So, my sister and I were shopping today. We went to Game Stop and we each bought PSP movies for my nephew’s birthday. Then, we went to FYI and set off the alarms as we walked in. The nice guy in the store deactivated our purchases from Game Stop and we were able to leave without setting off the alarm again. Apparently though, it only worked for that store.
As we walked into Target, we set off their alarm too. The security guard didn’t check our bags or anything. He just started following us. He watched as we walked to the electronics section. He hid around the corner as we had an associate unlock some stuff for us and he peeked as my sister paid over $130 for the stuff. Then he followed us to the toy section and hovered as we perused the Bakugon. We saw him three more times as we headed to the front of the store and paid for the toys. He took of at a quick amble, just as we left the store (setting off the alarm again).
We don’t “look” like your typical shoplifters. We were both fairly well dressed (for us). We had bags from other stores. We were chatting about buying gifts for Easter and Birthdays. We got employee assistance twice. We kept our hands out of our pockets and didn’t open our bags at all. Still though, he followed us throughout our whole shopping trip.
My sister was pissed and wanted to talk to him about it. I thought it was hilarious and as we were leaving the mall (after a return trip to Game Stop for more purchases), I suggested leaving via Target just to give him a quick thrill. My sister showed remarkable restraint and didn’t slap me.
Well, even seemingly harmless behavior can be signs of someone looking for trouble. I’ve heard that it’s pretty common for shoplifters to bring bags from other stores to hide what they’ve stolen in them, and I can see how talking to the employees might be taken as a way of trying to distract them while the other person grabs something.
I know it is a bit offensive to see someone snooping on you when you know that you’re not doing anything wrong, but considering that his job would be on the line if he did let someone get away with theft I can understand why he was trying to be extra careful. I’m sure he has seen other cases where people who didn’t “look the type” were trying to get away with something. We all end up suffering from higher prices to cover shoplifting losses, so I prefer for stores to be careful about that sort of thing even though it can be inconvenient at times.
Oh, and it’s not the most exciting job int he world, so maybe he really did have nothing better to do.
(My boyfriend used to work as a security guard, so I tend to be sympathetic to them)
I have known (through my work) a fair amount of middle class and wealthy people who made the decision to shoplift. I know that it feels weird to have someone watching you, but don’t take it personally, the dude was just doing his job (maybe he could have been more friendly) When I am in that situation, I usually just look at the security guy, smile and give a friendly “hello.” Usually that mellows them out a bit.
I didn’t take it personally. If I had, this would be in the Pit. As I said, I thought it was funny. My sister took it personally, which I thought was even funnier. I really don’t offend easily. He was doing his job. I hope no one got the impression I was mad about this.
As for distracting the employee by talking to him/her, we were both talking to them at the same time.
And, I did smile at him and made eye contact with him every time I turned a corner and saw him standing there eyeballing us.
I also used to be a security guard and I’ve also worked in retail. I think this is a small part of why I didn’t take it personally. As far as I know, my sister has had a grand total of 3 jobs in her life, none of which involved security guards or stealable merchandise.
Anyway, the only thing that even slightly annoyed me was that he homed in on us after our Game Stop bags set of the alarm, as we ENTERED the store. Why didn’t he just do what the FYE guy did and check our bags and deactivate them? Then he would have had every right to be suspicious if we set them off again when leaving the store (which we did).
But, that was just a minor irritation. I’ve always hated those things. Half the time no one even pays attention to them and you’re left standing there, feeling like a criminal and wondering if you’re allowed to leave the store. Then, a cashier or greeter just waves you on and you start to wonder if it’s time to start a shoplifting career. The other half the time, the store employees just calmly check your bags (which doesn’t bother me in the slightest) and you go on your merry way.
This was the only time in my life that I’ve been followed. And, it was nice to know that profiling was NOT at work in Target. When I worked in a retail clothing store, we were told to follow minorities, particularly if they were black or hispanic. I got fired for refusing. In this case, we had two young white women being followed (by an older white man). It made me happy. I’m strange like that.
I stop and check if I’ve bought clothing. A decent amount of the time it means they forgot to take one of those dye-pack pin things off, and I’d have to return to the store to have it removed anyway.
I had something like that happen once… An alarm went off walking into a place and I was right next to the checkout counter going in. I looked over, said “oh, must be the (blank… Can’t remember what it was)”, pulled it out of the one bag I was carrying, no jacket to hide anything or any such for stuff on the way out, and just was waved through. On the way back out I was waved through as well (It was Best Buy, I believe, and I was looking at speaker systems, so didn’t buy anything right off).
Though I have heard of reasons for people to be suspicious over this… Someone who is less than the most honest person I’ve ever met recounted a method by which he’d stolen something or other by setting off the alarms on purpose (no idea how he knew what type of tag would do it… but meh, whatever), picked up whatever small thing he wanted then left, waving off the whole thing as “I already set off the alarm, no biggie, see ya.”
Altogether I think its far far far too risky (not that I’m one to think that its even worth it if there were no alarms and almost no chance of getting caught).
They must know of this tactic.
Anyway, that might be an explanation of the odd security guard’s behavior… Though I’m sure looking at him with a wave and a “hey” should sedate him… I doubt there are many people that would consider shoplifting after being followed enough so that they knew they were being followed.
Though… To all security people out there… [whispers]that’s what they want you to think[/whispers]
I suspect that the majority of our shoplifting losses at our store are as a result of middle-aged, well dressed white women who browse through our store several times a week on their lunch hours. We tend to not watch them as closely as the older black men carrying a heavy coat over their arm and trying to distract us with a lot of chatter…them we catch because they are so darned obvious! But I bet a couple of our regulars are robbing us blind.
I used to have a pair of shoes that apparently had a security sensor thingy sewed into it somewhere. It took me the longest time to realize that’s what it was. I only had the one pair of shoes that I wore all the time, so I wouldn’t have had the chance to notice that the alarms don’t go off when I wore different shoes. I was half convinced that my body was giving off some kind of electrical aura or something that was setting them off.
Most of the time the clerks just waved me thorugh. It was the one place where they decided to actually check me that we finally figured out what it was. They had me hand my jacket and bag through the sensor-gate thing. Alarm didn’t go off. They had me take my wallet, keys, and cell out of my pocket and hand them through. Alarm didn’t go off. The security guy patted me down to make sure I didn’t have anything hidden in my clothes. Nothing.
At this point they were sure I wasn’t stealing anything, but they were really curious why I was setting the alarm, especially when I told them it happened to me all the time. I wasn’t in any hurry to be anywhere, so I started playing hokey-pokey with the alarm gate (you put your right arm in, you put your left arm in, etc). That was how we found out it was my left shoe.
I never did find the stupid sensor thing in the shoe. I ended up just buying a new pair of shoes.
