I first heard about this last Friday. I was going to post about it, but I’ve had the last 3 days off and have been out of town. Today I came back to work, and it’s turned completely insane.
This is what I heard on Friday: Sometime during the week, one of our customers was at the deli counter being helped when a teenage boy ran by, grabbed the customer’s purse out of her cart, and ran out the doors. The lady starts yelling, and (from one version) several people ran after him. One of those running was the produce manager. The manager apparently chased the boy down, tackled him, and restrained him until the police arrived. Customer happily gets her purse back.
The customer may have been happy, but management was not. There is a very strict corporate policy: DO NOT go after shoplifters. Do not chase them, do not confront them in any way unless you have been trained and certified to do so. Produce guy gets fired. A lot of people feel bad for him, but the rule is in place for a reason.
A few days go by, and then last night there’s a live news broadcast in the parking lot of my store, with a taped interview with the customer and worker. My manager texts the ASD to say they are on TV; and immediately the phone rings. And rings. And rings.
And it continued today. Customers have been asking employees about what happened. People have been calling, absolutely belligerent, and screaming at the SD and ASD. Customers are planning to boycott. Maybe even protest. It was on all the local radio stations this morning. It was on the front page of the local paper. Right now I’m looking at the paper online, and there are twice as many comments on this story than on any other.
And now I’m pissed. People just don’t seem to understand that the policy is there for a reason; and most stores have a similar policy. But instead, they’re demonizing my store and the people who work there. One poster said “If they can't even "try" to keep their customers safe, what's the point of being their customers?” What if this kid had had a gun or knife? I’m not risking my life for someone’s wallet. Screw that. And do they really think that boycotting is going to change the policy? It won’t, but it would sure mess with the store’s profits. And who is going to suffer from that? Us, the people at the bottom of the food chain. I’m already getting my hours cut, and if our customers actually leave, I’ll lose more hours. This whole thing just sucks.
Sorry this is long, but this has been giving me a headache today.
This is what I heard on Friday: Sometime during the week, one of our customers was at the deli counter being helped when a teenage boy ran by, grabbed the customer’s purse out of her cart, and ran out the doors. The lady starts yelling, and (from one version) several people ran after him. One of those running was the produce manager. The manager apparently chased the boy down, tackled him, and restrained him until the police arrived. Customer happily gets her purse back.
The customer may have been happy, but management was not. There is a very strict corporate policy: DO NOT go after shoplifters. Do not chase them, do not confront them in any way unless you have been trained and certified to do so. Produce guy gets fired. A lot of people feel bad for him, but the rule is in place for a reason.
A few days go by, and then last night there’s a live news broadcast in the parking lot of my store, with a taped interview with the customer and worker. My manager texts the ASD to say they are on TV; and immediately the phone rings. And rings. And rings.
And it continued today. Customers have been asking employees about what happened. People have been calling, absolutely belligerent, and screaming at the SD and ASD. Customers are planning to boycott. Maybe even protest. It was on all the local radio stations this morning. It was on the front page of the local paper. Right now I’m looking at the paper online, and there are twice as many comments on this story than on any other.
And now I’m pissed. People just don’t seem to understand that the policy is there for a reason; and most stores have a similar policy. But instead, they’re demonizing my store and the people who work there. One poster said “If they can't even "try" to keep their customers safe, what's the point of being their customers?” What if this kid had had a gun or knife? I’m not risking my life for someone’s wallet. Screw that. And do they really think that boycotting is going to change the policy? It won’t, but it would sure mess with the store’s profits. And who is going to suffer from that? Us, the people at the bottom of the food chain. I’m already getting my hours cut, and if our customers actually leave, I’ll lose more hours. This whole thing just sucks.
Sorry this is long, but this has been giving me a headache today.
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