Do you tell if...

HI

At Avec the other night, I noticed that between my washroom visits someone had taken the hand lotion. I seriously doubt it was the staff refilling it, I think it was a patron (with purses so big these days, someone could have snatched the sink and walked out without anyone noticing).

I didn't tell the staff, figuring they weren't about to start searching bags on the way out, and it was probably long gone. But should I have?

If you see someone stashing a peppergrinder into his pockets, or lotion from the bathroom into her purse, do you say something? Or if you just notice it gone, like I did, do you tell?

leek wrote: a peppergrinder into his pockets

That was just me happy to see you, apologies.

I'd think about it this way: what will the restaurant be able to do with that information? If it's lotion, I suppose they might like to know so they could replace it. If you can point out a thief, I suppose they might be able to politely ask them if a bottle of lotion fell into their purse by accident...but there is a limit to what they can do without creating a scene and distressing their good customers.

I know theft is an integral part of any retail business, and I suppose most wholesale businesses also. Everybody has some way of dealing with it - although sometimes, the way is to look the other way, irritating though this may be to the folks who play fair. I'm guessing the lotion cost less than a two-person dinner?

Restauranteurs? What's your take?

leek wrote:If you see someone stashing a peppergrinder into his pockets, or lotion from the bathroom into her purse, do you say something? Or if you just notice it gone, like I did, do you tell?

In a delicate social situation like this, discretion is certainly the key. I recommend the subtle approach of shrieking, "It puts the lotion in the basket!!!" at the top of your lungs.

I've never actually seen somebody taking something beyond some extra rolls or packets of sweetener, so I don't know what I'd do in that situation. I might well blurt something in surprise.

But I usually do try to alert staffers if I notice something missing from where it should be, particularly ladies' room supplies. Mostly, that means I tell counter people in fast-food restaurants that they've run out of paper towels or TP, though, and I do it because I hate getting in there and finding out the hard way.

Santander wrote:

leek wrote: a peppergrinder into his pockets

That was just me happy to see you, apologies.

OK, but how do you explain the crank at the end of it?

Buddy

HI,

As if replying to this thread, there is an article on restaurant theft.

Regards,

OK, but how do you explain the crank at the end of it?

Vintage Model T?

razbry wrote:

OK, but how do you explain the crank at the end of it?

Vintage Model T?

As you should know by now, I'm a crank at the end of everything.

You're welcome for the set-up. I'll send you a bill.

Buddy

There are people who will take anything.....the vast array of things that get stolen is pretty amazing. When travelling, we've asked if we can take a few containers of half and half for our hotel room and are generally provided with some. We try not to pilfer.

If I were in your situation and noted the lotion missing, I'd let someone know just so they could refill. It's not likely they would call out an APB for the missing bottle.

I have encountered folks snatching up things and generally comment that the item is probably available for purchase at a store and they should leave the complimentary object alone for others to enjoy. Being a rather tall person, I don't get too much sass back. If I do, I simply walk away.

Santander (and responders).....nice! Very nice! I'll be giggling all day now!

HI,

Yesterday, a friend observed a man wolfing down a bagette in a local grocery store. He then helped himself to warm soup. Once he finished drinking it from the take-out container, he filled it with another soup. He proceeded to the section with chilled beverages. He left the soup container partially filled on a refrigerator shelf. He then began to read with great interest labels on beverage containers. He found one he liked, popped it open and took a gulp. He returned to the soup container, finished it off and returned to the shelf.

Her initial glance, she thought he was well dressed. On closer inspection, he was wearing a winter weight suit on a fairly warm day. She alerted a stocking clerk who suggested she contact the manager. The manager thanked her, then began to quietly observe this guy.

She waited in the parking lot to see what may happen next. He left the store, got into his car and left. She supposed he wasn't confronted, though they may be more alert to him in the future.

She felt guilty reporting him.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

Yesterday, a friend observed a man wolfing down a bagette in a local grocery store. He then helped himself to warm soup. Once he finished drinking it from the take-out container, he filled it with another soup. He proceeded to the section with chilled beverages. He left the soup container partially filled on a refrigerator shelf. He then began to read with great interest labels on beverage containers. He found one he liked, popped it open and took a gulp. He returned to the soup container, finished it off and returned to the shelf.

Her initial glance, she thought he was well dressed. On closer inspection, he was wearing a winter weight suit on a fairly warm day. She alerted a stocking clerk who suggested she contact the manager. The manager thanked her, then began to quietly observe this guy.

She waited in the parking lot to see what may happen next. He left the store, got into his car and left. She supposed he wasn't confronted, though they may be more alert to him in the future.

She felt guilty reporting him.

