Cinnamon Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I have worked in a supermarket for over a year now, & have really had my eyes opened by the dishonest things some people will do to try to save themselves money. Last week a customer paid for a big trolley load of groceries,but realised she had forgotten something,after she had paid. So she parked her trolley behind the checkouts (generally a safe thing to do),& went to get her forgotten item. In the meantime someone else waltzes off with all her shopping..............just wheels it out of the shop! We have a couple of people who regularly put on item of veg or fruit into a bag,weigh it on the self weighing bit,get a sticker with a price & bar code on,then fill the bag up with more of the same thing. I caught one myself a couple of weeks ago & told her that I was removing her self scanned stickers,writing the correct price on, & giving them to my manger,as there was obviously a big problem with the self service scales I also had a woman who peeled the reduced stickers off of one item & put them onto another..........unbeknown to her the item name comes up when we scan them.,& I know that a lamb mousakka for one is very different to a mega pack of lamb chops! Another regular picks up pre packed bananas in a bag,weighs them on the self weighing thingy, weighs them as loose bananas & puts the sticker over the barcode on the banana bag,as they are much cheaper loose. He then argues with us that he should be allowed to buy them at that price A couple of months ago a woman came to the til next to me & bought about 6 items,one of which was a leg of lamb. She paid,left,them walked back in 10 minutes later to the customer service desk saying that she has been charged for a leg of lamb that she had not bought At the moment there is an incident like this,or of just 'normal' shoplifting each shift I work. Are times that hard - are people that desperate,or are they just bolder than they used to be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsylabrador Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 People are very low. I won't call it shoplifting, it's theft, plain and simple. They don't care about how much this costs the company and therefore honest people. We were watching a woman in waitrose who was acting very strangely, she's known to police, but she stopped. Probably recognised OH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinsk Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I can't believe the gall of some people! A few weeks ago I realised I'd walked out of the shop with a big pack of loo rolls I'd hung off the hook on the trolley, I was mortified when I realised! No way could I walk back into a shop and say I'd been wrongly charged for something I knew full well I had bought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bramble Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 People are horrible sometimes and no doubt the culprits think there's nothing wrong with what they're doing? (Why doesn't bananaman just buy the loose bananas - there can't be that much difference, surely ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowberry Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Until fairly recently I worked in an M&S cafe; where we have proper acrylic salt & pepper mills; that is until they go into handbags....& spoons disappear as well! I suggested sachets of salt & pepper but the management nearly died at the suggestion. Well, if they are happy to fork out on 10 mills every month, then they're idiots too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiggy Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 my step dad is a retired security officer for a well known chain of supermarkets, the stories he tells are shocking He had to retire early because he couldnt handle the abuse and violance anymore. There has always been a sub group in our society who behave as if the world owes them and the laws that govern the rest of us do not apply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 People are horrible sometimes and no doubt the culprits think there's nothing wrong with what they're doing? (Why doesn't bananaman just buy the loose bananas - there can't be that much difference, surely ) No one knows - it is a complete mystery We think that maybe he is either just trying to get one up on the company,or is doing it to prove a point *shrug* Don't get me started on the woman I had last night who ate a sandwich,drank a Red Bull & ate a banana while browsing in the shop. She gave me the empty packets to scan,but the banana skin......well,they are weighed! Absolutely NO self control - it would have taken her 5 minutes to pay then leave & eat them in her car She also got very stroppy when I refused to put the empties into my bin, as we are not allowed to do this,in case we are thought to have eaten them. Plus they stank! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Don't get me started on the woman I had last night who ate a sandwich,drank a Red Bull & ate a banana while browsing in the shop. She gave me the empty packets to scan,but the banana skin......well,they are weighed! Unbelievable. I know of a case where someone bought a TV and then took it back a few days later for a refund for whatever reason. When the box was opened sometime later they found it contained her old TV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WitchHazel Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Sarah, that was such depressing reading. It never ceases to amaze me, the depths some people will plumb to "save a bit of money." It's stealing, plain and simple. If people are short of money, shop somewhere cheaper or buy cheaper goods. There is absolutely no excuse for any of the examples you gave. All that happens is that it pushes prices up for the rest of us honest folk, or useful services (like the Waitrose self-scanning, which is so much more civilised than the at-checkout-self-scanning offered by other supermarkets) will be withdrawn. I can feel my blood starting to boil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 It is depressing,isn't it? As I said,my eyes have really been opened by the behaviour of some people.....if I didn't have this job I am sure I wouldn't believe that this sort of thing goes on. I may have believed it of a large city,but not a market town like Henley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bramble Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I used to work in an aquatics centre (years ago) and sold a small glass fish tank to a lady once. She pootled off and then reappeared about 20 minutes later saying the tank was all broken at one corner and demanded a replacement (I knew it didn't leave the shop like that as we always checked them very carefully). She had a little boy with her who cheerfully piped up "Well Mum, that could be because you dropped it in the car park" Funnily enough she disappeared very quickly without the replacement she had previously insisted she should receive! I did feel very sorry for her little boy though, I think he would probably have had a stern talking to when they got home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forestchook Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Doesn't give you much faith in humanity does it? I help out in a charity shop and stuff regularly goes