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11-15-2020, 02:07 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Cochrane, Alberta
Posts: 1,758
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Had an interesting experience in Calgary Cabela's the other day...
So I go in to exchange some socks I had bought and wait in the customer service line. As I waited, I noticed a younger late 20s/early 30s couple walk by and then get into the customer service line behind me and a few more people. I noticed them for a few reasons...first, the woman was quite attractive and looked VERY similar to a friend of mine. So much so, that I almost called out my friend's name to say hello (plus since I was wondering why my friend would be in Cabela's with some guy who was obviously not her husband). But then once I realized it was not her, a few more things stood out.
They didn't look like they belonged in a Cabela's. Know what I mean? She is wearing a black leather biker jacket and tight black lulu lemon leggings while the guy is dressed like someone who frequents a Starbucks and drinks mocha-choco-frappe-latte bullshizz. Tight skinny black jeans, black leather jacket, fuzzy full perfectly trimmed beard, toque hanging off the back of his man bun, etc. To say they stood out compared to the regular clientele was an understatement. And they both had their arms full of hunting gear. Shopping for presents? Maybe...
So one of the customer service girls, seeing that the line up was getting long, goes into a loud speech about how this was the customer service line and anyone wanting to purchase should go to the tills around the corner. This odd couple is the only ones to re-locate. So obviously they had never been to this store before. That was another clue.
I finish my sock exchange a few seconds after they pass by me on the way to the tills...and now with my curiosity piqued, I follow them and stand right behind them on the 'social distancing' stickers on the floor. The guy is buying his bunch of hunting gear while she waits with a few things in her arms right behind him. And then I see it. Hanging from underneath the back of her leather jacket is a Redhead brand tag. She has a large fanny pack on under her coat and is not making any attempt to remove it. So I watch to see what she does.
Another male cashier sees me waiting and asks if he can take care of me at his till one lane over. So I go around and quietly point out to him what is going on. He spots it as well and I am not sure exactly how it went down because at that same moment, my wife calls me from somewhere else in the store to meet her (as she went to look at stuff while I did my exchange) so I turned around to find her, met with her, and told her to wait while I watched to see what was about to happen.
Once I turned back around, the cashier dealing with Bonnie and Clyde tells her to pull the fanny pack from behind her back and lay it out on the counter, he opens it and it is packed full of stuff! He starts ringing stuff in and as we walked past, my wife her the cashier say in a mocking tone, "Oh...well that looks like another $85 worth of stuff."
So we go out to the truck and sure enough, the couple walks out to their vehicle like nothing even happened. Cabela's staff apparently didn't do anything at all! I was shocked. I wanted to drive by them as we left and say something in the worst way....but the wife wanted nothing to do with it.
I would have let them finish paying for the visible merch and then as soon as it was clear the transaction was finished, bust her for the fanny pack full of stuff. But there doesn't appear to be cameras at the exit, nor those beeping gates you have to walk through, and obviously not a loss prevention officer either. Apparently it is a free-for-all at Cabela's!
__________________
"You're gonna need a bigger boat!" - Martin Brody, 1975
"There seems to be alot of urinating in breakfast cereal around here." - Rackman, 2010
"It is true, there are dead beat dads out there, and there are thousands of dead beat moms too, who live off the efforts of good men trying to do the right thing." -KegRiver, 2011
"You have social media to thank for turning everyone into self-righteous know-it-alls.." -random internet dude, 2015
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11-15-2020, 02:20 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: 204
Posts: 5,423
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People are the worst.
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"I like to quote my own quotes" ~ Dewey Cox
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11-15-2020, 02:28 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Posts: 260
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Sounds like those two would've fit right in at a "Defund the Police" rally....
Bet you they think of themselves as morally upstanding people too.
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11-15-2020, 03:00 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: McBride/Prince George
Posts: 14,555
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Can’t do anything to a theif until they leave the store.
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11-15-2020, 03:08 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Calgary
Posts: 19,418
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From a societal perspective I’d prefer the clerk let them try to leave with the goods they were obviously about to try & steal so they could be arrested and have it added to their probable existing criminal records, but store staff are likely more interested in the quickest resolution and not having to deal with police and attending court as witnesses. A corporate reaction vs taking it personally and trying to set precedent.
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"The trouble with people idiot-proofing things, is the resulting evolution of the idiot." Me
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11-15-2020, 03:13 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Calgary
Posts: 2,109
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talking moose
Can’t do anything to a theif until they leave the store.
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Not true. All you have to do, as a store, is show the intent.
However, the follow through from the police is dismal at best.
I worked in somewhat of a specialty retailer a number of years back. A guy walked right through the tills and in to the gate to the exit door. He was caught by us, detained until police arrived. This was about an hour to an hour and a half before the store closed. Police leave right at closing, guy is in handcuffs going right out the front door.
