I work retail and shoplifters bother me than they logically should...

[Birdie]

...in that it's not my money and I'm not expected to go out of my way to deal with shoplifters. Especially nowadays I know times are tough so I don't take shoplifters personally for the most part, but I don't know, sometimes it's kind of distressing and upsetting to be taken advantage?

I mean I don't like to be overtly suspicious of folks and generally don't hassle people who do returns, but I don't know what the heck is up with snow days but I had like a parade of folks coming in returning high priced items that were also high theft items. Medicine, makeup, spices, all stuff that usually folks steal and return for a quick buck. No receipts (and to be fair I never keep mine), but later that night I went to our medicine aisle and noticed a ton of our security tags we keep on them to discourage theft scattered all over the floor.

Like I'll forget about it by tomorrow, but I don't know...it feels like I'm too trusting. The first person who returned something probably let everyone else know a sentimental sap was working and they took advantage of that. It's kind of depressing me lol.

 

[Master Milk]

being trusting is good

if it's not your store stop wasting energy caring

 

[Seesaw15]

but I don't know...it feels like I'm too trusting.

Click to shrink...

 

[TripleBee]

I did retail for a bit and even though I didn't really care it still bugged me. I didn't care at all about the cost to the company - but it felt like they were disrespecting me personally to do it while I was working.

 

[The Smoking Man]

I worked retail for years and I know exactly what you mean. There's no earthly reason why you should take it personally, but your brain still somehow does. Like it's some misplaced sense of pride and you feel like you're being taken advantage of.

 

[Birdie]

I did retail for a bit and even though I didn't really care it still bugged me. I didn't care at all about the cost to the company - but it felt like they were disrespecting me personally to do it while I was working.

Click to shrink...

Yes, that's how I feel...like it's not my money or anything but my pride is wounded because folks are probably lying right to my face.

I'm fairly high up at my job too so sometimes I worry I need to be more stricter. Not a manager but a "relief manager" on days like this when the main ones can't get here.

 

[NekoNeko]

i only worked retail briefly but i saw one guy take a game and i just gave him a nod and continued working.🤷

 

[Plutone]

It isn't your money, no matter how much corporate wants you to think. You're not paid enough to care even if corporate wants you to think that.

 

[J_ToSaveTheDay]

I worked retail for years and I know exactly what you mean. There's no earthly reason why you should take it personally, but your brain still somehow does. Like it's some misplaced sense of pride and you feel like you're being taken advantage of.

Click to shrink...

Perfect articulation of it.

You know it's completely irrational -- and in my case I even had a policy that said don't intervene in the event and just note and report it -- and yet I was still in there feeling like I was being personally insulted and attacked when I saw it happening. Stuck to that store's policy and stayed the hell out of it, though.

 

[MegaManTrigger]

With retail, always put in the lowest possible energy/care.

Like if I saw shit stolen off a wall, I mention it to my superiors and that's it. But I was also lucky that I was never in a position where I actually saw someone stealing.

 

[Pacifaxe]

Generally didn't care until I had a night stick pulled out on me when I questioned someone about it... then it just made me not want to bother at all. The man really wanted those copies of Guess Who.

 

[Tanerian]

Never felt that way in retail or as a restaurant worker.

It's not my money and I didn't care in the slightest if the company i work for was getting the shaft. Just followed whatever rules I was given for dealing with such and went about my day.

Donno, just didn't bother me. Someone going through all that for some money probably needs it more than my company.

 

[Shodan14]

being trusting is good

if it's not your store stop wasting energy caring

Click to shrink...

This is how society stops working though.

 

[TheCthultist]

Hey there, been working retail for a little over a decade now. It sucks but it's a constant issue. At a certain point, you really just have to focus on not caring. Not your money they're taking and not your job to monitor it (assuming you're not working Loss Prevention/Security).

Food's the one it happens with the most around here. I typically couldn't care less about people stealing food at this point, but we literally just had someone try to sneak out with almost $400 worth of crab legs today and their only excuse when they got caught was that they forgot they were in the cart.... like, come on. Just be a little less blatant with what you're stealing if you're going to do it. But you just put it out of your mind and move on.

