“The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief.”William Shakespeare (Othello)
In the foolishness of my youth, I spent a number of years employed in the grocery business. It was a good job for young man and allowed me the ability to purchase a brand-new Chevy truck. My time was spent evenly between the check stand, the produce department, and the grocery isles in between. Duties included filling the milk box, pop isle, stocking shelves anywhere and everywhere as needed, and catching shoplifters, purse snatchers, and other miscreants. It was a wild time!
In recent years, it has become apparent that retail thieves these days have an easier time executing their wicked deeds. In some states, laws against shoplifting and theft have been relaxed to the point that bad folks have no fear of the law and seem to steal as they please. It is common in some stores to see many goods locked up, accessible only by summoning a high school kid with a key ring. This is because of the fear of legal issues. Now, if you chase a shoplifter, you can get sued, or fired, or both. It didn’t use to be that way.
In my day (I’m pretty old), as part of our grocery work, we would hunt shoplifters. Always ready to sprint into action when needed, we were on constant patrol. Shoplifting, and the robbery of our customers, was considered a personal offense. And chasing and fighting bad guys was fun, if a bit dangerous.
Note – I am not advising anyone practice these methods today.
Back in the 70s, the stores that I worked in had two-way mirrors around the perimeter of the store. Behind these mirrors was a catwalk, accessible through a back hallway in the breakroom. From the catwalk we could spy on customers and employees in the store below. It was a common practice to stay alert and when observing the furtive movements of potential thieves, we would hit the catwalk and observe. Often shoplifters could be simply confronted by the store manager just outside the door, but this was not always the case. Most fun were the runners. I can’t count the number of times we chased thieves in full retreat across the parking lot headed for freedom. These chases were thrilling. Usually, when caught, the bad guys gave up. Rarely were punches thrown.
Sometimes shoplifters gave themselves away easily before leaving the store. I remember one gentleman with prime rib under his hat and blood running down his face. It turned out that he did not need medical attention after all. He was just trying to save some money.
I did work at a store in a rough part of town, and our worst shoplifting suspects were dangerous gang members. I can’t believe we did this, but we chased those guys too. I remember one late night episode where a group of us clerks and box boys (the girls were wise enough to stay indoors) confronted several gang members who ran from our store with beer in their pants. We caught them, after a chase through several back alleys, but we had a bit of a scary standoff until the police showed up. I would not do that again.
Sometimes our thieves were totally brazen. One angry group of bad guys, upset because our store was closed and the front door locked, decided to simply drive in and help themselves. They drove their car into the store’s front door, but couldn’t make it all the way in. No beer for them.
But the worst criminals that we had to deal with too often were the purse snatchers. One busy night, with only two check stands open and long, long lines, a bad guy stole a purse from an elderly lady right in front of our store. I heard a scream, saw him knock her down and take off. I started to run for him, paused and looked back at my long line of customers, who by this time were yelling encouragement and saying – “Get him!” I flew out the door in hot pursuit, followed by the only other clerk in the store. We left all our customers standing in line. We did catch him, returned her purse, and held him for the police. As I walked back into the store, our patient customers greeted me with thunderous applause.
The scariest purse snatching incident that we experienced, however, was harrowing. We had two guys confront a couple in our parking lot. They stole the woman’s purse and stabbed her in the process. She stumbled back through the front door and collapsed in a pool of blood. I and one of the guys from the meat department were able to stop the bleeding until the paramedics arrived. We saved her life. But that was one scary night.
Sometimes I’m surprised we survived the 70s…
© 2024 Jody Dyer
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