Employee Fired For Catching Shoplifter

[Beta]

Oh man this is going to be a field-day for a lawyer.

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2007/12/grocery_worker_fired_for_stopp.html

[FLAK]

The fact that he was on break and acting outside the scope of his employment off company property should be beneficial to his case. It could also help him if he was not made aware of the "don't touch the shoplifters rule".

[`MM9]

There is a rule like that for most stores.

It reminds me of a friend of mine...

He worked at Bose, and a "Customer" came in a few weeks earlier and stole a speakers system and walked out. The employees were not allowed to follow him, so they just called the police and filed a report. A few weeks later, the thief returned, this time dressed in scrubs, and some of the employees recognized him. The man proceeded to grab the remote for the system he stole, and walked casually outside. (He must have forgot a remote).

So my friend, the employee, chases him out of the store and around a corner. The thief tries to run across the highway access road, but is hit by a car. The thief didn't get up, and my friend stayed there with him until the police came. The funny thing is, the driver of the car was a 15 year old girl with her permit. Her Grandma was teaching her how to drive at the time, and thought her Granddaughter had killed a doctor.


My friend was warned by the company...but not fired. I think that would have been the proper way for Whole Foods to handle the situation in Michigan.

[Dan Wishengrad]

There was a simliar but even more tragic case here in the Seattle area a few years back. A woman shoplifted a bag of groceries, walked out of the store and got into her car and drove off. An employee of the grocery jumped into his own car and gave chase (obviously off store property). It became a high-speed chase, and the shoplifter wound up crashing her car which killed her young daughter in the passenger seat. She wound up suing the store HERSELF for unintentional manslaughter, which of course outraged many people because she had committed a crime herself and then chose to drive recklessly after that, being pursued not by the cops but by a civilian store employee. She claimed in her lawsuit that she feared for her life, that she had only resorted to stealing groceries to feed her daughter who didn't deserve to die because of that.

I think the store wound up settling out of court, the employee was also fired, and the shoplifter got a couple grocery bags of cash. Go figure...

[Jolly Roger]

More glorification of the "victim" in our society.

Heaven forbid one is responsible for results of their actions.

Please remember:

1. Coffee is hot, it can burn you.
2. Buying a shot for a drunk acquaintence isn't being a friend.
3. Flip Wilson already used "the devil made me do it".
4. If you break your leg burgling my house, I don't have enough assets to be worth suing - so don't come in.
5. An ill-fitting glove and hints of racism are more compelling than DNA.
6. Blaming your addiction will get you sympathy.
7. Fast food is causing our obesity problem (not self control).

[/rant]

Happy New Year!

[Dan Wishengrad]

I did a search and read up on the case I posted about above. The woman's lawsuit was dismissed, she received no money, and was actually convicted herself eventually of vehicular manslaughter in her daughter's death. The judge at sentencing said that no prison term he could hand out would be worse than the death of her daughter anyway, and that she should accept that her own actions caused this tragedy to happen.

Sorry folks, poor memory here...

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.c ... ta+durrett

[BucLax13]

Coffee is hot, it can burn you.

read up on the case, not really what we believed

http://lawandhelp.com/q298-2.htm
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm

I agree with your statement, just not that particular example

If the store doesn't care people steal groceries why should the employee?
Maybe the store knows that for not confronting 5,000 shoplifters a year over all their branch stores that they save themselves on employee insurance, store insurance, and what is stolen totals less than that of a major lawsuit. No employees get hurt by not confronting shoplifters and no one can file suit against the company if confronted and then injured. But maybe we should pass judgement since we know how to run 3.9 billion dollar company with 171 stores.

Most stores have policies on how to handle such situations (i.e. don't chase or touch), you break policy of store you can be fired

Heaven forbid one is responsible for results of their actions.

Everyone deserves a good...

[Beta]

In all honesty, there's absolutely nothing stopping anyone from stealing from a store that has a "no chase, no touch" policy.

I worked at Office Max as a customer service supervisor at the end of HS and someone could literally walk up to you, say they are stealing something and then walk out, even if the alarm goes off you really cannot stop them. Mmm, political correctness and criminal rights.

Whenever we knew someone was stealing something (it's easy to tell) we would mess with them like crazy. Hey if they're going to steal something, you might as well put them in a bad mood.

