Pregnant Mom Arrested Because a Sandwhich!

[DianneS]

Yes, maybe we are tough.
After a while, seeing the same situation of forgetting to pay, or intentionally taking the items, it becomes tiring. The stores have lost compassion because of the die hard thieves. The stores and employees are exhausted and don't have time to pick and choose the good customers and the bad customers.

I was saying "tough crowd" with a chuckle. I agree...lots of folks have a really believable sob story and I'm sure loss prevention is long past the point where they believe most them....

[Shwa Girl]

I was saying "tough crowd" with a chuckle. I agree...lots of folks have a really believable sob story and I'm sure loss prevention is long past the point where they believe most them....

Here's a sad/funny story we saw when I worked in the store.

A man was shopping with his wife and teen son and daughter.
Loss prevention guys stopped him outside the store.
He stole a box of condoms.
Wife yelled at loss prevention guy, that they made a mistake because he didn't need the condoms.

Turns out, the condoms were not to be used with his wife. It was for his girlfriend.

The two teens yelled at their father and started to cry in the parking lot - very embarrassed.

Police were called.


Yup, loss prevention has heard it all and have little sympathy now.

[DianneS]

OMG....those poor kids!!! Unforgiveable to do that to your teenagers, never mind to your wife. Dumb, dumb, dumb.....

[Brandy Hunter]

Here's a sad/funny story we saw when I worked in the store.

A man was shopping with his wife and teen son and daughter.
Loss prevention guys stopped him outside the store.
He stole a box of condoms.
Wife yelled at loss prevention guy, that they made a mistake because he didn't need the condoms.

Turns out, the condoms were not to be used with his wife. It was for his girlfriend.

The two teens yelled at their father and started to cry in the parking lot - very embarrassed.

Police were called.


Yup, loss prevention has heard it all and have little sympathy now.

I'm not sure whether to laugh or be sad..

[Brandy Hunter]

Can I just note I don't condone in eating before paying, as someone mentioned, what if payment goes awry? It's the fact they didn't let her pay as she asked first, that bothers me. She bought groceries there, she obviously didn't pocket and try and run, and if stealing was her intention, she's a pretty stupid thief

[Shwa Girl]

I'm not sure whether to laugh or be sad..

I agree with you.

So, you can see why the stores don't have compassion any more.
A few have spoiled it for the rest.

Another story.
A grandma was caught stealing toothpaste.
Loss prevention has seen her do this in the past - on camera and when they pose as "shoppers".
She cried and stated that in her country she never paid for toothpaste.

Again, police were called and she was taken away.

[Brandy Hunter]

I'd be a horrible security guard. I believe people too easily,

[cheekysaver]

Ok i can understand how that could happen... they were in a new place got lost found their way and when you get dizzy when your preggers... the world just kinda stops to fix it before a hospital visit is needed. Then you get busy shopping.. entertaining a 3 year old that has to be exhausted from all that going on... one little coat gets tossed over sammy wrappers and presto. I don't like eating in stores for this reason... we pay and then eat in the store...

On the other side of the coin, do stores get arrested when they put a sale price on a item and forget to mark it down in the computer?... of course not... i know most stores have scanning code of practise but some don't... and if a zellers (they don't scop) pregnant employee forgot to mark down a item and 20 were sold at the inflated price i would hate to see her fired or arrested or upset in any way never mind having her child taken away. All stores do this from time to time and it amazes me how we know how much loss happens as a result of theft but there are no figures for overpricing items. This happens to us directly regularly and i can't speak for others but i view it as the company taking money they are not entitled to... otherwise known as theft if you do the same thing to them.

I guess i kind of understand it... but we all know safeways overcharged them from time to time.

Now on the side of that same coin... safeways has to have a standard policy that can not be deviated from for the sake of fairness. If management could decide who gets off and not leaves some room for much bigger problems... you charged me cause i am..... and them because of .......

all in all... it is complicated.

[Shwa Girl]

On the other side of the coin, do stores get arrested when they put a sale price on a item and forget to mark it down in the computer?... of course not...

Sometimes stores do get charged and pay a hefty fine. In addition they get negative publicity.

Sears or The Bay had their scratch and save Saturday coupons a few years ago. They advertised a savings of as much as 25 per cent off your total order. After investigation, it was found that the maximum a customer could get was 10 per cent off. There were no 25 per cent off coupons. It was false advertising. Sears or the Bay was caught misleading the public and paid a price.

[deevious]

OK...so I'm NOT condoning anything, just playing devil's advocate What if that was your kid/sister/family member and it really was an honest mistake....does that change anything? I know people are fed up with the dishonesty that has permiated society, but can every situation be treated the same or can some common sense come into play OR is it just cut and dry?

[xox2010]

This wouldn't have happened if she had just paid for it before she consumed it. I know this may not be a popular opinion, but I really hate when people eat things in-store before paying for them. It just bugs me. Is it really that hard to wait in line and pay for an item before consuming it? JMHO.

[FallenPixels]

Nope, doesn't change anything (except along with what I said, I would smack her on the head for being a dummy lol)

If she was alone, I may have a little more sympathy for her, but there is no reason her DH couldn't have taken the wrapper over and paid as she started eating it, or before.

Any many shoplifters pay for some stuff and not others, it would look pretty obvious if you were always walking out of WM with nothing, don't you think?

[xox2010]

OK...so I'm NOT condoning anything, just playing devil's advocate What if that was your kid/sister/family member and it really was an honest mistake....does that change anything? I know people are fed up with the dishonesty that has permiated society, but can every situation be treated the same or can some common sense come into play OR is it just cut and dry?

Nope. If my brother etc was caught stealing I would have no issue with him being arrested etc. May sound harsh but laws exist for a reason. It shouldn't matter who you are. Whether your black, white, purple.. the law should apply equally to everyone regardless of who they are.

I want to add: It's hard to tell the difference between the liars and those who are telling the truth. I mean, if theres sufficient evidence to prove that it was a "mistake" then sure let them go. But like I said above, if people would just pay for their stuff in the first place they wouldn't run into issues like this...

[deevious]

Would you want your cute little niece taken away from her parents over it? I know it was stupid, and yeah DH should have pd for it, and it drives me nuts when people open things in grocery stores. I agree with it all, just think they could have handled things a bit better....

[xox2010]

So if someone has a child with them and is presumed to have stolen something, LP should let them get away with it so that the child isn't scared? How else would they deal with it? They can't leave the child in the room with the parents while they're under arrest....