2010...One and Done

Today was my first day to work in 2010. I returned from a five day hiatus which was the result of a holiday, three regular days off and a sick day. I arranged them just right to equal a nice break to round out my first year. So, I was really dragging a bit trying to get back into the swing of things. It actually took most of the day.





Throughout the day, I took various degrees of abuse from those employees who hadn't seen me for the past five days, and eventually some reviewed stories from the days I was off. One of these stories, or complaints, came from two salesgirls who had been bothered by the repeated sounding of the door alarm. They said it would go off any time this "guy in a big white hoodie wearing a back pack came and went." Well, one had to wonder what, if anything, was being done by the employees witnessing this, apparently more than once. I made a mental note to check into the video of the previous day to see what I could of this hoodied guy.





Before I could get to that, the Office Manager came to me about a cash register shortage which occurred several days ago. Again, I would have to check the video, compare it to the transaction record and see if there was any obvious misconduct...or theft.





On my way to the office to begin the video reviews, I was stopped by another employee explaining he suspected a guy who came into the store the other day to buy two PSP3's, might have beeen using a stolen credit card. Again, another video to look at.




I didn't mind any of this. It was better than the monthly audits and other paperwork I thought I would fall back on today. So the video reviews began and helped pass the time. It was already 3:30pm by the time I thought about punching out for lunch .



After my lunch hour expired, I noticed the number of customer just about equalled the number of employees. I shook my head wondering why they pay someone to watch customers when there aren't any. So, I retreated into the main office where I can access a computer program which allows me to investigate transactions made throughout the day, month or past few months. I use this to oversee our newer employees to make sure all of their transactions are legitimate. This is also the data base I use to investigate register shortages. The problem with sitting back here and getting some computer work done, is that I must forfeit the camera work and hope an employee notices someone acting suspicious and then calls for me. If not, its kind of a free for all, like I'm not even there.



I was sitting at the computer for about fifteen minutes when the front desk called and spoke to the Store Manager. The girl at the desk was reporting that she thought a guy in the store was intoxicated. It was somehting to do so I stood right up and headed for the salesfloor. After two laps around the store, I still had no sign of the drunk customer. I headed for the front desk so she could tell me maybe what he was wearing, where he went, what was he doing etc. While standing back away from those in line for returns, something caught my eye at the front door.



Coming in through the automatic door was a guy wearing a light blue hoodie with the hood up over his head, blue jeans, brown timbaland boots and a black back pack strapped over his shoulders. He glanced up toward the desk only once and kept his pace heading toward the back of the store. I looked at him once and then returned to my cell phone as to not attratct his attention. After he ducked behind the shelves out of sight, I headed back to my office to observe his actions by camera. As expected, I found him wandering about the rows of music CD's, and slowly moving to the next aisle, then the next. At one point I saw that he was standing at the end of one of the aisles and not looking at mechandise, he was simply observing other people. With that, I decided to join him on the salesfloor. I located him in the Electronics Department pacing between TV's and DVD players. A minute after I began my direct observation, using the mirrored ceiling tiles above him, the Electronics Employee arrived and asked if she could help him with anything. He asked a generic question about the televisions, then asked what the straps were around the DVD Player boxes. The employee offered a classic response...



"They are on there so it will activate the alarm at the door, and it prevents people from stuffing them into their backpacks and walking out..."



When I heard that, I thought that would blow any attempt to steal anything, or would he be stupid enough to try anyway. My curiosity was settled when in the next minute I see him ducking down behind a counter, unzipping his backpack, picking up an identical DVD Player and stuffing it into the backpack, security straps and all.



I pulled my cell phone out and dialed 9-1-1 right then and there. I pictured this guy going through the doors and the alarms sounding causing quite the scene. Something told me he would either run from me, or run through me, so the quick decision to contact the police at this point was made. I had just brought the phone up to my ear when I noticed he wasn't walking in the opposite direction as they usually do, he turned and was heading right toward me. Realizing quickly that I was standing in the vacuum cleaner aisle, once again, I threw together a conversation...



"I don't know what kind you want, you do the cleaning, I have no idea!"



With this one sided conversation seemingly going strong, the hooded thief turned into my aisle and passed behind me, perusing the cleaners. As he left the aisle I turned to watch him make his way through the toy department and into the bathroom. Many people will take merchandise to the bathroom to remove it from their containers and walk out, leaving the security devices behind. I quickly grabbed the store manager and a stock boy and had them hide nearby. They were directed to go into the bathroom as soon as the man walked out, and search for empty packages or evidence of what I knew was happening in there.



While I waited for the man to reappear, I finished my call to the police. I was hoping by the time the man came out and headed for the door, the police might be present. I positioned myself near the front registers where I could see both the front door and straight back to the bathroom hallway. While explaining the situation to the 9-1-1 dispatcher, time slowed to a crawl. I was wondering where the guy was and what was holding him up, and at the same time I was glad because I had no back up there yet.



Suddenly, my eye caught a glimpse of a dark figure moving quickly across the front of the store. I looked over the registers and made out a police officer jogging through the store starting to head toward the back of the store. I yelled to hold him up and explained I needed this guy to take the merchandise past the sales point before I can stop him, and call it stealing. The officer immediately returned to the front doors and called off his back up officers as well.



Now I felt bad that the officers were called too soon, and were standing around doing nothing. Suddenly, the bald headed hooded thief appeared just a few aisles away from me. Again, back to my fake shopping, quickly turning away from him. His paced seemed to quicken as he approached the exits. I slid in behind him as he made his way up to the door. A second later, two police officers were backing him up into the vestibule, padding him down, searching pockets and the back pack. My chin, and heart, dropped when they opened the entire back pack with no sign of the box I saw him stuff inside.



"Sir can you then tell me where you put the DVD player I saw you put in there?"



The man just kept shaking his head telling the officers he didn't take anything. As we kept searching and asking, I could hear the Store manager paging me over the store speakers.



"Can someone call him and tell him I am with the Police Department!"

I turned my attention back to this man, very curious about what he had done with the box. The officers continued digging, and even once glanced up at me like "Now what?" Just then, they pulled out a nice leather DVD Player case, which I almost claimed as ours as well, opened it and pulled out a DVD player still wrapped on plastic. Even with this now out of the bag, he still refused to admit he had stolen it, until moments later, when I saw the manager walking up the aisle toward us smiling. He was carrying what used to be the DVD Player box, with security strap still intact. The cardboard box however had been destroyed. Torn from each end, and the contents removed. I took the box and pulled out another DVD player, but not nicely wrapped, and not the same model as advertised on the outside of the wrinkled box.



"He threw it in the trash in the bathroom!" the manager said almost childlike.



Instantly the mood changed. It went from a seriously shocked and appalled young man, to a hard ass carefree cocky son of a bitch. As we exchanged information, and the cuffs were snugly fitted to his wrists, he admitted that he had been arrested before a few times for shoplifting.



For his efforts, he not only didn't get a free DVD Player, he did earn himself a stay in prison, and earned me my first apprehension on my first day at work in 2010.



Happy New Year!



(Apprehension 21 and counting...)