I can't speak for CVS (in my family, we call it 'The Dark Side'), but I worked for Walgreen's at one time, and my son works there now in management and recently moved to North Dallas to attend school there. I can tell you that while some of the employees 'profiled' customers, and I witnessed behavior from fellow employees that I found deplorable, some employees got a real charge out of trying to catch thieves. I was not one of them. I figured if someone was stealing, it was between them and God and really not my problem. Most of the people I witnessed stealing didn't look like the 'type' that most people would consider to be thieves, and having been raised by a mother that was one person in public, and something evil in private, I don't make it a habit of 'judging a book by it's cover'. But that's me, and my son, as I taught him growing up.

I'm sorry to hear you were treated so badly. In a drug store, some employees will judge you by what meds you are picking up at the pharmacy. That's why I go to a small, family owned pharmacy for meds if I need them. Also, if one employee becomes suspicious of you (justified or not), they will put out the word to everyone else in the store to keep an eye on you. That seems to be the case with you. They act out of ignorance and stupidity, which makes it their bad, not yours.

Find another place to shop where there is not systematic profiling as there obviously is at that particular location. Each store has it's own unique profile. The store my son worked at here in Oklahoma, was/is not always the friendliest place - the manager is a b****, plain and simple, who's very passive aggressive and gets her jollies trying to make her employees cry. My son's nickname for her is Tyrannosaurus C***. I'm ashamed of his language, but not the spirit behind his observation of her personality. He is always polite, even when dealing with her, as well as difficult customers. I taught him that the best way to get back at people like that was to kill them with kindness. That way, he always gets the last laugh. It worked for me, and it works for him. The store he works in now is the complete opposite. The only thing his manager said to him when he arrived there was that sometimes famous people shop there and not to 'bug' them. LOL! (Tiger Woods was there a couple of weeks ago)

Unfortunately, not everyone who works in retail (or any other customer service job) has the skills to be good at it.

Be yourself, and others be damned if they don't accept that...and by all means, don't wear a suit, I like guys with goatees and cutoffs. My brother has a goatee and my husband looks super hot in cutoffs.

WW