Two guys stole from my work today

[GingerBiscuit]

right in front of me. I only saw when they were half way out the door, and even then couldn't see a manager and didn't want to confront them myself- they 2 big men, I 1 little woman. It's not worth the risk, especially as recently in my home town a security guard was stabbed stopping a theft.
I felt all shaky and hot and cold though.
We have no CCTV as 'it would give the wrong impression', so we can't get back from them that way.
My manager said to point them out to him if they came back again and he'd sort something out, keep an eye on them and not put myself at risk.
But I was so angry, and I don't know why?
Maybe it was their arrogance in doing it so obviously.

[cinema guy]

We have no CCTV as 'it would give the wrong impression',

What impression - that they don't care about employee's safety? That they don't care about their products being stolen? In this day and age not having CCTV is careless and stupid.

I know how you feel GingerBiscuit, a while ago a guy picked up a card box we have for posting email registration cards and was mucking about with his girlfriend with it. I shouted, "PUT THAT BACK!" and went after him. It probably wasn't the most sensible thing to do, but I was pissed off.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

It's definitely best you didn't try and attempt a stop.

I think I'd just let them steal with impunity, as well as anybody who tried it. What am I supposed to do, risk getting injured or killed if a weapon is produced? Sooner or later the boss will get tired of being robbed blind and install a CCTV, or just be nickel and dimed to death.

[GingerBiscuit]

They're a fairly large company, been running years. Our profit margins are HUGE, but I think they're just too cheap to install it. Just like they're too cheap to get us all new tills. The ones we're running on at the moment are ancient and falling to bits and keep freezing.

We keep asking head office- our manager too- but they haven't worked in a shop EVER so they don't care.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Ha...Store2 has a camera in the music department and the customers can watch themselves on the tv...it's right on the counter, facing out! (It often attracts small groups of kids trying to figure out which way the camera is coming from )

[powerboy]

Our store has a CCTV, but it does not record. And we got that up after we got robbed. The main owner is too damn cheap to do anything. The accountant told him, that we didn't need a CCTV in the beginning. I don't know why, the main owner believes the accountant on everything.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Don't think of it as theft. Think of it as the owner getting a much needed lesson in shrinkage and the value of security systems.

Next time you see some thieves, just smile and go

[Seshat]

But I was so angry, and I don't know why?
Maybe it was their arrogance in doing it so obviously.

You're probably angry at the thieves, and angry at the owner for caring so little about employee safety that there's NO security. Probably angry at other things too - you might even be angry at yourself for not stopping them.

(Anger doesn't know 'sensible'. Not stopping them was SMART, don't get me wrong! Emotions just are.)

Accept the anger. Vent it in a safe way (punching bag, 'fluffing' pillows..). Then use the anger as a motivator - use the energy it gives you to research what security YOU want in the store, and price it, and start the process of writing a business case for installing it. DO NOT send the business case in yet.

(Note: you want a 'call the police' button near the register, where it can be pressed unobtrusively. Or something similar. Something that protects the staff, not the stock. Look up what's available. Let the boss care or not care about the stock, you focus on protecting your own skin.)

Anyway, once you're calmer, look up management books in your local library. Find out what a 'business case' is supposed to look like, and what's in it, and roughly what order stuff is presented in.
Rewrite your business case to look more like the nifty 'management training' stuff.

Find out stuff that makes it look like the security YOU want will save the boss money and liability.
Stuff like insurance premium reductions.
Liability reductions.
Worker's compensation insurance cost reductions.
Find out if it makes the unions happier.
Find any rebates or government programs for the security stuff you want, that will reduce the cost.

Then present that to the manager and/or the owner, and ask for it. It's the best chance I can think of for you to get the safety stuff you want. And the skills you learn while doing this will probably help you get other things you want.

[zzapp the witch]

Here's another reason you don't want to stop shoplifters these days: It might cost you your job.

Man Says Home Depot Fired Workers For Catching Thieves

"The loss-prevention guy at our Shields (Boulevard) store turned around and told me all we need to do is tell the shoplifter to have a good day as they leave the store. I said that just doesn't make sense."

Bob Stewart said what really doesn't make sense is a termination letter Home Depot gave him and three other employees after they helped police catch the shoplifters.

"We saw them with the merchandise. We saw them run out of the store. I never kept my eyes off of them. Then when we asked them for a receipt, and that's when they dropped the merchandise and they kept running. One guy still had a chainsaw while he was running, and that's when the cops tackled him," he said.

The letter said Stewart and the others were fired because "he pursued and assisted in the apprehension of suspected shoplifters."


All of a sudden, I want to go "shopping" at Home Depot.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Something I learned the hard way is that it does NOT pay to give more of a damn about the business than the people over you.

I trust none of you are getting paid enough to risk injury or worse defending company property. So screw it. Let it go and don't worry about it. It's not worth the hassle, injury, or general BS.

[MadMike]

Next time you see some thieves, just smile and go

One of my old roommates did just that. He said they didn't pay him enough to go after thieves.

When you think about it, he's actually right.

[AFpheonix]

We just got brand-spankin' new cameras with high-def monitors down the outside aisles and over the front counter. I don't know that it's helped cut down on bad behavior or not, although I've noticed a lot more kids mugging for the camera now....

They also installed a monitor in the office, and have several cameras on us. One of them was pointed at the consultation window (you know, the one closest to the narcotics cabinet) but the SM re-aimed it to go down the filling counter.

I don't know that I like that he can watch me from his office chair all day. I guess I should be glad that there's no audio, or else all of us probably would have been written up or fired by now

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

A fun thing to do is stare right into the camera upstairs in the bckroom and pick your nose, scratch your crotch and scratch your ass.

Me and another guy did that one time, and the LP lady paged us. She said not to do it anymore because she was laughing too hard.

[zzapp the witch]

Hahaha, that reminded me of something. Way, way a long time ago when I worked at Walmart, one of the floor gals found out that the LP guy would watch her when she was in a certain part of her dept. Apparently, he was getting quite the view from her bending over and such.

So she went through her hubby's tackle box and found some of those rubber worm things anglers use and stuffed em down her shirt. When she spied the LP grabbing his lunch and going to hide in his little room she fluffed her hair and went out on the floor.

We had one of the CSM's stationed outside the LP's door, listening. After a few minutes you could make out loud gagging and coughing sounds. Floor gal had positioned herself just right in the dept, looked around surrupticiously, and started to sloooowly string out those rubber worms things, I mean really getting them to stretch, out of her cleavage.....and pretend to eat them. Oh dear god, it was hilarious (though I'm glad we didn't choke him).

[georgiab]

it's funny because when I worked at home depot I was chewed out for not stoping a shoplifter for stealing gloves that I did not see him take. This co-worker of mine had seen him pick them up and found the packaging on a shelf. I was just a cashier I had to ask to go to the bathroom how could I have stopped him I said what was I supposed to do..I didn't see him and nor did I even know who he was referring to...just goes to show they have everything ass backwards there.