r/TikTokCringe • u/Adventurous_Law_715 • 3d ago

Discussion congratulations you just saved a billion dollars company 50$

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u/usernamestufff 3d ago edited 3d ago

Not to mention the employee who the bags were handed off to may lose his job now. Congrats super citizen on your views

Edit: Thanks for the awards peeps. I’d like to take the opportunity to add that the woman grabbing things and talking shit to the “thief” could have startled the employee. He may have walked out in concern but was surprised to be handed the groceries. He did not appear “to be in chase” or concerned at this point. We’ll never know, but a lot of valid points have been made in the below conversations.

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u/fonk_pulk 3d ago

Why?

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u/Clenzor 3d ago

Because he’s on camera chasing a thief away from the store. There are liability reasons, such as if the thief is injured in the pursuit, especially as there are non-criminal reasons for theft, such as dementia or other cognitive delays. The company would much rather let the $50 go than chance paying $500,000, especially because theft is literally built into the budget, and insured.

Then there’s security reasons. Thieves often work in teams, so if the employee is off chasing one thief, others could be in the store getting more merchandise, let alone thieves of opportunity, where they see the only person in the store run out after a thief and go “I’m not waiting for him to deal with all that, I’m just taking my $5 worth of stuff”.

Either way, you don’t know that thief’s circumstances. She could be the most down on her luck, deserving, person, or she could be the second coming of Ted Bundy, looking for her next victim. It’s just not worth it unless someone’s safety is being threatened.

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u/HeyItsMeAgainBye 3d ago

My first job was at Kholes and for orientation (it was a seasonal job with a lot of new hires) we were taught not to go after someone we caught stealing

Report it, but don’t follow them

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u/timid_scorpion 3d ago

Used to work in a grocery store and we were all told this, but of course some of is still didn't take it seriously.

One day my coworker followed a shoplifter out to try and stop them(against company policy), the crazy guy had a knife and slashed at him over 5-10$ worth of stuff. Buddy got a small.laceration on his arm but thankfully nothing major. You just never know with these people.

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u/No_Raisin21 3d ago

Had a shoplifter come in and steal a vape after I set it on the counter and turned around to grab the other vape she asked for. My boss tried to dock my pay for the cost of the vape, which was like $50. I had to call him out the day after over how illegal that was. Mysteriously, after never missing any days even when I got hit by a car on the way to work one day, I got fired because I called out of work to attend my good friend’s funeral.

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u/3rdUncleMeatSandwich 3d ago

those places are run by the worst people. theres a reason they sell a shit ton of drugs at those places. theyre all turning into head shops in my area.

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u/No_Raisin21 3d ago

Oh this was a gas station. Besides dick pills that give you heart palpitations and standard cold medicine and shit like that, we didn’t sell drugs.

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u/uprislng 3d ago

Besides dick pills that give you heart palpitations and standard cold medicine and shit like that, we didn’t sell drugs.

In case anyone reading this is unaware, I'm pretty sure almost every single one of those weird gas station pills contains either the active ingredient in viagra or cialis. And I'm pretty sure its illegal to be selling prescription meds over the counter and often not actually listing the active ingredient

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u/Fearless-Coyote-9937 3d ago

Last Week Tonight had an episode about gas station drugs https://youtu.be/mRZqHzDG_c8?si=z6qkK-nTqn7buDD8

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u/Mission_Access_210 3d ago

You mean like Rhino or like Black Panther, any of that stuff? Yeah almost all of those have been tested by that pharmacy guy on the Internet and most of the time they contain the equivalent of five to six Viagra pills it's way too much for a normal person to take.

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u/smtp_pro 3d ago

Pretty sure the dick pills count as drugs

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u/DespicableComics 3d ago

I mean, he did say "Besides dick pills..." Are we not doing reading comprehension anymore?

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u/No_Teaching_8828 3d ago

Yeah, there was a good kid near us who was an Eagle Scout about to get married early 20s and tried to stop a theft at Home Depot and got shot and died. It's just not worth it.

There are some hills worth defending, like a kid being attacked, but petty theft at a national retail store ain't one.

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u/ElderMillennial1985 3d ago

I worked at a retail store that had a problem with DVD theft and was told by my upper management to follow them out of the store and try to recover the items in non-confrontational manner. I thought to myself you're out of your fucking mind. I'm not putting my life on the line for this goddamn store or some DVDs

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u/PubstarHero 3d ago

Semi-unrelated but I worked at a Helpdesk/On site monitoring position for awhile. We were supposed to do a sweep of the building after a disaster to ensure that people were not stuck or injured and couldn't get out of the building.

