"HOW DARE YOU?!"

[ShootMePlease]

I've had several instances where the alarm has gone off when I leave a store. I just stop and wait for someone to approach me. Quite a few times, no one has. So I leave. I'm certainly not a thief, nor do I want to look like one.

We had a customer who flipped out on us and threatened to call the police because we tag items people bring in for return with a pink sticker. This indicates to us that you brought it here, so that there is no question of theft when you leave (although some customers do use them for theft, but that's another story). She screamed at the LP guy that she wasn't a thief, HOW DARE HE question her integrity. I was in the back of the store and heard her plain as day.

She of course was going to tell everyone she knew never to shop there again.

[laborcat]

It has been my observation that the ones who are not stealing stuff will stop when the sensors go off and let the greeter do her job. If there is no greeter, they will pause, look around and usually an employee will tell them to go on. It's the ones that are running out the doors to begin with that are usually the troublemakers.

I can understand getting irritated at those things going off. I really can. Didn't stop me from obtaining some live sensor stickers and putting them on some carts though one time. That was funny.

[Kristev]

Yes. And it's rare, but some people can be honest, too. For instance, I once saw a woman with kids go in to the store and set off the alarm. But she explained to the greeter that she'd just rented a movie from the video store, and showed the greeter the movie, which she'd kept in her purse, and a receipt.

[Mr. Anubite]

A few years ago I bought some computer game in a store in the mall. For whatever reason, the stupid thing set of the alarm in EVERY OTHER STORE we went into as we walked in or out. After the fourth time, we got annoyed and went home for the day.

[XCashier]

It has been my observation that the ones who are not stealing stuff will stop when the sensors go off and let the greeter do her job. If there is no greeter, they will pause, look around and usually an employee will tell them to go on. It's the ones that are running out the doors to begin with that are usually the troublemakers.

I've seen that too. Sensor alarm goes off when customer walks through, one of two things will happen:

1. Customer stops, stands still and gives puzzled look to employee.
2. Customer freaks out, and either runs or starts screaming about being treated like a thief.

Guess which one's most likely guilty of shoplifting?

[EricKei]

I've had several instances where the alarm has gone off when I leave a store. I just stop and wait for someone to approach me. Quite a few times, no one has. So I leave. I'm certainly not a thief, nor do I want to look like one.

It has been my observation that the ones who are not stealing stuff will stop when the sensors go off and let the greeter do her job. If there is no greeter, they will pause, look around and usually an employee will tell them to go on. It's the ones that are running out the doors to begin with that are usually the troublemakers.

These ^_^ I do the same thing -- I just wait a few seconds and someone will glance at my stuff and wave me through. If someone bolts at this point, it's a dead giveaway that the stole something.

[Canarr]

Why yes. Yes I do. And if you don't want your some random hikers to find your frozen lifeless body with a thin yellow rain jacket wrapped tightly around your throat, you're going to let me back into the store to get my fucking winter jacket, genius.

Signed. And laughing...

That's some serious management idiocy, right there. Hope you stood up for yourself there, NTC.

I've seen that too. Sensor alarm goes off when customer walks through, one of two things will happen:

1. Customer stops, stands still and gives puzzled look to employee.
2. Customer freaks out, and either runs or starts screaming about being treated like a thief.

Guess which one's most likely guilty of shoplifting?

Works only with the amateurs, though. There was a case a couple of years ago in the West of Germany; a trio of younger men (early 20s or so) would hit mid-to-large electronics stores in several larger cities. Two of them scruffy-looking, dressed in hoodies, baggypants, caps... the works. The third in a Hugo Boss suit & tie, nice haircut and cleanshaven. They'd enter the store separately, with the nice-looking guy just browsing at first. Once the two "hoodlums" had entered, and drawn the attention of the staff through their suspicious behavior, the third guy started pocketing stuff. They'd get to the exit close together, Suit Guy usually buying some small thing, and when the stuff in his pockets triggered the alarm, the other two would run or walk away fast, while he just stood there for a moment, puzzled, then calmly walked away.