 

[AlteredBeast]

I detest theft in all its forms. I can't stomach it.

 

[Birdie]

And to clarify it's less that they're stealing it (fine by me) but then turning around and returning it for money. If they steal it and leave the store, cool, don't have to deal with it, but then they pass it off to a friend and now I gotta face what is an obvious snatch-and-swap deal.

Also I've been in retail for thirteen years so this isn't new to me exactly but today was morally draining.

 

[Murasaki]

No receipt, no return. I can't believe stores let that slide.

 

[Fat4all]

IVE SOLVED THE CRIME

OP WAS THE SHOPLIFTER ALL ALONG

 

[whytemyke]

So I used to be a manager with a chain of family shoe stores. One night at a store in Indianapolis a security guard saw a dude try to jack a pair of $80 Nikes. He felt like that was wrong and went to stop the guy.

Long story short he got shot and damn near died over that pair of shoes. I was talking to the guy that ran loss prevention for the company the following week, and he basically said, "Ignore all the stuff about how this guys wife was in the hospital by his side, his family worried he might die, all of us going to the hospital to check on him... take the human element out of it completely. And even when you do that, you still see a tally where the company (and the insurance) will be paying over $100k in medical bills over what equates to an $80 pair of shoes. How does that make sense, even without the human cost?"

It's hard to think like that when you see *wrong* being done, but he was absolutely right. It sucks in retail to not be able to really do anything about shoplifters, but you just gotta consider it the cost of doing business and go on about the rest of your work.

 

[Tavernade]

I hate shoplifters and people taking advantage of retail workers in similar ways in general. I know it's not my money, but everyone else in this store is playing by the incredibly basic rules we put down, why do you think you're special.

Also shoplifting and screwing with the return system just make more work for everyone even if it's not our money. Inventory is wrong, registers get backed up, etc. Last week someone returned a used bento box and didn't bother to clean it first. One lady picked a fight with me because she claimed 'everything is dishwasher safe' after finding out that was very much not true (I did help a different woman right away who apologised and said her 10-year old daughter put something in the dishwasher by mistake).

 

[bananab]

I get it. I always resented it when someone was clearly bullshitting me about something like I was stupid. Kind of same deal with people deliberately misreading coupons or acting all confused by something at the register. Doesn't affect you at all but it still grates.

 

[GameAddict411]

So I used to be a manager with a chain of family shoe stores. One night at a store in Indianapolis a security guard saw a dude try to jack a pair of $80 Nikes. He felt like that was wrong and went to stop the guy.

Long story short he got shot and damn near died over that pair of shoes. I was talking to the guy that ran loss prevention for the company the following week, and he basically said, "Ignore all the stuff about how this guys wife was in the hospital by his side, his family worried he might die, all of us going to the hospital to check on him... take the human element out of it completely. And even when you do that, you still see a tally where the company (and the insurance) will be paying over $100k in medical bills over what equates to an $80 pair of shoes. How does that make sense, even without the human cost?"

It's hard to think like that when you see *wrong* being done, but he was absolutely right. It sucks in retail to not be able to really do anything about shoplifters, but you just gotta consider it the cost of doing business and go on about the rest of your work.

Click to shrink...

Yeah it's why retailers don't want you to deal with thieves because the lost money is no where near as much as the loss they can get if someone get hurt at their stores.

 

[atdawnwestrike]

As a former manager for loss prevention at a big box retailer you get over it fairly quickly when you figure out a large portion of the rules are actually in the shoplifters favor.

 

[sersteven]

Used to give so much free shit and as many discounts as I could get away with without getting fired in retail. It always felt good helping out people. So many people struggling and this was in a decent area

corps aren't you friend, and they'll fire you the moment you don't make them money.

if you work at a M&P its a bit different, but retail ass retail?
Fuck that man.

that said, you can always tell after awhile who's stealing because of need and greedy jerks who are takers. I feel nothing for the latter. Usually a bunch of white affluent teens bored and abusing a system they can get away with anything from.