Regards,

That's interesting about the guilt, and probably pretty normal. My thought would be, hey, for someone to be pulling a stunt like that, they must be pretty damn hungry. I mean, it's pretty easy to feel sympathy for someone else's hunger pains. But you see someone in a suit (at first glance, here), and it's pretty easy to conclude this is some douchebag with an entitlement complex or an addiction to lowbrow sneakiness, and so your friend says something. But once your friend has reported him, other thoughts start to creep in. Maybe the guy is well dressed and still has his car, but he's flat broke and has to stoop to that kind of thing so he can keep up appearances to get a job or he has some kind of addiction that takes all his cash or any other kind of scenario that the imagination can summon up, and then the guilt. That's a tough, though common, situation for your friend to find herself in: What do you do when you see a person doing a bad thing for good reasons, when you don't know much or any background, and the bad thing seems immaterial in terms of good vs evil? Not an easy call. And walking through a grocery store, surrounded by other people while pop music is piped in over the speakers and shopping carts colliding, not exactly conditions conducive to problem solving minor ethical dilemmas. A person in that situation would second-guess themselves no matter what their decision was. I hope she's shook the guilt off by now.
Cheers.

A Reading from the Annals of Prepared Foods.

A friend who works at Whole Foods once told me about a hipster that ordered and drank a $7 smoothie while shopping (I think it was the "Energy Bee"), then clandestinely threw the cup out before paying. My friend cheerily retrieved it from the trash and walked it back over to the guy, giving him a non-confrontational opportunity to just take it to the register. The customer turned pale, then red, then decided to use the whole, "HOW DARE YOU" defense and pretend like it hadn't happened. Store policy: they let the guy leave after paying for the rest of his groceries, my friend's word vs. the customer's.

Fast-forward to today in the River Forest WF:

A guy orders a slice of $2.99 pepperoni pizza, which is the only variety not already present under the heat lamps (he knows the pizza guy is just building it and about to put it in the oven). He acts *mad* that it’s not ready, prompting an apologetic response. Justified by this, he starts to eat with his hands from the hot prepared food display nearby – it’s boneless fried chicken and caramelized vegetables, and he just picks up the little crispy bits near the edge of the pan while waiting; it’s sampling, after all, right?

I happen to wheel back around around 10 minutes later, and the guy has retrieved his slice. He then opens the container at the salad bar, and proceeds to crack black pepper and shake red pepper onto the pizza. Whatever, I think. He then proceeds to put tongfuls of basil and spinach on the pie, followed by parmesan cheese shavings, followed by blue cheese, followed by pine nuts, followed by balsamic vinaigrette! He’s built himself an additional $5 salad on top of his piece of pizza, seals the deal, and walks towards the checkout, where he presumably is only charged the $2.99. In my effort to retrieve my lower jaw from the floor, I can’t even bring myself to call him out, or think about how I would even call him out if I was in a confrontational or do-gooder mood.

So: ye checkout people, beware the sealed containers and garbage cans, and their denizens.

Santander wrote:A friend who works at Whole Foods once told me about a hipster that ordered and drank a $7 smoothie while shopping (I think it was the "Energy Bee"), then clandestinely threw the cup out before paying. My friend cheerily retrieved it from the trash and walked it back over to the guy, giving him a non-confrontational opportunity to just take it to the register. The customer turned pale, then red, then decided to use the whole, "HOW DARE YOU" defense and pretend like it hadn't happened. Store policy: they let the guy leave after paying for the rest of his groceries, my friend's word vs. the customer's.

I overheard a similar exchange between the manager at the WF on Huron in Chicago and a woman who they accused of eating something and tossing it. She loudly protested her innocence (taking an appalled "How Dare You" stance) and tried to shop as if everything was normal. In the meantime, the manager, and the employee who saw her toss the evidence of the thing she ate, shadowed her around the store as she started kicking up dirt anew because they were following her ("What you're going to follow me now?!!"), but the staff was not giving up. At an impasse, the manager finally informed her that if she wouldn't admit that she ate something she wouldn't pay for, she'd be banned from the store for life. The woman seemed a little crushed by this news, but I could tell that she was starting to cave at that point "("Well, fine, I'll pay if it will get you assholes off my back, but I didn't do anything!").

aschie30 wrote:

Santander wrote:A friend who works at Whole Foods once told me about a hipster that ordered and drank a $7 smoothie while shopping (I think it was the "Energy Bee"), then clandestinely threw the cup out before paying. My friend cheerily retrieved it from the trash and walked it back over to the guy, giving him a non-confrontational opportunity to just take it to the register. The customer turned pale, then red, then decided to use the whole, "HOW DARE YOU" defense and pretend like it hadn't happened. Store policy: they let the guy leave after paying for the rest of his groceries, my friend's word vs. the customer's.

