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Okay, so here's my most recent tale of frustration and excitement (ahahaha) at my store.
On Friday evening, there was a premeditated theft. Right in front of me.
I had come in to start my shift about an hour before this happened. I was standing at the counter next to the entrance door, putting security cases on the freshly checked in rental DVDs. As is anyone's job while they're standing near the door, I was also greeting every person that walked in, answering questions should any be spewed at me, and seeing if we have <insert random new movie here> just returned to be snagged by a rabid movie-watcher.
Now, for a little bit of info, our entranceway is a bit odd. We have a double set of doors on the outside, a double set on the inside and a front hallway that connects all four doors. So, what SHOULD be happening, is if you're looking at the store from the outside, you have the entrance doors on the right and the exit doors on the left, with a mirroring set of doors on the inside of the little hallway. Ideally, people go in the right and exit the left. The entrance inner doors only have handles on the side that is exposed to the hallway, thus making it extremely difficult, if not impossible for most, to open them from the actual inside of the store. Rendering most individuals incapable of exiting there, they must go through the security sensors (as intended!) and exit out the *gasp* exit doors!
Long winded explanations aside... there's a huge rule about anyone standing near the entrance doors. NO ONE GOES OUT THEM. If they try to pry open the door or slip out when people are coming in, we are to stop them and demand (politely) for them to exit out the *gasp* exit doors. What a novelty, leaving through doors intended for people to leave through. But I digress with sarcasm...
(I've also not slept yet tonight. So my brain's a bit wandery, long-winded and scattery.
What fun!)
Back to the tale... I was standing near the entrance, say Hi-how-are-you, Hi-how-are-you... etc. When a guy comes into the door and stops. Looks directly at me from about a foot away. Holds open the door, staring at me. And lets a girl out. Painfully, obviously, on purpose. And then turns and scratches his neck, acting like it was all just for politeness' sake and it wasn't anything special. *coughbullshitcough*
So, being the smrt thinker I am, I dart around to the exit door (the counter blocking me from going after her through the entrance door, aha) and lean out it.
Me: Ma'am!
Girl: Huh? *stops, looks at me, standing in between the two sets of entrance doors, both closed*
Me: I'm gonna have to ask you to come back in through the doors there and come around to the exit here. That's not an exit.
Girl: Uh... what?
Me: Please go back in, come around the desk and go through the sensors, and come out this door here. That door is NOT an exit.
Girl: Oh! Uhm. I'm sorry. *takes one step toward the door, looking in, hand reaching out to grab the handle.... and turns right around and goes out the other door, going outside*
Me: <Oh no she didn't!> *darts through the outer exit doors!* Ma'am... MA'AM!!
Girl: *looks over her shoulder with an OH SHIT look and breaks into a full-out run into traffic and dodges through parked cars and disappears*
Me: <Well... shit. I can't follow...>
*goes back inside, determined to find the twerp that let her out and bring the Wrath of Doom* 
<Coworker> I need your help, NOW!
CW:
*follows*
Customers in line:
So I explain as quick as I can, without foul words (go me!!) to nearby coworkers to help me hunt for the little bastard that was obviously an accomplice. I'm in a rage that people had the audacity to do this right... in FRONT.. of ME. Add adrenaline to that and I'm shaking and wielding the all-imaginary, aformentioned Wrath of Doom (whee) as I stalk around the store, looking for this little crapbag.
Which dispenses of much of my adrenaline and anger. Maybe not so WHEE anymore, but it's a good thing. At least, good for people around me, haha.
(Side note, a couple customers tried to help, but weren't much help... asking questions, offering assistance... the attempt was lovely though, thanks whoever you guys were!
)
Without luck, I resort to the security cameras. Booyah, backup plan! I pinpoint on camera where they do the obvious "We're stealing from you, neener neener" and call the store manager, asking if I should call the police at all, since we had nothing but video footage. She says, yes, if I can get them on camera taking things, and not just running. Woohoo, a challenger appears!
So, I spend two hours pinpointing exactly what happened, and this is what the cameras (crappily.. gods our security system sucks in more ways than one.. got such a headache reviewing the footage that long) revealed:
They were in the store for a grand total of 8 minutes and some change.
