This afternoon, while heading into a very large store with Evelyn, I watched a young man run through the exit with an overflowing load of clothing in his arms. A white car that had clearly seen better days was idling near the entrance. The man jumped into the backseat, dropping two shirts-- one red and one white-- in the parking lot as the car peeled away. It was really only a matter of seconds and the car had disappeared, leaving a handful of onlookers scratching their hands.
No one made a move toward the merchandise that had literally been left in the dust, so I buckled Evelyn into a shopping cart and picked up the shirts to return to customer service. Stealing, and blatant rule-violating in general, really bothers me. I'm not sure if any of the other four or five "witnesses" would have reported anything to the store, but I felt I should say something. The car had sped off much too quickly for me to take note of its license plate number, but at least I could return the shirts. I certainly hope that when Evelyn is older, she would speak up if faced with a similar situation.
With such a hullabaloo, you'd think the store would take notice. Likely there are cameras outside and hopefully something can be noted about the car to find the people. However, I do have to say that this may be, unfortunately, a very clear and apparent sign of our times. People are getting DESPERATE and we, here on the Eastside, tend to be in this "wait, what recession, we all have jobs - everyone I know has a job, no one I know is really REALLY suffering" bubble. I'm not saying this in a demeaning way or insinuating anyone is purposefully arrogant or view the economic situation as trite...rather, I mean its a lot easier to forget that this sort of thing is a WAY OF LIFE for a lot of people out of necessity when we're not surrounded by it on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteThere are many many many places in the United States where this is a MUCH more common occurance. In Los Angeles, although its bridging on illegal, many stores check your reciept to your bags in total (now you can refuse this and they can't hold you unless they suspect you of theft but most ppl don't know this and just go along with it because someone in a semi-uniform is barking orders at them). Some malls in LA have this too - like inspect you upon departure!
Concerning times we live in but I couldn't agree more - you did the absolute right thing regardless!
In New York (city, not state), there are security guards at the doors of virtually every store and they initial your receipt on the way out. I found this very odd at first-- the fact that everyone in the store was seen as suspicious-- but if I owned a shop, I certainly wouldn't appreciate the slow trickle of merchandise slipping out the door without any compensation!
ReplyDeleteI'm watching the news right now, and there's a story on about a lady in Everett who got knocked down outside a store when she got in the way of a grab-and-dash robbery just like the one you described. And the suspects were young men/teens in a white car.
ReplyDeleteHmm.