Robinsonssupermarket.com.ph

Hello everyone. I simply had to share this uncomfortable phenomenon and wondering if others have had similar odd experiences.

I am a retired Imam and senior citizen who has been shopping at Robinsons Supermarket, Robinsons Department Store and HandyMan Hardware for several years. Mostly, my family and I have had good experiences in the mall. There have been some very professional and friendly sales associates who seem quite diligent about assisting customers as much as they can. They would help to find products and prices with a very positive enthusiasm that makes a customer feel very comfortable shopping there.

Sadly, though those helpful associates are there, the in-store security are NOT of the same mind set. All too often, my family and I have endured security guards following our every move in the Robinsons department store and supermarket. Seems like no matter which aisle we are in, there is a security guard close by observing. At first, it seemed maybe just typical surveillance but soon becomes a puzzling annoyance.

We tried to ignore it since we could not think any LOGICAL reason for the stalking behavior but it became painfully obvious that it was simply profiling and prejudice at its worst. We are of darker skin and clearly Muslim in religion and seem to be a magnet for their unsubtle prejudice. I do not know what could prompt such ridiculous profiling or surveillance since we are regular customers spending over 10k php per visit. Moreover, we are simple folks that have not caused any problems or instigated any issues in the store or market.

I think we may have questioned a sale price or signage twice, maybe asked when a previously purchased product would be in stock again, and asked why credit/debit cards are handled differently in the supermarket and the department store. None of which should cause extra surveillance! So, finally we decided to address the uncomfortable behavior which management which seemed futile with no resolution. They did not even give us the courtesy of a face-to-face meeting- they called their head security guard and he handed us his cell phone and someone on the other end of the line basically says my guards are doing their job...

Well, maybe some may call it just doing their job but maybe they are not the ones who are being prejudicially profiled and followed about. Some may even call it paranoia but maybe some need to see the photos and videos we started taking these last few years for our own protection. We have photos are guards in our aisle and at our register for the entire time we are in the store. Extremely annoying and uncomfortable which probably is reason enough not to return and report this to happening to as many people as possible.

Our friends and family here say that the Philippines is full of prejudice people and that may be but its ok to allow establishments to continue to practice prejudice and profiling against any particular skin tone, religious belief or way of life.

We noticed others have shared their sad prejudice experiences to this post in other web locations as well as facebook. We just want to say Thanks for sharing and sad to know there is still this horrible element of prejudice and profiling disguised as "security". Though we have seen the ugliness of prejudice in other places, it was not as awful and blatant as Robinsons. Sadly, you will probably not be able to stop or challenge the senseless illogical prejudice with just sharing your experience.

It may seem small in their large corporate bank accounts but we will make a difference by sharing our experiences and boycotting those establishments that refuse to recognize their prejudicial behavior and uncomfortable feeling they present. We have never returned to the store and will continue to shop elsewhere and encourage others to do the same.

Happy New Year 2024! Happy

User's recommendation: Do not shop in any store that makes you feel uncomfortable because of skin tone, religious beliefs or mode of dress.