 

[Deleted member 9330]

When I worked retail I genuinely could not care about shoplifters. Didn't even register. And we sold expensive stuff, too.

 

[fontguy]

I've never met a retail employee who was paid enough to care about doing their actual job well, let alone fume over corporate property.

 

[RiOrius]

This is how society stops working though.

Click to shrink...

If it gets that bad, corporate will increase security/enforcement as needed. It's not OP's responsibility to handle security. It's his boss's boss's boss's job.

Not to mention OP likely doesn't have the authority to do anything about it, yes? Like, what are your options? Do you have the discretion to refuse returns just because you think a customer "seems suspicious"? Because that... seems like a pretty terrible policy.

Do what you've been trained to do. If things go wrong, maybe mention it to your boss and see if they want you to change what you're doing, but ultimately keep being a cog in the machine.

 

[Dead Guy]

Be lucky you don't work at Walmart. When I worked there theft was a constant issue but management never gave a fuck. Know why that is? Because all the stolen merch was taken off employee bonuses at the end of the year. They were losing money either way so they didn't care, but us on the floor sure did. Too bad we could do nothing about it and management spread us so thin at night that there was no way possible to watch all your departments to discourage stealing.

In short Walmart fucking sucks

 

[RomanticHeroX]

Stealing from large corporations is great and should be encouraged. Don't let anything you do on the job start to hit you as a moral or personal issue. They train you to perform as they want, as a representative of the organization. If the policy you follow is to return items without a receipt you're not being gullible for doing so, you're just acting on the instructions that you were given. Ultimately, you are not your job.

 

[Shodan14]

If it gets that bad, corporate will increase security/enforcement as needed. It's not OP's responsibility to handle security. It's his boss's boss's boss's job.

Not to mention OP likely doesn't have the authority to do anything about it, yes? Like, what are your options? Do you have the discretion to refuse returns just because you think a customer "seems suspicious"? Because that... seems like a pretty terrible policy.

Do what you've been trained to do. If things go wrong, maybe mention it to your boss and see if they want you to change what you're doing, but ultimately keep being a cog in the machine.

Click to shrink...

It's not just about this case, it's more about the attitude. Societies that care about rules and understand their value for every member do much better, look at Japan's or Switzerland's crime rates, for example.

 

[Good4Squat]

It would bother me too. I've gotten some stuff that was very important to me stolen in the past so I just really abhor thieves, even if there is a big difference between stealing from a store and peoples personal belongings.

 

[Chaosblade]

It only bothered me when it was frivolous stuff. Bulk beer pushouts (typically resold), expensive meats, etc. Steal some basic groceries to feed your family and that's kind of whatever. You don't have money but you need that stuff. I get it. But you don't need 3 $20 filet mignons.

 

[Lulu]

I worked overnight at CVS for a minute. Always on your toes with people coming thru, especially in that area and with almost no staff. I would let shit slide for the most part until I became the overnight manager. idk it wasn't like I was told to be more aggressive in preventing but I still became it. I would wild out sometimes, especially when this big ass co worker was on the floor with me.

It ain't worth it but I see where you're coming from.

 

[The Smoking Man]

It's not just about this case, it's more about the attitude. Societies that care about rules and understand their value for every member do much better, look at Japan's or Switzerland's crime rates, for example.

Click to shrink...

I mean, I know for a fact that Japan's criminal justice system is pretty borked so I don't know if they're the best example here. Also when companies are charging like 80% markup on stuff they bought closeout, it's difficult to label a petty thief as some societal disease.

 

[Chie Satonaka]

I've never met a retail employee who was paid enough to care about doing their actual job well, let alone fume over corporate property.

Click to shrink...

.

Did my job and kept it moving, and that was way before I got old and bitter and jaded like I am now. Who cares.

 

[SteveWinwood]

It's not just about this case, it's more about the attitude. Societies that care about rules and understand their value for every member do much better, look at Japan's or Switzerland's crime rates, for example.

