My February Goes Out Like a Tortise

So yeah... February has come and gone, and I tallied up a big fat goose egg in the apprehension category. The only thing I have to show is the investigation, which is ongoing, and growing, into a fraudulent credit card ring hitting several stores in our area. Although this may yield a wonderful apprehension or multiple apprehensions, at some point, the fact remains I just went an entire month with no shoplifting or employee arrests.

The closest I came was on the last day of the month, at the beginning of the last hour of my shift. I was alerted by my Service Desk employee that a girl they had problems with before had just entered the store. The last time this girl was here she tried scamming the new cashier, and blamed him for overcharging her by ringing her up twice., As a result, she walked away with free merchandise, before I could review the video. Once I saw the video, it was clear she pulled a fast one on the cashier, confusing him just enough to ger her way.

This time I saw her as she paced the aisles in the Health and Beauty Department. I took a position opposite her in the aisle next to her, using the ceiling mirror to observe her. She seemed to be nervous about something, and paced back and forth before taking a bottle of Body Wash off the shelf. she then moved from this aisle to the Shampoo aisle, where she again did some pacing before choosing a few items. I kept an eye on her as she left the department and headed for the registers. I quickly grabbed a shampooo myself, and walked right up behind her in line. I wanted to watch her transaction first hand, without her even knowing she had more than just the cashier watching her. Unfortunately, the transaction went smoothly. I stepped up and placed the fake shampoo purchase on the counter and told the cashier to take the next person before me, as I watched the girl ahead of me walk toward the exit. Then it finally happened. She glanced back behind her, then at the last minute before stepping through the exit, she turned left, and back onto the salesfloor, this time carrying a bag from her first purchase with her.

I quickly left the line, and scurried down the aisle to see where she went. As I passed the Service Desk, the employee nodded toward the Cosmetics aisles, knowing I was in a slow pursuit of this girl. I walked past the Cosmetics Department and walked into the department next to it, and again used the mirrors to observe the girl fingering lip stick, eye shadow, and other make up. I was just waiting for her to pick one or two up and drop it into the bag with the merchandise she had already purchased. In my head, I had already played out the argument she would offer me when I stopped her leaving the store. I could hear her protesting saying she had bought everything in the bag. My heart beat actually quickened, realizing I would soon have my February apprehension...until that friendly, smiling coworker decided, of all days and times, to approach her and ask if there was anything she could help her with. She politely declined, tucked the bag under her arm, and walked directly to the exit, with only the original merchandise in the bag.

As I watched the girl leave the store, in my head I could hear the ticking of the 60 minutes clock. Only this time, the second hand was ticking away on my first apprehension-less month since starting this position. My streak has ended.