Every day, people age 12 and under become less "customer" and more "annoyance".

[theredbaron47]

Preface: my hardware store prohibits the sale of certain items (spray paint, DUCO cement, lighter fluid, certain solvents) to anyone under 18. It's not that uncommon a practice.

About a year ago, two kids (they couldn't have been older than 13) come to the counter, each with a can of cheap black spray paint. I obviously refuse the sale after they don't have ID, so they sulk away with the paint. Next thing I know, a co-worker came up and told me that he saw two kids make off with spray paint to the new construction across the street (vandalism would ensue).

It's a good thing the police station was RIGHT NEXT DOOR to the construction. They were caught, but honestly... this is why it's so hard for me to respect kids like that who come into the store.

Any similar stories? Since that happened, we were told to watch out for people under 18 to steal whatever it was they couldn't buy.

[bars.of.a.rhyme]

This is my friend's story, not mine, but she doesn't have an account here, so I'll go ahead and tell it for her.

This friend of mine works at a drug store in the same strip mall where I work (I actually met her back when she worked with me at Hollywood Video - shared hardship produces strong friendships ). Anyway, there are these kids that always come into my store and steal video games. They're banned from the store, but it's difficult to enforce that policy as preteens are becoming increasingly homogenous in appearance, and not everyone at the store has seen them in person.

So yesterday, this friend calls me to tell me that she busted the kids trying to steal cigars from her store. My friend's register is on a raised platform at the front of the store. The cigarettes are all kept behind the counter, and the cigars are shelved on the front of the counter. She noticed the kids acting kind of sketchy, so she paged her manager to the front, where he posed as a shopper so he could watch the kids. She saw one of the kids put something in his pocket RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER, and then she nodded to her manager, who charged at the kid "like a bat out of hell."

Once the kid had finished soiling himself, they called the cops and stowed the kid in the back room.

The really funny thing is that they were stealing the cigars to unwrap and reroll with pot instead of tobacco. Unfortunately they're too stupid to realize that that trick only works if you're old enough to smoke cigars without arousing suspicion in the first place.

[AmericanZero8503]

Not just kids under 12 but most teenagers too. Those little bastards try to steal/rip us off all the time. They'll come in say the coke machine took thier money, then act suprised when I won't give them a refund. It's the same kids, all the time. We try to kick them out but their parents call in to bitch at the service manager...UGH annoying.

[Tito]

their parents call in to bitch at the service manager...UGH annoying.

Yep, gotta love parents who think that their kids are just perfect angels who can do no wrong.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

They'll come in say the coke machine took thier money, then act suprised when I won't give them a refund.

I give them the benefit of the doubt at my store...but I cover my own ass.

I tell them that I'm more than willing to give a refund. But they have to fill out the reimbursement form on the back of the little paper change pocket that the vending machine company gives me.

If the guy comes in and sees that the machine has more money than inventory paid out then he'll put the extra into the envelopes. So far the only people who bother filling out the form are adults who actually lost something...I've only had three kids fill it out and according to the vendor...they actually lost money.

Making them work for their scam usually prevents them from bothering with it.

Mongo

[theredbaron47]

Now that you mention it, Zero, I should broaden that range to include teenagers as well. I can't tell you the number of ****-faced punks that come in and think it's a free-for-all, and that they don't have to pay for anything.

Recently, between me and two maybe 14-year-old punks:

*they come up to my register with a candy bar each*
Me: "Hi, how are you two?"
*both stare at the ground; one mumbles something*
Me: "Are you going to pay for those screws and bolts I saw you stash in your pockets, or do we get the managers and police involved?"
Both of them: !

The almost-stolen merchandise was on the counter and they were out the door before they could say "juvenile hall".

Seriously, what the hell is it with these punks and "rebels" these days?

[Rapscallion]

The fact that youths shoplift doesn't surprise me. What does surprise and worry me is what they were stealing.

Screws and bolts?

Sheesh...

Rapscallion

[kerrisan]

I used to work at Kroger as a cashier. I was on my break and using a computer in the Internet Cafe when I saw these 2 kids (males, probably 9-11 years old) messing around the remaining 3 computers and being loud and obnoxious. I assumed that they had been there for a while when my friend who worked Customer Service and is normally very patient with children responded with an annoyed "no" when the kids asked her if the coffee was free. Well, I just kinda went on my way after my break and forgot about the kids until I was ringing up some customers and all of the power goes off and the alarms start ringing. This was after 9-11 so I duck down behind my register having no idea what's going on (might be kinda sad, but hey! you never know!). Customers are becoming upset because it is dark outside and therefore nobody can see much of what's going on around them. Pretty soon we find out that the little angel children made their way out behind the building and were messing with the power when they shut it off!!! They made a run for it but WERE TACKLED IN THE GRASS BY A BIG BURLY GUY FROM THE DELI!!! It was fantastic. Then later I saw them with their parents and a cop crying and being lectured by the cop. Again, fantastic. I just glared at these kids when I walked past them to get carts. I'm very glad that they were treated like adults for pulling an adult-style crime.

