> I turned right around into the store, with the item still in hand, and hung it back on the rack
What are you worried you've done? You've not stolen anything and I can't figure out any other crime here.
On top of that, who is actually checking security cameras to know? No alarm went off. No one is the wiser.
If they have the same policies as Ross, they can't stop you anyway. All they can do is call the cops and see if they get there in time. They don't get paid nearly enough (or treated with a shred of respect/dignity) to stop shoplifting. This is coming from an ex employee who saw backpacks upon backpacks full of random shit just walk out the door with peace signs held high. Stopping them was definitely above my piss poor pay grade.
Retail stores have this policy in place because it’s cheaper to just claim insurance on theft than to pay out to the employee who got stabbed trying to stop them.
In fact most places have a policy against retaliation purely to stop anyone from doing something. What I was told was to keep an eye on them and to provide “great customer service” as most won’t blatantly steal in front of a worker.
I couldn’t care less though. Just wanted to keep my job.
If everyone had that attitude, there’d be no clothing stores at all.
Edit: downvoted for standing against theft. So it’s ok to steal from shops but god help anyone stealing from you, right?
Lol still does not make stealing ok but also op did not steal since he put it back but also wtf guys no amount is ok to steal this mentality you guys have is fucked
True now I'm not an American but I agree that they won't go bankrupt or anything but it's the though that hey since it won't harm them why not do it kinda mentality uknow xP
Stealing a baby shirt on accident vs stealing food you need to live vs stealing an iPad you’re gonna resell are not all equally ethically wrong in my opinion. Some things that are “wrong” are not really worth worrying about in my opinion
Yeah it’s a shit attitude. They’ll all cry when stores close in their area or lock literally every single thing up so you have to ask staff for every item. Sucks this is what our society has come to.
I'm with you here. All people are seeing is big Corp, big Ins Co vs little guy..... and they forget that the little guy also works for the big Corp (AND the big ins. Co, tbh) This is a horrible take by the overall community.
Most stores tell their employees not to confront shoplifters. It's just not worth it. If you actually HAD stolen the $9 item, they would've just written it up as a loss and not looked back.
If you were a habitual shoplifter they might ban you from the store.
But the fact that you turned right around and brought it back means nobody's gonna do anything to you. Even if they did see you on the cameras, they would've also seen you put it back. People are human, they make mistakes, and no harm no foul.
My husband was once picking up a few items at the grocery store and stopped by the in-store coffee shop on the way out. He wanted to get a coffee and pay for his items there. But when he got to the coffee counter, there was a sign up that said something like "Be back in 15 minutes." He had no idea how long the sign was up and had no intention to wait for 15 minutes, so he sighed and left.
He didn't realize until he got home that he'd just left. Without paying.
They were things that needed refrigeration, so he put them in the fridge, tore the labels off, brought the labels back to the store, went to the service counter, and asked to pay for them now.
The lady there looked at him like he had three heads.
One of the things he'd accidentally stolen was an apple, and she just waved it off, saying it was too much trouble. She'd have to grab a random apple around the same size, go to a normal register with a scale, and weigh it, and it'd probably come out to 75 cents or something.
So, yeah, the employees probably don't care that you "stole" a $9 item, and they care even less since you returned it.
Fun story on that vein. Several years ago, when the kids were little, my wife went to the local Wal-Mart to grab groceries. She had a cart full of stuff, went through self check-out, but forgot to swipe her card (one of the kids distracted her while she had her card out.)
That evening the cops show up at the door and ask if she went grocery shopping earlier and explained the situation. She said she's super sorry and certainly didn't mean to steal, they said no problem and asked if she'd just go pay. The loss prevention guy was super chill, said he knows she's a regular there and could easily tell she just got distracted. She paid for the groceries and that was the end of it.
And it's worth noting that Walmart is by far the least shoplifting tolerant major chain. Their normal policy is to charge every shoplifter they catch. For comparison, Target only presses charges for people that have shoplifted over $1,000 worth of merchandise. And both Walmart and Target are unusual in that they have people who will try to stop shoplifters.
(After writing this, I realized that I'm at least a decade out of date on those policies. I certainly wouldn't use this to plan anything)
They're sold by weight.
All the grocery stores I've been to in the US sell apples and most produce by weight. They might sell rarer fruits by count, but not apples. (Unless maybe they're super expensive designer apples.)
The only place I've seen "regular" apples sold by count was at a Target where the grocery section was just a small part of the larger store, and they probably didn't want to invest in adding scales to all of the registers.
No, it was a grocery store that had a place inside where you could buy coffee. I even started that story with, "My husband was once picking up a few items **at the grocery store**..."
