Shoplifting stories?

[Javarod]

I think I shall always remember from my Wal*Mart days when LP and two stock boys came by electronics walking a shoplifter back to LP's office along with the computer the guy tried to steal. When they walked by, I heard the LP asking the guy just how many times he'd arrested him.

An odd one from the same store (over two years I worked in three stores) was the time I was patrolling electronics (my department at the time) and noticed all the Virgin Mobile prepaid phones were gone. Since they weren't a hot seller I gave 301 a shout, and he came by. The empty packages were found in domestics, but I can't rightly figure out what they were planning on doing with the phones, VM is prepaid using Sprint's network, so the phones are technically compatible with Sprint, Alltel, and Verizon Wireless, but with electronic serial numbers in them and software differences, I can't see what you could do with them.

[Eaglet6519]

One night I was the closing coordinator at my store, it had been a somewhat busy night but over all normal. I had just finished helping a cashier that was by the door and I start to walk back to my podium and I see our LP(Loss prevention) running out the store. So I stay and watch and he's walking back in behind this woman in a motorized cart, he told me to call the manager on duty so I did over the walkie to meet LP in the front office. They called me over and handed me a $22 lamb, a jar of seasoning, 2 packages of hot dogs, bananas and 2 pomegranates and told me to get a total price on the items. After the police came and arrested the woman our manager was telling me the woman said she didn't even know how to cook a lamb! Of all the shoplifters we've had this is the one that will always stay on my mind!

[Secret Shopper]

One night I was the closing coordinator at my store, it had been a somewhat busy night but over all normal. I had just finished helping a cashier that was by the door and I start to walk back to my podium and I see our LP(Loss prevention) running out the store. So I stay and watch and he's walking back in behind this woman in a motorized cart, he told me to call the manager on duty so I did over the walkie to meet LP in the front office. They called me over and handed me a $22 lamb, a jar of seasoning, 2 packages of hot dogs, bananas and 2 pomegranates and told me to get a total price on the items. After the police came and arrested the woman our manager was telling me the woman said she didn't even know how to cook a lamb! Of all the shoplifters we've had this is the one that will always stay on my mind!

Was she morbidly obese and too fat to walk???

[Eaglet6519]

Was she morbidly obese and too fat to walk???

she was as she was rude as heck!

[Rapscallion]

Was she morbidly obese and too fat to walk???

Why would someone being morbidly obese and unable to walk be amusing?

Rapscallion

[Tria]

Why would someone being morbidly obese and unable to walk be amusing?

Rapscallion

As someone morbidly obese and ABLE to walk, I think it's funny that someone was stupid enough to let themselves get that bad. I am fat and I CHOOSE to eat stuff that I know is bad for me. I accept that I am fat. But I'm not letting myself get so fat I can't walk.

[Rapscallion]

You didn't put a laughing smiley in your post, though. I didn't quote your post.

Rapscallion

[Rebel1012]

i know someone like that...gets everything off the government for his "disability" (fat backside) and acts like everyone owes him and must bow before him

[Seshat]

As someone morbidly obese and ABLE to walk, I think it's funny that someone was stupid enough to let themselves get that bad.

While I accept that many people get like that out of choice, there are a few (yes, very few) people who are so severely handicapped that the amount of food they need to eat to be nutritionally healthy holds more energy than they're able to expend.

I know one such person. She's very gradually getting fatter despite doing all the exercise the physiotherapist deems her capable of (and she used to try to do more, but the physio was right), and despite eating only what her nutritionist prescribes.

There's also the people with thyroid or hormonal disorders, though most of those who are diagnosed early enough will never get to morbid obesity.

So yeah - for some, it's choice. For others, it's disability, and therefore not funny at all.

[Bluenomi]

I worked at a party shop in the UK. We sold all sorts of bits and pieces including smoke bombs and stink bombs we couldn't sell to under 18 year olds. During the summer holidays I had a bunch of snotty kids come in all the time always asking for stuff they weren't allowed to have. I was the only person working most of the time so if there were customers to serve I couldn't keep an eye on them so easily. Little things would go missing and I was pretty sure it was them.

One day I had enough, I told the gang leader we had just gotten new security cameras and I could see what they were up to. They didn't believe me at first but I managed to bluff my way through (bless toy cameras in stock!) so they stopped stealing but kept coming and annoying me.

But finally a solution came to hand. The leader came in one day with his mum. He was following her around looking meek, trying not to get spotted by me. When she came to the counter to buy something I asked him where his mates were today. Hee hee, the look his mother gave him was priceless. I got the impression she didn't know he spent so much time hanging around the shops and he had been told not to.

I never saw that kid again And my stock stopped going missing

[ChemAgent]

Several years ago I worked in a small Hardware/Feed Store in a rural town. Since we catered to the farmers in surrounding areas it was usual to stock a large variety of animal medications. It was common to lose a few bottles every month or so but one guy took the cake, as it were. There was a steady stream of customers, around 5 per month, who would purchase cattle medication for human consumption. This was sold by the pill, about $0.30 each. Obviously we couldn't sell it as usable for humans but they bought it anyway. The most popular was an antibiotic (medium-sized yellow pill) which they used to treat several forms of STDs.