[theredbaron47]

Pretty soon we find out that the little ngel children made their way out behind the building and were messing with the power when they shut it off!!!

Now THAT is just funny! Kids need to learn that there are prices to pay for screwing around with stuff, and that includes stealing. Props to the deli guy for tackling them, and props to whoever got the police and their parents involved. Maybe they learned a lesson... hopefully.

As a sidenote, I don't think the schools assign enough homework, as proven by cases like these

[Kiwi]

we used to sell spraypaint at the craft store

headquaters was too cheap to give us a locking cabinet, so we ended up with a gang of young boys taking 3-4 cans a week

to DUMB to figure out that a group of teenage boys in a SEWING and craft store kind of stood out....

we pretty much had to post a staff member infront of the cans for a few weeks, and/or we to page "security risk in craft, all managers to the area immediately" over and over and over

all that time of staff wasted when $100 cabinet would have solved the problem....

[kibbles]

I think a lot of kids grow out of the rebellious stage eventually, we were all kids once and can probably remember doing stuff that would now make us mad with rage. Getting caught is probably what will give these kids a higher chance of not remaining in that phase well into adulthood.

But I gotta agree with Raps, it's not the shoplifting, it's what's being shoplifted that's disturbing :P

[phillippbo]

This reminds me of my c-store days. The store I worked in was a little ways back from the main highway in a residential area, so we were more like a neighborhood store. Long story short, we saw the same customers day in and day out - if it was a new face they were probably lost or not from the area. I got to know many of the little devil-spawn... err, "children's"... parents very well. Amazingly, all but one of them would side with me if it was a "he-said/they said" between me and their children.

At any rate, when I worked there we still had the silly cigarette displays across the front and behind the counter (the ones on the back faced the register). The geniuses that had designed this particular store way back "when Jesus walked the Earth" (as I used to quip - you should have seen it, the wiring alone was a fire hazard, but that's a whole 'nother story), and had placed the counter in the middle of the floor with the register facing one of the side walls. This meant that I could not see half the store, and the cigarette displays were behind me on a counter within reach of anyone on that particular side of the store.

After one month with a tad shy of $500 in stolen cigs, I did something about it. First, I built a "wall" of our old cardboard signs across the back of the counter and attached to the displays themselves with tape (it wasn't as tacky as it sounds - I used two layers "face to face" so it was just white cardboard). They stood high enough that you would have to be a minimum of 6' 5" to reach over the top and it was not possible to go around the sides. In addition to that, I taped all of the cigarettes in the displays together (clear tape all the way around the group and tape across the bottoms) so it was not possible to simply remove a single pack. This included the displays on the front of the counter, which ticked off some of the regulars who liked to whip cigs off the displays onto the counter, but what did I care.

Anywho, I can't begin to count on both hands and feet how many times one of the gaggles of "children" would come in, and as one was trying to distract me, I'd hear the unmistakible "rip" of lots of tape trying to be removed. I'd just smile sweetly, ask the thief if I could help them with anything, and report them to their parents the next morning (who would most of the time punish the kid AND make them come into the store to apologize to me). Some days, that's the only way I could make it all the way through the day!

Sorry if it was so long, but it brings a smile to my face just thinking about it now, and one of the few things I actually miss about that job....

[karma_gypsy]

How about those kids who come in unsupervised (around 12-13ish) and come in to wander the store and put there hands all over everything and move stuff around and swear a lot. O.k., guys, swearing that much doesn't make you cool, you sound like morons . . .

[Lehk]

How about those kids who come in unsupervised (around 12-13ish) and come in to wander the store and put there hands all over everything and move stuff around and swear a lot. O.k., guys, swearing that much doesn't make you cool, you sound like morons . . .

just throw them out as soon as they start swearing. if their parents complain to management just say the foul language was bothering actual customers

[Lace Neil Singer]

I always hate it when the brats break up for the summer holidays and always, without fail, come into the supermarket and try to buy Lambrini and White Lightning. We're talking kids of 12-14 who look it too; they then get annoyed and start swearing and threatening when I refuse to serve them. One little brat even threatened to get his mate to come and get me when I wouldn't serve him... I almost bust a gut laughing.