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Middle classes 'turning to shoplifting to sustain their lifestyles'

26 replies

ABetaDad · 10/11/2009 16:00

Interesting story in the Guardian and other newspapers that middle class people are responsible for an increase in shoplifting in order to maintain their lifestyles.

" .... items taken include "high end cheeses and meats" ? which he attributes to people stealing to maintain a quality of life they can no longer afford. "We are seeing more instances than before of amateur thieves stealing goods for their own personal use rather than to sell on."

It seems they are stealing 'nice ham'.

I have to say I am not convinced it is specifically the middle class but a general rise across the board.

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WowOoo · 10/11/2009 16:10

I shouldn't laugh but, your "nice ham" made me giggle.

I wouldn't dare do it myself. We buy nice ham far less frequently these days and have to make do with what I would call "crap ham".

Would not be happy were I a shop owner or manager.

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ABetaDad · 10/11/2009 16:30

I do remember a similar sort of news story from the early 1990s of well to do middle class women stealing high end lipsticks and mascara and justifying it to themselves by saying that the shops and manaufacturers had made so much in the 1980s boom years they deserved to get a loyalty bonus or a 2 for 1 offer in the downturn so it wasn't really stealing.

TBH it ties in with the 'lying to get into schools' thread as I do think there is always a fair bit of middle class dishonesty to make ends meet and keep up appearances. However, I think that it always has been and I don't think it has got any worse.

I guess, the story would not be quite so newsworthy if it had said 'poor people stealing to make ends meet'.

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InterruptingKid · 10/11/2009 16:31

OOH YES i so agree
out local * store is faing HUGE issues with large scale theft of Aberdeen Angus beef.

I have seen undercover cops in there

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paisleyleaf · 10/11/2009 16:33

I don't know why this bit made me laugh - but it did....
"These amateurs also tend to be caught by fairly basic security equipment"

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Hullygully · 10/11/2009 16:33

Yep, it's deffo true. I saw a woman in Boden being led out of my Sainsbury's the other day. She had a side of beef under Johnny's recommended.

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LynetteScavo · 10/11/2009 16:33

Well, Richard Madely started it with Champagne, didn't he.

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LynetteScavo · 10/11/2009 16:35

Maybe Johnnie himself will have to up the security in his shops.

Do they have tags on clothing in the Boden shops? I bet they don't atm.

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Hullygully · 10/11/2009 16:35

I swiped a couple of bottles of vintage cava meself.

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SquirrelTrap · 10/11/2009 16:36

My friend has developed a massive shop lifting habit. He does it for a thrill and also "because it is too easy"

He is v. middle class

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InterruptingKid · 10/11/2009 16:36

Never nick in TK maxx - they always get folk armed wiht insulated freezer bags

also Debenhams - vg store detectives.

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RubysReturn · 10/11/2009 16:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Hullygully · 10/11/2009 16:38

Always better to create a diversion. Fill a trolley with nice ham and vintage cava, perhaps a bit of cheese, then get a friend to scream and hurl herself into the vegetables, while they're looking after her, run like billyo with the trolley. It's better if you have a car, bit awkward on the bus.

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MaggieMonday · 10/11/2009 16:39

Well, I didn't do it to 'maintain' a lifestyle but.......

I used to rob things occasionally when I was in an abusive relationship. I lived on a lovely tree-lined road where the victorian houses cost more than half a million, and I was robbing things I didn't need. My x was a 'professional', my parents are stalwarts of their parish! lol, I went to private school and play several musical instruments.. Words simply can't describe how ashamed I would have been if I'd been caught.

Now I live on benefits and I never rob anything. I think I was quietly going a bit insane at the time.

I've never confessed that before, even on line.

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WowOoo · 10/11/2009 16:40

Hullygully

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RubysReturn · 10/11/2009 16:40

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Hullygully · 10/11/2009 16:41

Oh those glorious days at Foyles..buy one take two free..

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MaggieMonday · 10/11/2009 16:54

RubysReturn, that is very true... it was obviously something spilling over. I felt so crushed and so defeated, that even just taking a risk reminded me I was alive. Maybe it was some subliminal way of trying to force change to happen to me, as I was too scared to make it happen.

I don't really know tbh, but it shocks me now to sit here and admit that I was a thief. I did it more than once. I lost count.

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InterruptingKid · 10/11/2009 16:55

you often get newly bereaved folk nicking

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RubysReturn · 10/11/2009 16:56

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HerBoomWhizzBangitude · 10/11/2009 16:58

LOL at nicking ham.

They should just sneak into Lidl or Aldi, where the Ocado standard ham is cheap and affordable.

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Hassled · 10/11/2009 17:05

I thought Middle Class Austerity was where we are these days - lots of people called Jonty growing their own/boasting about their charity shop purchases etc.

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MaggieLaVoleuse · 10/11/2009 17:11

Thanks Ruby! I forgive myself now..

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ABetaDad · 10/11/2009 17:11

My Grandma knew a Polish (Jewsih) woman who had survived tehe concentration camps. She shoplifted all of her later life as a reaction to the deprevation of that experience and her guilt at surviving.

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MaggieLaVoleuse · 10/11/2009 17:16

Wow. It's an interesting subject. I hope my new screen name doesn't seem like I view it flippantly. Changed it without really thinking. I'll change it again in a mo.

Also interesting about the newly bereaved sometimes doing it.

Is it the risk? the exhilaration lifts you briefly /?

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BiscuitFace · 10/11/2009 17:23

it is just pathetic really.

someone should let the 'i want to be middle class woman' know. she could go out thieving and come back with somelovely coffee books

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