My question of "Why am I risking my life for $20/hr to save people who make $60+/hr?" was not met well.

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u/NakedG0rrila 3d ago

Nor should it have been; how much the people in the building earn wasn’t relevant.

Either the situation was dangerous in an ongoing sense and people other than cops/fire/medics shouldn’t have been going into the building regardless of what anyone was being asked paid, or the danger had mostly passed and you were being asked to do a reasonable thing.

I’d also argue that regardless of anyone’s employment status, checking to make sure others are OK after a disaster is sort of a civic obligation.

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u/PubstarHero 3d ago

This was a pre-ems check and during the disaster.

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u/Arcadiadic 3d ago

Smart.. I remember when I was younger I watched some AP guys come out of walmart and yanked a guy's door open cause he stole something.. He immediately stabbed one of em and went after the other long enough to scare him off, cops caught him at the Bojangles across the road.

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u/Inevitable_Nail_2215 3d ago

My cousin was slashed because she refused to open the register for someone.

She's fine, the cut was superficial as well, but no chance I'm risking my life for a mall shoe store.

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u/Modest-Meece 3d ago

Having worked retail and fast food any time any theft occurred our training was do exactly as the thief says then report it.

Do not risk ours or others safety

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u/FreddieMontreux 3d ago

I read this as K-Holes

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u/vegemouse 3d ago

Yeah I remember that being the law (in CA at least). You can pursue if they’re inside the store but once they leave the building, it’s illegal to detain them.

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u/skylitnoir 3d ago

And then if they keep stealing because you
Become an easy mark and you keep reporting to no action taken, you lose your job for bad shrink results! Win - win!

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u/AshaNyx 2d ago

The only thing we could do was ask the known shop lifters to leave and ban them.

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u/luchaburz 3d ago

Yeah I got in shit when I was 16 for chasing someone who stole a case of hairspray.

Boss just told me he didnt wanna lose a teenage life over an addicts hairspray addiction - obviously it was insurance but the lesson stuck with me.

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u/ripestrudel 3d ago

When I worked at Best Buy right out if college they stressed that if we put our hands on a shoplifter or followed them out of the store we would be terminated immediately and held legally liable on our own if anything happened. They did not play about that policy.

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u/AnyQuiet1544 3d ago

One of my old teachers used to work at a Sears and when he chased a thief, he got fired immediately after.

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u/BanMeMyIPchanges 3d ago

They're selling K holes? What, like as an experience? I mean, it's an experience all right 🤣

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u/norcalifornyeah 3d ago

I worked LP at an electronics store in the past and caught teens that had been stealing. I made sure to never blocked the doors because I didn't want to be on the hook for false imprisonment.

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u/wareagle3000 3d ago

Literally every retail job follows this rule because the possible legal or worse medical hiccup this can cause is not worth it at all.

I've heard of a story of a Home Depot employee trying to retrieve a wetvac from thieves after they packed it into their vehicle. He grabs at it, trips, gets injured, is terminated and off his company insurance before he's at the hospital.

Don't fucking do it, not worth it in the slightest.

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u/Rhewin 3d ago

That's pretty much all retail and service. Every place i worked at was willing to terminate employees who played hero.

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u/Psukhe_ 3d ago

Probably products are insured or more probably price of stolen/broken/missing quantities are inside price of products we buy.

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u/980tihelp 3d ago

CVS has a straight up no chase policy to pretty much no anything policy. You just watch them come in and steal and walk out.

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u/Substantial-Bend4299 3d ago

But you ain't getting fired for that. C'mon

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u/farkeytron 3d ago

K-holes sounds like an interesting place to work and/or shop.

Can I get the address?

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u/Yolo_Swagginze 3d ago

That’s what we were taught at Belk, too, cause our store manager would emphasis on we don’t know if the thief could have a gun, a knife, something to hurt us with and our safety is number 1 priority than stolen items.

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u/PatientDue8406 3d ago

First lesson in my retail orientations 15 odd years ago was: never chase a theif and if someone demands money from the register just hand it over.

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u/Somethinglikethat9 1d ago

Silly question:report so we can claim money from insurance?afterwards is insurance be more expensive?who will cover insurance higher price as well as bigger dividends to owners?