Click to shrink...

i mean okay maybe sure

but at that point thats a super fundamental issue that isnt going to be solved by literally anything involved with retail shopping or even anyones attitude about it

 

[RiOrius]

It's not just about this case, it's more about the attitude. Societies that care about rules and understand their value for every member do much better, look at Japan's or Switzerland's crime rates, for example.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, well, that's a two-way street, and we don't get there by having retail workers start putting in 110% for their corporate overlords.

The issue here isn't whether stealing is bad, it's whether OP should be going the extra mile for a job that does not care one whit for him.

 

[Shodan14]

I mean, I know for a fact that Japan's criminal justice system is pretty borked so I don't know if they're the best example here. Also when companies are charging like 80% markup on stuff they bought closeout, it's difficult to label a petty thief as some societal disease.

Click to shrink...

It's universal, same with checking on someone that's fallen down on a street or littering. If people care, it's better for everyone.

 

[nsilvias]

Japan

Click to shrink...

lol

Japan has exceptionally low crime rates. But there's a dark side to its justice system.

The system relies a lot — seemingly too much — on confessions.

www.vox.com

 

[I am a Bird]

It only ever bothered me when I was working security and it directly impacted my job.

 

[Swiggins]

When I worked retail it was fucking constant and there was often nothing we could do about it.

Stealing from large corporations is great and should be encouraged.

Click to shrink...

Yeah. No.

 

[Shodan14]

lol

Japan has exceptionally low crime rates. But there's a dark side to its justice system.

The system relies a lot — seemingly too much — on confessions.

www.vox.com

Click to shrink...

This has literally nothing to do with shoplifting though.

 

[LProtagonist]

I chased a guy out of the store I was working at when I was younger because he stole more in razors and electric toothbrushes than I made in a month's salary. I didn't care about the fact that the store was losing money, I was just pissed about the fact that he could get more from the store in a minute than I could in months.

I realized after how dumb it was, but that was literally the only thought going through my head.

 

[Dead Guy]

It's not just about this case, it's more about the attitude. Societies that care about rules and understand their value for every member do much better, look at Japan's or Switzerland's crime rates, for example.

Click to shrink...

Japan and Switzerland don't have nearly the same fundamental problems that the states do though. I find it hard to care about massive retail chains losing money when they're a significant contributing factor to keeping people in poverty.

 

[The Smoking Man]

This has literally nothing to do with shoplifting though.

Click to shrink...

The point is that it's not that their society "cares more." It's that they have a draconian criminal justice system that prioritizes convictions above due process.

 

[RPGam3r]

Stealing from large corporations is great and should be encouraged. Don't let anything you do on the job start to hit you as a moral or personal issue. They train you to perform as they want, as a representative of the organization. If the policy you follow is to return items without a receipt you're not being gullible for doing so, you're just acting on the instructions that you were given. Ultimately, you are not your job.

Click to shrink...

That's a no from me on encouraging theft.

 

[UltimateHigh]

I was a dirty little thief when I was pre-teen/young teen.

sorry.

 

[Sectorseven]

Gas Station Encounters on Youtube might give you some catharsis.

 

[VariantX]

I started acting like I don't see them anymore. And I know it sucks because it does affect our quarterly bonuses when we have unexplained shrink on the books. But I just don't think its worth my sanity to go after these people anymore because we're living in unprecedented times and people have been driven to desperation more than anything. For the most part when they do get caught, they don't get arrested, they just are asked to leave the stuff behind and leave the store. Cops typically are only called when employees or other customers get threatened by shoplifters.

 

[DarthWoo]

I don't much care about the shoplifters anymore as much as I do about the lazy pukes who leave perishable food in the wrong places. By that I mean like leaving refrigerated/frozen items out on a random shelf, or non-frozen things in a freezer. It's one thing if you change your mind about buying something. It's quite another when you actively ensure that that thing is rendered unsuitable for anyone else to buy. I quickly lost track of how many expensive packages of meat I saw left in freezers, among the cheaper but still annoying jugs of milk or other beverages.