Come to find out later, he was never actually charged as it was deemed it wasn’t worth the time for an item that wasn’t $1000.
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11-15-2020, 03:16 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Cochrane, Alberta
Posts: 1,758
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Yeah...it seems there is this whole attitude in the retail world now that it just isn't worth the hassle...but then prices keep going up because the business loses money. Same thing in the insurance fraud world...they cannot be bothered to chase scammers down. It is easier just to raise rates.
__________________
"You're gonna need a bigger boat!" - Martin Brody, 1975
"There seems to be alot of urinating in breakfast cereal around here." - Rackman, 2010
"It is true, there are dead beat dads out there, and there are thousands of dead beat moms too, who live off the efforts of good men trying to do the right thing." -KegRiver, 2011
"You have social media to thank for turning everyone into self-righteous know-it-alls.." -random internet dude, 2015
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11-15-2020, 03:17 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: McBride/Prince George
Posts: 14,555
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Scottmisfits
Not true. All you have to do, as a store, is show the intent.
However, the follow through from the police is dismal at best.
I worked in somewhat of a specialty retailer a number of years back. A guy walked right through the tills and in to the gate to the exit door. He was caught by us, detained until police arrived. This was about an hour to an hour and a half before the store closed. Police leave right at closing, guy is in handcuffs going right out the front door.
Come to find out later, he was never actually charged as it was deemed it wasn’t worth the time for an item that wasn’t $1000.
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Yup you are correct. Just much harder to make a charge stick while still in the store.
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11-15-2020, 03:20 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Calgary
Posts: 2,109
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Yeah, it can be. But once out of the store, I can’t do anything other than maybe follow him and give a license plate to the cops and hope they follow up. Which very rarely happened either.
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11-15-2020, 03:32 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: edmonton
Posts: 3,116
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The problem is you have to follow certain steps in order to legally make the arrest. If you dont have everything properly documented then the chargers get dropped. Any good lawyer would advise their client to then sue the store for false arrest which would only drive prices higher in the long run.
You have to actually see the person take the item off the shelf, you have to see them conceal the item ( assuming they try to), you must watch them continuously without loosing sight of them for a single second ( this is the hardest part) and you must watch them go past the point of payment without paying and ideally make the arrest outside of the store. When I was an LPO we were told to let them go if they used an automated till. Im told now they are to let anyone go who goes through the till because its now on the cashier to verify everything was paid for.
I would estimate for every arrest I made I had to let 20 people go because I lost sight of them for a second while they walked around a corner. At some grocery stores in the better off areas I would average 1 arrest every 12 to 14 hours. In the less desirable areas we could make an arrest every 4 hours if the police response was fast enough.
The amount of "shrink" a store experiences is a large portion of the budget, both from internal and external theft or fraud.
__________________
" Everything in life that I enjoy is either illegal, immoral, fattening or causes cancer!"
"The problem was this little thing called the government and laws."
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11-15-2020, 03:38 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Edmonton SW
Posts: 1,565
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Nowadays, retail policy for staff are not to approach or try to detain but to simply call the manager and to contact police. Take as much information as you can of vehicle plate too (likely stolen/borrowed)
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11-16-2020, 03:25 AM
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: Fort Sask, AB
Posts: 4,917
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The good looking gals most always get caught, too many eyes on them, ha.
As they lined up behind you and you described them well.
Wife catches me even if I stare for a second, ha.
TBark
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11-16-2020, 07:45 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Alberta
Posts: 24,071
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ghostguy6
The problem is you have to follow certain steps in order to legally make the arrest. If you dont have everything properly documented then the chargers get dropped. Any good lawyer would advise their client to then sue the store for false arrest which would only drive prices higher in the long run.
You have to actually see the person take the item off the shelf, you have to see them conceal the item ( assuming they try to), you must watch them continuously without loosing sight of them for a single second ( this is the hardest part) and you must watch them go past the point of payment without paying and ideally make the arrest outside of the store. When I was an LPO we were told to let them go if they used an automated till. Im told now they are to let anyone go who goes through the till because its now on the cashier to verify everything was paid for.
I would estimate for every arrest I made I had to let 20 people go because I lost sight of them for a second while they walked around a corner. At some grocery stores in the better off areas I would average 1 arrest every 12 to 14 hours. In the less desirable areas we could make an arrest every 4 hours if the police response was fast enough.
The amount of "shrink" a store experiences is a large portion of the budget, both from internal and external theft or fraud.
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Any bad lawyer.
__________________
Only dead fish go with the flow. The rest use their brains in life.
Originally Posted by Twisted Canuck
I wasn't thinking far enough ahead for an outcome, I was ranting. By definition, a rant doesn't imply much forethought.....