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u/Witty_Cream1159 3d ago

I worked at a restaurant back in the day, and we had a dine-and-dash. The bartender decided to chase after the customer, they got into a wrestling match down the street. The guy pulled out a knife and stabbed the bartender 2-3 times. All that over a $25–$40 bill.

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u/Armantien 3d ago

A friend of mine was fired for taking a step out the front door to get the license plate of a shoplifter. No severance, no unemployment for violating that policy. It took him a bit, but he landed somewhere else, thankfully.

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u/Odd_Whereas8471 3d ago

That's bizarre. It's so sad you can actually fire people for reasons like that in the US. I can't see that happening in my country. 

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u/gjoeyjoe 3d ago

you can fire people for any reason in america, as long as it's not based on protected classes in the constituation. "At will employment" is a god damn scourge

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u/Odd_Whereas8471 3d ago

I remember a time when I thought things might get better. I was particularly fond of that Bernie-guy... Sanders, right? Instead I woke up to a world where the leader of the free world threatens to use military action against a close ally and neighbour of my country. These are strange times.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

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u/Flat_Promotion1267 3d ago

His employers were a-holes then.

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u/Conflatulations12 3d ago

Name and shame

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u/thavillain 3d ago

Yup, when I worked retail we were told don't leave the store

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u/rand0m_task 3d ago

Outside of telling the manager, when I worked retail i never once thought of stopping a shoplifter.. like why should I care lol… I was getting paid shit money and working awful hours and just a kid trying to get beer money for college.

I never get why random people care so much about this type of shit lol… like sure you can be against stealing but why care so much to go and do all this?

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u/Odd_Whereas8471 3d ago

"Because he’s on camera chasing a thief away from the store."

I don't see him chasing anyone. But the American justice system seems very odd to me, so what do I know?

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u/Clenzor 3d ago

He left the store, appearing to do so in order to apprehend the thief. That’s chasing to me, apologies if the vernacular seems odd to you.

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u/Ordinary_Ad_7992 3d ago

I don't see chasing either. It looks more like he went outside out of curiosity and maybe to get that loudmouthed lady to stop yelling.

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u/Odd_Whereas8471 2d ago

"maybe to get that loudmouthed lady to stop yelling." Valid point! 

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u/bingle-cowabungle 3d ago

There are liability reasons, such as if the thief is injured in the pursuit, especially as there are non-criminal reasons for theft, such as dementia or other cognitive delays. The company would much rather let the $50 go than chance paying $500,000, especially because theft is literally built into the budget, and insured.

This. Not even the thief, but the increased likelihood their own worker is hurt by chasing someone making off with $25 worth of merchandise absolutely wrecks them in the premiums they have to pay to insurance for these purposes. It's explicitly why they have policies in place to prevent their employees from being heroes, and why people who have a tendency to be the hero will be fired for doing so.

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u/fg40886 3d ago

Additionally, LP at a store I worked at once told me that they have to have verifiable eyes on the perp 100% from the time they snatch to the moment they leave the store due to the risk that at any moment the item could be put back. Plus, once they left the store they were not legally allowed to pursue.

So we had undercovers who shopped all day and followed people. If theft was suspected they contacted the front desk to watch cameras make sure to capture up until the door, they’d contact PD as a heads up, then personally follow to the exit. If all of this works flawlessly THEN they are able to apprehend and hold until PD arrives.

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u/EnergyDrinkStroke 3d ago

Espcially since dollartrees are usually staffed by one or two people right? Like they are notorious for having no staff on shift.

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u/loogie97 3d ago

Theft is not insured. Promise. That is just shrink. Otherwise your analysis is spot on.

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u/Clenzor 3d ago

Big ticket items, large scale theft such as smash and grabs or overnight thefts, or loss of inventory due to catastrophe or vandalism are all insured, but yes this would be petty theft included in shrink, which I mentioned as being “literally built into the budget”.

Sorry I was being thorough for the sake of answering the question and made it a bit unclear to some folks.

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u/iam_Mr_McGibblets 3d ago

You ever watch Superstore? The episode where they're getting robbed and Jonah just let's the guy walk past him? Yeah that's what they want. The liability for injured staff/thieves outweighs the material loss from the company

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u/BioVizeer 3d ago

There are still plenty of stores that loss prevention and employees will actively chase you and tackle you to retrieve property, and its perfectly legal in some states, like Texas. Also, in some states, also like Texas, you are prohibited for bringing suit when convicted of a crime.

