I’ve had the old punch-card rip-off happen to me too. It was a little kid (about six years old) when I worked at a yogurt shop. He just used a regular hole punch and I didn’t notice. I strongly suspect it was his mom or dad who did the actual ripping-off, though. Way to teach your kid morals.
When I was about four or five, I went with my mom to the hardware store. As she was at the counter paying for stuff, I asked her if I could get one of the big “KEEP OUT” signs they had on a rack nearby. Mom said “Yeah, sure, kid.” Being too young to understand sarcasm, I took her words at face value. I grabbed the sign and followed mom out to the car. We were intercepted at the car by the clerk, who was a complete bitch, shouted at us and basically accused me of stealing and made me cry. My mom got so upset about this that she ended up having it out with both the clerk and the manager out in the parking lot. Meanwhile, I was in the car sobbing and grateful that I wasn’t going to jail. What was she thinking to do that to a young child? Did she really think I was a four-year-old delinquent?
great example of petty theft. What a dweeb. Have you ever heard somebody bragg about this kind of thing as if it makes them clever. When I broke a windsheild my mother in law suggested I get behind a big truck and take down the company name license number, day, and time. Then call the company and complain that something came off their truck and broke my windshield and they would pay for it.
“You suggesting I call them and lie and cheat to get them to pay my bills?” I asked.
“Well, they can afford it” was the reply.
Sound logic there. The fact that she suggested it means other family members and friends have proably done exactly that and recommended it.
Now, I don’t really see this as petty theft, or I wouldn’t have before I sort of saw a similar thing. I was at a writer’s conference in a hotel in Santa Fe. Also at that same hotel was some old-line Santa Fe women’s club (in a city where, when the DAR had its national convention there, the newspaper headlined it “Immigrant Group Meets in Santa Fe”). To get from one programming section to another we had to walk through a couple of halls, one of which had all the usual free stuff for writers–some publishers send free tshirts plugging their authors, there are usually pens, pencils, fortune cookies, and other interesting stuff, along with brochures about various pricey writers’ conferences. In the same hall was a long table with similar stuff, but for Santa Fean thing, whatever it was. And their table included these really cool little black blank books, about the size of a reporter’s notebook. Naturally this appealed to the writers, who were walking through there anyway and who were in acquisition mode due to the proximity to the free promotion table. So a lot of them grabbed the little black books.
So, I’m hanging out waiting for somebody, and one of the Santa Fe women comes back to her table and complains loudly, “Hey, these people are stealing our free stuff.” Up until that moment I had not really thought of it as stealing.
Well, I had already written something in my little black book, so I didn’t give it back, but I kept it out of sight for the remainder of the conference. Unlike most of the other people who’d picked them up.
It is because of ketchup, relish, and sugar thieves that McDonalds started rationing (and CHARGING FOR!) their sweet, sweet, glorious sweet and sour sauce…it’s like GOLD I tells ya!
The MOST pathetic example of petty theft I’ve seen:
You know those little tubes of 0.5mm leads for mechanical pencils? That cost, ohhh, maybe about $1.20 or less? I get fuckers who’ll open the tubes and steal a few - not even all! Just a few - leads. Give me a goddamn break. If you need a lead that bad, ask and I’ll f’ing give you one. I’ve got those things practically coming out my arse, there’s so many in my drawer. Asswipes.
Actually, though, those stress balls weren’t free. You see, like everyone else, I’d paid money to attend that RG. The money I paid included food, programs, the hotel rooms used as common rooms by the RG and various other expenses. Those stress balls were paid for out of money budgeted for the RG based, in part, on the number of people expected to attend. I paid for those stress balls as surely as I paid for the food I ate or the things I drank. The kids who took them didn’t, although if they’d asked, I’m sure people would have been happy to give away at least a few.
I don’t know if it is petty theft or not, but it certainly abuses the spirit of the company policy:
All Sears Craftsman hand tools are protected with a lifetime warranty. Any flaw, fracture, defect or damage (however incurred) means that you can exchange it for a new tool at no cost.
I know people who scour yard sales for Craftsman tools in any condition, then bring them into a local Sears to exchange them for brand new tools. I’ve brought in my own broken tools before, but it stretches the policy (to my mind) to benefit from a tool that you never bought in the first place.
Also, some major thefts: I used to work for a Sears. I knew employees who would take orders for large appliances (such as washing machines, refrigerators) from friends, and would kick a dent in a non-visible side. They would then either sell the appliance to the friend at the damage discount, or would even occasionally buy it themself at the additional employee discount. I stayed away from these folks; this was too damn close to a felony conviction and a record for me.
While I agree that the clerk may have gone off the deep end, IME children are often involved in retail theft. Parents often have their kids do it so they can innocently claim that the kids did it accidentally in case they get caught. This is probably what was running through her mind when she was screaming at you and your mother.
I used to work at Sears and saw that same craftsman scam. One regular customer would come in every few months with an armload of old rusty craftsman tools often with no handles, and leave with a armload of new tools.
Most major chains assume that the largest percentage of theft petty and other wise, comes from employees.
