I'm really slacking on commenting and reading blogs, but I have three days off so I promise to catch up! Plus I have to write my thanks blog for my newest award. :)
Okay, so, I've known about teenagers having sticky fingers. I watched some of my best friends lift stupid things from stores. When I was younger I never thought much of it, though I never did it myself. I think shoplifting is immature and stupid. I've worked in retail for six years now, so I've seen my share of five-finger discounters. Today, though, was the busiest days for shoplifters in our mall.
Why do they do it? I will admit, some of the accessories in our store are ridiculously priced for what they are. However, if they are too expensive for you to buy, then go make your own. It's not that hard. And it's way cheaper. But is it worth getting arrested over an eight-dollar pair of socks? Probably not.
Our first group of not-so-smart stealers started right when we opened the store. They were stupid about it. So, so stupid. Girl #1 was carrying around a pair of piano print knee-high socks, and they were the only ones in the store. Just because we look like we're doing tasks doesn't mean we're not paying attention to you, FYI. We know how to spy shoplifters. I was watching her closely because she deliberately took out her money in front of me, counted it, then put it back in her wallet. After that I walked up to my manager and said, "We should watch that girl; she's been carrying around those socks but nothing else." So we watched her.
Soon enough, her little clique started separating and a couple of them left. I noticed she wasn't carrying the sock anymore. I told my manager and we looked around the store for the pair of socks. They were nowhere to be found. We then had a right to ask where the girl had put them.
She said, "My friend put them back." We informed her bluntly, "No she didn't. There were four on the rack and now there's three." And she argued, "She might not have put them there." Her friend had already left the store.
One of the girls with her didn't want to get involved. She stayed in the background, texting on her phone, probably warning her other friends not to come in the store because we were interrogating them. Girl #1 then said, "Well, we don't mind paying for them if that's the issue. We didn't steal them."
AHA! Why would you offer to pay for something you KNOW you didn't steal them? GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY! Unfortunately, we didn't recover those socks because they wouldn't admit it, and the girl that supposedly put them back wouldn't come back into the store. So that really sucked.
We got lucky later on, though. There were two boys in the store with several shopping bags. They were browsing around and checking things out, carrying several items around, but didn't go up to pay for anything. Finally, Boy #1 bought a pair of sunglasses. As they were walking out, the alarm went off. I was ringing up a customer, so again my manager had to go up to see what was going on. Boy #1 stepped back inside and let my manager go through his bag, but nothing was in there with a sensor. Boy #2, who didn't buy anything, was asked to step back inside. He did so. She dug through all of the things he had in his bag and found one thing of ours at the bottom: a pair of shoelaces. SHOE LACES!! SERIOUSLY?! They weren't even the COOL shoelaces. They were bright orange! ICK!
Everyone in the store watched as she pulled the shoelaces out, told them to leave and not to come back in the store again. End of story. HOW EMBARRASSING, and all for a $4 pair of shoelaces. I wanted to laugh in his face!
I watched a couple girls take these really ugly big, black plastic bows off a tower but never put them back. Then I found the cardboard in a pile of T-shirts. That was awesome. My manager just started going off about how she knew someone took the bow, and that she hoped it turned up somewhere. She's hilarious. She doesn't care. She makes everyone look around at each other, and the shoplifters feel uncomfortable. Guess what? The bow turned up! WOW! AMAZING!
Over a stupid bow. Seriously. We do have some really, really corny accessories for 80's themed parties and for the ravers (ravers...please, stop with the neon tutu's and big sunglasses...UGLY!!!). I just don't get why someone would steal these things when you can make them yourself. Seriously. Do you want to go to jail? And then admit in court that you stole a pair of checkered sunglasses or orange shoelaces? Come on!
Anyhow, that was my Sunday. The good part was that Michael Jackson is on our music player now so it plays his greatest hits. That makes me happy. I was even wearing my Michael Jackson shirt today. The store manager got in later in the day and when he came on she was trying to find me over the tops of our racks so she could point at me and go, "This is for you."
My tip for the day:
IF you're going to shoplift (I hope none of my readers do, since we are all adults now and that is for silly little kids and stupid teenagers), make it worth it. Steal some jeans! That way we can at least find grounds to prosecute you. :) That would REALLY make our day!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Shoplifter Sunday
Blogged by Nicolette around 10:28 PM
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5 ghetto sass:
I used to work at Abercrombie, and I totally caught a guy sneak some jeans into his bag. I had to politely ask him, "Sir, are you ready to purchase those jeans? I can check you out right over at the counter. Or are you still shopping?" He gave me a dirty look, put the jeans back on the shelf, and left the store.
I felt like a super hero that day :]
I've never understood shoplifters. I had a friend in high school who seemed to get a thrill out of it, though. I think she's grown out of that stage now, but I haven't been shopping with her in a while, so I can't be sure.
I'll admit that I have stolen something once: when I was around five, I took a sour apple sucker from a grocery store because I didn't think my mom would buy one for me.
I am actually ashamed of this incident. A week or two later, I actually gave fifty cents to one of the cashiers, telling them that I took a sucker the last time I was there. Given that it was a small-town grocery, they laughed, but accepted my apology and my money.
I taught myself my own lesson.
However, I will say this: one of the most stupid incidents of shoplifting I have seen involved two girls (about thirteen) stealing underwear from DEB. And, yes, they were caught.
When I worked in a department store, I became good friends with one of the loss prevention guys. We had a flirtation for a while, which led him to invite me to hang out with he and the other LP person one night while they worked. It was fascinating to watch. They look for people carrying large bags or backpacks. They track how full the backpack is as the people go around the store and if it's looking fuller, it's a red flag. There are cameras all over most department stores and you are being watched constantly...although they can usually only watch one person at a time, from what I can tell. Unless there are more than one person on duty, at which point they'd watch different cameras, I guess. They can also see every transaction on every register on another screen, to track what employees are doing. One insider thing I knew that no one else did was that they often put cameras in employee stock rooms in areas known to have theft. Those areas were supposed to be camera-free. I gasped when I found out, because I'd been known to change in the stock room!
I stole a rubber bouncey ball when I was five, and a pack of Lifesavers. My parents found out when we got home because I gave our dog a Lifesaver and they asked where I got it from. They made a big to-do and threatened to call the police. I was five, for God's sake.
My mom caught my youngest brother stealing fishing lures (yes, fishing lures) from a convenience store by a lake when he was 7. He was playing with them at home, and she asked where he got them, and he was honest. She turned around and brought him back to the store, where they told him if he wanted those fishing lures he had to work for them. So for a half hour he helped stock candy bars! lol.
One of my oldest friends actually took me shopping with her when I was 21 and I was broke, so I just looked around while she tried things on. I found out that she was putting on jeans underneath her baggy ones and tops under her coat. I couldn't believe it. I walked out of the store and said I'd meet her at the car. I felt guilty just for knowing. I don't get it. Silly!
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