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klhmdg • Volunteer Community Mentor
This is only tangentally & possibly sales related, so skip if you're looking for direct sales related content only.
I was at my local cosmetics store (large retail chain) yesterday evening around 7:30PM. I was at the counter paying for my purchase, talking with the cashier since I had an exchange due to a problem & she kept not responding to me & looking over my shoulder. Then I noticed the other clerk was similarly distracted. That's when I see 2 burly guys dressed like homeless people in the old style army jackets I remember from the 70's. They stood out like a sore thumb.
It was a 'smash & grab' without the smash. They walked in, didn't try to hide who they were or why they were there, piled armloads of expensive perfumes into their arms (they didn't even have bags or anything) & walked right out with probably $1000 worth of perfumes. Whole thing was over in under 2 minutes. This was a nice area of town. Upon reflection, they probably know that cops are busy with other stuff on Saturday night. The clerks didn't even call 911, they said it happens all the time.
I couldn't help but wonder how many of those items are going to wind up on Ebay or similar sites. The whole thing was very unnerving. I think of shoplifters as being surreptitious. It blew me away that they were so brazen & that the clerks were so nonchalant. I offered to call 911 or find a cop in the center & they weren't interested. I was like, so all I have to do is walk out with my nail polish & it's free?
There's no real point to this, except to get it off my chest & to wonder how many, small time stolen goods like this make their way onto Ebay - it was my first thought after how does this happen in broad daylight. I'm still blown away by the whole thing, almost a day later. Who knew you could just walk into a store & take whatever you want in broad daylight, in front of all the customers & employees? I'm sure they were partially targeted b/c the clerks are mostly young women, unlikely to stand up to them. I'm still shocked though b/c I live in a VERY gun friendly, heavily military town. A huge percentage of people here are armed, at all times & we even allow open carry, yet this happened in broad daylight, in a crowded store.
I feel like I should *do* something. But if the clerks don't do anything, what would I do, ya'know. It's just really sad.
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I work at a major retailer (shouldn't say which one...
@femmefan1946 wrote:Sounds like being heavily armed and having open carry is no use at all.
LOL, yeah not sure. I know in many stores, in fact just a few stores over, someone would have likely stopped it. But a store for mostly underage girls & their moms, may be not as likely. OTOH, when I was telling DH about it, he mentioned one recently at Best Buy, where an employee tacked the guy & the employee got fired. I know many stores have a policy where the employees cannot be involved.
@completepuzzle wrote:I guess Colorado is one of the states who has said not to call the police for retail theft. In the end, it will be insurance companies who'll put a stop to this.
I've never heard of this. Are you saying it's a trend of some sort? Police Depts are saying not to call?
@glyph01 wrote:I was at a fairly major chain clothing store shopping soon after businesses were allowed to open again after initial pandemic lockdown and a similar thing happened. A security employee saw the dude taking perfumes off the shelf, each one stored in a plastic box for security purposes, sticking them in his bag like it was normal, la-dee-da, in late afternoon to a store full to the assigned-limit-capacity of the store in the middle of downtown in a major Midwest city and yelled for the thief to stop or they’ll call the police. Thief paid no mind, hurriedly taking as much as he could carry. Everyone just looked on. Unreal, man. The police arrived several minutes later but thief had already ran out by then.
Society is being pushed to the limit on many levels.
So crazy! But yeah, one of the clerks came up to them as they were just a few feet from the door, stood in front of them & said "I can help you with those" & they just brushed right by her. It's so brazen, they don't even care that a whole store full of people witnessed it!
I called them today & they just kept apologizing that I had to witness it & send they cannot even disclose whether they call the cops after the fact, but that sadly, it does happen often & she mentioned "organized crime", I don't think as in the literal term, but as in, it's highly orchestrated & organized. Maybe I'm just old, but I can't imagine just walking into a place & ripping it off, without even attempting to hide what you're doing.
Nothing is done here either. The Dems in charge have made drug use in public and crime OK.
Stores can do nothing and the new laws passed last year by the Democrat majority have tied police hands and judges dont think it is fair to require bail for homeless.
At times i feel like a rube for paying for items when the people who chose to can just walk out with things I cant afford.
No wonder people are leaving here in droves. I know more people leaving this state than ever in my life.
3 more years till I can go.
@klhmdg wrote:Nothing is done here either. The Dems in charge have made drug use in public and crime OK.
Stores can do nothing and the new laws passed last year by the Democrat majority have tied police hands and judges dont think it is fair to require bail for homeless.
At times i feel like a rube for paying for items when the people who chose to can just walk out with things I cant afford.
No wonder people are leaving here in droves. I know more people leaving this state than ever in my life.
3 more years till I can go.
This isn't about politics & FWIW, I live in one of the most conservative, super religious & super Rep. zip codes in the US, so this has nothing to do with dems who are making laws, there are no dems making laws in my area unfortunately.
It's about entitlement & brazenness. While I can't agree with the rest of your post, yeah, I did feel a tinge of 'so I'm just a sucker who pays for my purchases', so I agree with the rube comment. I didn't expect I would feel that way, but yeah, I kinda felt like an idiot for just doing the right thing.
@retrobiz wrote:If there is no accountability, there is no reason for people to stop doing bad things. I don't blame the ladies for not confronting the men, but surely they have cameras or could at least give a description. I guess since it didn't come out of their pockets, they didn't care. Is this what society has come to? If it doesn't affect me, I don't have to do my part for society? I don't know if the manager or owner was there, but I'd made sure they knew, and write the home office if it is a franchise store. It is upsetting, I agree with you.
Thank you, maybe I just want validation, as I still feel really weird about it. But I did call the store today & they assured me they cameras, etc. IDK that they didn't care & I know (& they told me) they have policies to NOT interfere, for everyone's safety, but I was kind of shocked. They pointedly refused on the phone today, to tell me if they call the cops. I understood why they didn't in the moment. It all happened so fast that they were long gone before a cop would get there (though there's a precinct a mile away), but yeah, I did wonder what about all the witnesses that could give descriptions. Clearly, as a law abiding citizen IDK much about the criminal element, so maybe this happens 4x/week & it's just something that is too frequent to do something each time. But, one thing I know for sure. If nothing is done, it will continue to happen.
I am hoping they report it to the cops after the fact, as it's a huge national chain & they of course, have cameras, etc. She did mention they were being briefed on security protocols today. I was just hoping that someone who knows about retail environments would chime in. As Ebay sellers, mostly who work at home, this is one thing we are lucky to not have to deal with!
I work at a major retailer (shouldn't say which one...
