Saturday afternoon scum tail

[alsenior]

So im at work on a lazy Saturday afternoon going through the motions of closing up the store and some skag head decides to nick some bed sheets.

Now im a poor soul who works in retail(bad)
In a rough Area ( we can see at least one drug house out the canteen windows) (worse)
We have no security ( worse still)

All of the above makes us a common target for shop lifters and there pretty audacious too.

So the above skag head (technical name for our type of shoplifter) decides he needs another fix and decides to nick some bed sheets ( worth about a quid on the market (£5.99 in the store)). as his leaving the store the boss notices him and asks him to stop to which he runs so the boss yells inside a store and four of us go chasing off after him round the corner. a Good Samaritan in car notices that i'm chasing after him and offer a lift to catch up with him ( thank you who ever you are ). so i catch up with him and yell at him to stop to which he turns round and threatens me with a blunt instrument ( pipe or something) and i back off ( I'm paid £5.51 An hour ) he then runs and we walk back to the store.

And im left thinking that he went trough all that trouble for what would amount to a quid.

Any way i just thought i would tell you my Saturday afternoon tale ( most exciting thing i've done all week)

[staffsMike]

Sounds like fun that does.

Get 'im booooys!

[Stringent]

Get 'im booooys! *said with my best cheif wiggum impersonation*

Glad you said who you were impersonating, I would never have guessed ...

[staffsMike]

I changed it just to make sure

[Behemoth]

We get pikeys ion our store all the time, we had some stuff get stolen, and when asked by my manager if I would chase after them if I ever saw it I said no, I wasn't paid enough to risk my life to save a DVD player or whatever it was. The DVD player could be relaced, I can't be.

I agree in retail we have to be vigilent of the people around us, but it is not my responsibilty to go chasing after pikeys who want to steal from us. If they want someone to do that then they have to employ a proper security guard, which they say they have no budget for (yeah right) and made no difference the last time they had one.

[Gr44]

I agree in retail we have to be vigilent of the people around us, but it is not my responsibilty to go chasing after pikeys who want to steal from us. If they want someone to do that then they have to employ a proper security guard, which they say they have no budget for (yeah right) and made no difference the last time they had one.

QFT.

You shouldn't be expected to chase after shop lifters.... I'm sure theres a whole load of reasons why, leagally speaking too. Your manager shouldn't expect it from you, if he does then he shouldn't be in a job, it's his responsibility to inform his managment to allow for CCTV / security guard etc.

I wouldn't do that again, if I were you... isn't worth the hassle. Plus you never know the full reprocusions from 'skagheads' you wouldn't want to get beaten up a week later when he sees you later at night over £6 worth of bed sheets!

Anyway, main thing is you're okay... go slap your manager for being a moron! ( oh, and never get a lift with a stranger! )

[alsenior]

it was my own choice to chase him the manager doesn't expect it. but we know were not supposed to chase them after we leave the store but we take a hard line stance on shoplifters because to be 100% truthful we have had enough of them. if he hadn't have had the weapon i would have gone for him and dragged him back to the store weather i'm allowed to of not.

[neonplanet40]

Legally you could sue your store for making you chase after a criminal. Never and i repeat NEVER do that again as your not covered once you leave that shop. You also have a legal right to refuse to do such an act should your boss ask and there is nothing he/she can do about it without ending up in court.

Let your boss chase the crooks if they are that concerned or else tell them to get security.

[Zak33]

on the other hand, and I'm not condoning what the brave lad did....but if everyone just turned to their bosses and said "not my problem" then you might as well just ignore everything that ever happens to anyone.

You'r in the street, you see a thug trying to take a leather jacket from a woman....it's an old jacket, and is worth about a fiver in your eyes.

What do you do?

Turn and walk? Not your problem, you're not paid for that.

OK....balance regained. I'd not chase a smack head for a sheet, but I'd be gutted if it was my shop and it had been stolen and none of my staff gave a damn.