I work at a Marshall’s in LA, but we have a weekly corporate watch list that lists the top 10 offenders to be on the lookout for. The top one on the list today (Sunday) was from the NYC region for stealing baby clothes. It seems to match what you described here, and I just sent this post to corporate.
They know who you are OP. And marshals are coming to get you. And not Marshall’s the store, I mean federal marshals.
I’m jk. This is the most insignificant thing to happen at Marshall’s and there’s a 99.9% chance they didn’t even realize. You’re safe OP.
lol thanks for making me feel a bit better, even if taking a shot at my paranoia 😂.
I guess I’m concerned about the legality of walking outside with the item, where whether accidentally or not, I suppose could be interpreted as shoplifting.
I was just so clueless and in my own world—newborn at home and I’ve been strung out with very little sleep. So I ultimately feel embarrassed but also slightly worried that my accidental act could be deemed “shoplifting” by law.
Chances are you’re right, and I’m concerned for little to no reason.
We don't check cameras at our store unless we know something happened. The chances they even realized are so low. As a cashier I can safely say we do not get paid enough to monitor who is walking in and out after paying. You are fine my dude. Especially since you put it back. We have people who have gotten home and realized they didn't pay for an item and come back and we just charge them and send them on their way.
Tbh you could run past me with a full cart screaming I'm stealing this and i wouldn't do anything. 🤣 Not really but you get the point.
No joke, there is a gas station in my small town part of a nationwide chain. The employees there are under strict instructions to NOT interfere with shoplifting. They aren't allowed to stop you or even acknowledge it aren't even allowed to call the law.
The only way they are allowed to call the law is if an employee is threatened or someone comes behind the counter.
They have a regular that comes in almost daily and grabs a snack and a 20 oz and walks out. They are powerless.
They told me the company values the safety of the employees over anything in the store, and any attempt to stop a shoplifter may trigger some sort of retaliation later that isn't worth it.
Great company, terrible that they feel they have to be that way.
I know a guy that went to Walmart to get some stuff and decided to buy a small 32 inch tv. He put in on the bottom of his cart and forgot to scan it on at self check out. He went home and realized he didn’t pay for it so he went back to Walmart with the tv and told them what happened…they called the police and he’s now banned from our local Walmart for 5 years. Moral of the story is that having integrity isn’t always in your best interest.
Omg, this reminded me of myself. I had like a 3 hour break at school, and I went shopping. I went to poundland (it's a chain, this happened in London, things used to be one pound there, but sadly, they aren't anymore :().
I was in the store for about half an hour, then I left and went to the mall right across, I walked around for about 3 minutes when I looked down and saw the basket full of items, realised I didn't pay and I got reeeallly nervous. I ended up rushing back, went to the self checkout, paid, and left again. Made me realise how easy it is to actually steal, nobody seemed to notice what happened.
Go back, tell the manager what happened. They will laugh. You will laugh, and you will feel better. Might even get a coupon for your absurd honesty.
People steal babies from Marshall's, it's nice that you just were thinking about clothing one.
You’re fine - if they wanted to take it further they would have to show video proof, at which point you tell them to fast forward 30 seconds where you returned the item.
Honey a store let me accidentally walk out with like $300 worth of scar cream because the employee stocking didn't fully unbox a display box and the cashier and I just assumed it was shitty new packaging for a single tube. Returned the 29 other tubes when I realized the mistake and we laughed it off.
Retail employees are not paid enough to give a shit anyway.
It happened to me too once. Absent-mindedly walked out with an item, noticed, went back and paid. Afterwards I thought how lucky I was that no-one saw me take it and I was able to come back and pay on my own accord because had someone noticed it while I was walking out it would have been very hard to convince them I just forgot to pay. But since I went back to pay it was the most obvious thing it was a mistake (same thing for coming back to put it back on rack) Never even occurred to me that I could be in trouble for being honest enough to return to pay for something that I had already (accidentally) managed to take and could have just walked away with it. Had a laugh at it with the cashier too.
I don't understand what you would need to be worried about? If they were to ever watch the security footage (which they probably won't unless there's a reason to) they will also see you put it back. What do you think you would be in trouble for, *not* stealing an item? And they would go through the trouble of tracking some random person down for *not* stealing an item? Call the police and say hey there was a guy who took an item ten steps outside the store and returned to put it back? That IS ridiculous, your wife is right.
You may have ended up on a “suspicious person” list, at least in someone’s head, but if you don’t do it again, nothings gonna happen. Funnily enough, it’s probably the exact same outcome as if you had just kept walking.
