Shops are becoming quite scary

[ithinkilikethislittlelife]

I am starting to become quite nervous in shops, primarily shops that sell food stuffs. Just yesterday I saw two men go through a fire door in my local supermarket that takes them straight into the car park armed with baskets of stolen items. The one basket had steak/meats and the other looked like it was all bottles of vodka. The poor staff trying to wrestle the baskets back and stop the two men from leaving was quite upsetting to witness. This was yesterday. Saturday in my local co op a chap was loitering by the alcohol section while I was shopping. Getting into our car outside I noticed him sprinting past us clutching bottles of alcohol. Me and dh see it all the time now. It’s an epidemic. And it usually seems to be men. And I’m not having it that they are stealing milk for babies or bread for their children. I always see them take alcohol. I don’t know what the answer is but yesterday I was frightened for the staff member who intervened as the one chap raised a bottle of alcohol at her and she then backed off but I totally understood her rage at trying to stop the thieves taking from her place of work. I don’t want my children to witness these thieving people and I don’t want to feel anxious just trying to go about my day and buy food!

Never seen it as a customer but 30 years ago while working in an electrical shop, a guy walked out with a large TV and no one noticed til he was long gone!

What’s your recommendation for the best way to do that?

Like I’ve said I’m easily spooked but I’ve seen lots of thieving over the last few years but it was the sheer aggression of the two men to the female staff yesterday that shook me.

I was in Greggs last month. One girl came in and looked at the sandwich fridge, leaving her friend in the doorway. She shouted out the available sandwich flavours.

Friend in doorway said the fillings she wanted. Girl by the fridge took armfuls of friends requested sandwich flavours and strolled out.

Girl behind the counter shrugged her shoulders. As she then did again 2 minutes later when an older man came in and helped himself to a few drinks and packaged snacks.

It's far more brazen now than I ever remember it being.

I live mid way between two branches of Morrisons and use both. The one in the really run down area has alcohol on open shelves; the one frequented mainly by students at the posh university has it all behind glass doors and you have to ask for them to be unlocked.

Perhaps the answer is to bring back the stocks 😉

I mean that tongue in cheek, but it has to be about deterrent and relatively quick, short, sharp shock punishment.

Rather than shoplifters being caught in a backlog of overly long magistrates hearings, we need a quick, one judge court for minor offences - a bit like the US courts - their version of magistrates are the single judge, quick hearing and ruling where punishments such as fines, removal of licences, limited community hours service.

Get caught shoplifting, in front of a judge the next day, guilty, 3 days of community service picking up litter or scrubbing graffiti in a high vis jacket making it clear that you are an offender.

I worked in a Spar shop 20yrs ago in a city I lived in for uni. They had security guards there in the evening but one of them was the worst offender! Most of them stood around near the door and were ok, but one of them would actually go into the store room and open the driver door for his mate to come in and help himself. I was too scared to report it as he was a bit unhinged and knew where I lived. I’m sure they pretty quickly would have put 2 and 2 together and realised it happened when he was on shift.

I don’t think I saw anything get stolen (even the security guy as he was in a different room to me anyway) but the Co-op up the road got held up at knifepoint. It was at that point I put my notice in. I did hear the Spar got held at gunpoint not that long after I left but don’t know how true that was.

Then I worked for a Tesco in a small town. I never saw anything dodgy happen there or hear about anyone stealing anything. Oddly they made us watch a video on how to look out for thieves and it was pretty much a how to guide on how to get away with stealing lol.

I work in a big food supermarket. Went to court over one shoplifter who had over 50 offenses to his name including an assault on a member of staff. Literally thousands of pounds of stolen goods. He was sentenced to 6 months in prison but was let out after 2 weeks and is back at it again.

The system is completely and utterly broken. Most of the time now we don't even bother phoning the police. They never attend anyway and we'd be phoning them 20 times a day.... Head office won't hire security. It's alright saying it's not our money but we still have to reflll the shelves when they clear out the entire meat section, or re-face the shelves when all the coffees and washing powders are stolen. Makes the job ten times harder and breaks your heart when some old dear wants to buy a steak for her dinner and we've none left because some nob has robbed them all. Morale is at rock bottom.

it is the ruin of the west

or may be will actually the end of the big super markets, end of the big inflated economies and go back to some small non consumeristic way of life who knows

That’s what I noted yesterday, the girl staff was shaken up. She’s shop staff ffs. Not frontline, highly trained police staff. She looked so upset which upset me when all she wanted to do was her bloody job serving customers.

