Читать книгу Fly On the Walmart: Confessions of a Young Walmart Greeter - Kristin Ph.D. Mango - Страница 19

ANOTHER DOSE OF ADRENALINE

About two hours after I caught my first thief, my second thief came along—a thirty something year old man carting himself out in an electric cart. The basket of the power cart contained an assortment of groceries. Obviously, I had to ask for his receipt, but he ignored me. As with the first thief, another customer tapped the man on his shoulder so that I could catch him. After telling him that I stopped him because I needed to see his receipt, he cheerfully told me that he would be happy to show me his receipt. He sifted through the groceries but could not find the receipt. A search through his pockets and wallet yielded no receipt either, just like with the first thief. Again, the man told me he had to go back inside the store. His “buddy” had the receipt. Ten minutes later, the man still hadn’t returned, and I caught sight of a manager.

“I think a man is trying to steal some merchandise,” I told her.

“The camping equipment? Yeah, I know about that,” she replied in a “don’t-toot-your-own-horn” tone of voice.

That’s old news, I thought with a smile, I’m on to the next thief now.

“No, another guy,” I said and described the man to her.

The manager left in search of the man I had described. While on break, the manager called me to talk. Apparently, the man in the wheelchair, just as I suspected he would, waited a while before attempting to leave through the other door where the other greeter also stopped him. Luckily, two other employees were nearby and forced the man to go through a checkout line, all the while protesting that he had paid for the items.

Meanwhile, his friend snuck into the back “employees only” inventory room trying to take merchandise out through a fire exit door. A maintenance person saw the man and forced him out of the inventory room. When the two men met up again, the friend explained that the man in the wheelchair had just been released from the hospital and was on intense pain medication. That was the reason, of course, that the man had tried to shop lift.

“If that’s really the case,” the elderly greeter said, not missing a beat, “then he should be at home and someone should be watching him.”