Sister has started shoplifting

[Ahhifollowifollowyoudeepseababy]

She says it happened by accident at first, her young dc was in the front of the shopping trolley, her large bag in the actual trolley. Some items forgotten under the bag as she went through the cashier bit, loading the other things and rushing about, trying to pack and stop her dc from messing about/facing a tantrum. She says she realised afterwards that there were items under her bag, she said this happened a couple of times and now she can’t help but casually now put some things under the bag, face creams, meat etc. She’s a professional, degree educated early 40’s woman, they are ok financially but finding things harder. What will happen to her if caught? Why can’t she seem to stop now? She’s never been in trouble for anything in her life, it’s very out of character for her. She claims if caught, she’ll say it’s by accident and she didn’t realise when sorting her dc out.

Just me surmising, but I wonder if the CCTV does work to deter the vast majority of thieves, who would otherwise steal if there were no cameras there - and the brazen ones who ignore the cameras and walk out with stuff anyway (and apparently get away with it) are just the small percentage of a much larger amount of potential thieves?

We just need to look at the queues of people at ATMs that are giving out larger sums of money than requested and/or looting of shops when they aren’t locked up properly to know that a large proportion of people will steal
if they think there aren’t consequences.

I’m fascinated at the personality tests mentioned above by the psychiatrists receptionist.

We have a small café where we work, and just after lock down we had a spate of people taking cans/chocolate bars.
We put up signs saying "smile you're on CCTV" and immediately the numbers being taken reduced right down. We didn't even have to put up CCTV. 🤣

So it does work to a certain extent.

Bloody hell. How desperate do you have to be to steal from a small business. Morally it's completely shitty.

Not that this excuses thieving in supermarkets but they can handle a loss better.

At my work in a large supermarket sometimes we see people take stuff they’ve not paid for on the self checkouts. Security make sure that’s what’s happened on the cctv, save the footage and then watch them the next few times they come in to see if they do it again. So she may well have been clocked already and they are biding their time. They mostly just get banned from the shop, but sometimes police are called.

Yes, very true. People don't even just grab an extra £20, but they 'work' the machine for every penny they possibly can.

There was a case from a couple of years ago that I recall, where Tesco was selling TVs for £300, but a glitch on their website/tills (I forget which) meant that they came up at just £3. Some of the angry entitlement from people who were determined to cash in on the obvious error, including many who claimed they 'genuinely' thought it was the correct price and they had just bought the 50 TV sets that they were planning to buy all along, regardless.

Bought a pack of tights in M&S on Saturday. Get them home - only 2 pairs in there. Somebody must have theived the other three.

Phoned M&S customer service who say I have to take them back to store with proof of purchase to get a refund. No real point to this except to say stealing is still stealing no matter how small the theft and boo to M&S who won’t refund me over the phone. It’s a massive inconvenience for me to go into town (and have to pay parking) in order to take tights back so I shan’t bother. The victim of this little theft is me.

Shops must love online shopping as it stops this kind of petty theft. So it’s yet another reason shops are disappearing from the high street and the jobs that go with them. Pretty soon there will be no shops left.

Phoned M&S customer service who say I have to take them back to store with proof of purchase to get a refund.

How would you even prove that? Anybody could have legitimately bought a full pack and then lied about there being some missing and thus fraudulently sought a refund.

It reminds me of a photo I saw on Twitter where somebody had been asked for photographic proof that they had never received their parcel and, in the same spirit as that of the daft request, they just sent a photo of them holding out their empty hand

You would both be held by security. Imagine how embarrassed you would be. Yes it is a game she is enjoying the risk.

Shop lifting isn't a activity for the poor out of necessity or just being hooligans.
There's a thrill or a sense of I got away with it. It's not worth going down this route as a ban, or prison sentence can turn her professional life upside down.
Probably needs to identify why she keeps doing it. Question morals behind it and have her imagine the outcome. Find another way to get a buzz. Be grateful she's financially secure to not feel the need to steal for the purpose of getting by.

https://metro.co.uk/2023/09/27/middle-class-shoplifters-confessions-19566015/amp/

We're better of dressing rough as the security staff that failed the police program will be overly keen intaking down white wealthy women

It's a crime luv, and she will eventually get caught and probably lose her job in the process!

I would have nothing more to do with her

@Ahhifollowifollowyoudeepseababy how is your sister now? X