just saw someone shoplifting in wh smith

[EducatingSweary]

so expertly done that it left me questioning myself what id actually seen

she was holding a carrier bag and 2 pavkets of chocolates all in one hand, dropped just one bag of chocs into her carrier bag and then just put the others back on the shelf

it happened so quickly that i thought to myself, no tgat didnt hapoen, yet there was the unmistaken sound if something dropping into her bag

I saw a Greggs spicey chicken baguette theft the other day. The guy looked a little down on his luck tbh.

If the queue hadn't been out the door, it wouldn't have been so easy for him to do. (You select your sandwich, and go to the back of the queue. Which is somewhere about 50m away on a busy lunchtime.)

No I didn't report it. My vegetarian pizza slice was barely even luke warm, doughy, and unpleasant. I fed it to the crows. I am a disgrace to humanity.

ha “down on his luck” - please. He wanted a sandwich, he could’ve be arsed to pay for it, end of.

I have a life thanks, a law abiding one where I don’t go around stealing shit from shops

*couldn’t, not could’ve

but to do it they must be extremely desperate.

Why do you think that? Could they not just be thieving bastards who want something for nothing?

In my local Sainsburys if you are walking around without a basket the security bloke comes up to you with a basket and asks if you need one. Ffs - the other day I was carrying a pack of 2 lettuces and a pack of peppers. He wasn't being helpful he always does this. I politely refused. He looked well peed off. Used to work in Boots some of the staff were stupid enough to challenge lifters-some of them looked out of it and maybe on drugs. No way would I risk my safety.
Thats the job of security.

There'll be loads of people out there literally starving, peoples benefits being stopped, sleeping on the streets. I can empathise.

saynotocarrots I am well aware there have always been shoplifters, thank you. I meant the attitude of a lot of posters dismissing it as no big deal.

@hmmwhatatodo I too get followed and now my teen aged daughter gets followed too and was recently falsely accused of shoplifting. Managed to get a formal apology and gift vouchers for the cheek of it. Why do you think you get followed?

Wow slumber! I’ve never kicked up a fuss about it, it’s embarrassing being followed... just remembered I was in a ‘naice’ department store a few weeks ago with one of my children who wanted to buy a jumper. We chose it and tried 2 on for size. As the assistant was leading us to the changing room another one said to her “don’t leave the changing rooms unnatended” (in a loud quick whisper) and sure enough she was there waiting for us when we came out. It kind of spoilt the event for me. I have no idea why I get followed.... is it because I dither and spend too long deciding? I’m an amazing procrastinator? Do I look like a female version of Fagin? I hope not. It just makes me feel like I must look too poor to be able to afford things!

My (then) 1 year old cousin “shoplifted” possibly the world’s biggest bra from M&S. Thankfully we discovered it not long after leaving and my aunt had to return it, red faced

My ex used to work for coop the policy wasn’t to challenge shoplifters
I suspect they’d rather write off the stolen goods than face paying compensation to an injured employee
I can never understand why shops have unsupervised goods outside
Only a couple of weeks back at b+m a man drove up put bags of compost in his car and drove away
Totally unashamed

I saw a woman nicking LOL dolls from WHSmith in Paddington station. I gave her a wink and a nod as those things are ludicrously overpriced. £10 for some plastic tat that smells like carcinogens? I hope she puts them out of business

@Unclebuck3 -if they didn't have to build a margin for shrinkage into the price then they may well have been cheaper! Shoplifting affects every single one of us.

@teaAddict235 yes this is my experience exactly and now my 14 yo DD is now beginning to be guilty of «browsing whilst black» it is soul destroying and sad to know that it happened to my mum my siblings my DH and now my DD despite us trying to protect her from this. It affects your confidence whilst walking around shops. It subconsciously makes me hold items high up in the air just so you can prove that you are not stealing. Meanwhile the shoppers who look «normal» and well off and «do not look like they would steal» are in the next isle filling up their pushchairs and pockets and getting away Scott free. Very sad and frustrating! @hmmwhatatodo this is why I complained. Although this is a societal problem it affects specific demographics more than others and they need to know how it affects the confidence of their so called valued customers. If this shitty stereotyping continues to be perpetrated in their stores it will affect them as we will take action with our feet and wallets.

Sorry to hear this @Slumberlabd1 . It is wrong and we know that and all those who have experienced it or have had loved one experience it know that it is wrong. I seriously do support the theory that such discrimination is leading to this specific demographic to increasingly shop online. It is one of the highest demographics (the males ) to conduct online (apps, website) purchases and marketing companies are aware of it, but I suspect that they will be reluctant to nail as to why this specific demographic is leading the online sales of clothes and electronics.

Tea, you may have a point there. I turned to online shopping for almost everything come to think of it and found it a much less stressful experience. I put it down to just a time saving thing but it’s actually quite nice not to do as a previous poster pointed out and hold things up to show you are clearly looking st it and not about to swipe it!

Why do you think that? Could they not just be thieving bastards who want something for nothing?

This^

(In the majority of shoplifting cases. Or, shoplifting to sell, which is what most shoplifting is all about IMO.)

I saw a man leg it out of my local M&S with a rail full of children’s clothes. No one batted an eyelid. He ran past 3 women sorting out a display table. I mentioned it to them & they weren’t massively interested & said to find a security guard. I found him & he wasn’t too bothered, he said he’d check the security cameras. I can’t stress how much this man ran out with!!

Shops going out of businesses means jobs going.

And shops closing which is happening more and more. The amount of amazon adverts on tv this Christmas and the fact that some items are more than 50% cheaper online all are signs that retailers need to change if they are to survive. It is scary

I managed to stop a shoplifter completely by accident earlier this year. I was looking for some hundreds and thousands for my ds's cake. I couldn't find them to asked a check out assistant. I followed him back to the isle I had already looked in where he spotted a man trying to steal to huge blocks of cheddar. I waited for him to sort it and carried in looking. As I was leaving other customers congratulated him on how he handled it and he said if it hadn't been for me he wouldn't have spotted it 😀