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Stealing and thievery - a survey

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  • Stealing and thievery - a survey

    When I worked for Bellsouth as an operator, one of the most common calls I would receive were from pay phones. Much of the time, the calls were placed because they had no money and would make up a sob story about what an emergency they had and how they had no more money, nor no other way to bill their call. Sometimes, if it was not someone I spoke to before (because sooner or later, I got to know them all!), I would use my judgment and put the call(s) through.

    One day, the manager over our department decided to do a survey. He told everyone that if you had a customer on a pay phone making a claim like this, just put the call through without question as long as it is a local call. (The calls all were twenty-five cents at the time). Then, after you take this call, write down the phone number they were calling from, then to, and turn in the sheet.

    By the end of the work day, our office alone tallied more than $500 in free local calls put through from pay phones, and many of them were (you guessed it) the same people from the same numbers calling to the same numbers. I'm not sure what the actual purpose was of this survey, other than seeing how much money is given away each day. Perhaps some sort of surveillance was done on these pay phones being this is stealing, no matter what these other people out there think. What was also terrible about this is some of the calls I took were people who would also put their child on, making up the sob story that they were homeless, needed a call put through, etc. only to find out it was so Mommy could chit chat for free. Atrocious!
    Last edited by greensinestro; 04-25-2007, 02:26 PM.

  • #2
    Why is this surprising? The "norm" thinking is "It's only 25 cent, I'm not really stealing".

    Justification is use to ease a guilty mind.
    I've lost my mind ages ago. If you find it, please hide it.

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    • #3
      We have vets and staff that pilfer from our supplies. Never alot, just a bit here and there. Small bags of dog food, a leash, a cat toy, a box of flea medicine, that sort of thing. They think, "It's only this one thing, no one will notice." Well sure, until everyone pilfers one little thing, and then it becomes very noticable that our inventory is off. Last year we were missing a total of 300 bags of dog food. Boss had corporate review security tapes and fire the most obvious thieves.

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      • #4
        Our kleptomanic customers like to walk off with handfuls of anything we give away for free. Plastic forks, plastic spoons, bottles of catsup, bottles of malt vinegar, a stack of paper cups that have Coca-Cola written all over them. And they always want more of those tiny catsup packets than I'm willing to give them.
        You're not doing me a favor by eating here. I'm doing you a favor by feeding you.

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        • #5
          Same people, same numbers same payphones... sounds like drug dealers to me. From what i'm told, our hotel had to remove all the payphones in our lobby because not only was management sick of the dealers using the phones but of the undercover police hanging out in the lobby.

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          • #6
            Yeah, I was going to say drug dealers too. I have been there and done that. What would have been interesting is listening to the conversation to see what the "emergency" was that they had to con someone into a free phone call.
            "I'm still walking, so I'm sure that I can dance!" from Saint of Circumstance - Grateful Dead

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            • #7
              Quoth Sofar View Post
              And they always want more of those tiny catsup packets than I'm willing to give them.
              ** trying desperately to refrain from the Mr. Burns ketchup-catsup dilema **

              I always find that I'm given too many of those packages. One, maybe two is enough, but I open up the bag and a whole handful was tossed in. I think the most I've ever gotten was 15, least being 5.
              D.I.L.L.I.G.A.F.
              Quoth = Crossbow "EvilHomer, Irv, Gravekeeper, and Seraph: the Four Horsemen of the Dumbpocalypse."

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              • #8
                Quoth friendofjimmyk View Post
                Yeah, I was going to say drug dealers too. I have been there and done that. What would have been interesting is listening to the conversation to see what the "emergency" was that they had to con someone into a free phone call.
                Well, many of those calls were the in-distress voiced people with an "emergency" (which that word was only brought up when you told them you could not connect their call). And then, before I would release, I'd hear something like "Hey, Joe! Are you going to the party on Friday night?" is that all about? What type of "emergency" is that?
                Last edited by greensinestro; 04-27-2007, 12:31 PM.

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                • #9
                  when Splenda first came out we ended up having to keep it behind the counter because the old folks would literally clean out our supply every day, stuffing their pockets full and leaving. .... it costs us money, too, you know! that adds up! buying THREE $60 boxes of splenda packets EACH WEEK was getting a little too much... we recently have pulled the napkins for a similar reason, but people were not stealing them so much as taking a whole stack and then THROWING THEM OUT without even USING them.
                  "we're forced to bed, but we're free to dream." TTH

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                  • #10
                    Also, your story reminds me of the Call Center days in collections for a phone company... EVERYONE had an "Emergency situation" as soon as you cut off their phone service. i had a woman tell me her daughter was kidnapped by her ex-con husband and her mother had a heart condition AND she herself was going to lose a leg to diabetes ALL JUST SINCE THE PHONE WAS CUT OFF THE DAY BEFORE. well, either you are the most unlucky SOB alive or you are so full of shit your eyeballs are floating...
                    "we're forced to bed, but we're free to dream." TTH

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                    • #11
                      I take some packets of Salt and Pepper, but only because we use them at work for us. I hate seeing people take a whole bunch of napkins and salt and pepper and other packets and not using them. A couple of times, I have done that
                      Under The Moon Paranormal Research
                      San Joaquin Valley Paranormal Research

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                      • #12
                        Quoth felixxkatt View Post
                        you are so full of shit your eyeballs are floating...


                        i'm going to have to use that line
                        DILLIGAF

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                        • #13
                          I don't know about the front end of the store, but we'd had a rash of people claiming we'd shorted them on narcotics there for awhile. Hello dumbass, these get counted 3 times total by 2 different people, try again. Did you honestly think we'd just hand some more hydrocodone over to you, no questions asked?

                          God, we fired a lot of "customers".....

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                          • #14
                            Quoth felixxkatt View Post
                            Also, your story reminds me of the Call Center days in collections for a phone company... EVERYONE had an "Emergency situation" as soon as you cut off their phone service. i had a woman tell me her daughter was kidnapped by her ex-con husband and her mother had a heart condition AND she herself was going to lose a leg to diabetes ALL JUST SINCE THE PHONE WAS CUT OFF THE DAY BEFORE. well, either you are the most unlucky SOB alive or you are so full of shit your eyeballs are floating...
                            I remember calls like this. In fact, I occasionally still get them, even though I do internet only and sometimes repair for the phone. I had a guy tell me once that he really needed his internet back because he needs to stay in touch via e-mail with his sick mother, the same mother who lived five miles up the road. Or the lady with her cable TV who was going to totally lose it and die if she did not have her cable back in a timely matter. It was always amazing to me these people never bothered to call with these "emergencies" until they woke up one morning without their "luxuries", then would use their children, their mother, wife, etc to get what they wanted, and still find a way to not pay their bill.

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