People openly stealing in Greggs

[Xraytime]

Whilst I was in the queue for a coffee, 4 different people came in and took several sandwiches, doughnuts and drinks.

They were not together.

I feel like Greg’s need to put every behind the counter, I can’t see how it’s sustainable long term.

I see this at different Greggs aswell but there will normally be just one person. Today was shocking.

There ARE plenty of police, they just prefer desk work and ticking boxes.

Not that long ago, a small group of chavs were fighting on the street. There was literally, a dozen police cars/vans arrived within a few minutes. Way over the top for 3/4 lads having a fight.

Yet try reporting shoplifting, a burglary, a street robbery, and all you get is "we're busy".

It just doesn't add up.

We are a high earners family. But you tell me how much are you willing to pay for others. There is never enough. Tax, tax ,tax for everything and there are still issues about us not paying enough. Still homeless, poor immigrants, knife crime, can’t rely on NHS, not good state schools in my area, crime and we are still expected to pay more. Net contribution falls in a small percentage to which my family is in. Really enough with that. You are on a mission for the wealthy and wonder what you fall in all of this. People need to pay taxes but see the difference and not what we have in the UK

It's not just COL and people being hungry. There are people who can afford to buy their food but steal it anyway because they're lawless chavs. There are people who steal food to order. We need to stop excusing and ignoring this kind of "low level" crime and start being tough.

You are a thief and should be ashamed of yourself. Greggs is actually quite a nice company doing their bit to help the less fortunate. Don't take the piss by stealing. If you're that hard up go to a food bank

I know someone who works in a supermarket. People fill a whole trolley full and leave with it! It’s definitely getting worse and people are becoming more brazen.

@TheGoogleMum I hope you're joking! You realise you aren't the only person who's hard up? What you doing is driving up the costs for the rest of us. You're not "sticking it to the man" by shoplifting, you're actually making life harder for the working man (or woman).

@BeUniqueSheep
This is what happens people just abuse and hide their ugly behaviour by saying the companies are rich and the rich do not pay taxes. It is disgraceful and the U.K. wasn’t like this before. Also, decent people contribute to taxes more than ever.

You've got the wrong person, it was BeUniqueSheep whk was shoplifting

Exactly. I’m sick of this idea that everyone on a low income who misbehaves is a victim. Some people do hoard obscene amounts of wealth, but the people who steal from Greggs aren’t hurting them. It’s the poor woman on the checkout who has to intervene. It undermines the silly delusion of leftists and anarchists that humans are basically good and that if it wasn’t for ‘da system’ we could all live in some kind of utopia. Humans are basically bad, and civilisation has always hung by a thread.

Slightly different I know, but we have massive problems with boy racers. They do something to their cars that makes the engines screech and the exhausts bang and explode. A few years ago we only had one or two of these selfish little arseholes flying round. Once they realised the police weren’t going to do anything, however, it seemed like half the town joined in. Now I am constantly woken up at night, and at the weekends I sit and read with noise cancelling earphones on. The selfish little bast**ds don’t care if it upsets other people. They don’t care if they wake up some poor guy who has done a days hard work. They don’t care if they wake up the child of an exhausted mother. On the contrary, they think it’s funny. And the people who’ve started stealing openly from shops don’t care if society collapses. Very few people think or care about the common good.

My friend actually got a disciplinary for trying to stop someone stealing in boots. Technically she had broken their rules of don't challenge, but she couldn't help herself but intervene.

I agree with this.

Although homelessness has become so much worse in the last few years due to varying factors. I've lived in one of the most expensive parts of the country for 20 years with a very nice high street etc and there have recently been a few beggars and one homeless man who lives in an empty shop doorway. I feel very sorry for him obviously but he exhibits some pretty antisocial behaviour (shouting at people and being a bit aggressive if you don't give him money) and I'm so shocked at the fact he hasn't been moved on. He's been there about 4 months now.

There is nowhere for these people to go so they are just left to it it seems. It's shocking how quickly society seems to be deteriorating.

