Can you say "Thief"? Louder!

[SYWRejections]

(I know some of you have kids, but for those who don't, it's a Dora The Explorer reference. You'll understand shortly.)

Today gave me quite a few tales, some of which were more special than others:

Mom comes up to my line with daughter who can't be more than 3 (she barely speaks at all.) They have a Dora backpack that's a bit smaller than a ruler. I assume it was meant to just carry toys, not books.

I unzipped the thing to get out the filler paper (it's annoying, but hey,) and what do I see first-thing? An empty make up container. The plastic had been ripped off and the tube of make-up pulled out. I took the container out, grinning at her.

Mom/SC:
Me:
SC: T-That isn't mine.
Me: Okay.

I drop it and continue, she looks shaken up the entire time.

---

Mom and teen girls pop in to buy school supplies. Nothing unusual, girls texting away while mom prepares herself mentally to give someone else her money. As I'm ringing it up, I notice a black thing sticking out of a binder (you know those crappy, one-color $2 ones that break often?) I open it, and I see a 3-ring pencil case already put inside.

With a separate price tag.

Which is $5.

The daughter STARES at me. I ring it up, and she continues to stare at me. I grin.

Me: That was four ninety nine, by the way.

She just stands there, either annoyed that she got caught or just upset that she got caught. Normally, you could say "Oh, she put it in there so she didn't have to carry it, and forgot about it." Bull. If you had simply forgotten, you would have apologized when you watched me ring it. If it was a dollar, I'd have understood, but $5? Yeah, that wasn't a "mistake."

I'm gonna get put on a billboard in the back for stopping loss!

---

Not stealing, but disgusting anyway:

A bit later, a woman came through with her pack of kids and one in the cart who couldn't talk (or, thankfully, didn't want to.) I was ringing her stuff when I noticed her cereal box had a MASSIVE hole torn out of the side.

Me: Is this okay? Do you still want this?
SC: Oh, he did it. *Points to small kid in cart*
Me: Okay, I-aw, it's wet! Was there a leak on the shelves back there? That happens sometimes. (When it rains, it leaks through the ceiling.)
SC: Oh, he probably did it.

Every single boxed food item was wet with drool. The soup cans were too. The CANS.

All I can say is thank heaven for disinfectant.

[XCashier]

As I'm ringing it up, I notice a black thing sticking out of a binder (you know those crappy, one-color $2 ones that break often?) I open it, and I see a 3-ring pencil case already put inside.

With a separate price tag.

Which is $5.

The daughter STARES at me. I ring it up, and she continues to stare at me. I grin.

Me: That was four ninety nine, by the way.

Yep, the old "sticking things inside other things to see if you can get away with it" gambit. Our cash register training at the fabric store includes opening up the folded fabric to check if there is something stashed in there; I usually pretend to be counting or admiring the fabrics. We also open up gift boxes and other similar items, pretending to check that all the parts are there. I haven't found anything yet, but I'm sure others have.

[Clover]

Oh, I hate it when people try to steal things by putting them in something else-I've had to open dozens of containers (trash cans, those tupperware-type things, ect.) to remove things from them-and of course I've heard all the excuses-"We didn't put that there""I forgot it was inside" "Doesn't that come with it free? (of course the items are totally unrelated, like one incident being a backpack and a DVD)" or other such things-people really have got to learn to quit trying to steal.

If possible, I hate it even more when mothers or fathers hand me items their kid has been nomming on-I don't want to touch the kid's drool! It's so gross! Oh, but the gem of it all has to be one man in particular who wanted me to reach over the register and get the item his child had myself, and you know why?

He didn't want to touch it because it had the infant's drool on it, so he wanted me to take it from the child myself, scan it, and bag it so he didn't have to have contact with it.

I made sure to hold it in that pinched-between-the-fingers way that clearly shows disgust, and I stuck it in the bag with some items that were clearly male-oriented and thus probably for him, rather than his wife, who I assumed he wanted to give the task of unpacking said drool-covered item, to make sure all the drool soaking into the toy would get nice and spread all over his things. I don't think he liked it much.