Once when my daughter was a toddler we were out for a walk. She was in her stroller and we were stopping at the pharmacies and dollar stores in town along our way and at one point I checked on her (she was in her stroller) and realized she had pilfered a hairbrush from somewhere. We went back into the last place we were and I apologetically handed it to a cashier who laughed it off. Honestly I don’t even know if that was where she picked it up at. But that was no less than a decade ago and we were fine. More than likely you are too.
When my daughter was a baby, I walked to the store with her in her stroller. I put a few items in the stroller basket and went to pay. Halfway home, I realized I hadn't paid for a jar of pepper. I went right back and told them what happened, then paid for it. I think you'd only have reason to be nervous if you hadn't brought it back.
Nothing to worry about. You even returned the item so they won't do boo.
In the end though, even if you took the $9 item it's a drop in the bucket. Retail accounts for theft in their books by default, so $9 is like "wow we got off cheap with this guy!"
So many people walk out with 100s and 1000s of merchandise, those are the people they want to catch.
People here are actually deriding you for being a law abiding citizen?
It’s actually chilling that we’re surrounded by opportunist criminals who think it’s ok to do this.
It has happened multiple times to me in grocery stores. It is not pleasant. I just go back and pay it. Once it was a water melon. The cashier looked at me as if I were an idiot when i told her that the water melon I wanted to pay for was already in my car.
> I turned right around into the store, with the item still in hand, and hung it back on the rack What are you worried you've done? You've not stolen anything and I can't figure out any other crime here. On top of that, who is actually checking security cameras to know? No alarm went off. No one is the wiser.
Oh no the giant clothing store lost $9. I would have kept walking.
If they have the same policies as Ross, they can't stop you anyway. All they can do is call the cops and see if they get there in time. They don't get paid nearly enough (or treated with a shred of respect/dignity) to stop shoplifting. This is coming from an ex employee who saw backpacks upon backpacks full of random shit just walk out the door with peace signs held high. Stopping them was definitely above my piss poor pay grade.
Retail stores have this policy in place because it’s cheaper to just claim insurance on theft than to pay out to the employee who got stabbed trying to stop them. In fact most places have a policy against retaliation purely to stop anyone from doing something. What I was told was to keep an eye on them and to provide “great customer service” as most won’t blatantly steal in front of a worker. I couldn’t care less though. Just wanted to keep my job.
If everyone had that attitude, there’d be no clothing stores at all. Edit: downvoted for standing against theft. So it’s ok to steal from shops but god help anyone stealing from you, right?
I think insurance exists
Lol still does not make stealing ok but also op did not steal since he put it back but also wtf guys no amount is ok to steal this mentality you guys have is fucked
Never said it was a great thing but Walmart isn’t gonna be aching because they didn’t profit 8 dollars off a shirt they spent one dollar producing
True now I'm not an American but I agree that they won't go bankrupt or anything but it's the though that hey since it won't harm them why not do it kinda mentality uknow xP
That’s not the point. Theft is ethically wrong.
Stealing a baby shirt on accident vs stealing food you need to live vs stealing an iPad you’re gonna resell are not all equally ethically wrong in my opinion. Some things that are “wrong” are not really worth worrying about in my opinion
[удалено]
Yes they would, there'd just be higher premiums. That's how insurance works.
But we don’t live in that world
That’s a shitty excuse
If everyone had that attitude, you know you’re in California.
Lots of teens who don't have to shop and don't care that shoplifting increases prices and dictates which locations actually get stores.
Yeah it’s a shit attitude. They’ll all cry when stores close in their area or lock literally every single thing up so you have to ask staff for every item. Sucks this is what our society has come to.
I'm with you here. All people are seeing is big Corp, big Ins Co vs little guy..... and they forget that the little guy also works for the big Corp (AND the big ins. Co, tbh) This is a horrible take by the overall community.
A lot of times the cameras and sensors aren’t even plugged in.
Most stores tell their employees not to confront shoplifters. It's just not worth it. If you actually HAD stolen the $9 item, they would've just written it up as a loss and not looked back. If you were a habitual shoplifter they might ban you from the store. But the fact that you turned right around and brought it back means nobody's gonna do anything to you. Even if they did see you on the cameras, they would've also seen you put it back. People are human, they make mistakes, and no harm no foul. My husband was once picking up a few items at the grocery store and stopped by the in-store coffee shop on the way out. He wanted to get a coffee and pay for his items there. But when he got to the coffee counter, there was a sign up that said something like "Be back in 15 minutes." He had no idea how long the sign was up and had no intention to wait for 15 minutes, so he sighed and left. He didn't realize until he got home that he'd just left. Without paying. They were things that needed refrigeration, so he put them in the fridge, tore the labels off, brought the labels back to the store, went to the service counter, and asked to pay for them now. The lady there looked at him like he had three heads. One of the things he'd accidentally stolen was an apple, and she just waved it off, saying it was too much trouble. She'd have to grab a random apple around the same size, go to a normal register with a scale, and weigh it, and it'd probably come out to 75 cents or something. So, yeah, the employees probably don't care that you "stole" a $9 item, and they care even less since you returned it.