In the end, they were caught because they overdid it and Suit Guy's face was seen on camera a few times too often.

[Tama]

That's something a shoplifter I knew once said. He said if you got too nervous OR too cocky or tried to do too much at once, your ass was getting caught...

If you're going to be stupid [and shoplift] be smart.

Don't do anything that MIGHT just go with you ending up on World's Dumbest.

[Jester]

I am going to pipe in here as a former shoplifter.

Don't act all shocked, I've told y'all about this before. And I'm not proud of this, but it does offer us some insight into it from someone who's been there and done that, quite literally. When I was in junior high, and about 12 or 13 years old, I was the Master Thief. I had the shit down. And part of it was simply attitude. I didn't act suspicious, I didn't look nervous, I almost always made an actual purchase, and I often walked out with a disturbingly large haul. Also, I picked my spots. For example, I never hit the record store, for two reasons. 1. They had the best anti-theft devices in place. 2. I liked my music, and was not going to risk getting banned from the only record store within bicycling range. But bookstores and toy stores were easy pickings.

I am sure much has changed, as this was in the early Eighties. But just as security has evolved, so have thieves. And I'll bet a day's worth of tips that somewhere out there is a 13 year old kid that no one suspects that is ripping stores blind, while other idiots his age get caught stealing a pack of gum because they're clueless.

The point being, the shoplifters aren't always so obvious or clueless. And quite often, they are not the ones you think they are. After all, the good ones don't usually get caught.

[MadMike]

Once the two "hoodlums" had entered, and drawn the attention of the staff through their suspicious behavior, the third guy started pocketing stuff. They'd get to the exit close together, Suit Guy usually buying some small thing, and when the stuff in his pockets triggered the alarm, the other two would run or walk away fast, while he just stood there for a moment, puzzled, then calmly walked away.

It just goes to show what I've been saying all along -- I'm usually in jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt featuring some heavy metal band. When I was younger, I'd get watched all the time. It doesn't happen much, if at all, now that I'm older. But I've always said that while they were watching me like a hawk, some guy in a suit and tie was probably robbing them blind.

That's something a shoplifter I knew once said. He said if you got too nervous OR too cocky or tried to do too much at once, your ass was getting caught...

In my ex's case, getting cocky was her downfall. I knew she was doing it, and I kept telling her to knock it off. I even told her, "You're not as slick as you think you are." Sure enough, one day she was out at the mall with one of her friends, and she went at it again. Next thing she knew, a planclothes security guard was flashing a badge at her. The mall had a police substation, so I had to go there and pick her up. I should have left her worthless ass there.

I am going to pipe in here as a former shoplifter.

Wow, if you posted about that before, I must have missed it.

I never shoplifted myself, but once I was an unwitting accomplice. It was shortly after I started college and I was hanging out with a group of other students at the mall. We stopped at the record store, and I bought (as in legitimately purchased) a couple tapes. When we got out, I found out one of the other guys stole a few things while the cashier was ringing me out. Now, if he would have been caught, they could have very well tried to say I was in on it and arrested me as well. I would have been so pissed! Not to say that I wasn't pissed when I found out he'd used me as a distraction. That guy later turned out to be an even bigger ass than I thought, and I was happy when he dropped out of school.

[Jester]

But I've always said that while they were watching me like a hawk, some guy in a suit and tie was probably robbing them blind.

Guys in suits and ties rob people blind all the time. You just won't see it on security tapes much, as the robbers in question do their stealing under the title of "politicians."

Wow, if you posted about that before, I must have missed it.

I have mentioned it a few times. Once even got scolded by another member for being proud of it, of which I am not. But it was something I did, it was something I was good at, and I can offer insight into it that a lot of people here cannot.

Anyone who's ever seen the show "It Takes a Thief" understands this concept. (Great show. I used to watch it all the time. Now I don't even know if it's on anymore.)

[Twinblade]

I always seem to forget until I walk into wally world that my nook if powered on sets their alarms off. Lucky for me they know me there. But I stop and show them what it is most days.