I overheard a similar exchange between the manager at the WF on Huron in Chicago and a woman who they accused of eating something and tossing it. She loudly protested her innocence (taking an appalled "How Dare You" stance) and tried to shop as if everything was normal. In the meantime, the manager, and the employee who saw her toss the evidence of the thing she ate, shadowed her around the store as she started kicking up dirt anew because they were following her ("What you're going to follow me now?!!"), but the staff was not giving up. At an impasse, the manager finally informed her that if she wouldn't admit that she ate something she wouldn't pay for, she'd be banned from the store for life. The woman seemed a little crushed by this news, but I could tell that she was starting to cave at that point "("Well, fine, I'll pay if it will get you assholes off my back, but I didn't do anything!").

There was a similar story in last month's Chicago Magazine, but this woman seems to have just made an innocent mistake:

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/July-2010/Whole-Foods-Versus-Shoplifters-The-Conundrum/

I had a co-worker who was accused at one of the Caputo's stores of shoplifting a package of cheese that she simply forgot to take out of her cart at the check-out. The cashier started screaming at her and she hasn't shopped at the store in a couple years now because of it. Seems like all they would have to do is say, "Oh, did you forget that cheese in there?" and you'd either feel embarrassed about your genuine mistake or ashamed that you were trying to steal it (and maybe try harder next time!)

I doubt I would notice any of these transgressions @ the grocery store. Between working over my menu and shopping list to make sure I havent forgotten anything, and keeping tabs on my daughter & what she is tossing in the grocery cart. I guess I simply am not paying attention to other folks at the store and what they may or may not be doing.

If I did happen to see it, I wouldnt say anything & mind my own business. It would serve no usefull purpose to me and my day. What would getting into a he said she said discussion with the person and a manager, or a heated argument with a stranger really accomplish or add to my life?

Anyone else not surprised a couple of the instances of this behavior happened @ Whole Foods? Some odd sense of entitlement by the offenders perhaps.?

Here's my favorite comment from that Chicago mag thread:

Over the years I've gone from an avid Whole Foods organic food eater to a skeptic of the virtues of eating organic food. My real awakening was the finding, years ago, that the landing glide path of the space shuttle was right over the fields of a major organic produce grower in California. The space shuttle dumps any extra perclorate or rocket fuel as it glides in over California. That's how the rocket fuel got into the organic produce for many years, while I paid big bucks for my organic produce. I got my information about the rocket fuel contamination by reading The Chicago Tribune. I actually used to drive 30 miles, 1 or 2 times a week, to get to the Whole Foods store to get my rocket fuel contaminated produce. I also bought into the PR about the great benefits for the workers at the stores. Now I hear about this treatment of a busy housewife with a bunch of kids. The only time I was in the new Whole Foods store in Schaumburg, I got the feeling I was being watched. I figured I was being watched because I was wearing some very sloppy clothes. Now I am suspecting that I really was being watched, with hidden cameras, because I looked like a potential shoplifter. How else do you think they spotted this lady taking the vitamins? Does anyone else like being spied on and being treated like a thief while shopping? Everyone who can read knows that most of the inventory theft or loss is due to employee theft, not customer theft. I've had enough of the organic fad and the health food fad. I'm just going to stick to rinsing my "conventional" vegetables in H2O and to doing at least an hour of extreme cardio exercise 3 times a week. I believe, with these measures, I'll hold up very well. Skipping the extra trip to Whole Foods will give me more time to do the exercise.

jimswside wrote:If I did happen to see it, I wouldnt say anything & mind my own business. It would serve no usefull purpose to me and my day. What would getting into a he said she said discussion with the person and a manager, or a heated argument with a stranger really accomplish or add to my life?

HI,

The price of ignoring, which you're not alone in doing so, is increased costs paid by the store and passed on to shoppers. The few times I ever saw anything, I advised the manager who was free to do whatever he wanted: confront, warn or walk away. I didn't stick around to find out, either.

Regards,

Mike G wrote:Here's my favorite comment from that Chicago mag thread:

Over the years I've gone from an avid Whole Foods organic food eater to a skeptic of the virtues of eating organic food. My real awakening was the finding, years ago, that the landing glide path of the space shuttle was right over the fields of a major organic produce grower in California. The space shuttle dumps any extra perclorate or rocket fuel as it glides in over California. That's how the rocket fuel got into the organic produce for many years, while I paid big bucks for my organic produce. I got my information about the rocket fuel contamination by reading The Chicago Tribune. I actually used to drive 30 miles, 1 or 2 times a week, to get to the Whole Foods store to get my rocket fuel contaminated produce. I also bought into the PR about the great benefits for the workers at the stores. Now I hear about this treatment of a busy housewife with a bunch of kids. The only time I was in the new Whole Foods store in Schaumburg, I got the feeling I was being watched. I figured I was being watched because I was wearing some very sloppy clothes. Now I am suspecting that I really was being watched, with hidden cameras, because I looked like a potential shoplifter. How else do you think they spotted this lady taking the vitamins? Does anyone else like being spied on and being treated like a thief while shopping? Everyone who can read knows that most of the inventory theft or loss is due to employee theft, not customer theft. I've had enough of the organic fad and the health food fad. I'm just going to stick to rinsing my "conventional" vegetables in H2O and to doing at least an hour of extreme cardio exercise 3 times a week. I believe, with these measures, I'll hold up very well. Skipping the extra trip to Whole Foods will give me more time to do the exercise.

