Condom Kid.

[Plaidman]

I was dealing with a bunch of customers when a youngest man, maybe 10? 11? Comes in. He sneaks over to the medicene/condoms area. He glances over at me with a smile. I'm watching him out of the corner of my eye while waiting on another customer, who also glances over at the kid cause she knows I'm watching him. She also sees the kid who is up to no good. The kid slowly grabs the condoms (XXL by the way). He slowly starts to attempt to put him in the pocket but stumbles.


ME: (Shouting so everyone in the store hears, and stares at the kid) "If you have no intention of paying for those condoms bro, you need to step away from them NOW"

Kid: *stumbles, quickly puts condoms back* You can't say no to that! I'm allowed to buy them!!!

ME: Yeah, I can sell. You were trying to steal. Big difference bro.

He gets really pissy at me. My coworker P who was smoking comes in.

ME: "Watch out for that kid. He just tried to steal some condoms.

Kid: Uh wha. I have no idea what he saying! He lying! I can buy them!

ME/P: Do you have any money?

KID: ....

ME: You really need to leave my store now.


Mind you. Everyone was staring, and kinda laughing at the would be thief.


I ... really hate thieves.

[VComps]

Gotta be careful when accusing someone of theft... until they actually leave the store they're not guilty of anything. (Not that you were wrong about his intentions.)

Where I live, farmers (particularly older ones) have a habit of grabbing something, putting it in their pocket, then walking around the store doing their shopping. Then they go up to the tills, take the item out of their pocket, and pay for it. Drives our Loss Prevention officer nuts.

[fireheart]

Gotta be careful when accusing someone of theft... until they actually leave the store they're not guilty of anything. (Not that you were wrong about his intentions.)

I think in cases involving high-theft items (condoms being one of them), things might be a bit off. And a kid buying XXL condoms?

Sounds more like a dare. (we've been told to watch out for them.)

[bainsidhe]

When I worked at Hellmart, we were'nt supposed to accuse thieves because of

1) Safety. It's not worth our necks over a few dollars and
2) We don't want to hurt the poor pweshus thief's feelings

Plaidman works in a convenience store. Whole different ballgame. I'm sure he takes his safety seriously, but he also doesn't give a damn about hurting the feelings of any would-be thieves.

Bravo Plaidman.

[Plaidman]

Gotta be careful when accusing someone of theft... until they actually leave the store they're not guilty of anything. (Not that you were wrong about his intentions.)

Where I live, farmers (particularly older ones) have a habit of grabbing something, putting it in their pocket, then walking around the store doing their shopping. Then they go up to the tills, take the item out of their pocket, and pay for it. Drives our Loss Prevention officer nuts.

I'm well aware of not accusing someone before they done it, I also can tell when somepne puts stuff in their pocket or absently mindedly. That kid was an attempted theft period however.

When I worked at Hellmart, we were'nt supposed to accuse thieves because of

1) Safety. It's not worth our necks over a few dollars and
2) We don't want to hurt the poor pweshus thief's feelings

Plaidman works in a convenience store. Whole different ballgame. I'm sure he takes his safety seriously, but he also doesn't give a damn about hurting the feelings of any would-be thieves.

Bravo Plaidman.

I have no problem calling them out. I hate thieves. The more they cry, the happier I am.

[Zellie Crescent]

What the hell was a 10 year old going to do with condoms?

[dalesys]

If it wasn't a c-store I would have been tempted to say: "Hey kid, I'll buy you some." and get him finger cots.


(The parking lot at (hi-tech mfg) looked like porn day at the elementary)

[Amina516]

What was he going to do? Stick his ARM in them? XXL? Psh....

[Lace Neil Singer]

I bet it was a dare; as in, "I dare you to steal some condoms, tee hee!" At the pet centre, we had a whole gang of kiddies who kept nicking random items; stuff like dog biscuits, fish ornaments and cat toys. They didn't take anything of any real value; still, it was theft and when the ringleader was finally caught redhanded, I called over the manager and he called the police and the thief's parents. Weird thing was, the kid was more scared of his mum being called than of being told off by the police... O.o

[sportsmom]

Gotta be careful when accusing someone of theft... until they actually leave the store they're not guilty of anything. (Not that you were wrong about his intentions.)

Actually, that depends on where you are. Several years ago, and maybe still, I'm not sure, just concealing an item was illegal in VA. You could legally stop someone just for putting an item somewhere on their person that was not readily visible.

[EricKei]

Weird thing was, the kid was more scared of his mum being called than of being told off by the police... O.o

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Look at it from the kid's perspective:

The cops are guys who look cool in uniform, drive really fast cars, carry guns, and lock up bad guys.

Mom, on the other hand is a force of nature whose wrath it would be unwise to invoke. She has nobody to chase and punish except for the kid (and his siblings).

[50 mission cap]

Gotta be careful when accusing someone of theft... until they actually leave the store they're not guilty of anything.

Yes...but I always hated that rule when I worked retail sales....because by the time they got through the door or sensors, it was to late, they were long gone.

[VComps]

Yup, 50MC, pain in the ass it is.

As for the rule in Virginia, I wish we had that. Where I live, the LPO has to observe Selection, Concealment, then must have an unbroken view of the subject until they leave the store. Then it's game on.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Yes...but I always hated that rule when I worked retail sales....because by the time they got through the door or sensors, it was to late, they were long gone.

Of course, without that law, you can easily wind up with somebody thinking they've got a suspect dead to rights, detaining them, and the suspect has nothing on them. Then the suspect has an open-and-shut false arrest case against the store.

What really needs to happen is stores need to make more of an investment in LP and have LP people in the store checking cameras and such at all times the store is open, instead of just having them drop in a couple times a day. Those are the people who know what the applicable rules and laws are, and can judge when it's okay to pursue somebody or not.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Look at it from the kid's perspective:

The cops are guys who look cool in uniform, drive really fast cars, carry guns, and lock up bad guys.

Mom, on the other hand is a force of nature whose wrath it would be unwise to invoke. She has nobody to chase and punish except for the kid (and his siblings).

That's true enough. When the mother arrived, she looked as tho it was only the presence of the manager that stopped her tearing her son limb from limb. O_o And that was even before she'd seen the camera footage of her son's theft.