Crazy things happen everyday when you work in retail. You have to deal with all sorts of people. With the economy being on a downfall, and unemployment on the rise it's not a surprise that robberies, theft, and scamming are on the rise as well.
On Superbowl Sunday I had to work all day from 10:00 A.M. until 8:00 P.M. The day was going relatively well until about 4:00. A man came in, all too friendly, and began to shop for what would end up being three hours. He was very talkative and friendly toward all of the employees. After about two hours we became suspicious of him because he had such a full, eclectic cart. Everyone had been near him at one point or another and tried to keep an eye on him.
At about 7:00 he took his cart to the front register and told the clerk that he was going to go outside and have a smoke and call his friend to let him know he was ready (he was "new" to the area and didn't know his way around). I went up to the front and asked where he was, and went outside to find him. Gone. When I came back inside I asked where the digital camera was that he had been carrying around with him was. I proceeded to dig through his cart only to find that it was gone. Why would someone spend three hours in a store to steal one digital camera?
Scratch that: he stole 14 digital cameras, some mp3 players, watches, razors, vitamins, and much more. He had a razor blade (which he also stole from us) that he used to cut the merchandise off of the locked pegs and then cut them out of their packages.
We found most of the packages stuffed in backpacks and luggage that we sell. He had stuffed the merchandise in his puffy jacket, and I am guessing he had his jacket lined with bags to put the stuff in. How could this happen? There was always someone near him, and we constantly were bugging him asking if he needed help. He never looked like he was doing anything wrong, and never was jumpy. He even stole a snapple and drank it, except we never saw him drinking it!
We were suspicious of him, but we thought he was going to try and scam us with credit cards or gift cards when he was checking out. We didn't think he was bold enough to be stealing all of that right there. How could this happen to us? How did we not see anything? This doesn't happen in our small town. We are too trusting.
The more empty packages we found the more upset we became. I finally left work at about 9:00, and when I stepped outside I immediately started crying. It's hard to explain all the emotions that I felt at the time, but I couldn't help but cry.
I wasn't scared that we would get in trouble, but I might have been a little nervous. The thing that was bothering me the most was this feeling.... I felt like I had been raped...violated. The only people who understood what I felt were April and Justin (who had been there too).
I didn't sleep much Sunday night, and when I went to work on Monday I felt very emotional. All of these "what if" thoughts were running through my head. What if one of us had seen him stealing and he saw us? Would he have threatened or assalted us? Would he have just ran out?
It's just a very strange mix of emotions that I felt. I didn't think it would affect me this much but it does. All week I have scanned every person who walks into the store, and have closely watched everyone.
I feel violated and stupid.
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WOW! That is something else! Can I ask where this happened?
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling you mean. I had the same feeling when my first car was stolen. My parents had given me their old delta 88 when I got my license at 20 years old. My oldest was just a baby, and we had gone to visit a friend. It was around 9pm when he went outside to warm up my car for me but came back in to ask where I'd parked. I laughed at first thinking he was joking because there is only a small lot behind the building where I always parked. But when I came outside I saw the broken glass lying there. I was so hurt. Why would someone do this to me? But the worse was yet to come. The police did find my car. I asked my dad to make sure he retrieved my $300 Eddie Bauer stroller from the trunk (I was a big spender back then...only the best for my baby). My dad came home to tell me there was no stroller, or trunk, or car for that matter. The theives had set it on fire after their joy ride. I felt totally violated. For weeks after that, I got teary-eyed and nauseous just thinking about it. So, don't keep beating yourself up about it. It could've happened to anyone.
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