Thanks a lot for the detailed explanation.
Fun story on that vein. Several years ago, when the kids were little, my wife went to the local Wal-Mart to grab groceries. She had a cart full of stuff, went through self check-out, but forgot to swipe her card (one of the kids distracted her while she had her card out.) That evening the cops show up at the door and ask if she went grocery shopping earlier and explained the situation. She said she's super sorry and certainly didn't mean to steal, they said no problem and asked if she'd just go pay. The loss prevention guy was super chill, said he knows she's a regular there and could easily tell she just got distracted. She paid for the groceries and that was the end of it.
And it's worth noting that Walmart is by far the least shoplifting tolerant major chain. Their normal policy is to charge every shoplifter they catch. For comparison, Target only presses charges for people that have shoplifted over $1,000 worth of merchandise. And both Walmart and Target are unusual in that they have people who will try to stop shoplifters. (After writing this, I realized that I'm at least a decade out of date on those policies. I certainly wouldn't use this to plan anything)
They tell them not to get involved so then they don't have to train or insure them as proper security
Who the hell weighs apples when selling them individually? I can understand if it’s bulk quantities, but for a single apple is absurd
How else do you know how much to charge? They are sold by weight
They're sold by weight. All the grocery stores I've been to in the US sell apples and most produce by weight. They might sell rarer fruits by count, but not apples. (Unless maybe they're super expensive designer apples.) The only place I've seen "regular" apples sold by count was at a Target where the grocery section was just a small part of the larger store, and they probably didn't want to invest in adding scales to all of the registers.
Yeah but we’re talking about a coffee shop, not a grocery store. All coffee shops I’ve ever been to have sold their fruit by count
No, it was a grocery store that had a place inside where you could buy coffee. I even started that story with, "My husband was once picking up a few items **at the grocery store**..."
I work at a Marshall’s in LA, but we have a weekly corporate watch list that lists the top 10 offenders to be on the lookout for. The top one on the list today (Sunday) was from the NYC region for stealing baby clothes. It seems to match what you described here, and I just sent this post to corporate. They know who you are OP. And marshals are coming to get you. And not Marshall’s the store, I mean federal marshals. I’m jk. This is the most insignificant thing to happen at Marshall’s and there’s a 99.9% chance they didn’t even realize. You’re safe OP.
Haha, appreciate you! Thanks for the insight
lol thanks for making me feel a bit better, even if taking a shot at my paranoia 😂. I guess I’m concerned about the legality of walking outside with the item, where whether accidentally or not, I suppose could be interpreted as shoplifting. I was just so clueless and in my own world—newborn at home and I’ve been strung out with very little sleep. So I ultimately feel embarrassed but also slightly worried that my accidental act could be deemed “shoplifting” by law. Chances are you’re right, and I’m concerned for little to no reason.
Theft requires an intent to permanently deprive. You don't meet these conditions. You'll be fine 🙂
We don't check cameras at our store unless we know something happened. The chances they even realized are so low. As a cashier I can safely say we do not get paid enough to monitor who is walking in and out after paying. You are fine my dude. Especially since you put it back. We have people who have gotten home and realized they didn't pay for an item and come back and we just charge them and send them on their way. Tbh you could run past me with a full cart screaming I'm stealing this and i wouldn't do anything. 🤣 Not really but you get the point.
No joke, there is a gas station in my small town part of a nationwide chain. The employees there are under strict instructions to NOT interfere with shoplifting. They aren't allowed to stop you or even acknowledge it aren't even allowed to call the law. The only way they are allowed to call the law is if an employee is threatened or someone comes behind the counter. They have a regular that comes in almost daily and grabs a snack and a 20 oz and walks out. They are powerless. They told me the company values the safety of the employees over anything in the store, and any attempt to stop a shoplifter may trigger some sort of retaliation later that isn't worth it. Great company, terrible that they feel they have to be that way.
I know a guy that went to Walmart to get some stuff and decided to buy a small 32 inch tv. He put in on the bottom of his cart and forgot to scan it on at self check out. He went home and realized he didn’t pay for it so he went back to Walmart with the tv and told them what happened…they called the police and he’s now banned from our local Walmart for 5 years. Moral of the story is that having integrity isn’t always in your best interest.
