Published on August 26, 2004 By Tinuviel_04 In Misc
Had to go to the store tonight after leaving the movie theatre. Bought 5 storage containers yesterday and the blonde in me only got 5 lids. Well, while at the store, I remembered I needed one other item so I got that and was standing in the checkout. In front of me was a mom and her son. About 4 years old or so. Well, the boy was sitting on two DVDs. I watched as the lady emptied her cart and the child remained sitting on the videos. Well, the register behind us was open so the impatient me went and got in it and checked out. Finished there and went up to customer service to show them my lid. When I was finished, I saw that the lady was paying and the child was STILL on the videos. So, I went back to customer service and told the lady that a kid was sitting on two DVDs in Aise #. She looked really confused and had no clue what to do. She walked right by the register the lady was at but for some reason I think she was walking toward another register looking at that kid. I left. Figuring my part was done. When I got out the doors, I saw the lady and boy were at the buggy corral but no one was around her. Whether she got the videos and left or left them in the buggy or someone stopped her, I have no clue. A part of me wanted to stay and watch but the main part of me just didn't want to be identified as the nosey one telling. But now, the conscience is kicking in of course. Was it a mistake and the lady forgot they were there? Should I have just said something to her in line about the kid sitting on them and not told an employee and risk her getting in trouble? Should I just have left it be and if there was store security watching, let them stop her? Should I just have let the alarm sound if they did indeed have stickers inside them? Am I a rat for telling???
Comments
on Aug 26, 2004
As we all know, shoplifting raises prices and when I was a teenager, I guess I have take some of the responsibility for the high price of cds today for what I did back then.
This is apparently easy to do on accident with a child. stealing is way wrong. I have found myself 10 years later, going back to the supermarket to pay for milk that I accidentally walked out with out paying because my daughter was crying and I was rushing home.
on Aug 26, 2004
I am sure it was intentional. Shoplifters use a number of ploys.

When I was working at walmart, I watched as a man took a cooler from sporting goods and filled it full of DVD's, then headed to the front. A quick call to loss prevention, and I followed the man, as you aren't supposed to let them out of your sight. Security was at the register by the time he got there to buy his $8 cooler with $200 or more worth of DVDs he thought he had hidden.
on Aug 26, 2004
As sad as it is people often use their kids to help steal merchandise. I work at an upscale department store and we catch people putting things in strollers, in their babies blankets, tucking things into their baby bjorns. It is all kind of people too.


I
on Aug 26, 2004
Not only is it wrong for that mother to shoplift (I doubt it would be a mistake . . . if I pick out something like a DVD that costs $20, I'm going to know that I have it with me and I will notice whether or not it has been rung up . . . of course, I notice if my orange juice isn't ringing up 20 cents cheaper since it's on sale), but she is teaching her child a horrible lesson. That's very sad.
on Aug 27, 2004
It seems unlikely that she didn't know. That does teach an awful lesson to kids that stealing is okay.

I was taught pretty much the same way when I was a kid, and my mom's boyfriend was stealing all kinds of stuff. I'm glad we left him evenally and I didn't become a crook.
on Aug 27, 2004
I was taught pretty much the same way when I was a kid, and my mom's boyfriend was stealing all kinds of stuff


This is one of the things that always pissed me off about my mom. I stole my first ten speed, have a crappy story for it (said the kid gave it to me), and my mom never went to check with the kid or anything...she HAD to have known I stole it.

Glad I ended up better than my upbringing.
on Aug 27, 2004
Another scenario could have been.....mother unaware her child had taken and sat on videos as mother had said to child ' No, we can't afford it!'
I have an almost four year old and he has grabbed a toy from the shop and walked out with it without my knowledge and embarrassed me has had to take it back to the checkout full of apologies!
You can only hope that it was an accident with an honest explanation.
on Aug 27, 2004
Glad I ended up better than my upbringing.


Hmmm....
on Aug 27, 2004
No. I doubt the kid did it. He was too little and was in a buggy.
on Aug 27, 2004
Most stores that sell electronics and such have what I thought were detectors near the exit doors. I'm not prone to steal, but every time I walk through those (what I thought were) detectors, I worry that I'm going to set off the alarm for some reason. I'm surprised no alarms went off at the store.

I would be haunted by what-ifs in your situation too, and the desire to avoid confrontation might have prevented me from doing anything at all.
on Aug 27, 2004
You should of said "excuse me, I hope that child does'nt break those DVDs he sitting on" in front of the store employee. It would have been a good way to bring it to their attention without looking like a snitch and would have saved face for the woman.