Are you following me?

[Rubystars]

I work at Famous Footwear. Today was a VERY busy day.
I was constantly having to watch suspicious looking folks. I was busy doing this, when a person who didn't look suspicious at all came up to me. I honestly hadn't noticed her before. She said "Are you following me, because you seem to be everywhere I am." I looked at her for a second. A middle aged white woman with no large purse and no large bag and normal-fitting clothes (nothing baggy to hide shoes in), and apparently not acting in any suspicious manner or I would have noticed her by now. I said "No, I didn't even notice you until now." I was trying, at that very moment, to watch two very suspicious looking young people. She looked like she didn't quite believe me but she walked away.

I was trying to think of why she thought I had been following her, and I realized that she must have been in proximity to the same places the people I WAS following were.

It's funny, because, I'm used to people I am watching getting upset with me, but this woman was totally off my radar. She could have stolen shoes and I would have never known about it, unless she was acting suspicious in some way beforehand.

[Think Blue]

There have been times where I have been shopping with other people and we have been watched. (I look mildly suspicious)

I have never notcied until the person I'm with tells me. I think if you're not doing anything bad eventually they'll stop. There is no point in getting riled up over somthing like that.

Stores lose tons of money because of shop lifting. I'm pretty sure employees hate watching you as much as you hate being watched by them.

I'm honestly shocked that she didn't get really mad. Some people cuss up at storm when they figure it out.

[Confuzed-Monkey]

We had a woman come into our store a few weeks ago. I was the lucky one who got to trail her. She was obviously high on some type of substance. She wasn't really bothering anyone, but they thought she might steal something.

She was looking at shower curtains. She proceeded to take about 10-15 of them out of the bag and put them on the floor and walk on them. She also stuck her face into the display of curtains and started twirling around. Pretty Funny. She kept kicking her shoes off and putting them back on. Mind you not just a little kick, but nearly halfway done a 100ft aisle.

The best part was when I finally got tired of watching I called my manager over. She was alone on the aisle for about 5 minutes while we talked about what to do. She had managed to open about 6 bathroom scales and put them all on the ground. She was standing on each one, they were all the same thing.

My manager had finally had enough. He went to confront her. She was in the process of taking another scale out of the box, when he told her to stop. She got so nervous that she wet herself right there in front of us.

She was escorted out quickly, and the disinfectant was quickly utilized.

CM

[CanadaGirl]

She was escorted out quickly, and the disinfectant was quickly utilized.

CM

Um... wow.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I'm thinking mentally ill.

[0oAmericanGirl]

"She looked like she didn't quite believe me but she walked away."

I understand her! Sometimes I feel like I'm being followed in stores, eventhought I'm not or if I am they're wasting their time.

[Phone Jockey]

Maybe she WANTED you to follow her, you sexy thang! LOL Seriously, some ppl think they're more important in your world than they really are.

[Broomjockey]

I must have one of those honest, friendly faces, because I was never followed in stores (except those ones where they are on commission, and so follow everyone), and people always feel free to stop me on the street to ask me questions. Even when I'm reading or have headphones on.
It's really annoying. I should get a piercing or a tattoo to make me less approachable

[zelper]

Heh, i usually don't get followed either. I guess i'm not the right 'type'.

One time i was in a near-deserted Allders though. They were closing down and had a big sale on so i was taking a look. I think the security guard had nothing better to do cos he made it really obvious he was following me. So we went up to toys, down to cookware, up to toys, down to cookware, up to toys, three times round a pillar and then to the checkout lol. At least it kept him busy

[Tanasi]

Way back in the days of disco, I was with my Mom at a local dime store. The manager and my mom had went to school together and they were chatting. I was standing there quietly waiting to leave. A black fellow came in and went immediately to the record section. Mgr told Mom "You have to watch those people they'll carry off the whole place." I quietly told her "He's my friend, we went to school together and he doesn't steal." She asked how I knew this so I said "Hey, Charles are you going to steal anything?" Chuck "No, that mgr is watching me as usual."
Mom got mad at me for embarrasing the mgr.

[SonOfSpam]

My friend was kind of a klepto when we were younger and sometimes I discovered that he'd made off with a candy bar or magazine from a convienience store when I wasn't even paying attention. One time I went with him into a store but not before I made him swear not to swipe anything. We went in and he went over to the ice cream freezer while I was across the store thinking about what pop I wanted to buy. Not half a minute later I heard the manager hollering at him, apparently he was trying to stick two popsicles into his jacket (I was happy he thought about me, but still) and had been caught red-handed. The mgr grabs him and reads him the riot act but eventually lets him go, needless to say he's banned from the store. I've never stolen a thing in my life but everytime I went in any store of that strip mall for the next year or so I'd always get dirty stares, sometimes people behind the cash register would flat out accuse me of swiping stuff when I was leaving. I didn't even hang around with that dumbass anymore but I was still catching flack for what he'd done, so I can understand the irritability of people who're being followed around while they shop. Moral of the story: don't pal around with dipshits with sticky fingers, lest your reputation suffer

[MadMike]

There have been times where I have been shopping with other people and we have been watched. (I look mildly suspicious)

I used to get that too, when I was a teenager. I'd usually be out in jeans, sneakers, and some kind of heavy metal T-shirt. I still dress the same way, but now that I'm a 30-something, no one really seems to watch me.

