I didn't steal, but this is how I could have

[mattm04]

About a week ago a SC goes up to one of our side registers with some merch from departments near that register. They could have paid at ANY register, including our FE registers.

Me: can I help you?
SC: Can i pay for these thing?
Me: yes.

As I am ringing the SC up...

SC: You notice how I didn't leave the area where <items> were sold before I paid?
Me: No, but I see all these items are from this area.
SC: Well....I didn't leave because I know people may have stolen something.
Me: No need to worry as long as you don't leave the store without paying, and yes someone has most likely stolen something in the general area at some point. It's a fact of life for us.
SC: Because you know i could have just grabbed <small item> and walked out without telling you.
Me: And that would be stealing.

I finish her transaction and send the SC on their way. They then gran a few items from another section of the store, near the FE, and pay for those in the front and leave. They also tell that cashier a similar story.

Myself and other cashier tell LP guy, just to give them a heads up.

Three days later, the SC (Stealing Customer) is caught stealing and arrested.

[EvilEmpryss]

She was probably fishing for information on your security procedures. I bet she was looking for this interaction:

SC: You notice how I didn't leave the area where <items> were sold before I paid?
You: No, but I see all these items are from this area.
SC: Well....I didn't leave because I know people may have stolen something.
You: No need to worry, because those security cameras right up there would have seen you do it and we would have caught you before you left the store.

SC [thinking to herself] Ah-ha! Now I know which sections to avoid!

[BowserKoopa1]

What a moron! Dropping hints like that is pretty much just telling a store that you are extremely likely to steal from them. The guy couldn't have made it any more plain. He might as well have been wearing a sign that says, "shoplifter"

[Imogene]

That's like the book OJ put out... what was it? "If I did it"?
I did have to chuckle at how Nicole's parents got the right to make the If really really small, and had the rest of it in large type.

[sak1na]

At first, I thought it was just one of those SCs that want you to think theyre going out of their way to pay for something, but yeah, that was really stupid of them to ask, but they probably woiuld have gotten caught anyway?

[LillFilly]

Guess they must have been trying some sort of reverse psychology...