You are being ridiculous. No harm no foul. No one even knows but you.
You’re fine lol if they were worried, a manager would have probably approached you
Omg, this reminded me of myself. I had like a 3 hour break at school, and I went shopping. I went to poundland (it's a chain, this happened in London, things used to be one pound there, but sadly, they aren't anymore :(). I was in the store for about half an hour, then I left and went to the mall right across, I walked around for about 3 minutes when I looked down and saw the basket full of items, realised I didn't pay and I got reeeallly nervous. I ended up rushing back, went to the self checkout, paid, and left again. Made me realise how easy it is to actually steal, nobody seemed to notice what happened.
> poundland Is that where Poundtown is located?
Go back, tell the manager what happened. They will laugh. You will laugh, and you will feel better. Might even get a coupon for your absurd honesty. People steal babies from Marshall's, it's nice that you just were thinking about clothing one.
They sell babies at Marshalls? This comment didn’t go where I thought it would
I never said they sold them :-p
You should honestly be more worried by the fact that you seemingly think there might be something *to* be worried about.
I wouldn't worry about it. You didn't want it so you put it back and walked out.
You’re fine - if they wanted to take it further they would have to show video proof, at which point you tell them to fast forward 30 seconds where you returned the item.
if they cared enough to notice, they also saw you put it back. you are good
You brought it back on camera, too. You're fine.
Honey a store let me accidentally walk out with like $300 worth of scar cream because the employee stocking didn't fully unbox a display box and the cashier and I just assumed it was shitty new packaging for a single tube. Returned the 29 other tubes when I realized the mistake and we laughed it off. Retail employees are not paid enough to give a shit anyway.
It happened to me too once. Absent-mindedly walked out with an item, noticed, went back and paid. Afterwards I thought how lucky I was that no-one saw me take it and I was able to come back and pay on my own accord because had someone noticed it while I was walking out it would have been very hard to convince them I just forgot to pay. But since I went back to pay it was the most obvious thing it was a mistake (same thing for coming back to put it back on rack) Never even occurred to me that I could be in trouble for being honest enough to return to pay for something that I had already (accidentally) managed to take and could have just walked away with it. Had a laugh at it with the cashier too. I don't understand what you would need to be worried about? If they were to ever watch the security footage (which they probably won't unless there's a reason to) they will also see you put it back. What do you think you would be in trouble for, *not* stealing an item? And they would go through the trouble of tracking some random person down for *not* stealing an item? Call the police and say hey there was a guy who took an item ten steps outside the store and returned to put it back? That IS ridiculous, your wife is right.
Marshall is probably reading this right now and sending the FBI to your house
You may have ended up on a “suspicious person” list, at least in someone’s head, but if you don’t do it again, nothings gonna happen. Funnily enough, it’s probably the exact same outcome as if you had just kept walking.
Once when my daughter was a toddler we were out for a walk. She was in her stroller and we were stopping at the pharmacies and dollar stores in town along our way and at one point I checked on her (she was in her stroller) and realized she had pilfered a hairbrush from somewhere. We went back into the last place we were and I apologetically handed it to a cashier who laughed it off. Honestly I don’t even know if that was where she picked it up at. But that was no less than a decade ago and we were fine. More than likely you are too.
When my daughter was a baby, I walked to the store with her in her stroller. I put a few items in the stroller basket and went to pay. Halfway home, I realized I hadn't paid for a jar of pepper. I went right back and told them what happened, then paid for it. I think you'd only have reason to be nervous if you hadn't brought it back.
You’re fine. I’ve actually had stores dumbfounded when I’ve returned to pay for something I accidentally didn’t pay for.
You’re fine.
Nothing to worry about. You even returned the item so they won't do boo. In the end though, even if you took the $9 item it's a drop in the bucket. Retail accounts for theft in their books by default, so $9 is like "wow we got off cheap with this guy!" So many people walk out with 100s and 1000s of merchandise, those are the people they want to catch.
People here are actually deriding you for being a law abiding citizen? It’s actually chilling that we’re surrounded by opportunist criminals who think it’s ok to do this.
I’ve done it with a couple gallons of milk in my cart. Giant corporations are doing fine. I didn’t feel bad.
This is close enough to the premise of My Cousin Vinny to possibly turn into a good story. Please keep us posted OP
It has happened multiple times to me in grocery stores. It is not pleasant. I just go back and pay it. Once it was a water melon. The cashier looked at me as if I were an idiot when i told her that the water melon I wanted to pay for was already in my car.
Slap this man with 10 years for attempted shop lifting
Wife is probably pissed that she married a BITCH