Part Two: Sunday.

After dedicating a good portion of the day to documenting the incredible employee apprehension the day before, I took to the salesfloor which was unusually crowded due to the holiday weekend. It would seem to the average Joe that this would be ideal circumstances for catching a shoplifter. However, not so. The more crowded it is, the more suspects you have to keep an eye on. Easy, no. Frustrating, yes. So for the next few hours I would follow people of all ages, all over the store, and sure enough, they all slowly made their way to the register to pay. Honest shoppers are killing the LP field.

This was how the rest of the day would go, until a familiar face showed up in the middle of my store. Allow me to digress.

A few weeks ago my attention was turned toward one of our newer cashiers, "Amber," a senior in high school, who really should have dedicated her evenings to studying, rather than attempting to learn the cash register at a retail store. She was the living breathing example of every blonde joke you have ever heard. One day we were on the kick of enforcing the "No Cell Phone Use" policy while they worked at the register. I was never too strict about it if it was done quietly, and not when customers were around. However, this particular day, Amber was told about not using her phone for texting while she was working. Not twwenty minutes later I observed her ducking down behind the register to text someone. Okay, so blatant disregard for a manager's request. Later during the shift, I was observing her through the overhead camera, and watched as she texted someone as a customer stood waiting for her to finish. Now that makes me mad. Customers come first in my book, and I'm not even in Sales!

When the manager approached her to speak to her about it, a second and third cashier complained that she does it all the time. As a result of that, Amber took it upon herself to threaten the other cashiers with physical harm. Once I heard that, I heavily encouraged the management staff to terminate her. Not only is that harassment, forcing one cashier to seek a shift change, but that's also illegal! So, by the end of the day, Amber was called into the offfice and terminated. She left with her empty head held high, saying "thanks for the opportunity," as if she was watching The Apprentice, and by the time she hit the front door, she was looking at coworkers saying "whatever."

Fast forward now to this weekend. Amidst the crowd of holiday shoppers, I recognized the bleached hair coming through the crowd. I stopped in my tracks and watched as she made her way down the center aisle, accompanied by two boys who couldn't have been any more opposite. They were dressed gothic-like, wearing nothing but black. Black t-shirt, black hoodies, black shorts that actually reached their ankles and black sneakers. I couldnt believe Amber would have the guts, or the balls to come back to this store, but I immediately sensed trouble. I watched as they ducked into the CD aisle in the Electronics Department. I was simply shocked to see this but, I walked into the adjacent aisle and began my ritual for almost every grungey looking hoodie wearing high school kid I come across. I stared into the overhead mirror and watched for a few minutes as one kid took two CD's off the shelf and immediately tried to get one open. Again, my jaw dropped in amazement. I was simply asking myself, was she really this stupid? Finally, she glanced up into my mirror and saw me looking at them. She nudged the accomplice and walked out of the aisle. The accoplice left the aisle in the oppostie direction. I walked right past Amber as she tried to draw my attention toward her and the other kid walking into Sporting Goods. I kept my attention on the scrawny long haired kid sliding down the back aisle toward the mens room. Sure enough, my suspicion wa correct. He ducked into the men's room and wasted no time trying to get the Cd's open inside the stall. (When you are bored some day, go into a public bathroom and try to crack a piece of plastic quietly...it's impossible.) I could hear the case breaking from the hallway outside the mens room door, and I was so stunned that they were obnoxious enough to do this even though she knew I was watcching, I walked right into the bathroom. I wanted to scare the shit out of the kid, but when I got inside, I realized he was tucked away inside the stall. When he heardd me enter, he froze. Suddenly there was no noise coming from the stall until he flushed the toilet. I washed my hands and walked out. I saw the assistant manager walking nearby so I gave her the heads up about Amber and her band of thieves. I took a position outside the mens room where I could see the bathroom door in an overhead mirror, but I was hidden from sight.

Sure enough, the kid finally came out, looked around, and made his way toward the front of the store. I ducked into the bathroom, and quickly removed the cracked open CD cases from the trash can, and came out to pursue the little thief.

At the front of the store I see Amber standing in the vestibule. She sees me and decides to make a dash for it. I looked behind me and saw the black clothes coming around the corner. Somehow I got to the front before the bathroom kid did. I tossed the empty CD case on to a shelf and nonchalantly walked out the front door. I see Amber walking into the parking lot, and decide I was going to let the police department take this from here. I call 9-1-1 and explain a retail theft just occurred and they are walking north from the parking lot. Meanwhile, the last kid finally comes out, but he walks right to a car parked in the lot. Not only was I then able to give a vehicle description, but since the genius turned right toward me and passed by within six feet of me, I also read off the license plate to the 9-1-11 dispatcher.

Sirens filled the air for the next few minutes and I returned to the store thinking the case will be closed any minute now. As expected, withing five minutes, a police car pulled up outside.

"Please tell me he didn't dump the merchandise..." I asked the officer as he got out of his car.

"Don't know, couldn't find the car."

I was flabbergasted. I told him they were about a half a block away from the car when he flew past with his siren wailing. For whatever reason, they missed the car. On the other hand, I knew Amber, knew where she lived, and we had the license plate of the other kid. Officers would then head to the houses to try to locate the thieves, not how I wanted it to end, but ok.

About 45 minutes later a second police offficer arrives at the store.

"Wanna go for a ride, we got them stopped."

Without hesitation, I was out the door and climbing into the police car.

We drive into the next town and pull up in a neighborhood behind three other police cars. I can see Amber already standing outside the car. Officers are standing next to the car I saw leave the parking lot. Just as we stopped and called the other officers by radio, all hell broke loose. Suddenly the officers were wrestling the driver to the ground in the middle of the street. The officer in my car jumped out and ran to join the mini melee. Since the goth kid weighed all of 100 pounds soaking wet, the wrestling match ended as fast as it started. However, when the kid came up off the pavement, he was now wearing handcuffs.

When it was all said and done, the kid was arrested for Retail Theft and Disorderly Conduct, and Amber and the other kid was banned from my store.

So, this is how May ended for me. Back to back apprehensions that if nothing else, gave my coworkers something to talk about when the lucky employees who were off for the holiday weekend asked..."So how was it in here this weekend?"

So, I wonder what June will bring me.