@murasaki your poor friend.
That's the thing though - there's a financial cost to this, but there's also a psychological cost on the individuals who witness it. It's grim and ugly. It just makes everything feel unfair and hopeless.

Ah, sorry , my apologies @TheGoogleMum.

@BeUniqueSheep stop driving up the costs for everyone else by shoplifting ..you're not the only one struggling, most of us are! Get a life FFS.

I suspect @BeUniqueSheep is full of shit.

I suspect he/she is trying to get a rise from MNers with tales of regular shoplifting.

And, of course, PPs have fallen right for it.

I agree about inequality although obviously I don't agree with people shoplifting. Anyone interested in inequality should go search for Gary Stevenson, his argument is compelling. He talks about taxing the extremely wealthy and before people come on saying I pay enough tax, he isn't talking about you, he is talking about the super-rich, ie, billionaires.

Not read every post but I don't understand a number of things about this. I know it's happening, but what's changed? What is the point of having a security guard if they can't do anything? And why do the police not bother with shoplifting when they do bother with misgendering and SM posts - which means they actually do have the staff? Haven't shop staff always been at risk from criminals or has that got worse - or is it just that staff are more likely to sue now?

I too can't see how it can go on. Shops can't function if you're essentially allowed to just walk out with stuff and not pay. It will have to be behind a counter or some kind of system where your card details and a deposit are taken before you go in, then whatever you take out gets paid for - and if you don't have a card and funds then it won't let you in.

Sirloin? Should’ve gone for the fillet

I saw some people shoplifting in a supermarket. I spoke to security about it and they told me that they have been told not to intervene as it is not worth the threat of violence or damage to the store!

I think what has changed is the cost of things. Last time I went into Greggs to buy a sausage roll, I was shocked at the cost. Didn't it used to be less than a pound? Even cheap places aren't cheap anymore.

Was in my local home bargains and two teenage girls tried to walk out with a basket full of cosmetics each, One got out, the other didn't, Sales assistant grabbed the basket, the girl then turned around and punched the lady in the face and ran off. in my area its the place where people go to steal, You see them with backpacks on, they fill the basket then run out and then stand outside transfering from basket to backpack then they run off to sell it all in the pubs.

I have had people coming up to me asking if i like ham/cheese/steak etc and if I ask why they want to know they say they have had their mates 'on the rob' and are selling them cheap, I spoke to someone that works in home bargains about it all and she told me the most popular thing that people steal to sell on in that store is washing tablets!

We also have people hanging around all the chemists trying to take your perscription off you when you are walking out the door.

Was once walking down a random street trying to find the post office and overheard a man talking to another man, they were making a deal.. 'Go to this certain shop, take everything on this list, bring it all back to me and I will give you weed'

I have one small co op very close to my house, heard the alarms going off at 2am a few weeks ago, next day found out it had been robbed overnight with all the shutters caved in.

Trigger warning I was once walking home not long after moving to this area, A little boy of about 9 or 10 was walking in front of me walking beside his bike, All of a sudden a grown man ran up to him, stabbed him in the face and stole his bike off him, i had only been in the area for less than a week at that time, I called an ambulence and stayed with the boy, He survived thankfully.

A week later I almost got robbed by two men that were following me down the street, i had my airpods in but could hear them saying you grab her and i will get her bag...' I ran to a random house and pretended i knew them and they let me in until the men left.

I very rarely go out now.

Strangely i just watched an episode of dispatches called 'britains shoplifting gangs exposed' on youtube before i saw this thread!

After my daughter started working in Greggs I will never buy another Greggs again. The horror stories she told me made me sick.

My partner saw a man trying to run with a Waitrose bag full of alcohol (8 bottles). The security guard got the booze back they left it on the floor and ran.

I have heard this too. So they can brazenly walk out with all their loot, and staff are helpless, as touching them is assault. They know this.

Yes, rudeness is endemic nowadays.