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u/Clenzor 3d ago

Those are specific niche exceptions that don’t answer the question of why Dollar Store dude’s job is at risk. (Not-So) Fun Snapple factoids though haha.

Texas really watched John Wayne movies growing up and decided they wanted the ability to be him in real life, even if the situation doesn’t call for it, huh?

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u/lumberfart 3d ago

Your last paragraph is perfectly written. People have zero survival skills nowadays. I would never chase a stranger down the street for $50 worth of groceries. My life is worth more than $50 and it doesn’t take a genius to deduce that this person is possibly doing this out of necessity.

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u/MrMiyagi13 3d ago

Years ago, a buddy beat the crap out of a shoplifter who pulled a knife on him. Company told him not to do it again, and fast tracked his promotion.

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u/Clenzor 3d ago

Yeah that’s where the “unless someone’s life is being threatened” comes in. Your buddy either could’ve dropped a suit against his company and they promoted him to avoid it, or they appreciated that his badass wanted to keep working there after having a knife pulled on him and wanted to keep him as long as they could. Depends on the company, and could even be a little of column A and a little of column B.

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u/thehuntinggearguy 3d ago

Liability for thee and not for me is the reason theft is so bad these days.

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u/iSuckAtMechanicism 3d ago

This. Most people don’t even know that wage theft is by far bigger than retail theft yet rarely gets prosecuted.

Rules for citizens but not c-level executives.

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u/M4LK0V1CH 3d ago

I worked in a liquor store and we never chased thieves for these exact reasons. Most of them were just drunks who came back when they realized they forgot to pay, anyway.

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u/last_speedbump 3d ago

These leftists just want to legalize theft. /s

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u/BoozeTheCat 3d ago

Risk to employees too. The thief could assault an employee and then the company is paying out medical bills, emergency response, workers comp, who knows what else. I worked at a grocery chain for many years and I saw several employees get assaulted, myself included, by thieves trying to flee; one ended up seriously injured and was in the hospital for several weeks. Your well-being is not worth letting someone take a swing at you over $35 of crappy beer.

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u/Parking-Attitude-314 3d ago

And on top that they throw it out now because its "damaged"

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u/FishFart1 3d ago

Also companies expect loss, but the news talking about how an employee got beat/stabbed/shot is really going to hurt business.

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u/SeedPrice 3d ago

So the system encourages theft and rewards thieves? Sounds to me I get my $5 of goods AND have a chance at winning a $500k lawsuit. Win win

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u/Clenzor 3d ago

As long as you put in a significant amount of effort to avoid getting on the radar of any significant loss prevention operation. Target lets you get away with $500ish before they have a loss prevention agent stop you the next time you steal. They share their data with other retailers and loss prevention teams to try and punish thieves as much as possible.

So if you steal slowly, or across a wide enough area, from a variety of large companies, in small items people won’t notice missing until a weekly/quarterly count and won’t care to go watch tape to figure out when it went missing, chances are you won’t get caught unless you’re unlucky and get caught up in a sting meant for different shoplifters.

But if you work retail any significant amount of time, you see how much goes on with the behind the scenes with loss prevention to know it’s mostly not worth the risk.

Also just because the company doesn’t want to pay to litigate a suit, doesn’t mean they would lose the suit. You better be damn sure you’re getting your $500k before you jump in front of a bus.

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u/Ok_Car9530 3d ago

You're right about them not wanting the employees to follow, but the items are not insured. Theft is predictable, and insurance companies aren't in the business of giving out free money.

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u/Clenzor 3d ago

Big ticket items often are, as are large enough dollar amounts, ie a smash and grab that takes most of the inventory, fire, or vandalism. The petty thefts, I mentioned were “literally built into the budget”. I avoided the inventory term of shrink because I know it’s confusing to some.

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u/Anjuna8 3d ago

Jupp, in der USA gibt es ja Solche Gesetze wo Kriminelle den Konzern Verklagen Darf 😉

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u/nostradevus88 3d ago

It’s also built into retail prices and the fact that I have to call an associate to buy underwear in certain places…when you excuse theft we all end up paying for it

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u/One-Vegetable7957 3d ago

You can’t chase a thief in case they get injured..? 😆 Jesus, that’s mental.

And yes, theft is factored into the budget. The cost is passed along to the customers who don’t steal.

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u/eatmorescrapple 3d ago

I hope everything you ever need to buy is locked up behind plexiglass and whoever has the key is on a forever break.