8 Minutes!! Grr...
And this is why it took so long to pinpoint them: The guy changed shirts off-camera.
They walk in, both wearing light colored clothing. Head directly over to the dvd aisle, and begin to suspiciously lurk and fiddle with the movies, seemingly hunching over something at the same time. The guy also tended to pace in and out of the aisle now and then. They wander toward the back of the store, then up another aisle to the front, where I can only see half of the aisle they happen to pick to lurk around some more. Then, they both walk out of the aisle, as she PUTS ON HER PURSE. I smell something fishy with that action alone, much less the pacing and such.
At this point, I lose them for about a minute, and then see him, in a different (darker) shirt, head out the proper exit door! *gasp* Then, a few seconds later, she starts hovering around the entrance door, with his extra shirt over her shoulder, half covering her purse. Ooh.. suspicion number three! (I had thought it was a blanket when I saw her in person... although a blanket would've been odd too, without a baby.) And, the sneaky bastard having never actually left out the other exit doors, just sneaks across the front hallway under the guise of looking at the books out there and acts like he's just coming in (with a different shirt, kinda hard to go "hey you were just here, yeah?" even if I had notice him before), letting her out, thus bringing us to the start of the story.
Although, something that I kind of brainfarted on and pissed me off doubly when I realized... the guy, once seeing that I was on to her, walked quickly over to the exit doors and left, himself... RIGHT BEHIND ME!!, as I was talking to her, trying to get her to come back inside. And I didn't see him, nor did I think, at the time, to have coworkers block the doors to prevent him from leaving. I was more geared up toward catching her than even thinking about him.
So, yeah. 8 minutes. Can we say PLANNED?
I knew we could.
Cops ended up saying there's nothing to be done unless we had a way of finding them or knowing exactly what they took. As I knew they would. No blame on them, but figured it was worth a shot, knowing it was a plot from the start.
I just was kinda shocked at the audacity of doing the main escape right in front of me. And pissed at the audacity of him walking RIGHT BEHIND ME to get out. And still wielding the Wrath of Doom in reserves if I ever see them again, or have someone try a similar move with me there, in the future. Hrrmph.
Gonna go try to sleep now. Ahahahahaha...
On Friday evening, there was a premeditated theft. Right in front of me.
I had come in to start my shift about an hour before this happened. I was standing at the counter next to the entrance door, putting security cases on the freshly checked in rental DVDs. As is anyone's job while they're standing near the door, I was also greeting every person that walked in, answering questions should any be spewed at me, and seeing if we have <insert random new movie here> just returned to be snagged by a rabid movie-watcher.
Now, for a little bit of info, our entranceway is a bit odd. We have a double set of doors on the outside, a double set on the inside and a front hallway that connects all four doors. So, what SHOULD be happening, is if you're looking at the store from the outside, you have the entrance doors on the right and the exit doors on the left, with a mirroring set of doors on the inside of the little hallway. Ideally, people go in the right and exit the left. The entrance inner doors only have handles on the side that is exposed to the hallway, thus making it extremely difficult, if not impossible for most, to open them from the actual inside of the store. Rendering most individuals incapable of exiting there, they must go through the security sensors (as intended!) and exit out the *gasp* exit doors!
Long winded explanations aside... there's a huge rule about anyone standing near the entrance doors. NO ONE GOES OUT THEM. If they try to pry open the door or slip out when people are coming in, we are to stop them and demand (politely) for them to exit out the *gasp* exit doors. What a novelty, leaving through doors intended for people to leave through. But I digress with sarcasm...
(I've also not slept yet tonight. So my brain's a bit wandery, long-winded and scattery.
What fun!)Back to the tale... I was standing near the entrance, say Hi-how-are-you, Hi-how-are-you... etc. When a guy comes into the door and stops. Looks directly at me from about a foot away. Holds open the door, staring at me. And lets a girl out. Painfully, obviously, on purpose. And then turns and scratches his neck, acting like it was all just for politeness' sake and it wasn't anything special. *coughbullshitcough*
So, being the smrt thinker I am, I dart around to the exit door (the counter blocking me from going after her through the entrance door, aha) and lean out it.
Me: Ma'am!