If you don't want to touch your kid's drool, what makes you think I do?! I'm generally okay with animal drool-I've been slobbered on by dogs, cats, horses, goats, llamas, a camel on one occasion, a lot of cattle and such-and that doesn't bother me. Human drool, however? BLECH.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Oh, I hate it when people try to steal things by putting them in something else-I've had to open dozens of containers (trash cans, those tupperware-type things, ect.) to remove things from them-and of course I've heard all the excuses-"We didn't put that there""I forgot it was inside" "Doesn't that come with it free? (of course the items are totally unrelated, like one incident being a backpack and a DVD)" or other such things-people really have got to learn to quit trying to steal.

Unfortunately, as long are there are ignorant or careless cashiers who won't open the lid to find the stuff stashed inside, this will continue.

And my store has had a few of those.

A variation of this is opening up a big boxed item, like a vacuum cleaner, removing the contents, stuffing the box with the stuff you want to gank, resealing the box, and putting it someplace to "find" and pick up later.

[bainsidhe]

Coworkers have told me that people will put sheet sets into comforter bags inbetween the folds because...well comforters are expensive ya know?!? And those expensive sheet sets match sooo well and why aren't they included for free.

[Kogarashi]

This is why our cashier training at Walmart covered BOB and LISA (bottom of basket and look inside always). Those lessons were to drill into our heads to always glance at the bottom of the cart for things like diaper boxes, and to look inside every trash can, storage bin, backpack, etc. just in case.

I usually gave the customer an "out" by blaming it on lazy, inconsiderate, or pranking customers who liked to abandon stuff out of sight because they were too embarrassed about not wanting the item and being too lazy to put it back where it belonged, or who would deliberately hide things to make life harder for us. And yes, I've found my share of emptied packages (or even whole packages) inside backpacks at back-to-school time. ::sigh::

[Spork4pedro]

Swiper, no swipey. Swiper, no swipey. Swiper! No Swipey!

[Mytical]

Ah yes Bob and Lisa. Too bad half the cashiers when I was at walmart never bothered. As much as I hate to say it, even 3rd shift..and even after I was CSM. No matter how much I would remind them. Do I care that an SC thinks I think they are a thief? Wait..let me get the worlds smallest violin... guess I don't care. . Of course then again I had to count up the empty wrappers, stolen goods, etc (that we KNEW of) and have seen over $3000 dollars worth in a single night (and that was not the one time when a plasma tv walked out the front door).

Which is why it doesn't bother me when such is checked as I check out in a store. Go ahead, you won't find anything . You give the SC's and EW's a way out, and smile, but check..the bigger the SC or EW the more thoroughly you check

[Pojodan]

I must hang my head in shame for the 'put things in other things', though in my case it wasn't done on purpose.

Went to the store to buy a large trash can for my new apartment. Had initially intended to just get the can and a couple other items, so I just headed to the trash can aisle and then put the other items in it so I had one thing to carry (PUT TOWEL IN CAULDRON; PUT DISH SOAP IN CAULDRON; TAKE CAULDRON)

Well, ended up encountering a wild empty shopping cart and decided to get some groceries while I was at it.

Got home an hour later, and what was not on the recipt? The towels and the soap, of course, as they were still in the trash can

[Catwoman2965]

I’ve actually been on the other end, albeit completely unintentionally. I bought some plastic storage containers one time, and for ease of carrying them, I stacked them together. And carried the lids separately. I assumed the casher would see I had 3-4 lids, and ring up that number of containers. I was also carrying some stuff inside the container, which I took out and put on the belt. Got home, and a few days later happened to glance at my receipt, and realized they had only charged me for ONE box, not the 3-4 I purchased.

I had that happen with scrapbook paper once too; I bought what I thought was on package, but was really 3, but put together so you didn’t realize it was more than one…again, didn’t realize it until several months later, when I opened it to use….

So now I make sure I a. separate anything I’ve stacked or put together to pay and b. watch the cashier so if they only ring one, and there are multiples, I can let them know.