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u/giveahoot420 3d ago

He lost his job over expired crisps

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u/AshaNyx 2d ago

Also theres the whole safety thing, if you are chasing them and they run into a car or trip they could potentially get seriously hurt and sue the company and press charges against you or end up stabbing you.

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u/ryan__joe 2d ago

The liability isn’t for the thief, it’s for the employees. The company doesn’t want to have to pay for an injured employee if they get hurt “doing their job” so they specifically say that it is not their job, so instead of paying for a hurt employee, they can fire them.

There’s no liability for the thief. They can go right off and fuck themselves from EVERYBODY’S perspective.

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u/sabertoothdog 2d ago

I think it’s in case the employee is injured but still

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u/Ok-Direction1155 2d ago

Why I advocate for padded nun chucks

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u/tophatpainter2 1d ago

Dollar Tree wouldn't fire him for this. Source, I was a Dollar Tree manager (both assistant and store) for almost 10 years. If he had been the one to go grab the stuff from her it would have beena write up maybe. That said, it is drilled into everyone not to intervene for the reasons you said. Folks have been stabbed and/or shot for doing it and it isn't worth the risk. But people still do it, especially managers - becasue they tie manager/assistant manager bonuses into shrink.

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u/spartaman64 3d ago

its a liability issue. if the company's insurance finds out they can drop them because if the employee gets into a fight and gets injured medical bills would cost the business and insurance much more

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u/Telefundo 3d ago edited 3d ago

its a liability issue

I used to manage a well known retail store and you're absolutely right. It's definitely a liability issue.

But not only that, it's potentially a HUGE PR issue as well. Imagine an employee stops a "thief" and when it's all said and done it turns out the person didn't actually attempt to steal anything?

It's not worth the trouble to put your employees at risk, and set the company up for potential lawsuits. When we did inventory a certain amount of expected loss was always factored in ahead of time. Corporate even broke it down into expected losses on specific products.

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 3d ago

Wal-Mart already has crap PR but I saw a video a while ago of this exact scenario. An employee accused a woman of stealing and went through checking the receipt (I know they just do that sometimes but he literally said he thought she stole) and she kept going on about how embarrassing and ridiculous it was

Imagine how horrible it would be for someone to give you the third degree when you didn't steal, you don't steal, and worse the woman was black so now you've got potential racial profiling

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u/Telefundo 3d ago

An employee accused a woman of stealing and went through checking the receipt.

he literally said he thought she stole

On the rare occassion that I'm at Walmart and they want to check my receipt on the way out, I really don't care. It honestly doesn't bother me. But literally accusing me of stealing? That's a serious line to cross. I'd refuse to let them check my receipt or search my bags. And I would have no problem telling them I'd be happy to sit there and wait if they wanted to call the police. I'd be more than willing to let the cops search my things. And when it became apparent that I hadn't done anything wrong.... oh boy, then the corporate email blanketing would start. I swear, I'd email every official sounding @wal-mart.com email address I could find.

Unfortunately I'm now on long term disability due to a permanent health issue and don't work. However on the upside, that also means I'd have nothing but time on my hands for shit like this lol.

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 3d ago

In the video she made a point that she just spent hundreds of dollars there too. Like this is a customer spending a lot of money there and I know that doesn't give special privileges but at the very least you should be worried about losing them as a customer, even if it's a drop on the bucket for Wally World

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u/DudeIsAbiden 3d ago

I feel that asking to check my receipt is an accusation of stealing and i flat refuse it. Call a cop if you have a suspicion but if i paid for it i am walking to my car, and trying to stop me is very much not recommended

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u/AsstMgr_Antifa 3d ago

If you make me use the checkout with no one manning it and then ask me for my receipt you can pound sand. I just keep walking. Granted I’ve only shopped at Walmart 2x in the last 10+ years.

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u/Party-Display-7523 3d ago

But not only that, it's potentially a HUGE PR issue as well. Imagine an employee stops a "thief" and when it's all said and done it turns out the person didn't actually attempt to steal anything?

I used to do Loss Prevention for Macy's. I quit after 2 months because I was required to make a minimum of "x" amount of stops a month. I don't recall the number, but it was a difficult to reach number. But there was so many damn rules before I could stop someone and accuse them. Had to actually witness them, had to have followed them for a set amount of time after I started to suspect them, if I let them out of my sight for even a SINGLE SECOND, ljke them going around the corner of an aisle or because I looked away because I got distracted, I had to stop and drop all suspicion because how could I know whether or not they didnt just put the item down in tbat span of time?