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11-16-2020, 08:45 AM
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Join Date: May 2012
Location: Alberta
Posts: 2,445
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Perhaps their loss prevention employee was away that day. The majority (all?) large retailers have strict policies for this sort of thing.
I know I wouldn't be detaining or getting between the door and a thief at Cabela's. Remember the gas station worker in Calgary who died over a tank of gas? You'd have to add about two zeroes to $15/hr for me to bother with $85 worth of merchandise, or any amount for that matter.
Different story if I'm the owner of a small mom and pop outfit.
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11-16-2020, 09:58 AM
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: edmonton
Posts: 3,842
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Most store have a no chase policy for legal and safety reason .
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11-16-2020, 11:05 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Alberta
Posts: 24,071
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ghostguy6
I would estimate for every arrest I made I had to let 20 people go because I lost sight of them for a second while they walked around a corner. At some grocery stores in the better off areas I would average 1 arrest every 12 to 14 hours. In the less desirable areas we could make an arrest every 4 hours if the police response was fast enough.
The amount of "shrink" a store experiences is a large portion of the budget, both from internal and external theft or fraud.
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Aww.... I had some vision of you being in special forces, or ex RCMP Tactical, or ex-military or a civilian contractor in the sandbox cleaning up insurgents, not patrolling walmart!
I always wondered what it was you do.
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Only dead fish go with the flow. The rest use their brains in life.
Originally Posted by Twisted Canuck
I wasn't thinking far enough ahead for an outcome, I was ranting. By definition, a rant doesn't imply much forethought.....
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11-16-2020, 11:21 AM
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Moderator
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: A bit North o' Center...
Posts: 11,149
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Jack&7, good on you for bringing it to the attention of the store staff. You did your part.
Thieves... Grrrr.
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11-16-2020, 05:11 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 397
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stinky Buffalo
Jack&7, good on you for bringing it to the attention of the store staff. You did your part.
Thieves... Grrrr.
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Yes a big thumbs up to you in this day and age of everyone "turning the other cheek" and not wanting to be bothered it is nice to see some still have values and give a damn.
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11-17-2020, 08:26 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: calgary
Posts: 1,532
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack&7
Yeah...it seems there is this whole attitude in the retail world now that it just isn't worth the hassle...but then prices keep going up because the business loses money. Same thing in the insurance fraud world...they cannot be bothered to chase scammers down. It is easier just to raise rates.
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Unfortunately, even if the store goes to the trouble of seeing them arrested and charged, the judicial system gives them a slap on the wrist and sends them on their merry way. Time, after time, after time. Even for murder! Shoplifting is just mickey mouse! And don't even think about it if the thief happens to be a visible minority! You will probably be charged as a racist and forced to make a public apology at the very least.
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11-17-2020, 09:00 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Calgary, AB
Posts: 2,138
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I have a friend employed by Cabs and another at Bass Pro.
Both told me that neither will prosecute.
Worst case of shoplifting at Cabs was a guy put a 9.9 Merc in a cart and walked out.
The RCMP were called and in a short time later, this guy was arrested at the McDonald's just across the street (Balzac location).
BTW: good work Jack&7....
__________________
Life is like baseball; it is the number of times you reach home safely, that counts.
We have two lives: The life we learn with and the life we live with after that.
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11-17-2020, 09:16 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Southern Alberta
Posts: 121
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fishtank
Most store have a no chase policy for legal and safety reason .
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I remember during Wholesale Sports closing sale I watched some stocky girl grab I think a lead sled, easily shoulder her way past staff and walk right out the door. She just kept walking while they called after her even while in store. I wanted to go tackle her but these days I'd be the criminal so just let it go. Still bugs me though...like why do any of us pay for anything if all we gotta do is ignore "sir! sir! sir, stop!"
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11-17-2020, 09:29 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 882
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Its like stores dealing with folks with not wearing masks. Unfortunately its not worth it as a sales associate to stick your neck out too far. The best they can do is call the cops. Chances are they have a no confrontation policy anyway.
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I seem to really be rather long winded.
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11-17-2020, 12:57 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 5,599
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I work retail. We were specifically told NOT to engage the shoplifters no matter what they do. My colleague had a low life walking into the store, coming all the way from the front door to the counter at the back, grabbing 4 large packages of product and walking out the door after been called a few times. He had absolutely zero fear of been caught or stopped.... We didn’t even bother calling the cops even thou we have cameras everywhere...
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11-17-2020, 01:11 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Grande Prairie
Posts: 751
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I'm beginning to think working for a living in Canada is for chumps...
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11-17-2020, 01:25 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Calgary
Posts: 19,418
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No chase and no apprehension policies, yet another thing to thank lawyers and insurance companies for .....
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"The trouble with people idiot-proofing things, is the resulting evolution of the idiot." Me
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11-17-2020, 05:29 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 11,858
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I figure the credit card they used to pay for the goods was likely stolen too ….