[TheAnimus]

problem is if that peice of theft was the only one that happened that day, costing £2 say.

How is that going to pay for 20 minuites of a security gards time.

[Prime]

i used to see that quite often in my first job in Morrison's.
local Smack heads used to try and steal from the Wines and spirits section which was right by the door (awesome floor planning) and when a call for "Mrs Black" went on the tannoy it basically ment all able males head to the entrance - the last time i remember there was a smack head with two bottles of JD in his pants and a bottle of Sake in his hands, as me and one of the trolly lads Danny got to the door we intercepted him and took him to the floor (he'd already hit a female member of staff by then) we heard the bottles smash on the force, we took him to the side room and he had no clue that there were about 7 shards of glass sticking out of each leg the size of a packet of fags because he was still mashed, first aider took his pants off and he had no underwear on . . . . . . that was awkward, so i left them too it

[Prime]

at the end of the day zak and neon are right, off the premises you are not covered and are not required to chase down thieves, you just do what you can without putting yourself in danger

[badass]

on the other hand, and I'm not condoning what the brave lad did....but if everyone just turned to their bosses and said "not my problem" then you might as well just ignore everything that ever happens to anyone.

You'r in the street, you see a thug trying to take a leather jacket from a woman....it's an old jacket, and is worth about a fiver in your eyes.

What do you do?

Turn and walk? Not your problem, you're not paid for that.

OK....balance regained. I'd not chase a smack head for a sheet, but I'd be gutted if it was my shop and it had been stolen and none of my staff gave a damn.

There's a difference between doing the good thing for a member of the public and risking your life for some minimum wage paying shop you work for.

[Disturbedguy]

I work in Somerfield (bah part time only), Saturday night we had a shop lifter, we were informed by a customer that this person looked suspicious so me and another lad made our way to find the security guard..eventually found him stood no more then a few meters from the guy, so couldn't walk up and say he's shop lifting otherwise he would of done a runner.

So I signaled the guard to come to me and walked to the front of the store telling him about the guy, Ive now gone to the office to see where he is on the cameras..great our crappy cameras decided to die..again (supposed to be getting brand spanking new ones, about 6 months ago) I hear the sensors going off thinking great..he's doing one..i go out to find our security guard hissing at him to try and stop him..yeah that'll work.

The guy obviously doesn't stop and is by now outside, me, the security guard and a senior manager give chase..the security by now was outside, me and the manager get outside and the security guy has stopped, me and the manager go after the guy get round the corner, go to the main road and he's gone.

We go back, and the security guard only then decides to tell us which way he ran (towards the petrol station in the opposite direction we went, why couldnt the guard tell us this before?).

Anyway, me and the manager could of carried on looking for him but didnt due to him possible having a weapon.

Anyway ive waffled enough, am not paid to chase shoplifters, but sometimes you dont think until after the situation.

[chicken]

There's a difference between doing the good thing for a member of the public and risking your life for some minimum wage paying shop you work for.

A person will feel the effects of a smallish robbery far more than a business, but one of the drawbacks of the "I'm not going to take action because I'm not paid enough" is that it makes life easier for thieves and therefore they're more likely to target your shop, which may put you more at risk in the future.

If they can get £5 bedsheets with no hassle, imagine what they could get next time with a knife? The OP gave chase, putting the thief off a return visit to that store. I'd say he did the right thing, and not catching him was probably the better outcome as it's not the £5 but the principle of scaring the thief that counts. If Bob's bedsheets down the road doesn't give chase he won't bother your store

[Brucelles]

There's a line to be trod. It's right to protect the shop and it's stock, but foolish to risk life and limb. To be fair most UK junkies are too wasted to be much danger, PCP is still not widely used, so chasing a junkie then giving up if he looks dangerous is OK by me. Well done, our kid.

I would be very wary if there were two or more though, as that's traditionally where male competitiveness will raise it's ugly head and you may get mobbed. At that point it is better to sound the alarm and take a quiet toilet break.