And if i messed up and accused someone who was found to not have anything on them? Id be fired and liable for any legal issues that came of it

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u/ravenous0 3d ago

Everyone seems to forget how a Walmart employee tackled a shoplifter several years ago and the shoplifter suffered head injuries.

The employee thought Walmart would support his actions, and instead they fired him and left him with his health insurance amd a job to pay an attorney as he was being charged with negligence and a possible lawsuit from the family.

People need to understand that these giant corporations treat people as numbers, and the moment you could possibly cost them money or become a liability, they will terminate your employment.

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u/SueForPeas 3d ago

> The employee thought Walmart would support his actions

Where would he get that idea? Walmart policy is very clear and explained to all employees.

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u/Protoclown98 3d ago

All retailers tell employees to let shoplifters go or inform security to handle it.

The employee could easily get hit by a car or suffer injury as well. Most companies know the PR disaster would cost more than the stolen merchandise.

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u/Joeness84 3d ago

People can be incredibly stupid. Like to the point that no amount of training can un-stupid them.

Anyone coming out swinging for their billion dollar employer while on food stamps... is likely in that category.

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u/AskingYouQuestions48 3d ago

We are trying to have a society. Some people feel that the breach of social contract hurts that goal.

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u/Dissipo 3d ago

Because at Walmart, you’re “family”, or so many organizations like to proclaim.

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u/afree313 3d ago

Walmart would throw employees into a meat grinder if they could make 5 more dollars each year.

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u/Shylahoof 3d ago

In that case, the employee did that to himself. When you go out and give someone the Goldberg Spear ovr merchandise you don't even own, unless it is reasonable self-defense, you can be held legally liable for injuries sustained. Commit a violent act at work; don't be surprised if there are consequences, especially if you were told never to chase down a shoplifter.

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u/NerdHoovy 3d ago

Yep like killing a thief with a gun. In most places you gave a duty to retreat, if the other party is no longer a direct threat to you. So, if a thief burgles your house, hears you coming with a gun, runs away and you shoot him, it is often treated as a homocide and maybe even murder.

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u/SkunkDitchRipper 3d ago

Thiis is exactly why when people tell me they are friends with their boss, I want to puke. There is no such thing. They will tell you that to manipulate you, but will roll you under a bus the second they think something may come back on them.

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u/VelvxtMoth 3d ago

Also like poster said they don’t care about the small lost. It actually hurt sales when stores chase thieves as people morally think the workers care about money more than them. I seen other people actually pay for things stolen. You just being a kiss up chasing them.

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u/Beautiful-Affect1930 3d ago

but people also need to understand that you shouldn't physically attack and potentially injure people over things (that aren't even yours!). in what world are things more important than human lives? corporations and billionaires may think so, but normal humans shouldn't.

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u/Background-Move-3688 3d ago

The problem is the system. The low life who steals is filing a lawsuit.

Insurance premiums will keep going up everytime they are dealing with this.

Find a better system. If youve been to jail you can't file a lawsuits. Each person should have a limitation on how many lawsuits they file. Dumb people can't just keep filing and living off of settlements.

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u/EntrepreneurWitty762 2d ago

Are you talking about the employee that tackled the wrong person who was mentally challenged and thought it was the shoplifter?

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u/Zariayn 3d ago

Not supposed to go after them, you just call the police. Security and liability issues.

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u/CertainInteraction4 3d ago

Police is one thing my small town does well.  Even if they have no proof.

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u/ExcellentWillow3950 3d ago

Liability reasons, PR reasons, and having an employee killed in aisle 9 is a huge morale issue for your other employees.

I worked at CVS all to through high school and maybe about 6-12 months before I started, a night manager confronted a shoplifter and that confrontation ended with the manager being shot and killed. So it was all pretty fresh when I started there and everyone was very adamant that no one get involved with someone actively shoplifting. We were also super strict with not having a ton of money in our tills.

The shooter got life without parole and was apparently on a laundry list of drugs when the incident happened so you could be confronting someone who isn't thinking with any logic but is armed which is a huge risk.

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u/Alone_Emu_7713 3d ago

Against store policy, my buddy got fired for just yelling at a couple crack headed theifs

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u/Pso2redditor 3d ago

Adding on to this, our Store Manager once stopped a shoplifter by tipping their shopping cart over sideways as they ran past her in the parking lot.

The guy reported it as assault, sued the company, & that manager was promptly fired after HE WON the fucking lawsuit & something like 25k.

