Disgustedly Common

[Yes I am watching you]

While working retail I have seen many disgusting acts done by SCs. Most acts are one time gross events, defecating in fitting rooms, urinating on products, etc...

However there is an event I witness multiple times a month that the SC doesn't realize is just plain nasty.

That is using nail polish and placing it back on the shelf. Last month I saw a girl paint her nails, one color for each nail, and do three coats. She didn't buy anything and just walked out. I view this as not only theft but gross.

I am a male who doesn't use these products but these people don't realize that the next person to buy/use that product is now getting the "thief's" body debris on them until they remove the polish, with no idea what has happened.

This was very bad today, because I saw a young "lady" paint her toe nails and then return the polish. I couldn't let that happen to the next customer so I walked up to the SC looked her in the eyes picked up the polish (she had put it in the very back, making it clear she didn't plan on buying), and told her "Don't ever do that again."
She cringed and left, but I know she doesn't see herself as a thief or gross but she should. I claimed out the bottle with a note not to sell.

[blas]

I've never seen anyone do that, but every makeup aisle at the Wal-Mart in my town generally has lipstick or nail polish all over the displays.

[EricKei]

She should see herself as a thief because she *is* one. Moreover, that nail polish is now unsellable because it's been used.

[Monterey Jack]

That's as bad as taking a candy bar off the shelf, taking a bite, and leaving the remainder on the shelf. You open it? You use it? You bought it.

[Trixie]

I hate when people do that. I've seen people do it with lipstick and foundation. Eww. I'm not buying that stuff that's been on your nasty hands. My co-workers even do it and seem to see nothing wrong with it. We have a very generous return policy with makeup. Don't like it after you buy, return it. No problem, no questions asked. It's a tricky thing to buy especially if it's something new. When I worked in our cosmetics department I was always throwing opened stuff away so we could get credit for it.

[iradney]

O.o EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW that's revolting! Even in Africa we have those false nails on sticks that have the nail polish colour on them, so you can hold it over your natural nail and see if you like it. Why would you do that?

[solar]

Should walk up, slap one of these on it



to further shame them (and I am serious)

[PuckLizardRN]

I hate, hate, hate that! I collect nailpolish (weird, I know ). I know not much can survive in the chemicals, but EW anyway. Also, I hate buying a bottle and the cap and brush are all gunked up because someone decided to test it out.

[Shalom]

It's thievery, no question about it. They do it because this way they get their bling on and don't have to pay for it.

I used to work for Aid of Rite in the Bronx. Some AoR's had open bathrooms within the store area, others you had to get a key to get in. This one used to have an open one, but they wound up locking it because the "ladies of the evening" would come in to use the bathroom, spend a half hour in there, and when they left the manager would find four empty hairspray cans and a gunked up hairbrush in the sink. None of which, needless to say, was paid for.

(How two women could use up four entire cans of hairspray between them, I never figured out. G_d forbid anyone lights a match anywhere near them, they'd probably go up like Michael Jackson did when he was shooting that Pepsi commercial.)

[MadMike]

I used to get annoyed when people would come into my aisle and spray one of the air fresheners to see what they smelled like. At least that doesn't contaminate the product.

[Marmalady]

There seems to be a certain mindset that 'if I don't take the actual product wrapping out of the store, it doesn't count as theft' Whether it's a bar of chocolate with a couple of bites out of it, or a coat or two from a nail polish bottle, or one disposable nappy taken out of a packet - seems to be a view that 'I'm not taking it all, so it doesn't matter'.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Happens with disturbing frequency at the swamp.

If the LP lady happens to see somebody doing this, either on camera or in person, she pages somebody over to the cosmetics section to offer "assistance" -- and collect the opened bottle so it can be tossed.

The people who do this either think they have every right to or don't understand why they can't. On one of those yelp or similar review sites there is a nasty review about my store written by some yahoo who did this and got "humiliated" by the "rude" staff telling her to stop.

FFS, it's nail polish. You can see the color through the clear bottle. The color you see is the color you get. It's not like hair color, which can look different depending on the shade of hair it's being applied to.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Sampling nail polish could be considered product tampering. Maybe nail polish and such should be sealed like most OTC medicines to prevent tampering and sampling.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

She should see herself as a thief because she *is* one. Moreover, that nail polish is now unsellable because it's been used.

Exactly. Once it's opened, it's considered a potential health hazard IIRC. NOBODY wants to buy used cosmetics . . .EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

[MoonCat]

I'm a nail polish junkie, and I have NEVER done this. I've seen other people do it, though, and seen bottles stuffed back on the shelf with polish dripping down the side or gunked up half-dry. Yuck.

Slightly related: Recently while shopping at a city market around Easter time, there was a young woman working at a temporary vendor's booth who decided it was a great time to put lotion on her bare feet. She was sitting behind the table doing this. We didn't even bother going to look at the products because we had no intention of doing business with her