The customer exchange usually went something like this:
Me: Can I help you sir?
CS: I need one of them yellow pills man.
Me: Right over here sir.

One day there was a man in his mid-20s hanging out in the general area when we noticed him slip a yellow pill into his pocket. The only problem was that he had grabbed a yellow dewormer medication instead of the antibiotic. After realizing that he wasn't going to pay, those of us on staff decided to let him go without confronting him about it. We figured the next few days would be punishment enough

While we never heard from him again, there was another case where the hospital called our store after one of our clerks who didn't know any better gave someone the same dewormer when they asked for "the yella pill". That pill was sufficient enough to treat a 900 lb steer. Needless to say, he didn't fare so well.

[laurenjeannie]

So I work in a party store, and recently we moved to the well off area just North of the city, business is booming, at the new store we have a retail area, a large room filled with all kinds of awesome stuff and an entire wall of candy floor to ceiling.

We average about 8 parties a weekend where we give out these amazing goody bags full of stuff we've pulled from the retail room, but each goody bag is customized to the party's theme, so we know exactly what is in each bag. Many parents drop their kids off for the party in the retail room then pick up their kid 90 minutes later in that same room, and it's a bit chaotic getting coats, balloons, goody bags, ect. out the door. We make sure to have one employee seeing people off (aka guarding the door to make sure no kid or stray merch makes it out).

As a previous poster said, small children don't get the whole stealing concept, so our typical response to 'extras' getting stuffed into goody bags is to just say, 'Oh, sorry, that's not part of your bag, and take it back and put it where it belongs. We had a kid of 10ish recently who filled up his goody bag with our ENTIRE stock of fireballs, about 50 of them, when I confronted him about it, his mom noticed and flipped out, claiming they were part of his bag. I had pulled the goody bags myself, I knew exactly what was in each.....but she insisted. SO I finally grabbed another child and asked to see his bag, and proceeded to show her that he was NOT special, the fireballs were lifted. She was entirely pissed and called the owner on me. The owner was enraged at the gall of the lady and said the same thing I did.

A lot of times women come in to scope the place out before they book a party, this requires a special appointment as we're not open to the public. I can't tell you how many of them allow their kids to run amok while they haggle over the price (we don't do discounts) and the kids end up destroying merch, which they then refuse to pay for, the owner has started taking notes and then including the ruined merch in the goody bags for the little buggers party.

[Mikaiyawa]

A lot of times women come in to scope the place out before they book a party, this requires a special appointment as we're not open to the public. I can't tell you how many of them allow their kids to run amok while they haggle over the price (we don't do discounts) and the kids end up destroying merch, which they then refuse to pay for, the owner has started taking notes and then including the ruined merch in the goody bags for the little buggers party.

okay.. now That is priceless
and I bet they never notice the difference either.

Mieka

[CancelMyService]

My time at Circuit City provided lots of shoplifting tales. I'll always remember the time where the Video manager was standing in the CD section (he hated that department since he had low tolerance for kids being stupid). My section (computers) was right next to it, so I'm all "hey J, what are you doing over there?" and he gives me a "STFU" look and goes back to staring at the CDs. I follow his eyes and notice a guy with a seasonally-inappropriate coat stuffing CDs inside. Needless to say, that guy didn't get far.

While I was printing price tags in our little tag printing area that was behind/off to the side of the service desk, the same manager comes up to the counter with an older lady with one of those giant sized shopping bags. Turns out they were loaded to the brim with DVDs, and the hilarious part is what got everyone's attention is that her giant bag was from Macy's. There weren't any Macy's around for like a 100 mile radius at that time.

The best (worst?) was when they decided to stop having the sweet ass living room style setups we used to display stereo systems. Turns out one day someone decided to get super anal about cleaning and when they took the cushions off the couches they found about a billon security price tags that were cut off of CDs and DVDs.

[workerbee222]

I worked in a department store which was cleaned by a crew from a totally separate company. The head of the cleaning crew was reputed to be something of a jackass, but it was a long time before we caught on to his true nature.

Employees started noticing that "Joe" acted differently when the head of LP was off. Head of LP took a bit of convincing, he was sure Joe was an okay guy. Finally Lp makes up a fake schedule to hang in the office, so no one knows when Head LP is really going to be there or not, and security cameras are moved into place.

Joe was walking through the store with his big (was it 55 bushel) bin into which he's supposed to empty wastebaskets. Except he adds merchandise along the way, and is careful not to toss in half empty soda cans and such. When he gets out back he pulls out his merchandise while no one's looking, slips into the employee bathroom, lifts up a suspended ceiling tile and stashes his haul.

I think it was mostly clothing, so he layered it under his own clothes before he went home.