[manybellsdown]

I'm actually better off if I put stuff in a trash can or whatever I'm buying, because I remember I put stuff in there. The last time I bought a big bin, I didn't put anything in it, and when I got home I found a package of decorative metal wall hooks inside it. Somehow neither I nor the cashier noticed that the can was heavier than it should have been.

[Clover]

To those who have ACCIDENTALLY taken something they forgot they had put in or that they didn't know was inside another container-that's something entirely different. We're bashing the ones who do it on purpose to steal. Heck, my mom forgot that she'd put some toothbrushes inside a container she was getting so they wouldn't fall out of the cart (it kept slipping between the bars), and when we left and were putting them in the car I found them, looked at the tab, and pointed this out to her. She got upset and, despite my dad telling her one pack of toothbrushes wasn't worth it, she took them back in, explained what had happened and paid for them even though she could have easily gotten off scot-free.

I wish people took responsibility for their actions-and weren't SC morons, but that's a bit much to hope for, methinks.

[RetailWorkhorse]

As I'm ringing it up, I notice a black thing sticking out of a binder (you know those crappy, one-color $2 ones that break often?) I open it, and I see a 3-ring pencil case already put inside.

*Raises hand* I do that sometimes, to make sure everything fits properly (I'm a bag whore, yes, but everything has to FIT... and I need a bigger bag for my tablet because I found out yesterday that it doesn't fit in my day pack. FRACK!). But I do tell the cashier that they're in there.

Haven't managed to walk out with something I forgot to pay for.

[Eireann]

I've had a few occasions where I forgot to put something in the cart on the conveyor belt. Then I discovered it as I was hooking up the cart to the one in front of it (they lock together, here).

So, whatever the item was, I just left it.

[Shalom]

I bought a trash can yesterday at the opposite of High's. (Long story; see below). I made sure to leave the lid OFF the can when I went to ring it up, so they could see I wasn't trying to guzzle anything. Of course it didn't have anything to do with the fact that this cheap-ass lid didn't even fit, and when I did get it on I couldn't get it off...

I did once walk out of OA with a coin-cell battery in the wagon that I'd forgotten to put on the counter, buried in all the flyers that previous customers had left in there. I found it when loading my car. Went back in there; I could almost hear the cashier thinking, "Oh God, this guy's waving this battery at me, what's wrong now?" She seemed surprised when I told her I needed to pay for it.

(Here's the long story: I needed another recycling can, because we forgot to bring it out to the front last Wed. when they pick up recycling, so the can was full, and I obviously needed another one. Kinda like the guys who traded in their cars when the ashtrays were full, as they used to say back in the '70s.

So off I go to Orange Apron. The place where they have the cheap-ass blue recycling cans was empty; plenty of black ones, way more than they could possibly need, but nary a blue can in sight. I yanked off the shelf hanger tag and took it to the front counter. "Do you have any more of these? The slot was empty." (clicketyclick) "Yeah, we have 86 of them." "Where? I didn't see any?" So he comes with me, and is puzzled to see the empty slot. He escalates this to another couple workers, and about five minutes later he comes back and says that someone received the black cans wrong, and input them with the SKU of the blue ones. So now they are short 86 blue garbage cans, and an overage of 86 black cans, less however many were sold already. I wonder how that's going to come back and bite them on the tuchus come inventory time, or how long it would have taken them to notice it if I hadn't pointed it out.

So then I went to the other Orange Apron. I don't generally go there, because I had an annoying experience there once: was looking for a machine screw to assemble my son's crib, as they'd sent me the wrong size in the kit. Couldn't find them anywhere on the display, and when I asked an apron-wearer where they were, she gave me the cow-eyes and asked "Uhh, what kind of machine is it for?" You work in a hardware store, for Pete's sake, and you never heard of a machine screw? In any case, I wandered in there and found that not only didn't they have any blue cans in that size, they didn't even have a slot for them in the shelves. This is why I went to their blue competition.)