missing. We cannot put a bag on the model in the window because they always dissappear. The disks dissappearing from DVDs and CD's mean we now have to take them out and keep them sepeately. I'm sure people also swap the price lables or take them off then bring items to the counter to ask hoping they will get a lower price. In anothercharity shop along the road we were just going in as someone else was coming out. Turns out he had put a playstation in a bag and was walking out with it. He got hit in the face by the door as someone else put there foot in the way to stop him getting out . Unfortunately he squeezed through the gap but someone chased him. They caught him and started leading him back to the shop but he jumped on his bike. Thankfully the woman who chased him grabbed the bag from the basket on the back of his bike as he moved off. Later someone brought a bunch of keys from where his bike had been - looked like he had dropped them. Serve him right! On a more positive note - we often get people who tell us to keep the change (and not just pennys either) or suggest we should be charging more for an item . Not to mention the people who donate stuff in the first place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clootie Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Blimey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 My sister works on the butcher/deli counter of a well-known supermarket. A regular customer was the owner of a local cafe, he would come in wearing a shirt with the cafe's logo on, and buy large amounts of meat. One day the manager called her over, looking puzzled - the automatic stock-take showed that they should have plenty of steak in the fridges, but they were nearly empty - had she sold a lot? She remembered that she'd sold £75 worth to this customer earlier that day. Turns out he was putting the meat in the bottom of the trolley, piling bread and cheaper goods on top, and then pushing the trolley through the check-out ('just 12 loaves and 10 pints of milk, I won't lift them all out') without passing the meat through the till. They caught him next time. And he was doing this to run his business! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 We have had similar - a chap had a box of 6 bottle of plonk - handed one to the cashier & said to scan for 6 of them,but he actually had 5,& a nice bottle of Scotch. Luckily the wine department team had sussed what he was up to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seagazer Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Stealing from shops is bad enough but to steal from a charity shop, awful. They should hang their heads in shame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 They did that when DD volunteered for a local charity shop. Low to steal, lower than low to steal from charity shops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKMARCH Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I was in a supermarket once where a man was queuing for some cigarettes his son, who looked about 3-5 years, stole a packet of Starburst from the shelves and they walked out he showed it to his dad who patted him on the back I couldn't believe my eyes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alis girls Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I nearly had my trolley nicked twice in Tescos as I stood next to it paying. There are a family of gobby daughters about 30-40 yr a mum and dad in a wheelchair. the woman apologsied when i shouted "oy thats my trolley" - but she did it to me twice in one month and i think its a scam. My hairdresser was telling me her trolley nearly got nicked in the same shop - I asked if it was a woman and it was with yes - 2 gobby diaughters and an old bloke in an electric wheelchair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaireG Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 It's truly shocking how low some people will stoop. I have seen and reported a couple of things myself as a shopper. One being a man who brought a few cheap goods and then walked around putting more expensive things including several bottles of whiskey into the bag of shopping he had just payed for The other was somebody using the self scan tills and when things didn't scan properly just putting them in their bag anyway, she claimed when approached by staff that she hadn't realised but i'm sure she had. One of my friends sons father works as a security chap at a local supermarket and some of the things he has said have happened are awful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlo Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I have worked in a Magistrates' Court for the past 22 years and have come across some awful examples of how low people can go. I also have acquaintances who openly admit to letting radiators bleed onto old carpets to claim the insurance There is a really dishonest element around. I don't get the mentality and I never will. However, I am a firm believer (possibly naive!) that the majority of people are honest and decent. It is just that the actions of the minority make more waves! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 good grief, this sort of behaviour never ceases to amaze me and disappoint. What a shame that some folk feel above the law. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miffy Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I worked on customer service desk for T****, for a couple of years and was quite shocked at the front of some people. When challenged they get VERY aggressive and abusive, not just those stealing but bringing back abused or very old items demanding refunds or replacements. 1 particular woman came to me with about 4 or 5 old bras, discoloured, stained around the underarm, wires protruding and wanted refund. When I checked they were discontinued (at least a year earlier was guessed) and when I compared them to a new one they had shrunk as only a bra in a washing machine on a hot wash can.....disgusting. She was really abusive, and I had to ask for security backup!!! She was refused a refund. I can think of many more examples but that one sticks out in my mind. The point is we all pay for this, the companies factor it into their prices..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I know of someone in our street who has a cutlery drawer full of Pizza Express cutlery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emily95 Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 It really is shocking to hear about the behaviour of some people! I work in a charity shop on Saturdays, and we have one customer who regularly comes to the shop with price stickers already written out for, say, £1 or £2 (always low amounts of money) and peels off the stickers on some of the expensive ornaments/china etc, and replaces them with his own stickers. He used to get away with it because a lot of the staff are very trusting and didnt recognise the make of the ornaments, so didnt notice the huge reduction in price. We now have a photo of him behind the camera, and staff are told to look out for this certain person. It makes me very angry! Our charity shop is a for a local charity that doesnt receive a lot of money, but most people in the area will have/or know someone who has benefited from this charity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
