Remember when security did not exist in stores?

[greensinestro]

Does anyone remember those days? I sure do. I think I was about 10 years old when I first noticed security cameras in stores, and the first time was in a Winn Dixie! At the time, I wondered why these existed in a grocery store, let alone why they had those detectors at the doors. I had no idea it was because people were stealing food and other items. At home, I was under the impression everyone paid for their groceries, not shoplifted them.

Later on, this became much more popular. Remember Fayva shoe stores? You used to be able to go in there, try on a pair of shoes, then walk up to the counter. Now a days, at existing places like Payless, cameras are all over the place. Why? Because of Dishonest Customer coming in, taking off his old shoes, trying on a new pair, and then casually walking out with the new shoes, discarding their old ones. Some would do this and actually put their old shoes back in to the boxes. If they are caught, it's always "Oh, my mistake. I didn't look at which shoes I put back." Bullshit. I'm sure they would not have had this problem when they got home with the new shoes.

And now, in places like Target and Wal-Mart, you can't buy a DVD or XBOX game without having to get someone to open up the glass case and give the game to you. Too many people have snuck these items into their clothing and walked out without being noticed.

It's great we have this security, but did anyone read "1984"? It was scary but now is a reality. We are watched too often and it's the innocent ones that are paying for it.

[Boozy]

I was under the impression everyone paid for their groceries, not shoplifted them.

I remember that when I first started working in retail, I was stunned at the management's preoccupation with "shrink". I thought, surely they're just being paranoid. We live in a good neighbourhood! How can there be that many criminals around? Who are these people?
Ten years later, I am much wiser. I think there are so many shoplifters because the people who do it don't consider it a crime. The excuse is something like "This is a multinational chain store, they can afford it. It's not like I'm robbing little old ladies at gun point." But even if that were true, I think we all lose a little something when other people steal, like our privacy. Shopping under the watchful gaze of numerous security cameras always make ME feel like a criminal.

[LdyJedi]

I remember that when I first started working in retail, I was stunned at the management's preoccupation with "shrink". I thought, surely they're just being paranoid. We live in a good neighbourhood! How can there be that many criminals around? Who are these people?

I remember wondering that, too, when I worked in a grocery store at the tender age of 16.

Then I came out of the back one afternoon to find a woman trying to put tomatoes in her coat. TOMATOES.

My innocence was lost! She saw me, placed them in her cart, blushing a beet red. She was shadowed for the rest of her shopping trip. Never did see her in that store again.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

I once bought a large bag of cat food from Target, placed it in the bottom of my cart, went through the line and both me and the cashier forgot about it. I got out to the car to load up and realized I hadn't paid for it. So I pushed the cart back into the store, looked around, and ended up going to the cust service desk becaue there was no line there. There was some sort of manager there with two girls, and I showed them my receipt and explained I'd forgotten to pay for the cat food. All three of them looked at me dumbstruck. The manager rang it up for me and thanked me for coming back in. Unfortunately I do know how prone people are to stealing so I was not surprised by their reactions.

[phoenix_rising]

Eh, in 1984, I think it was more of a governmental control than anything else.

[Becks]

Either most of the cameras at work are fakes, or the security guy just doesn't care...

You would not believe how many people steal "little things" there.

[kerrisan]

The cameras don't bother me a whole lot. As long as they catch shoplifters and keep the prices from being jacked up, then it's fine with me. And if they want to watch me while I peruse the video games and computer software, they can. I'll just make sure to give them something good to look at like me picking a wedgie or booger.

[skeptic53]

Cameras can actually help the front-line employees. Go read "Vinegar Boy" under War Stories. The story happened in Australia, where they not only have video surveillance, but audio as well. In the "VB" story the audio portion is just as important as the video in vindicating the employee's side of the story.

[Crosshair]

Only thing they see me doing is where I hide my soda.

[Channard]

Either most of the cameras at work are fakes, or the security guy just doesn't care...

You would not believe how many people steal "little things" there.

My local store had, before they did a store re-jig, little model cameras sitting on the sides of the printer cartridge rack. With the words 'Camera Deterrent' on them in pink on yellow. Hmm.. not that effective, I suspect.

[MadMike]

I think there are so many shoplifters because the people who do it don't consider it a crime. The excuse is something like "This is a multinational chain store, they can afford it. It's not like I'm robbing little old ladies at gun point."

My ex has been caught shoplifting more times than I care to remember. She started doing it when she and I were still together. She'd never do it when I was around, because I told her in no uncertain terms I would not keep quiet about it. But that didn't stop her from doing it when she was somewhere by herself. Just like the post I quoted, she justified it by claiming the company could afford it, and that she only stole from companies, not people.

Funny thing about that, sometime after that, I found out she had been "borrowing" my ATM card and helping herself to my money. It was so upsetting to find out that I apparently wasn't a person, in her eyes.

I once bought a large bag of cat food from Target, placed it in the bottom of my cart, went through the line and both me and the cashier forgot about it. I got out to the car to load up and realized I hadn't paid for it.

.....

The manager rang it up for me and thanked me for coming back in.

I did something like that a few years ago. This story will illustrate just how scatterbrained I can be at times.

I went to the K-Mart in my area to pick up a few small items. I found everything I was looking for, except for one thing. While holding the items I had found, I went to the service desk to ask about the item I couldn't find. It turned out they didn't carry it, so I left.

...forgetting one minor little thing.

I got halfway to my car, and realized that I was still holding the items I had found, and had walked right out of the store without paying for them. I think my heart skipped a beat. I was so sure that security was going to come charging out the door and after me any second. I quickly went back in, and back to the service desk, and explain what had just happened.

There reaction was disbelief, not that I had walked out like that, but that I had come back. Sad, really.

[greensinestro]

Thank you for all the stories on this. I guess I should have stated that security still does not exist in certain places. Yet, I'm glad some people have stated they had the mind to go back in and explain what they had done instead of, "Oh, they'll never miss this."

I can state another story where security does not exist. About a year ago, my family and I ate dinner at the local Cracker Barrel. Now there's a place with no cameras or guards around. After we ate, we looked around in the store, as is the custom of most people. I can't remember what we bought, but three-fourths of the way home, that was when my two year old daughter decided to show me the votive candle she had shoplifted from the store! I couldn't believe it. Those tiny hands and fingers of hers, yet she somehow snuck this out without us seeing it.

We never did say anything although I did feel a little guilty about it. My daughter "committed" her first "crime" before getting out of diapers.

[South Texan]

Does anyone remember those days? I sure do.

Believe it or not, when my family moved from Dallas to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas in 1980, my mom went to a local dress store and was told that she could take her selections home to try on in private and bring them back later to return or purchase. Mom had no identification other than her drivers license with the Dallas address and the clerk did not know her at all. Of course, she lived up to the clerk's trust. That was the way a lot of stores operated in that town at that time.

Needless to say, those stores no longer extended that sort of trust to anyone by the time my parents moved fifteen years later.