Interesting Encounters

So I work at a major retailer in the loss prevention department.  We had a female enter the fitting room with 15 dresses.  Nobody buys 15 dresses.  This woman is a known thief to us in the loss prevention department, but we are told by our district manager that we are not allowed to make the stop, even if we have a female manager go check the fitting rooms.  “It would be improper and inappropriate for a male to enter the female fitting rooms or for a female to hear that a male watched her enter the fitting rooms.”  Keep in mind that the fitting rooms are simply a hallway with various rooms attached to said hallway.  There are doors that prevent anyone from seeing someone change.  But what really bothers me, what really pisses me off…I asked the district manager, “But Ma’am, the mens’ department is almost entirely staffed by women.  There are females in the male fitting room all day long, isn’t that a double standard?  Why is it that women are allowed in the mens’ fitting room and not vice versa?”  Her response?  “Because women don’t go around trying to peek over doors to see men naked, and even if they did, men would like it.  Women are better than that, and we get uncomfortable with men around when we’re changing.”

To be completely clear, when we make a “fitting room stop” we count the number of items the subject enters the fitting room with.  Then when the subject leaves the fitting room one of us, or a female manager, goes into the fitting room to see what they left behind.  If you enter with 10 pairs of pants, then leave with 2 in your hand and only leave 2 in the fitting room, there must be 6 in your bag.  We stop you AFTER you’ve left the fitting room and are leaving the store entirely.  So its not like we ever see you changing or barge into the room with you still in it.  There’s NOTHING improper about it.