The Hapless Shoplifter

Well we finally caught a shoplifter yesterday. The funny part is we weren't even trying. I have ranted and raved many times on here about our stores policy of not stopping shoplifters and we have been getting hit hard for months now. It is frustrating to watch people just take what they want and walk out. If they are giving free stuff away at my store I think I should get it - I work there afterall.

Anyway, a little boy was blatantly shoplifting. He was just walking along putting what he wanted in his bookbag and he wasn't even bothering to try to hide his activities. So one of the clerks announced over the intercom, "SECURITY TO THE FLOOR". This is what we always do when we see shoplifters but we never do anything else after that.

Well the little boy panicked when he heard the announcement and ran out of the store. He took his bookbag and threw it over the hill on store property so the manager went out and retrieved it. The boy came back and told the manager, "Everything in the bag is stolen but I need my book for school. You can keep the rest."

The manager called the boy's mother hoping to put a stop to the behavior. The mother came down (turns out she was one of our regular shoplifters). She started to rant at the manager and call him a rascist and she wanted to know why he stopped her son.

She was furious when the manager told her, "We didn't stop your son. He ran out of the store and threw his bookbag over our hill. Then he came back and told me everything was stolen and he wanted his book for school." She wasn't mad at her son for stealing though. She was mad that he admitted that the stuff was stolen.

Our manager wasn't going to do more than talk to the boy's mom when he called her but after seeing her reaction he called the police. Now the boy, the mom and the entire family are banned from the premises and we are to call the police if any of them show up.

IT'S ABOUT DAMNED TIME!