Girl: Huh? *stops, looks at me, standing in between the two sets of entrance doors, both closed*
Me: I'm gonna have to ask you to come back in through the doors there and come around to the exit here. That's not an exit.
Girl: Uh... what?
Me: Please go back in, come around the desk and go through the sensors, and come out this door here. That door is NOT an exit.
Girl: Oh! Uhm. I'm sorry. *takes one step toward the door, looking in, hand reaching out to grab the handle.... and turns right around and goes out the other door, going outside*
Me: <Oh no she didn't!> *darts through the outer exit doors!* Ma'am... MA'AM!!
Girl: *looks over her shoulder with an OH SHIT look and breaks into a full-out run into traffic and dodges through parked cars and disappears*
Me: <Well... shit. I can't follow...>
*goes back inside, determined to find the twerp that let her out and bring the Wrath of Doom* <Coworker> I need your help, NOW!CW:
*follows*Customers in line:
So I explain as quick as I can, without foul words (go me!!) to nearby coworkers to help me hunt for the little bastard that was obviously an accomplice. I'm in a rage that people had the audacity to do this right... in FRONT.. of ME. Add adrenaline to that and I'm shaking and wielding the all-imaginary, aformentioned Wrath of Doom (whee) as I stalk around the store, looking for this little crapbag.
Which dispenses of much of my adrenaline and anger. Maybe not so WHEE anymore, but it's a good thing. At least, good for people around me, haha.
(Side note, a couple customers tried to help, but weren't much help... asking questions, offering assistance... the attempt was lovely though, thanks whoever you guys were!
)Without luck, I resort to the security cameras. Booyah, backup plan! I pinpoint on camera where they do the obvious "We're stealing from you, neener neener" and call the store manager, asking if I should call the police at all, since we had nothing but video footage. She says, yes, if I can get them on camera taking things, and not just running. Woohoo, a challenger appears!
So, I spend two hours pinpointing exactly what happened, and this is what the cameras (crappily.. gods our security system sucks in more ways than one.. got such a headache reviewing the footage that long) revealed:
They were in the store for a grand total of 8 minutes and some change.
8 Minutes!! Grr...
And this is why it took so long to pinpoint them: The guy changed shirts off-camera.
They walk in, both wearing light colored clothing. Head directly over to the dvd aisle, and begin to suspiciously lurk and fiddle with the movies, seemingly hunching over something at the same time. The guy also tended to pace in and out of the aisle now and then. They wander toward the back of the store, then up another aisle to the front, where I can only see half of the aisle they happen to pick to lurk around some more. Then, they both walk out of the aisle, as she PUTS ON HER PURSE. I smell something fishy with that action alone, much less the pacing and such.
At this point, I lose them for about a minute, and then see him, in a different (darker) shirt, head out the proper exit door! *gasp* Then, a few seconds later, she starts hovering around the entrance door, with his extra shirt over her shoulder, half covering her purse. Ooh.. suspicion number three! (I had thought it was a blanket when I saw her in person... although a blanket would've been odd too, without a baby.
) And, the sneaky bastard having never actually left out the other exit doors, just sneaks across the front hallway under the guise of looking at the books out there and acts like he's just coming in (with a different shirt, kinda hard to go "hey you were just here, yeah?" even if I had notice him before), letting her out, thus bringing us to the start of the story.Although, something that I kind of brainfarted on and pissed me off doubly when I realized... the guy, once seeing that I was on to her, walked quickly over to the exit doors and left, himself... RIGHT BEHIND ME!!, as I was talking to her, trying to get her to come back inside. And I didn't see him, nor did I think, at the time, to have coworkers block the doors to prevent him from leaving. I was more geared up toward catching her than even thinking about him.
So, yeah. 8 minutes. Can we say PLANNED?
I knew we could.
Cops ended up saying there's nothing to be done unless we had a way of finding them or knowing exactly what they took. As I knew they would. No blame on them, but figured it was worth a shot, knowing it was a plot from the start.
I just was kinda shocked at the audacity of doing the main escape right in front of me. And pissed at the audacity of him walking RIGHT BEHIND ME to get out. And still wielding the Wrath of Doom in reserves if I ever see them again, or have someone try a similar move with me there, in the future. Hrrmph.
Gonna go try to sleep now. Ahahahahaha...
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