About a hundred years ago, my best friend in high school told me the best scam ever ….. 2 normal looking guys come into the store (he worked at Canadian Tire) with a purchase order looking paper (and some receipt stapled to it) and go up to customer service ask the manager if they can get some assistance picking up this "large order for the boys and girls club". So my friend and another co-worker get "assigned" this order to help pull the stuff - a canoe, sleeping bags, stove, paddle, life jackets, tent, coolers, lantern all sorts of canoe and camping gear …. even the department manager jumps in and helps them pack it all up and take it around back to load onto the guys truck - which they do.
About 30 minutes later the customer service manager is asking who rang the order in ….. guess what ……… nobody, they were talking and deflecting the whole time from the moment they came in at the front and hit up "the junior associate" and all the way to when they loaded out and had the "managers" chirping it up with them.
Was a ballzy beauty. they were in the store for like 40 minutes ….. lol
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11-17-2020, 07:37 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Calgary Perchdance
Posts: 18,855
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EZM
I figure the credit card they used to pay for the goods was likely stolen too ….
About a hundred years ago, my best friend in high school told me the best scam ever ….. 2 normal looking guys come into the store (he worked at Canadian Tire) with a purchase order looking paper (and some receipt stapled to it) and go up to customer service ask the manager if they can get some assistance picking up this "large order for the boys and girls club". So my friend and another co-worker get "assigned" this order to help pull the stuff - a canoe, sleeping bags, stove, paddle, life jackets, tent, coolers, lantern all sorts of canoe and camping gear …. even the department manager jumps in and helps them pack it all up and take it around back to load onto the guys truck - which they do.
About 30 minutes later the customer service manager is asking who rang the order in ….. guess what ……… nobody, they were talking and deflecting the whole time from the moment they came in at the front and hit up "the junior associate" and all the way to when they loaded out and had the "managers" chirping it up with them.
Was a ballzy beauty. they were in the store for like 40 minutes ….. lol
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I remember shopping for a spinning rod at Woodward’s with my dad and watched some sales people help a couple dudes carry a Coleman canoe out the door.
Then was there 15 min later when security showed up once someone noticed they hadn’t paid for it.
__________________
It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself. Charles Darwin
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11-17-2020, 07:44 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Calgary
Posts: 19,418
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sundancefisher
I remember shopping for a spinning rod at Woodward’s with my dad and watched some sales people help a couple dudes carry a Coleman canoe out the door.
Then was there 15 min later when security showed up once someone noticed they hadn’t paid for it.
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I've heard the canoe story more than once, it seems a popular tale, maybe its a popular thing to do. Perhaps an initiation rite to get into some fraternity or such.... I'd even say urban legend, but you're claiming to have witnessed it personally, usually its the "My friend told me..."
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"The trouble with people idiot-proofing things, is the resulting evolution of the idiot." Me
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11-17-2020, 07:48 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: YEG
Posts: 9,981
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KGB
I work retail. We were specifically told NOT to engage the shoplifters no matter what they do. My colleague had a low life walking into the store, coming all the way from the front door to the counter at the back, grabbing 4 large packages of product and walking out the door after been called a few times. He had absolutely zero fear of been caught or stopped.... We didn’t even bother calling the cops even thou we have cameras everywhere...
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Liquor Barn Oliver Square Edmonton, the perps walk in and grab their choice of booze and walk straight out uncontested as per company policy. All Spring/Summer of 2020. They now have a security guard as a "greeter" but not sure if he has any teeth to deal with the "skids".
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11-17-2020, 08:47 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: edmonton
Posts: 3,116
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I used to work for a company that would test other security companies. We had a contract to test a well known store. We decided to strike on Boxing Day and took the store for over $100,000 in merchandise. Big ticket items like TV's, bikes, furniture and appliances. All sanctioned of course and all merchandise was returned. The store's security guard even helped load one of the tv's into a young woman's car. The only reason we stopped was because we ran out of storage room in the sea can we were using to store the items. Of the entire crew only once was anyone questioned, all they did was check the receipt but still let the person go. It was the 4th time we used that receipt we found in the parking lot to pick up a large screen tv. The manager took all the staff to the sea can at the end of the night. All of their loss prevention officers were fired that night. Because the items were being so closely monitored for our test the store reported an additional $20,000 of items missing that were taken by your every day thieves that day. Only one shoplifter was caught with a video game worth maybe $65.
An organized retail crime group can take a store for practically any item they wish. Sometimes they will send in a decoy, someone who makes it obvious they have stolen something to distract the staff while the rest of the group takes the high value items.
__________________
" Everything in life that I enjoy is either illegal, immoral, fattening or causes cancer!"
"The problem was this little thing called the government and laws."
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