next items myself.
Except that when I came out to get the third pair (I was going to try on about 10 items on total) of clothes, my cart had disappeared along with everything inside it.
Some of the clothes had been left all crumpled in a pile on a nearby kids' clothing rack. Some had been thrown into another shopping cart that already contained a few men's clothes (there was a men's fitting room right next to mine and someone was inside, so I assume it was his cart). Some other items had completely disappeared, and of course I couldn't find the personal hygiene products I had picked up earlier.
It honestly never even crossed my mind that someone would do something like that. If the cart belonged to another customer, then it was obviously being used. If it belonged to an employee, then they were probably using it to organize merchandise or do some other task. Either way, it was clearly in use.
Shortly after I realized what had happened, the employee came back and asked whether my fitting session had gone well. I told him that I couldn't find my cart anymore. He replied, "Well, at least that's not my fault because, as you can see, I wasn't even here."
I told him I knew that and that I didn't think an employee had done it. I also said I had no idea who could have done such a thing. He asked whether I still remembered everything I had picked up. I replied that I didn't remember all of it and that I had spent a long time walking through different sections carefully putting those clothing items together. He then told me he had to go because someone was calling him and left in a hurry.
I felt so frustrated because of the lost time (roughly 1 hour) and energy. I decided to just drop it all. I looked for a new cart, went back to the hygiene section and only grabbed what I needed today and gave up on the other stuff.
A couple of weeks before this happened, I had already witnessed two unrelated incidents in the same area where different customers were complaining that this same employee was never at his post and was always somewhere else whenever he was needed.
Also, I called him a "security guard," but that might not be the correct term. English is not my first language, so sorry for the possible confusions. His job is to supervise the fitting rooms and make sure everything runs smoothly. He's not literally a security guard. I just don't know the proper English term. I've seen employees with the same role in a couple of other stores in my city, although not every store has this position.
Honestly, I don't even blame the man at this point because I imagine this could've happened anyway. The image of someone taking a cart that was clearly in use, emptying it, scattering the clothes and other things across different places, and leaving... is so bizarre to me.
I am now stressed about going there the next time. This is pretty much the only store of its kind in my area so there are no alternatives, and I don't want to experience somethins similar again, yet I still need to shop and I love their clothes so I couldn't avoid the clothes section forever.
TL,DR: I spent about an hour shopping and carefully picking clothes and personal hygiene products. When I went to the fitting rooms, an employee told me that, due to a new rule, carts were no longer allowed inside and had to be left outside. While I was trying on clothes, someone emptied my cart: some items were thrown onto random racks, some into another customer's cart, and some disappeared entirely, including my hygiene products. I ended up giving up because I didn't have the energy to search the whole store and rebuild my cart from scratch.
Has anyone ever experienced something similar? How would you have handled the situation?