Woman passively outed for shoplifting and I did nothing?

Stuff does get caught on/in handbags - I sailed out of tk maxx with a hanger stuck to the back of my shoulder bag that trailed a (horrible) evening gown.

I was cringing but the staff had a good laugh.

I’ve stuffed my bag with a fistful of swanky scent samples at the counter while waiting to pay at the chemist - only to realise they were priced at 4.99 each when I got home. 😬

If you think she's a thief then she is also a liar. Most of us hate liars even if we excuse thieves.
The man was the victim. Guess what you are doing.

I've rather enjoyed reading the replies today in response to this account of a woman possibly stealing (possibly not). Following 36yrs in a policing background I've heard countless lies. However, her guilt has to be beyond reasonable doubt otherwise it's mob rule. We all know that is not fair justice and will rebound on those who practice it.
I still think that this level of alleged criminal activity could have been better managed by having a quiet word at the till or possibly (depending how the item ended up in her bag) before the lady got there.

@Königsberger

Imagine if this had been you and you were innocent, would this tip you over the edge?

If you were innocent you wouldn't change your story a few times. You would apologise and pay for the crisps.

In a world full of cynicism I'm sure many will take the view that the lady got her 'comeuppance' and it will teach her not to try and pinch a bag of crisps again.
However, in a fair world the view we should all take is not to fall into mob rule, least of all when the circumstances are not 100% clear.
That's why we have a judicial system to deal with cases fairly, clearly it's unlikely to apply when it's a single bag of crisps. Here the employee (if he was one) could have (and definitely should have) had a quiet word at the till. It's not about the employee being a man and the lady who did, or did not, get caught stealing. It's about all of us having humanity and a dose of decency.
Imagine if this had been you and you were innocent, would this tip you over the edge?

You sound nice. I hope you haven’t got kids with this attitude. They’ve got no hope.

very dim ... why not just go to a different garden centre and steal over-priced seeds there - Even if you got caught nicking £16 crappy Sarah Raven seeds at £8 a packet each ... they are never going to get the police in or identify you ... Or to make life easier you would give a false name and a previous address - . . . . . Even if some Hitler phones the pigs , they will never attend under £50-£100

Stealing from your employer at the check-out is incredibly naive and self-destructive

Most likely she is known for it and they have given up on the police so think the 'best' solution is to get her to either pay for the items or drop them and leave without them. This telling her at the till also lets her know she's been rumbled and they will be looking out for her in future.

Win/win I think there, why should be pay more for her theft?

@SoupDragon

So, not an example of someone suing 😂

And also not where someone was stealing

She sounds like a liar and a thief doing it for kicks.
Why he confused about “what crisps” if you know you’d decided on some crisps off a kid’s snack?
I used to work in a garden centre and a lovely woman in her 50s started part time, appeared to financially not need to work but said she loved gardening and was bored not working.
Most people were shocked when she was sacked - regularly stealing packets of seeds. She’d get maybe £30 of gardening stuff, pay normally - but there’d be a 99p packet of seeds slipped under the paper wrap round some pots, things like that.
There was outage amongst the staff on the day, because she pulled the flustered old dear, would never steal, in tears thing… said she’d slipped them there not to leave them behind in the trolley, forgot… those members of staff weren’t to know that those involved had CCTV of her doing in several times.
She just got a lick from it.

So, not an example of someone suing 😂

Trust me if you'd taken them to court you'd have got nothing

Firms often offer money to avoid court.

Yeah that's quite different to taking them to court isn't it?

I was in my local Asda yesterday, hanging around the customer service kiosk waiting for a parcel to be brought out. The alarm went off on the door and a man was called back in. He was a bit flustered and couldn't find his receipt, the staff member who stopped him started going through his shopping and found it and he had paid for everything. The poor man was so upset and kept saying, "everyone will think I'm a thief."

Not in a supermarket but in their petrol station, trouble with card but eventually went through, staff member came out and stood in front of my car as I tried to drive out, loudly announced I hadn't paid. I didn't sue but did get an apology and some money from the supermarket. I think it is more about the accusation than being asked not to steal.

I found it very upsetting and humiliating as the other customers looked on, I was so grateful when I suddenly realised I'd pressed the button for a receipt and could show it. I couldn't use the self service pumps for quite a while afterwards.

Sometimes humiliation is the best way, particularly with repeat offenders. It lets them know that they are on the radar and have been recognised, so they might stop trying it on in that particular shop. And, yes, the manager would likely have been exactly the same if it had been a man. If they are stealing (which they are), then why would anyone be subtle about telling them they'd been seen? If you came home and someone was nicking your TV you wouldn't quietly take them to one side and ask them to put it back, would you? Shoplifters are professionals, they steal to sell - Ok, this one had only got a packet of crisps, probably checking out to see if there was any security, if she got away with that who knows what she'd take next time?

I work for Asda and although our store doesn’t have a coffee shop , I’ve seen plenty of shoplifters stopped. They are masters at putting on drama when being caught . I would imagine , she’s been watched bysecurity and they caught her on camera stealing . They rarely prosecute just give the customer the option of buying the item , and no a lot of them are not very nice in the way they talk to shoplifters . If he went into a staff entrance he could also have been a manager if he wasn’t in uniform . I don’t know, maybe she was having a dizzy day , we all do, I’ve walked out of a shop with something and completely had a dippy moment and not paid so it does happen, just weird that she should actually put something in her bag , very suspicious .

What did you think you were supposed to do ?

For a packet of crisps? I doubt if the Police would even attend!

I’m inclined to think she probably was stealing them if his actual words were “the crisps you put in your shopping bag”, as that implies he saw her do it. But he didn’t have to humiliate her like that in front of everyone and it doesn’t sound like a very professional way to deal with shoplifters. I wonder if he would have been so nasty if he had seen a man stealing.

You're right about the police and that's why shops have "store detectives"

Also as a shoplifter in a bigger store you should be more concerned about a private prosecution, which companies that employ store detectives commonly follow up with on their repeat offenders, those with addresses anyway.

I did a Sainsbury's smartshop recently and they checked and found something that hadn't scanned. It was mortifying.

Whether it was an error or shoplifting that
was not an appropriate way to deal with it!

Agreed. People are so obsessed with their rights, now people want the right to shoplift in peace. What next?
Don't arrest that guy who is burgling that house, maybe he just got lost, ask him nicely first just to make sure, I'm sure he will tell you the truth.