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This just happened today... and sadly, I doubt anything'll be done about it.
I get to work, and I'm told I'll have to work the front door, since Bill, our regular morning front door LP, had called out. And because I'm only scheduled until 2pm, they ask me to stay till 4:45pm, to cover all of Bill's shift. Since I have nothing else to take care of during the day, I agree.
Around 12:15pm, these two guys come in and start looking at our digital camera display. I didn't really get any bad vibes off the guys, but some of my coworkers did, and they kept an eye on them, expecting to hear the camera alarm. (No, no camera alarm, thank god.)
Anyway. One of the two guys leaves. The other one goes over to the food court, carrying a large soda cup from McDonald's. He fills up the cup from the soda fountain, to the utter shock of our food court person, whom I'll call RK.
RK calls him on the soda, and says he needs to pay for it. Soda Thief says he knows. RK asks if he's going to pay for it. Soda Thief says no. She asks why not. He says, "Because I can."
So, in short, Soda Thief KNOWS he's got to pay for that soda, and is not doing so DELIBERATELY.
RK, needless to say, isn't happy about this, and moves to block his way out of the food court. She tells him needs to pay for the soda, and the Soda Thief says to her, "If you touch me, I'm gonna stab you."
She's shocked and steps back, which gives him an opening to slip past her. RK then starts calling for me to stop the guy.
Now, at this point, I've been busy helping these two old ladies get the motorized cart working and am just about to help them turn it around so they can actually use it (it's kinda blocked in by some stuff) when I hear RK hollering. She tells me Soda Thief is stealing a soda, and I ask if he's paid for it, which he says he has, but RK shouts he hasn't.
NOW I'm starting to get bad vibes about the guy, but I'm not allowed to lay a hand on the guy unless physically provoked. (And even then, I'm probably still not allowed. If he had, though, I'd've knocked his ass over.) But he walks on out the door, and RK and I are following him, with her continuing to berate him for stealing a soda, as he gets into his waiting car, his friend at the wheel.
I tell RK to get his license plate number, but their car didn't have one on the front. Seeing they're about to pull out, we wait to get it off the back when they drive off, but Soda Thief and his friend realize what we're going to do, so they throw it in reverse and pull away in the other direction, then turn a corner GOING BACKWARDS, and keep going backwards until we lose sight of them in the parking lot.
Another customer had seen all this happen and had read off their plate, but we're not sure about the exact sequence of letters and numbers.
I immediately tell RK to report it to the MOD, and she hems and haws about it, until I tell her, "Look, even if nothing comes of it, at least report it. Maybe they'll do something with the report, and we can stop these guys trying it again somewhere." So she goes off and tells the MOD, and I then get the full story from her when she gets back, including the part about the threat.
Alas, I'm not sure if she told the MOD about the threat, which -- if I were a manager -- would be grounds enough to ban the asshole from the store. I may not be a manager, but if I see this guy again, I will tell him to leave the store.
Ugh. And this guy was threatening to stab someone over ninety-three cents. That's how much (including tax) for a soda from our soda fountain. Unbelievable.
I get to work, and I'm told I'll have to work the front door, since Bill, our regular morning front door LP, had called out. And because I'm only scheduled until 2pm, they ask me to stay till 4:45pm, to cover all of Bill's shift. Since I have nothing else to take care of during the day, I agree.
Around 12:15pm, these two guys come in and start looking at our digital camera display. I didn't really get any bad vibes off the guys, but some of my coworkers did, and they kept an eye on them, expecting to hear the camera alarm. (No, no camera alarm, thank god.)
Anyway. One of the two guys leaves. The other one goes over to the food court, carrying a large soda cup from McDonald's. He fills up the cup from the soda fountain, to the utter shock of our food court person, whom I'll call RK.
RK calls him on the soda, and says he needs to pay for it. Soda Thief says he knows. RK asks if he's going to pay for it. Soda Thief says no. She asks why not. He says, "Because I can."
So, in short, Soda Thief KNOWS he's got to pay for that soda, and is not doing so DELIBERATELY.
RK, needless to say, isn't happy about this, and moves to block his way out of the food court. She tells him needs to pay for the soda, and the Soda Thief says to her, "If you touch me, I'm gonna stab you."
She's shocked and steps back, which gives him an opening to slip past her. RK then starts calling for me to stop the guy.
Now, at this point, I've been busy helping these two old ladies get the motorized cart working and am just about to help them turn it around so they can actually use it (it's kinda blocked in by some stuff) when I hear RK hollering. She tells me Soda Thief is stealing a soda, and I ask if he's paid for it, which he says he has, but RK shouts he hasn't.
NOW I'm starting to get bad vibes about the guy, but I'm not allowed to lay a hand on the guy unless physically provoked. (And even then, I'm probably still not allowed. If he had, though, I'd've knocked his ass over.) But he walks on out the door, and RK and I are following him, with her continuing to berate him for stealing a soda, as he gets into his waiting car, his friend at the wheel.
I tell RK to get his license plate number, but their car didn't have one on the front. Seeing they're about to pull out, we wait to get it off the back when they drive off, but Soda Thief and his friend realize what we're going to do, so they throw it in reverse and pull away in the other direction, then turn a corner GOING BACKWARDS, and keep going backwards until we lose sight of them in the parking lot.
Another customer had seen all this happen and had read off their plate, but we're not sure about the exact sequence of letters and numbers.
I immediately tell RK to report it to the MOD, and she hems and haws about it, until I tell her, "Look, even if nothing comes of it, at least report it. Maybe they'll do something with the report, and we can stop these guys trying it again somewhere." So she goes off and tells the MOD, and I then get the full story from her when she gets back, including the part about the threat.
Alas, I'm not sure if she told the MOD about the threat, which -- if I were a manager -- would be grounds enough to ban the asshole from the store. I may not be a manager, but if I see this guy again, I will tell him to leave the store.
Ugh. And this guy was threatening to stab someone over ninety-three cents. That's how much (including tax) for a soda from our soda fountain. Unbelievable.
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