I used to feel the same way as that person. Once I started wearing the tin foil hat to block the special rays they use to keep track of you, everyting seemed to get better.

A while back Whole Foods bought me a six pack. The funny thing is, I saw the guy swipe it, it was the very first thing of mine he took, and my final tab was high enough that it didn't strike me as obvious that it was $8.99 less than it should be; but I eventually did look at the receipt, feeling slightly less bled dry than usual at Whole Foods, and sure enough it wasn't there. I suspect it got added to the previous shopper's bill, as he had started ringing me up before finishing with her. But in any case I didn't pay for it.

So I guess it's useful to know how they'd treat me if they caught me with their mistake

Saturday we were shopping at our local Woodman's and were in the produce section when I saw a woman taking a bite out of an apple and then set it back down. I said something to my partner and the lady had moved over a few feet and took a bite out of another apple and put it back down! We were both too astounded to find a worker and wonder if they would have done anything anyway. What have you seen that you couldn't believe someone was doing?

This reminds of a friend's blog post about observing people at the giant Lincoln Park Whole Foods:

Erika wrote:...THEN the entertainment arrived. A woman in a cheetah hat and coat prowled around the food bar, filling up a mini ketchup cup with food repeatedly and eating it right there on the spot, she was having a feast! She plopped a chicken wing in her itty bitty ketchup cup and ate the thing right in front of the employee twice. She swept around the food bar filling her cup at least ten times with no shame, bumping people out of her way. Finally, she decided to do the "right thing" and fill real container and put a little in there so she could pay for it, she sauntered over to the registers, and paid for her little salad. BUT, she then came back to the food bar and added more to her box. a bonafide food buffet robber! THEN, her friend came buy and guess what she was wearing? A cheetah head scarf and cheetah boots.

Well, this has nothing to do with food, but we were getting our taxes done yesterday when this kid was hacking up a lung—not turning her head, covering her mouth, nothing. Her parents said nothing. Finally they were on their way out and our preparer said he hoped she felt better. The mother said, I kid you not, "She should be covering her mouth, but it's just an allergy cough."

Scandalous!

This actually happened to me a month or two back. I was at a Dominick's and buying a few things when I ran into a kid - maybe 18 or 20 years old, taking packages of crackers off the shelf, tearing open the packages, taking out crackers, sniffing them, licking them and then discarding them back on the shelf. I was appalled. I stood there, in shock for a few minutes and didn't even think about it. I said to him - "Really? Are you really doing that? That is absolutlely disgusting." The kid just stared at me, almost as if he couldn't hear me and continued to open up another package. Made me angrier than I'd be in a long time. I obviously channeled my mother and said, "You should be ashamed of yourself." and I walked away to find an employee to kick the kid. He was also rather uninterested. It was a not a good night.

Early one morning, I was waiting to be served at our local Kroger deli and witnessed one of the employees cut her finger on the slicer. She yelped an epithet and put her finger in her mouth and then proceeded to keep slicing! After a few slices I think she realized there may have been witnesses as she turned around to see me, mouth agape, stunned and speechless. Only then did she turn off the slicer and tend to the wound. I didn't stick around to see what she did with the meat she was slicing - I beat a path to the manager and told him. Didn't buy lunchmeat there for a month at least.....

Davooda

In the case of the restaurant, I would not say anything. After all you did not see it happen and don't really know how the lotion disappeared. Its probably somewhat a minor thing for the restaurant (not that its right) and the lotion periodically disappears and is part of doing business.

If I saw someone doing something that could harm other people I would report it. Such as If I saw a person in Whole foods take food and eat part of it and put it back in the pan, I would report it. I would not say anything or make a big stink but I would go to the manager and tell him or her what i saw.

Twice at Treasure Island on Broadway I've seen disgusting sample-related behavior that has seriously discouraged me from eating food samples since. Both involved customers pawing through chips/cookie samples with their bare hands, essentially contaminating the entire batch of food. One was an older guy the other was a young boy (maybe 7 or 8). Both times I said something to the individual and something to a store employee.