So one night close to about the time the store was going to close, I was sitting in my office browsing the sales floor via camera, with the intention of just wasting away the short period of time till we closed. Then out of nowhere, this girl walks into the store. I started watching her because she was wearing a baggy hoodie, but quite frankly I did not think she would do anything and really did not want to have to deal with this right before we closed, since that could easily end in me having to stay late. So I’m watching this girl and she begins to shop in the perfume and cologne section of our store. Quite often people steal perfume because it is pretty easy to hide and is valuable for its size. She tries a few different types and finally decides on a type. To this point she has done nothing to make me think that she is not a legitimate. She takes the perfume and walks into one of our clothing departments, where she meets some companions that to this point I was unaware of.
This is where stuff starts getting fun. After discussing how much she likes the perfume with her friends, (I make up all the supposed conversation in my head as I am watching, because I unfortunately don’t have hidden microphones. People are really funny when they talk as they are shopping.) but anyway she hands the perfume to one of her friends…enter the perpetrator…and he decides to walk over to our men’s department. When he gets there he decides, either on his own or on earlier instruction, that this girl really wants this perfume. So he decides to steal it, and it seems to him that he will be sneaky and take it out of the box and then conceal just the bottle, this way it’s less conspicuous. However, to get it out of the box and not be seen doing so he decides to back up to a rack of clothes and take it out behind his back. What he does not realize is that the position of my camera gives me a front row seat for this show. And ironically, the clothes rack would have given him more cover, but he turns his shoulders slightly away from me, exposing his hands and wouldn’t you know it, the perfume, which is quickly leaving the box and heading for his hoodie pocket. He then, dreadfully obviously throws the box under the rack.
At this point my heart is in my throat, this was one of the first times I was working alone, and this was the first stop I would do by myself. So I call the manager and let them know it’s going down, put on my coat, and enter the sales floor. I am now undercover, one of them, a creature that is hard for me to impersonate…a shopper. Side note, last time I went shopping before this job was three years prior, so I don’t exactly blend in as a typical shopper. But back to the story, I made my way to the front of the store and pretended to be enthralled in some Christmas cards or something like that. I waited till the group was exiting the store, then I pounced like a cat. He was only a few steps out the door before I was spitting out a rehearsed speech about who I was and that I needed my stuff back. He dumbly looked around and as if I was talking to someone else, but reality hit home pretty quick when I told him I had had him on tape the entire time. So it turns out he is a juvenile and the girl who I assume he was stealing for claims that she is his guardian.
So I take them both back to my office and start to process the piles of paperwork that go along with an apprehension. While working on the forms, the girls receives a text message from one of the other companions asking if he has to “kick down some doors and kick some ass,” I’m thinking great, first stop and some one wants to forcibly enter my office. So I made sure my door was locked and set a camera on my hallway in case I had to go spider monkey on someone. Thankfully, the punk who thought he would try something was really just acting tough, because he never so much as set foot in my store. When I again asked the girl if she was his guardian, she tells me that she is not legally, but that he is her cousin and his mom is a crack head left seven years ago. At this point I’m like, dang, crack head, neglectful mom and now the possibility of a criminal record and a guaranteed entry into a shoplifter database viewed by employers…you got a dealt a great hand kid. I really felt sorry for the kid, assuming it was true, but I have to do my job. So I contacted my boss, and told him the situation to get further instruction, and he instructed me to release him into his cousin’s custody. The incident ends and the paperwork continues, but that is how is with any law enforcement like establishment these days, you need to document everything, or you’ll get sued. When the night ended I must say I was relieved to go home finally, because an apprehension can take a lot out of you, but unfortunately, I was on such an adrenaline high that night that I couldn’t sleep anyways.
This is where stuff starts getting fun. After discussing how much she likes the perfume with her friends, (I make up all the supposed conversation in my head as I am watching, because I unfortunately don’t have hidden microphones. People are really funny when they talk as they are shopping.) but anyway she hands the perfume to one of her friends…enter the perpetrator…and he decides to walk over to our men’s department. When he gets there he decides, either on his own or on earlier instruction, that this girl really wants this perfume. So he decides to steal it, and it seems to him that he will be sneaky and take it out of the box and then conceal just the bottle, this way it’s less conspicuous. However, to get it out of the box and not be seen doing so he decides to back up to a rack of clothes and take it out behind his back. What he does not realize is that the position of my camera gives me a front row seat for this show. And ironically, the clothes rack would have given him more cover, but he turns his shoulders slightly away from me, exposing his hands and wouldn’t you know it, the perfume, which is quickly leaving the box and heading for his hoodie pocket. He then, dreadfully obviously throws the box under the rack.
At this point my heart is in my throat, this was one of the first times I was working alone, and this was the first stop I would do by myself. So I call the manager and let them know it’s going down, put on my coat, and enter the sales floor. I am now undercover, one of them, a creature that is hard for me to impersonate…a shopper. Side note, last time I went shopping before this job was three years prior, so I don’t exactly blend in as a typical shopper. But back to the story, I made my way to the front of the store and pretended to be enthralled in some Christmas cards or something like that. I waited till the group was exiting the store, then I pounced like a cat. He was only a few steps out the door before I was spitting out a rehearsed speech about who I was and that I needed my stuff back. He dumbly looked around and as if I was talking to someone else, but reality hit home pretty quick when I told him I had had him on tape the entire time. So it turns out he is a juvenile and the girl who I assume he was stealing for claims that she is his guardian.
So I take them both back to my office and start to process the piles of paperwork that go along with an apprehension. While working on the forms, the girls receives a text message from one of the other companions asking if he has to “kick down some doors and kick some ass,” I’m thinking great, first stop and some one wants to forcibly enter my office. So I made sure my door was locked and set a camera on my hallway in case I had to go spider monkey on someone. Thankfully, the punk who thought he would try something was really just acting tough, because he never so much as set foot in my store. When I again asked the girl if she was his guardian, she tells me that she is not legally, but that he is her cousin and his mom is a crack head left seven years ago. At this point I’m like, dang, crack head, neglectful mom and now the possibility of a criminal record and a guaranteed entry into a shoplifter database viewed by employers…you got a dealt a great hand kid. I really felt sorry for the kid, assuming it was true, but I have to do my job. So I contacted my boss, and told him the situation to get further instruction, and he instructed me to release him into his cousin’s custody. The incident ends and the paperwork continues, but that is how is with any law enforcement like establishment these days, you need to document everything, or you’ll get sued. When the night ended I must say I was relieved to go home finally, because an apprehension can take a lot out of you, but unfortunately, I was on such an adrenaline high that night that I couldn’t sleep anyways.
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