Two incidents I have observed...

[onencgirl]

1. Was at K-mart about a year ago and found a pair of well worn toddler size shoes nestled in among the towels. When I showed a worker she told me they find all kinds of things like that. Mother puts on new shoes and 'discards' the old without paying.

2. Was at grocery store and noticed a child (4-5 yr/old) poking holes in the packaging of most of the meat as mother walked down the case. I told him he shouldn't be doing that and got an earful from mother. The meatman was annoyed with mother but she just left with a few choice words. Meatman had to remove all the packs of meat. Not sure what he did with them after removal.

What is wrong with people?

[imagine]

1. Was at K-mart about a year ago and found a pair of well worn toddler size shoes nestled in among the towels. When I showed a worker she told me they find all kinds of things like that. Mother puts on new shoes and 'discards' the old without paying.
?

My daughter asked why there were strings connecting shoes at walmart. It makes them hard to walk in to try. I told her about people like the above that do this and that was why they do that now to make it harder.
We also had refuges in our town that would just take off there old shoes and put new ones on at the store leaving their old ones in the box. I always wondered if they thought this was what you did or thought it was a fair exchange or if they had observed someone putting their shoes in the box as a place holder while they tried on shoes and thought that is what you would do.

The refuges would also drive away at the gas station without paying for gas. I often wondered if they saw someone pay at the pump and drive away not realizing that the person had paid for the gas already.

[craftypam]

1. Was at K-mart about a year ago and found a pair of well worn toddler size shoes nestled in among the towels. When I showed a worker she told me they find all kinds of things like that. Mother puts on new shoes and 'discards' the old without paying.

2. Was at grocery store and noticed a child (4-5 yr/old) poking holes in the packaging of most of the meat as mother walked down the case. I told him he shouldn't be doing that and got an earful from mother. The meatman was annoyed with mother but she just left with a few choice words. Meatman had to remove all the packs of meat. Not sure what he did with them after removal.

What is wrong with people?

They have no morals and/or sense of right or wrong. Very scary when they are raising our future generation.

[rskmom]

It makes me sad to see these things, since the end result is just higher prices for EVERYONE.

[Tnmom]

Funny that this is brought up. We were at Wal Mart looking for boots for our son. I picked up a box and commented to DH that the box was really light. I figured the other was the display boot. When we opened it a pair of house shoes was nestled in the box..well worn house shoes I might add.
DH carried the box to an employee and she said it happens all the time. I would have NEVER thought of doing something like that..but I can see how easy it would be to do.

[McD]

I was in Toys R Us doing an exchange before Christmas. I noticed a lady pushing her kid in (what I thought was a cart!) and acting weird. Then as she left, I realized she had walked out the door with a cart full of merchandise. I turned her in.

They weren't able to recover all the stuff she stole, but what I thought was a cart was actually a stroller that she stole off the display.

Made me sick to think about what she was teaching her kids.

[LuLuBleen]

Remember the old days when there was only one sample of each shoe style in the store and the salesperson had to go to the back to get a pair in your size? The salesperson had to help you try them on and you decided if you wanted to buy them or not. Not so easy to steal shoes this way.

I guess it's cheaper for the big stores to just trust shoppers not to steal than to hire attentive staff to prevent thefts.

[Brat]

They have to leave the store before you can do anything about it and most of the time it is to late then..

[imagine]

They have to leave the store before you can do anything about it and most of the time it is to late then..

I'm not so sure about that. I've seen and heard employees ask people if they were going to pay for that.

One time when Little Miss was a toddler I brought in a pair of pants to the store showed them to the greeter and asked if she needed to mark them. She read the tag and said no as they could clearly see they don't sell land end pants. I knew her and we chatted about how I was looking for a shirt to match it.

I found a contasting top and wanted to see if they had a applique in the sewing department to make it really match. I head directly over there and a man come running over out of breath asks in a gruff voice "What do you think you are doing?" I tell him I'm looking for applique to match. He asks are you going to buy that shirt."I tell him if I find a applique to make it match the pants. He asks "Are you going to buy the pants?" I tell him they are mine and he asks to see them and sees the land end tag. Blushes says "Good Luck finding a applique and leaves quickly"

Oh and I have never stolen anything I even return pens to places if I accidentally walk off from them . I also only taste test grapes in places that have given me permission.

[McD]

They have to leave the store before you can do anything about it and most of the time it is to late then..

Yep. This is true for many areas. I know in many of the stores up here, the security guards can't say anything until they leave because they have to be able to prove that they have bypassed every opportunity to pay.

Hubby is often called to sit in a parking lot at a store to apprehend someone as they leave the store.

[imagine]

Yep. This is true for many areas. I know in many of the stores up here, the security guards can't say anything until they leave because they have to be able to prove that they have bypassed every opportunity to pay.

Hubby is often called to sit in a parking lot at a store to apprehend someone as they leave the store.

interesting

Another question - Security guards in stores? I haven't seen those. What kind of stores are they in?

[McD]

I guess I shouldn't say 'security guards'. They are 'loss prevention officers'. Mainly at places like Target-Kohls-KMart. They are usually either walking the stores or monitoring cameras.

[DixieJ]

I think folks will think of anything to steal from stores. I had something happen to me a while back. I always buy the same bra (same size and style--they come in a box) everytime. Went to purchase a couple while on sale, get home and someone has swapped them out and put a cheaper bra in the box. I learned my lesson to always take them out of the box and check from now on.

[imagine]

I guess I shouldn't say 'security guards'. They are 'loss prevention officers'. Mainly at places like Target-Kohls-KMart. They are usually either walking the stores or monitoring cameras.

So would those be the plain clothes people that walk around keeping an eye on people and those in the back that keep and eye with the camera not people in uniforms. or are they in uniform?

[shoiji]

In NYC police and security are everywhere. The other day I saw a soldier standing with a huge rifle type gun in the subway. That was definately a first for me. But it made me think of all the photos I see on tv with people walking around with guns and tanks rolling down the street while people are walking around trying to get to where they need to go.