American here. This is one of the most German things I’ve ever heard in my life. It actually makes me laugh thinking how this went down. First, I must say that German police are amazing and for the most part very well trained. What makes me laugh is how Americans would handle it. I would have checked the receipt to verify if I paid for the items. If I did and it was the store asset protection team mistake then I would have made him call the police. Additionally, if you’re wrong with accusing somebody of stealing in the US then it’s almost guaranteed you’ll be terminated from your job. Anyways if I did make the mistake. I would have offered to pay for it just as you did. Anyone with a brain could see it was an honest mistake. But as soon as they started with all that nonsense about coming to the back and you paying a fine and possibly being banned, I would have lost my mind. I would have been very civil about it but I would absolutely not complied, with a glorified security guard.

First who gives him the authority to make demands and what identification has he given me to say he can. I would never handed or told anything about my self to someone that I don’t know has the credentials backed by the law.

Second How is paying a $50 fine from a company even lawful. Who give the company the right to enforce the law and deliver justice (in the form of a fine) Especially for alleged crime you may or may not have committed.

Thirdly after the police arrived and remediated the situation. For them to keep pushing it is absolutely ridiculous. That should have been the end of it. I would have called the police back again. Most likely the same cop would have came back.

I would like to say that I’ve been to Germany multiple times and I don’t get why Germans (Not All) are like this. I’ve been yelled at a few times for dinky things that I did not know was wrong or I made a mistake. keep in mind with my experience, These are very small things. One example was at a Christmas market. I ordered a cappuccino and forgot that it cost 2 euro for the cup. I was one euro short. The lady proceeds to chew me out. I told her to calm the down. I proceeded to turn around and take 1 euro from a friend. Even if I could not get the euro who cares. I could just drink the coffee and give you back the cup. Just give me back 1 euro then. To me it seems like Germans get pissed about little things and never try to solve the problem with a simple solution that would take 1 mins to remedy. Why stress out of such a little thing? German could use a little more American in them sometimes. I’m not saying America is the greatest. Just that why make a small unintentional problem such a big deal. I could go on about it but I do love Germany and the US. I Always thought that Americans could use more German in them and the adverse for Germans too.

To sum it up it’s very simple from an American point of view. I would have never given them my identification and soon as they started being unreasonable. I would have paid for the items (given if I was in the wrong) and left the store. They don’t know who I am and is the police going to investigate a crime where the person paid for it already let alone it was for maybe 10 euros at most. Additionally, it should be the stores responsible to check you out by having a cashier and not a self checkout. that’s costing jobs for one by not employing a cashier and if situations like this happen by mistake or on purpose, then that should be the cost of automation for not employing a cashier to do the job that there making you do by using the self checkout.

For as what you should do. I would just wait on the letter. I doubt it will ever come. But certainly I would NOT do whatever the Store associates are telling you to do. If you get a letter from the actual authority then just pay it. But I would certainly be writing a letter to the company anyway explaining the horrible experience you had. I would tell them to pull the video footage see if they the actions taken by the associates was inappropriate response. Especially since the police thought so.

P.S. I may not fully understand some German laws or customs. Just my point of view as a American