I've seen far worse shit in my life, so this wouldn't faze me at all, but I can see why it mighy be scary for people who've had a more sheltered life.

that’s actually quite patronising. I think when you are going about your every day business you should be able to do so feeling safe and not having to worry about random acts of violence. You have no idea what “worse shit” people have been exposed to but we are all entitled to civility in our daily lives. The worry is that more and more people seem to be forgetting this.

If you feel patronised, that's on you.
Nothing in my post indicated that I think people should conduct themselves in anything other than a civilised manner.
You didn't actually state what your 'AIBU' is.
As you said above "I am easily shook".

It happened to me recently while shopping with my DD. Quite scary stuff. 2 males loading 2 bags for life, the sturdy ones with vodka mainly and whatever suited their tastes.
the cashier started screaming for the manager to come but she stood in front of them trying to wrestle the bag back. Cue bottles rolling and breaking on the floor.
They legged it with whatever they could get but if the wanted they could have taken the broken bottle and cut whoever else was on their path.
Bloody awful.
I was petrified and so my daughter

I worked in a shop and the worst shoplifters are mainly women (was told this in training too) but it's not taken seriously, despite my friend/coworker being terrified by these women holding knives, threatening worse-and nothing ever happened to them. When the younger girls did it, they weren't even taken into custody. Whole families were at it-and they seemed to have a lot of kids and grandkids, so it's logical that it's happening more, as you say OP, though personally I won't let them put me off going.
I've got sympathy for people who are struggling, but if they have been brought up to shoplift, it's not surprising a lot do, and some of them are far from poor.

As I said previously my parents had a shop and we had a few scary incidents. I think the pure scale of the issue and just the lack of care and the amount that is being taken it really should faze people. How much can shops small or large afford this loss. Why should a shop assistant have to stand by and watch this happening each shift, worried that they might get attacked? The shop assistant today looked very 'fazed' by yet another shop lifter that they had to deal with.

I was in a local supermarket a couple of years ago,I'd been down the sweetie aisle and picked up some bits and pieces and gone down the next aisle. I decided to go back and change something to be met by shelves that had previously been full fronted by half empty boxes and two men shuffling around a trolly. I told a shop assistant what if seen and he went to see what was going on
I met him again at the tills and he thanked me as the two men had been involved in "nesting" .... apparently they line a trolly with large bulky cheap items and pile them up on top (that can be returned for a refund later on) and filling the centre with a large number of easily sellable high value ,smaller compact items ..in this case the large bars of cadburys but had known of jars of coffee, tea bags etc . When they got to the checkout the shout out and shuffle about the contents whilst keeping the sellable items covered . The shop assistant said that it's a common occurrence.

Nope. People will always steal no.matter what the price.
Some people get a thrill from.it

This is just horrendous.

I hope all these people get the runs. What lowlifes. I make an exception if they were hungry and had no money, but they probably weren't.

I forgot to mention my experience around 2015, exploring the south bronx and walked into a grocery shop to get a drink...the entire interior was lined with perspex sheeting and at end was a flap to put money through and a drawer for cashier to put your items, of course you paid first...it was bizarre but will be the norm here soon i expect.

My local Co-op, which I've been to for nearly three decades, recently stopped making shopping baskets readily available. They're behind the counter, and you have to ask for one. When I asked why, they said it's because people were walking in, filling up the baskets and walking out without paying.

I bet some of it is to do with the move towards automated tills. Nobody is watching.

Re. your first para - how insanely awful.

The thing is there have been public announcements everywhere that they won't be prosecuted and the police won't come

It's the same as fare dodging - it's not about poverty, it's about not giving a sh*t about anyone else, blokes would shove me, a woman, so they could piggyback through the gate I'd just paid for, really scarey. I always check who's behind me now when i tap in.