A WALMART shopper felt like a criminal after employees followed her and her grandmother around the store like jail wardens. 

The customer posted about her shopping experience on Facebook, which she said made her feel like she was in ‘prison.’

“Last week, I took my grandmother shopping,” the post began.

“We went to Walmart, it felt like we were in prison. Everything was locked up and the employees were following us around.” 

“Today I go to pick up my prescription from Walgreens and I see this, theft is at an all-time high.”

“This is crazy.”

Attached to the post are two pictures of the shopper’s local Walgreens.

In the first picture, a line leads to an employee standing at the store’s exit, seemingly checking customers’ receipts. 

Behind the employee, there are detectors meant to catch anyone leaving the store with unpaid items,

The second picture shows a large plank of plywood acting as an entrance to the store with to temporary doors. 

Looking into the store, viewers can better see the security detectors customers must pass through while entering and exiting the store. 

Retail chains across the country are imposing strict security protocols as a way to reduce theft in stores. 

In 2023, retail theft cost companies $121 billion dollars, a study by Capital One Shopping reported.

That number is expected to rise to $150 billion by 2026.

Desperate attempts to prevent that number from rising led companies such as Target, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart to lock items up, check receipts as customers leave the store, and remove self-checkout machines from stores altogether. 

“Locking a product is a measure of last resort,” a CVS spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times in an email.

These last resort measures leave some customers frustrated and feeling like ‘criminals.’

“All I can say is I stopped going into Walmart because all they seem to have is self-checkout and then they want to treat me like a criminal and check my receipt,” one Walmart shopper wrote in an X post.

That customer isn’t the only one who was left feeling like they’ve done something wrong.

“Two employees were both standing watching me check myself out,” one writer shared in the Suncoast Post.

“I only had a few more items to check out, and I looked right at them standing about five feet from me and told them that I felt very uncomfortable with them watching my every move.”

“They watched me the whole time; what was it going to take? An onion, 1/2 gallon of milk, a couple of cans of dog food? I know there are built-in cameras on these registers.”

“I told them I used to be a cashier at Walmart, where I would ring up groceries for customers. I don’t appreciate being watched like a criminal!”