Sometimes, I'd turn and look right at them. They hate that.

Usually, I wouldn't let it bother me. I figured that while they were watching me like a hawk, some well-dressed middle-aged guy was robbing them blind.

[Jester]

Confessions of a Teenage Thief...

I must admit, in junior high, I was The Master Thief. I stole everything....candy, books, dirty magazines, games, toys, etc. I once walked out of a toy store with over a hundred dollars' worth of stuff, by my estimation. Since this was the early 80's, that wasn't too shabby. Now, the reason I was so good was I WAS pretty smart about it. I never even TRIED to steal from the record store, for example. They had those detection things that looked like metal detectors but weren't. When I walked out of the record store with merchandise, it was PURCHASED merchandise. I also usually made a point of actually BUYING something, which more often than not will allay any suspicions.

Shortly before I quit doing all of this five finger discounting (when I was caught by a manager who was friendly to me), I was in a drug store, pondering lifting a pair of sunglasses. I had my own pair with me, but was looking for something new. (I have never outgrown the love of sunglasses....I have several pairs at any given time.) As I was doing this, I noticed a guy watching me. A guy in a cheap tie and coat, who looked very much like what you would think a cop would look like. A cop who was reduced to working as security at a drug store due to having consumed too many donuts. You get the idea. No problem. The pair I was pondering, I put back. Shortly thereafter, I left the store, at which point Mr. Security pounced, and accused me of stealing the shades, as he "saw" me. I innocently asked if he meant the ones on my head, that I had walked in with? No, he meant the other ones, that I had in my pocket, he said. So I very calmly proceeded to empty my pockets for him, much to his chagrin and confusion.

Ironically, when I was doing all this shoplifting, I looked like Mr. Clean Cut Kid. Years later, when I had long hair and/or a goatee and looked very suspicious, I never stole a thing. Go figger.

THREE DAYS TILL VACATION!!! (And I won't have to deal with suckass customers for a week!)

[Rubystars]

We had a woman come into our store a few weeks ago. I was the lucky one who got to trail her. She was obviously high on some type of substance. She wasn't really bothering anyone, but they thought she might steal something.

She was looking at shower curtains. She proceeded to take about 10-15 of them out of the bag and put them on the floor and walk on them. She also stuck her face into the display of curtains and started twirling around. Pretty Funny. She kept kicking her shoes off and putting them back on. Mind you not just a little kick, but nearly halfway done a 100ft aisle.

The best part was when I finally got tired of watching I called my manager over. She was alone on the aisle for about 5 minutes while we talked about what to do. She had managed to open about 6 bathroom scales and put them all on the ground. She was standing on each one, they were all the same thing.

My manager had finally had enough. He went to confront her. She was in the process of taking another scale out of the box, when he told her to stop. She got so nervous that she wet herself right there in front of us.

She was escorted out quickly, and the disinfectant was quickly utilized.

CM

That poor woman, I feel very sad for her. I hope that she gets some kind of help soon.

[Rubystars]

Way back in the days of disco, I was with my Mom at a local dime store. The manager and my mom had went to school together and they were chatting. I was standing there quietly waiting to leave. A black fellow came in and went immediately to the record section. Mgr told Mom "You have to watch those people they'll carry off the whole place." I quietly told her "He's my friend, we went to school together and he doesn't steal." She asked how I knew this so I said "Hey, Charles are you going to steal anything?" Chuck "No, that mgr is watching me as usual."
Mom got mad at me for embarrasing the mgr.

Well you shouldn't have been acting like that. Profiling is just something that's a fact of life. My boss at Famous Footwear is black, and she's always saying "You tell me if any of my cousins come in." or "Go watch my cousin over in the infant's section." The first time she said it, I didn't know what she meant, and I was thinking "Well if he's your cousin, why don't you go talk to him?" Then I realized what she meant after the second time, realizing not every black person in the store could actually be her cousin. lol I think one time she actually said she didn't have any actual cousins. Anyway, if she's in the back room, and her cousins come in, she wants us to call her out immediately. One time she actually said to me "We need to watch my cousins, they'll get us in a second." I was a bit shocked that she'd tell ME something like that, since I'm white.

We also watch "Maria's cousins." This is possibly because every Saturday morning, without fail, a large family of Maria's cousins will come in with large bags and head straight to the infant's section and try to take shoes if you don't stand there and watch them. The kicker? It's always a different family. Maria is an assistant manager who happens to be Mexican, and she's a wonderful person, by the way.

We also profile by age, the younger you are, the more likely you are to steal. Of course, it doesn't mean you're going to steal, it just means you're more likely to do it. Most of the people that work there are young people too.

Most people who steal from us, are relatively young "Maria's cousins" and the ones that steal the most after that, are my boss' "cousins". This isn't something I want to be true, this is just something that IS true. My boss is the one who orders us to watch them, and since she's the boss, we pretty much have to do what she says.

It gets really tiresome when they figure out they're being profiled and say stuff like "You're only watching me because I'm black!" The truth is, my boss is the one who insists we watch black people, not me! Sometimes I tell them my boss told me to watch them, and then they see she's black and the wind is knocked out of their sails. That doesn't help as much with Maria's cousins though.