My favorite thing was to turn off the automatic door as they (usually hurriedly) walked out of the store without paying. They would usually walk right into the glass face-first...often times they would just push the door open, off of it's automatic hinges. When people would ask why they broke open the door...we'd just say "oh, they stole something...and we're not allowed to stop them".

[DanGenck]

More glorification of the "victim" in our society.

Heaven forbid one is responsible for results of their actions.

Please remember:

1. Coffee is hot, it can burn you.
2. Buying a shot for a drunk acquaintence isn't being a friend.
3. Flip Wilson already used "the devil made me do it".
4. If you break your leg burgling my house, I don't have enough assets to be worth suing - so don't come in.
5. An ill-fitting glove and hints of racism are more compelling than DNA.
6. Blaming your addiction will get you sympathy.
7. Fast food is causing our obesity problem (not self control).

[/rant]

Happy New Year!

I had forgotten about the coffee incident at McDonald's way back when. I'm pretty sure that woman ended up getting counter-sued by McDonald's and ended up getting almost none of the million dollars she originally was awarded.

No media coverage for that, though...

[ZagGrad]

Whenever we knew someone was stealing something (it's easy to tell) we would mess with them like crazy. Hey if they're going to steal something, you might as well put them in a bad mood.

THAT is funny...any more stories?

We had the same stipulations while working at Abercrombie. I suspected someone of stealing, with good cause, and left the store with a brand rep, found a security guard and tried to get the individual, but to no avail. We always had problems catching people who stole because the music was so loud and we could never hear the alarm going off.

[Beta]

We had the same stipulations while working at Abercrombie. I suspected someone of stealing, with good cause, and left the store with a brand rep, found a security guard and tried to get the individual, but to no avail. We always had problems catching people who stole because the music was so loud and we could never hear the alarm going off.

Haha I worked at one too. The alarm went off seriously every 15 minutes because (strangely enough) whoever was at the counter didn't take off any alarms.

I think there was more of a problem with the employees stealing clothes by "throwing them out" with the trash

[FLAK]

We had the same stipulations while working at Abercrombie. I suspected someone of stealing, with good cause, and left the store with a brand rep, found a security guard and tried to get the individual, but to no avail. We always had problems catching people who stole because the music was so loud and we could never hear the alarm going off.

Haha I worked at one too. The alarm went off seriously every 15 minutes because (strangely enough) whoever was at the counter didn't take off any alarms.

I think there was more of a problem with the employees stealing clothes by "throwing them out" with the trash

I worked at an A&F one summer (worst job ever) they need to rethink having that awful teenie techno playing at full blast if they want to stop people from stealing...The funniest part would be the plain clothes security "shopper" who was the most out of place person in that store, I'm pretty sure they never caught anyone while that person was on the scene...

[Beta]

...they need to rethink having that awful teenie techno playing...

Haha that's the most memorable thing about working there. The constant "unst unst unst unst" will give you a headache you wouldn't believe.

unst unst unst

[laxfan25]

I guess you can appreciate the logic behind the store policy, but it just all seems to be wrong. The only hope for the fired employee is that the public outrage may force Whole Foods to reconsider its decision.
My nephew was working in security at a department store and got involved in stopping a shoplifter - physically - and somehow ended up getting arrested and having to go to court. I believe he got probation.

Last year I was checking out at a large Arkansas-base retailer as a woman was paying for a large-screen TV at the next register over. Her companion was wheeling it out of the store with the help of a store employee while she did the paperwork. After a few minutes her charge was declined, and she said, "oh well, I'll come back later" and proceeded to walk out of the store. I'm sure the empoyee outside knew none of this, so I saw the manager and casually informed him of the unfolding scam. He scurried out of the store and came wheeling back in with the HDTV. He said "thank you!". I think the employee might have been a friend as well of the group - just my suspicion.
Not a defender of Wal-Mart, but I do appreciate that this drives up all of our prices.
Someone did make the truthful point though that employee theft dwarfs that perpetrated by outsiders.

[lgriemsman]

"Last year I was checking out at a large Arkansas-base retailer as a woman was paying for a large-screen TV at the next register over. Her companion was wheeling it out of the store with the help of a store employee while she did the paperwork. After a few"

Did you happen to hear what kind of music the store had on the overhead speakers?