Another shoplifter

[Humboldt]

I hate these people. I really do.

Our shipping department is next door. Coming back from there and I notice a super-sleazy guy walking away from my retail store.

Couldn't tell if he was was walking by or had just walked out.

Bee-line for the cameras, see him meandering but not going for anything.

Call my supervisor back to ask if they were aware of him, knew him, why I hadn't been given a cameras heads up.
He'd been helping another female customer, dude was waiting for her.

Security playback was still rolling. Right as the supervisor said, "Him? He's fine. He's with her, they're in here all the time" the guy pocketed an imported German cricket food jar bigger than your fist, talked to our parrot as employees walked by, and walked out the door. Which is when I then saw him.

She was just leaving when I saw him take it. Followed her out to her car. He was leaning against it smoking a joint.
Acted stupid until I mentioned the cameras and police, gave it up without a word.

It's not an age/generational thing, we get shoplifters of all ages and walk of life.

Why do you think people do this?

Not to eat, not to survive (coat/blanket/socks), but just to cheat?

Masks have emboldened so much stealing, I see it up to 10 times each day from my store and especially the Safeway next door.

[Philip]

Makes me think how they were all brought up, wow.

Also amazing how people think they can get away with anything, until they get caught at least.

[Easto]

Makes me think how they were all brought up, wow.

Boy, don't get me started. I see so much behavior out in public whether it being a child acting out or the way the parent responds that just makes my skin crawl. Basically, I think there are way too many people bringing up children that are children themselves. I think since the advent and acceptance of single parent households and children having children that people have lost the ability or skills to tell the difference between right and wrong. People are having children they cannot adequately maintain. Their children are fed by the school system. The parents, being undedicated, do not understand what an education really means and thus never require their children to excel in school. If you've grown up in a dysfunctional environment there's a pretty good chance you didn't gain the right skills to bring up children.

I am really appalled by some of the things I hear parents telling their children while out in public. The derogatory and degrading things they say to their children is astounding. My mother was a kindergarten teacher for almost 30 years. She understood that a child that age should never be talked down to or demeaned. There is always a way to correct a child without turning negative. They're just children.

See, don't get me started.

[Humboldt]

Looked at her rewards, realized she'd been in earlier that same day.

He stole from us then too.

Wasted probably $100 of payroll with me and another manager viewing every time they can in our store still available on the four NVR's and DVR's.

Takes a long time to bracket...they bought/stole/left here, work backwards through 36 cameras to figure out when they came in, then forward again to watch wherever they go and what they might have taken.

If we can find anything more than a few bucks, we'll call her (store rewards card) and ask her to pass on that if he doesn't pay for the stolen items we'll forward the footage to the PD. I can add we already have her name, phone number, address, and car make/model/license.

[Easto]

Wasted probably $100 of payroll with me and another manager viewing every time they can in our store still available on the four NVR's and DVR's.

I know what you mean. My last job as Operations Manager one of my responsibilities was to periodically "live" monitor the warehouse in order to make sure everyone was doing their assigned job. After a little while you start to realize how all that time adds up over the course of a day. Most people don't understand what it takes to run a business these days. When you add up all the time and money spent trying to suppress crime, ensure you're maintaining a safe work environment and that employees are actually working it can take a huge toll on your bottom line.

[Humboldt]

I know what you mean. My last job as Operations Manager one of my responsibilities was to periodically "live" monitor the warehouse in order to make sure everyone was doing their assigned job. After a little while you start to realize how all that time adds up over the course of a day. Most people don't understand what it takes to run a business these days. When you add up all the time and money spent trying to suppress crime, ensure you're maintaining a safe work environment and that employees are actually working it can take a huge toll on your bottom line.

Thank you for that.

I order about $40k every week.
Meticulously. Is an item surging, discontinued and needs to be replaced, find another supplier, is it seasonal, online or in-store, new special orders and standing orders?

And receive it when it arrives. Damaged, expiration date, quantity, cost, UPC or weight or ingredients or packaging change?

The second a piece of sh*t like that comes to my notice it all goes out the window.
31 indoor cameras right now,5 exterior.

I drop huge deadlines to watch the weirdest people, then scramble to place the order without making it as well as I can.
Cameras are normally uneventful but enough hits to make it worth it. We get hit a lot.

[Easto]

Throughout my career I spent about 8 years (27-37) of it self-employed. Being self-employed and owning your own business is a huge eye opener and changes you forever. Most people, including employees, have no idea of what is involved in running a business. Not only do you need to ensure all regulations and codes are being properly addressed... you have payroll, insurance, taxes. Any that's not to mention what Humboldt is involved with on almost a daily basis. I can't tell you how many times I was in the middle of my daily tasks when something like the air conditioner goes bad and I'm the one climbing on the roof, removing the protective cover from the unit and try8ing to describe what I'm seeing to a tech over the phone. Or when a server goes down and I'm standing there next to it trying to follow the techs instructions over the phone trying to troubleshoot the problem. While at the same time trying to keep your business operating as if nothing has happened.

[Humboldt]

Throughout my career I spent about 8 years (27-37) of it self-employed. Being self-employed and owning your own business is a huge eye opener and changes you forever. Most people, including employees, have no idea of what is involved in running a business. Not only do you need to ensure all regulations and codes are being properly addressed... you have payroll, insurance, taxes. Any that's not to mention what Humboldt is involved with on almost a daily basis. I can't tell you how many times I was in the middle of my daily tasks when something like the air conditioner goes bad and I'm the one climbing on the roof, removing the protective cover from the unit and try8ing to describe what I'm seeing to a tech over the phone. Or when a server goes down and I'm standing there next to it trying to follow the techs instructions over the phone trying to troubleshoot the problem. While at the same time trying to keep your business operating as if nothing has happened.

Amen.

All of our networking is in-house.
I can build a computer but I'm not into networking at all, it baffles me.

We have 2 front POS machines with touchscreens, 1 front computer, 1 check-in computer, 3 manager computers, 2 shipping computers (almost all running my different Windows OS) along with 2 WinBook knockoffs, 10 printers, all off 4 or 5 servers in our stockroom.

Almost all of our software beyond the obvious is homemade.

Dozens of programs the owner's written over the years, from our POS and shipping to bookkeeping and inventory and rewards points, ordering...

When something goes wrong I just do the best I can to prioritize, then wade in.