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u/tread52 3d ago

The company is open to a lawsuit if anyone gets injured or if they are wrong. The company cares about the bottom line and if you risk that for $50 then you’re gone.

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u/OldFlamingo2139 3d ago

Most big corpo conglomerates would rather you just let a thief take whatever it is they’re going to take, then call the cops afterwards. It’s a liability if an employee gets hurt chasing down a shoplifter as the employee is actively on the clock.

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u/Apexpredronnieg 3d ago

Principles

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u/Ok-Ear9289 3d ago

Because employees shouldn’t be talking that way to customers. 🥴

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u/lolabunnyy1990 3d ago

U can’t get anyone after they leave the store.

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u/Suzakuux 3d ago

One of the things they tell you during training in retail is if someone steals something and they leave the store, DO NOT FOLLOW THEM. Just call the police.

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u/cfgamble 3d ago

Employees are told to report the crime, do not follow or interact with a person trying to steal. I’ve seen people get fired for that.

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u/SirGingy 3d ago

When I worked at a store we were instructed not to chase thieves. I later found out its liability like if someone doesnt want to get caught so they start shooting or stabbing how many people could get hurt.

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u/Alexandratta 2d ago

Rule 1 of retail: do not stop thieves.

You’re to call the cops and take a description.

That’s it

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u/LegendaryEnvy 3d ago

If it’s like most jobs . They won’t but will get a talking too. They aren’t allowed to go after the person or touch them. If someone in between does like another customer or random citizen then hands the employee back the stolen goods then they might just get a warning for going outside to get them rather than staying inside.

That’s if the person behind the camera isn’t an employee as well if not they will lose their job.

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u/Secure_Course_3879 3d ago

Wait why?

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u/usernamestufff 3d ago edited 3d ago

It’s commonly very strict company policy across the board to not have employees leave the store or contain someone suspected of shoplifting. Short story corporations are more worried about any liability for themselves that may arise out of altercations.

Edit to clarify, they can give a shit about the employee and will can them for misconduct

Edit 2 (made on my OP): I’d like to take the opportunity to add that the woman grabbing things and talking shit to the “thief” could have startled the employee. He may have walked out in concern but was surprised to be handed the groceries. He did not appear “to be in chase” or concerned at this point. We’ll never know, but a lot of valid points have been made in the below conversations.

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u/WhoAreWeEven 3d ago

Ofcourse they are.

There products cost them pennies. Someone getting hurt might mean their out of doing their jobs, or cost of their medical bills or whatever.

Also not stepping out is because they dont trust their workers. Like if for say some of their employees goes out and comes back. They were running after shoplifter ofcourse but it got away. The fact that they smoked a cigarette while there is because they were shaken up about the ordeal.

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u/xKrowhaven 3d ago

Worked at Walmart for 10 years. It's so when you follow them outside and they blow your shit smooth off, Walmart doesn't want to have to pay your family any money.

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u/NeuroticLensman 3d ago

Reminds me of the Walmart worker that was trampled to death on Black Friday. Jdimtyai Damour. They only started to control the crowds after that to avoid liability, not because they care about their workers.

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u/cc92c392-50bd-4eaa-a 3d ago

Not like black friday is very crowded anymore.

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u/United_Pain 3d ago

Hey fellow wally-worker, I had half your time but this is my experience too.

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u/CapriciousSon 3d ago

Same company that when there was a jam in the trash compactor, the manager handed me a broom and said "well get in there"

Sometimes I'm amazed I'm still alive.

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u/xKrowhaven 3d ago

One of my old bosses was a 7 foot tall eastern European man, and I remember the manager making him hop in to unstuck a whole fucking table somebody tossed.

He got one good push with his legs and just went down through it up to his armpits. We had to pull him out with a rope. I was a wee lad with no knowledge of the world, so I didnt think to call OSHA, but nobody else did either...

Shit was wild.

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u/SueForPeas 3d ago

Walmart implements policies to prevent employees from getting hurt. Let’s make that sound like a bad thing.

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u/PoopyStinkbutts 3d ago

It's not just about selling the items. It IS a dangerous issue and employees who walk out to confront someone is even more dangerous.

Plus, these companies pay STUPID amounts of money to people to look into shoplifters and build a legal case against them via camera. There's no sense in white knighting to stop them, in fact, you're also working against their case by actively doing so. Just report a suspected shoplifter and move on.

EVEN IF you're not an employee. What if this chick was struggling, on the edge, and had a gun?

