A potential shoplifter and borderline assult all in one package.

[Estil]

Yesterday I got what was perhaps the worst customer I have ever seen in my life. I was running the self-serv checkout lanes that day and I was trying to do her check. She wanted it for $25 over (and after you hear this story you'll definetly question the wisdom of having said option) and when I tried that, it flagged it as her having wrote too many checks. I called one of the front office workers who then asked a manager over the courteousy telephone if we could override. They said no. So we offered the woman the chance to do the check for the exact amount but she was already upset enough to just run off angry. I even asked if she had a debit card she could use to get her cash back instead (that way, she could get any amount up to $100, and it will NEVER reject you as long as it's not over $100 and you have sufficent funds in your account; this BTW is one of my favorite features at our store).

Now here's where it gets bad. She then runs off while still holding her groceries (only $3 worth but still) and I stop her right after she goes out the door (I think she was about 5-10 feet outside at this point) and snapped at her saying that she still has to pay for that (thinking maybe she was trying to shoplift; her check was still in the printer). Well, she then threw her groceries at me (underhanded to be fair, but it was thrown kinda hard) and said "SCREW YOU!!". I mean, I was so shocked and appaled and would've scolded her for throwing things at me (her record showed in a very cryptic way she had tried to write a lot of checks for cash back in a pretty short period of time; another red flag) and commiting borderline assult but my friend (who was working front office; kinda sorta like a supervisor but in a very watered down sense of the word) stopped me and trying to be helpful, said I should've just let her go and "smile" anyway. I did give him the benefit of the doubt about his advice because at least he was "one of us" (not just some manager who has never worked the front lines a day in their lives).

What makes this situation even more scary is that I've heard rumors about checkers/baggers actually being hit by the customers and apparently are conditioned to just let them get away with it. I personally would never just let a customer throw things at me or hurt me in any other way. You just don't let people in any circumstance get away with things like that, especially when we went out of our ways to try to help her. I just hope management doesn't later hear about this and then take her side.

[Shironu-Akaineko]

Oh no.
Oh, no no no no no no no no no.
Nu-huh.
I punched my store manager's manager for less (he only made me jump, then laughed his ass off holding his jaw after I punched him--and don't do this at home folks, It was a reflex on my part--) and I spent 11 years of my life getting punched and kicked around.
If my store told me to grin and bear it if customers hit me I'd go. "Fine. Here's my cap, here's my apron, find yourself another baker."

[Myra]

Oh HELL no. If a customer hits me, throws something at me, any other form of assault and battery, I WILL press charges. They broke the law, they pay the price. My employer can bite it. Luckily, where I work now, my boss wouldn't expect me to "just take it" anyway. Thank God for him.

[Ciarrai]

I was one of the cashiers who just took the abuse. I had a package of 12 batteries hucked at my head, and the only reason they didn't hit me was because I had good enough reflexes to duck. I wouldn't have done anything to the guy if they had hit me though. I was a very well trained teenager who would take all abuse in the name of customer service.
I've since grown out of that .

[RentalRacer]

At the Chain Grocery store I used to work for they made a policy that even if we saw someone stealing something we were not under any circumstances to chase them out of the store.
This was because a year before I started a bagger in one of our stores across town saw a guy running out of the store with a case of beer, and when he tried to apprehend him in the parking lot he got fatally stabbed. And this is in a town of only 45-50,000 people, and we have one of the lowest crime rates in the country.

Eye opening for sure. Saving your store a couple of bucks in inventory is not worth putting your life in danger.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

At the Chain Grocery store I used to work for they made a policy that even if we saw someone stealing something we were not under any circumstances to chase them out of the store.
This was because a year before I started a bagger in one of our stores across town saw a guy running out of the store with a case of beer, and when he tried to apprehend him in the parking lot he got fatally stabbed. And this is in a town of only 45-50,000 people, and we have one of the lowest crime rates in the country.

Eye opening for sure. Saving your store a couple of bucks in inventory is not worth putting your life in danger.

Not to mention you open up the company to mucho liability if you go chasing someone when that's not in your job description, and the person turns out not to have any stolen merchandise (false arrest) or gets hit by a car or falls and gets hurt or something. (Then you're paying the person's medical bills plus any other damages the jury decides to award)

At my store you do not go chasing after anybody UNLESS and UNTIL the LP person asks you to help them because they think the suspect might run.

[BookstoreEscapee]

At the Chain Grocery store I used to work for they made a policy that even if we saw someone stealing something we were not under any circumstances to chase them out of the store.

Yeah, BN doesn't allow employees to chase people, either. If they make it out the door, you are supposed to let them go (though my ex did once chase a guy out, and got our stuff back...earning him the nickname Tex...). We go for deterrence through extreme customer service if we see anyone we think is stealing. Because of course we're not allowed to say anything to them if they haven't left the store yet, either.

[Barista_Babe]

The department store I worked at wouldn't let us chase people because "it might embarass them" (WTF??)...this was even when we saw people blatantly stuffing bags or pulling tags off. Maybe this is some legal thing that I don't know (yet) but it still seems kind of ridiculous--they're STEALING from you and you're worried about embarassing them!?
Needless to say they went out of business a year or so ago.

[Mr B Rabbit]

At the bookshop I used to work in several of us were LRPers, and would occasionally go out back and spar during breaks. Because of this we had weaponry stored in the staff room. Now, why someone decided it would be a good idea to shoplift from a bookshop I don't know but they did. And we caught it on CCTV, while on break in the staff room.

After two of us grabbed a pair of broadswords and went and stood by the door he decided he'd pay for the book after all. Since the person on the till was new, and fairly flustered by the shoplifters attitude, they entered the wrong code on the till. The shoplifter ended up paying £100 for a £10 dictionary, without objecting or commenting (and before you ask there was no intimidation, we were just standing around by the door with foam weaponry). We used the extra £90 to go down the pub that night.

[Becks]

The department store I worked at wouldn't let us chase people because "it might embarass them" (WTF??)...

indeed.

Although, it must be embarassing to be caught stealing.

[Imogene]

The shoplifter ended up paying £100 for a £10 dictionary, without objecting or commenting We used the extra £90 to go down the pub that night.

Ha ha! That's what you get for attempting to steal from a LARPer!

[SuperB]

To cover your own arse it would be a good idea to file an assault charge when something like this happens. If you're dealing with corporate who may have two different stories to listen to after the fact, it woud solidify yours.

[greensinestro]

Good one there. I would say this is a person who has a nasty temper only when she gets questioned doing something, well, questionable. I had one like that the other day on the phone, trying to pay her bill on-line, and actually admitted she did not have the money in her account. She had the gall to ask, "You all really check that first?" Uh, yeah, maam, we do. Not only that, but this lady already had a record of paying us with worthless checks through the mail, so I don't see how she thought we would not find out on an electronic payment.