to tell the store manager that I saw someone shoplifting?

[tulpe]

I was in a well-known Spanish owned high street store today when I saw two women stuffing items of clothing into their young DCs coats.

My first thought was that it was nothing to do with me. However, as I continued browsing the store I felt so bad that not only were these women stealing clothing but they were using their children to do so.

As I paid for the items I selected, I told the sales assistant what I had seen. I said I didn't want to get involved any further. Both she and the store manager expressed their gratitude and went to deal with the situation.

Was IBU to tell them what I had seen? What would you do in the same situation?

I wouldnt have continued wandering round the shop, I would have told the staff/security straight away

YABU for not having told them immediately but I'm glad you did so in the end so YANBU.

You are both right - I should have said something immediately. But it took me no more than 3 minutes to make the decision to tell the sales assistant. It isn't as though I spent another half hour making the decision.

TBH, I was concerned that I would have been dragged into the situation and these were rough, scary looking women that I didn't want to have any kind of confrontation with.

Not the best reason, I know, but sometimes you do need to factor in personal safety to such decisions!

oh yes have done often.
using kids will aggravate too tulpe.

i once was waiting for the RAC man outside halfords in sutton coldfield ( flat battery)

and saw the assistant come out and chat to some mates of his. he pointed to the pressure washers then went back in.

Minutes later with me metres away teh kids RAN In, took a load of them and run off. hotly pursued by the assitant.

so i went in and said that he had told them wgat to take.
they didnt really take it seriously i dont think..

I saw a bloke stuffing a Playstation up his jumper (!?) in Woolworths many years ago. I told an assistant an they just sort of said 'oh'.

Not quite the same, but I was still about it, I was recently queuing in WHSmith when a man chased an abusive, shouting man out the store. First man came back and asked to speak to the manager and said that the man he'd just chased had been taking photos up women's skirts! The manager just said he often comes in and does that and there's nothing they can do.

I have...

Yanbu.

I used to manage a shop and even if we couldn't prevent an incident, being able to record the time and any of the details was helpful for reporting it/insurance.

YADNBU! Good of you to have said something, we used to get customers tell us about shoplifters long after they'd gone, I did wonder why they'd bothered at all.

YANBU I used to do this all the time when I worked in retail! We had a shoplink radio for all the stores on the high street so I recognised many of them outside of my work. I always said I would stop when they stopped threatening me at work. many of them were drug abusers and they were awful,saying they would come back for me at 6 when I finished or saying they'd stab me with a needle!

I tried not to when with the kids, being worried about repercussions. I always gave my name and address over to stand as a witness if needed because I know how difficult it is to get a shoplifter convicted. I have been called about twenty times but never had to actually give evidence in court.

YANBU...but I saw a sad looking woman stealing bottle teats from a chemist last year. She noticed me notice her and looked so panic-stricken I felt sorry for her and said nothing.

I'm not sure if teh store would act on it.The older power they have to apprehend anybody is a citizens arrest which ,if used wrongly , can result in very serious penalties for the arrestor.i'm not sure I woul want to take that risk unless I had seen something with my own eyes.

Completely wrong advice from PP, the majority of stores will act on it. The major chin I temped in used to give cash rewards to customers who did so as it was one of the best ways of reducing shoplifting which used to cost the chain thousands of pounds. You definitely did the right thing!

TBH if they were with young children I would probably not have said anything. But thats just me. Its saddens me how many young women and mothers get imprisoned for shoplifting, seems a bit OTT. but if you cant do the time...dont do the crime.

Hellbent I once had a used syringe jabbed at me by a shoplifter that I had pushed back in through the door. I shut it and stood against it but when she got this thing out of her coat and started jabbing it at me, I moved rapidly. I've also been spat at in the street on my way home by known shoplifters that I've asked to leave previously. All that was during one summer at Next!

I told staff in a shop once and they got the woman and I got 50% off what I was purchasing

You did the right thing. If the store has a cctv system they can show the police and make other stores aware.

I used to work in a hgih street chemists chain and we would ge people nicking things in Superdrug/Savers (things like nicotinell,condoms) and then bring them into our store to try and get a refund

I would definitely have reported them in this instance. I saw our work cleaner steal a box of tissues and didn't say anything, it's not like being a cleaner has many perks.

Rightly or wrongly when I worked at a supermarket I saw a woman who had filled her basket up with cheap foods,she was obviously quite hard up and her children quite shabbily dressed hide some baby milk under her pram......I did nothing.

YANBU - I reported someone just a few weeks ago whom I saw stealing men's jackets in a clothing store.

As others have said, if they're stealing food for children you turn a blind eye!

DH is a kind of retail superhero fighting crime wherever it lurks.

Even if we're not in his own shop he points and yells: 'That man is a known shoplifter!'

People are very grateful. Well, obviously not the thieves.

I did it in Sainsbury's once. I had seen a woman trying on a cream cardigan for ages (I was hopelessly searching for bits of school uniform), then i got some fruit, and then saw the girl walking through Sainsbury's with the cardigan on. I went to the customer services and told them straight away, but they didn't seem very interested. I felt a bit of a pillock but I am 100% sure that she nicked the cardigan.

It's interesting what some of you have said about food. If it had been food they were stealing I wouldn't have said anything. However, my mum was totally hard up when we were kids and she never stole to feed us. But that kind of theft does make me sad so I probably wouldn't report it.

Will never forget someone in our local paper who had been in court for shop lifting, they'd stolen bread, cheese, a packet of pies and some potatoes

I've done this too when I saw someone blatantly shoplifting.

Saltire - we used to get people bringing back clothes that had clearly been worn and washed and wanting refunds. We were told to discreetly sniff items as the smell of washing powder is quite distinctive as opposed to new clothes smell - lovely.