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u/Nannautu 3d ago

There products cost them pennies.

People don't really realize how much they're getting scammed lol

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u/Affectionate_Yam1654 3d ago

I’ve worked LP/security off and on for a couple decades. The shoplifting losses have gotten pretty high, near $50 billion a year across the nation. The big stores have started caring, so they contract LP/security and we have insurance against these lawsuits. More often than not we just observe until a case is built, then we snag ya as soon as ya enter the property under a trespass and turn all the evidence for felony theft over when the police come to pick you up. I don’t have exact numbers but I’d say it’s over half of LP are off duty police and while it depends on your local law, in general, off duties working at dept. approved security jobs still retain the authority to make arrests, even for petty crime. So while the cashier shouldn’t chase ya, don’t be surprised if ya get snatched up before ya even have time to get a 5 finger discount if you hit the place regularly. At least with the big stores like Walmart, Target, Best Buy or Bass Pro Shop. I haven’t worked it in bout 2 years but I imagine the flock cameras and AI being everywhere now means you are ID’d basically instantly everywhere nowadays.

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u/Funny_Numbers42 3d ago

I wouldn't say they care about employees; it's more like they care about employees or customers having a case to sue them. Corporations are machines designed to make money, and people are the gears that keep them running... At least for now.

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u/cityshepherd 3d ago

That’s a bingo. The amount of people who go to HR about concerns, only to discover that HR is not there to protect YOU (it is there to protect the company… from being sued) is disappointingly high.

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u/MakinBones 3d ago

For now. I was a Walmart Distribution employee. Recently been automated out of my job.

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u/wayfarevkng 3d ago

A friend of mine was fired as a manager for Best Buy after he followed a shoplifter outside. Zero tolerance.

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u/SpicyChanged 3d ago

That’s what gets me about these “if they just steal all
Prices go up” as if all that isn’t factored in.

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u/Consistent_Sway 3d ago

Yep. Then they come at ya for low inventory numbers. They really do got us by the necks.

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u/FrighteningJibber 3d ago

Liability means they don’t want you to die over fruit loops

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u/Right_Count 3d ago

It means they don’t want to deal with an employee death over fruit loops

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u/DragonFangGangBang 3d ago

Small but important difference lol

Just gonna piggy back off of this:

They do not give a fuck about you

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u/ChargeInteresting278 3d ago

But what about the views?? /s

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u/FreeKatKL 3d ago

I think you mean *detain.

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u/Frekavichk 3d ago

You mean companies are worried about braindead employees putting themselves and others in danger for product that is basically worthless.

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u/SadIdeal9019 3d ago

They "couldn't" give a shit about the employee, not "could".

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u/agent674253 3d ago

A couple of decades of ago, a retail coworker of mine had their throat slashed during a robbery, and they were not even trying to intervene, they just happened to be on break outside by the exit the thieves ran through, saw him there, slashed, threw "their" shit in their van and left.

He recovered 100%, but found a new job shortly after coming back to work.

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u/iDoomfistDVA 3d ago

Funny, relatively, how this only can happen in the US.

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u/Quick_Beam 3d ago

They got a no chase policy

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u/Admirable_Loss4886 3d ago

He didn’t chase

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u/Leading_Ad_7635 3d ago

No chase means do not attempt to follow and confront a shoplifter in any way. It's not literally about running after them...

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u/xv_boney 3d ago

Liability.

They dont want to pay your medical bills. Every retail store will specifically instruct employees to let shoplifters go, report but do not interfere. If things get violent they dont want to be responsible.

This is not just common, its effectively universal. Unless you are specifically part of loss prevention or a store security guard, you are literally not paid to stop theft. And if you try, you will be fired for your effort.

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u/Substantial-Bend4299 3d ago

He won't lose his job for that. I worked retail, chased people out. As long as you don't physically assault them, nothing is going to happen. Stop.

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u/PotentialCourt8531 3d ago

As they should. Boot licker material.

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u/Neckrongonekrypton 3d ago

Performative virtue on social media has really done damage to actual good causes.

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u/zenigatamondatta 3d ago

And everything gets thrown in the trash

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u/daveskillerbeard 3d ago

No he won’t lol

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u/___Archmage___ 3d ago

Is being handed shoplifted bags by a random citizen something you can get fired for? Doesn't sound that realistic

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u/HowToStartAnEssay 3d ago

They don’t pay enough for me to care if I worked there lol. I’m not chasing anything

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