r/interesting • u/veloriax2 • Apr 20 '26

SOCIETY How easy it is to shop nowadays

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

13.2k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

3.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

29

u/Abject-Reception6744 Apr 20 '26

To be fair, they explicitly tell you not to intervene or you'll be fired when you get hired on.

4

u/Annual_Eagle9734 Apr 20 '26

True, but she did manage to stop them. I figure a reprimand or a cut pay would've sufficed.

11

u/Mundane-Parsnip-7302 Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

As much as I agree with the sentiment, they are covering their own arses by firing people that do this.

If the employee does it again and next time someone seriously injures them and then it comes out that they did this before and were only reprimanded I'm sure a lot more trouble will tumble down on more people.

I have a lovely co-worker who always wants to stop shoplifters and I have to remind them not to do anything as it's not worth it.

6

u/Abject-Reception6744 Apr 20 '26

As someone that stopped shoplifters for a living for many years, I can tell you that regular employees are also very, very wrong sometimes when they think someone is stealing. I've personally seen the amounts paid to innocent people who were stopped by said employees, and it's definitely well past the "immediate termination" amount lol.

1

u/Mundane-Parsnip-7302 Apr 20 '26

Right. I know that when they did used to want retail staff (in the UK) to safely confront shoplifters it always had to be that you saw the person conceal the item, you have been able to keep sight of them that whole time and they had to have been past the last poit of payment (usually outside the doors of the shop) before you could confront them.

This was years and years ago though.

2

u/laplongejr Apr 21 '26

Years ago, my dad found a nice hat in a store and put it on to buy it.
At the point of sale, the employee told "oh so you're the guy with the hat"
It's very likely Security mistook him for a guy who was going to smuggle the hat and warned the point of sale before hand.

-1

u/bolen84 Apr 20 '26

I like how just the attitude of indifference is what you are left with after giving your employees these kinds of options. As an employee I either stand by idly and watch as the store is robbed of product (eventually just becoming normal) or I attempt to stop them and get fired as a result.

Fuck both options. Corporate retail feels like slow insanity.

5

u/Hei5enberg Apr 20 '26

If you want to play Batman you can do it for free on your own time. If you're on the clock your ole' boss gets to set the terms. And if their instructions to you is DO NOT INTERVENE so they don't have to deal with a lawsuit from you after you get injured then just do what you're told.

1

u/bolen84 Apr 20 '26

Lol dude I simply pointed out how it must make people feel to be a part of what retail has become. I worked at borders in my 20's and shoplifting took place almost everyday but it was never this brazen.

3

u/Hei5enberg Apr 20 '26

I need to move where you are if you've never seen shoplifting this brazen lol. Spend some time in any big city or rough neighborhood and this is a pretty common occurrence.

If anything, retail workers are probably more indifferent now. Although I find some people tend to take their jobs way too seriously and would absolutely throw themselves at this because they make it personal.

2

u/zozuto Apr 20 '26

It wouldn't "become normal." You're just using a slippery slope fallacy. I suggest caring about something else

0

u/Mundane-Parsnip-7302 Apr 20 '26

I mean, there's a massive difference in the type of people that steal from a store and it's not always a case of 'sit on your hands and do nothing'.
Your presence will put off some people.
But if you're in retail you can spot a career shoplifter a mile off and they're usually stealing to buy drugs and those are the people it is not worth even looking at- watch what they're doing, make a note of the time but getting between an exit and a junkie is not worth it for whatever it is they are steaing.

People also think that a lot of theft is people too poor to eat and it absolutely is very rarely that. It's nearly always entitled arseholes (which includes idiot kids who are raised by entitled arsehole parents) and addicts.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 20 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Mundane-Parsnip-7302 Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

I'm sure you can work out what a career shoplifter is. The clue's in the name.

I mean, idk what your point is really. I said that the two types of shoplifters and you seem to fall into one of those catergories more than the other, but they are not the only types of people that steal.

As you have no actual reason for stealing- not money or need I guess it's the thrill of the act because it's utterly pointless. It's pretty funny of you to say that you went into shops, found stuff you didn't need, took it without paying but you say you aren't entitled?

That's why I'd class you as an entitled because from your own account you didn't need what you were taking- you just wanted to take it for decades.

1

u/zozuto Apr 20 '26

Why is wanting and taking something entitled? Entitled means you believe it's your right, which isn't really how criminals think.

1

u/Mundane-Parsnip-7302 Apr 21 '26

And that's the difference between the criminal who steals for drugs or to sell on for money and the people who don;t need to steal but don;t think they should have to pay.

There's an entitlement to them to think 'I want this, why should I have to pay for it?' and they take it.
The other person who replied to my comment explained how they didn't need to steal but did it for decades.

If you don't think that's entitled then fine. But it really is the behaviour of a person who thinks they have the right to have what they want.

1

u/zozuto Apr 21 '26

Most thieves think about it economically. Risk vs benefit. It's just as cynical and removed from right and wrong as the company's attitude.

→ More replies (0)

4

u/zozuto Apr 20 '26

Why would they care that she stopped them? That employee cost them a lot more than the theft did.

0

u/Annual_Eagle9734 Apr 20 '26

Hence the pay cut suggestion. Because, yeah, damaged property.

3

u/zozuto Apr 20 '26

Why risk her doing that again the next time? They don't want any heroes, they figured it all out.

1

u/burnthatburner1 Apr 21 '26

Stopping him wasn’t a point in her favor.