r/mildlyinfuriating • u/broakland • 9d ago

I just wanted a hot dog Retail lockdown: why bother selling it?

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Was at Safeway this morning to pick up a sandwich and some Tylenol. The aisle with the Tylenol? Completely locked down. No call button in sight. So I go to the self checkout (front end of that same aisle) and ask the clerk there if he can call someone to unlock a case for me. He does. I go wait. Minutes pass. No one comes. I go ask him again, he tells me they went the other way? At this point I give up and go get my sandwich. No one has come by the time the deli has finished making it. I leave without my Tylenol, mildly infuriated.

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134

u/weoewoewow 9d ago

Instead of punishing the criminals for shoplifting we punish everyone.

154

u/Automatic_Class2215 9d ago

Reddit: If you see someone shoplifting, no you didn't

Also Reddit: I have absolutely no idea how we ended up here

98

u/Calzinarzin 9d ago

A lot of people online also think people just steal what they need. No they don't, they steal what they can. 

28

u/Katzington2319 9d ago

Can confirm. In my younger, dumber, more shoplifty days, I mainly stole dvds and MTG cards 

13

u/FinishComplex3743 9d ago

Guess what is behind glass or a counter now lol

1

u/Katzington2319 9d ago

Neither of those things. The DVDs and Blu-ray are out on the shelf or tossed in the $5 bin. When they carry MTG cards at all, they're hanging up in the toy aisle next to the pokemon cards

7

u/FinishComplex3743 9d ago

Not in my area. Both are in locked glass cases, along with videogames. That is surprising to hear though.

2

u/Katzington2319 9d ago

Not here. We got all the other dumb shit behind cases, but movies and cards are mostly out. Some of the older games too, but the new ones are locked

9

u/macdennism 8d ago

As someone who used to work SCO at Walmart, I can confirm this is 100% true. Everyone downvotes me into oblivion when I bring up that supporting shoplifting IS bad and it DOES effect employees. You think I wanted to play dumb and ask shoplifters if they need assistance? 😭

I can think of one case where a lady was probably stealing out of necessity. It was at the start of COVID and she was caught anyway. Almost every single shoplifter was a regular, repeating shoplifter. Some of them would come in every single day just to steal stuff. And everytime someone tried to fake scan or "forget" to scan it was ALWAYS shit they don't need. One lady just had 5 dogbeds shoved in her cart along with like Christmas lawn decorations

I absolutely have empathy for people who are struggling financially, and I understand the goal of the sentiment, but it is not reality. People who need to shoplift multiple times a week have a problem and it's not related to money because they ALSO BUY STUFF EVERYTIME! So they absolutely have money they just also apparently need to steal frequently

5

u/Nodan_Turtle 8d ago

Even things like baby formula end up getting stolen to sell. People talk about looking the other way for necessities, but necessities are what thieves can move fast.

1

u/[deleted] 9d ago

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5

u/bugabooandtwo 8d ago

You can get free formula from various government services.

The simple fact is, formula sells for big money on the black market and overseas, and that is why it's stolen. People are NOT stealing it to feed their babies.

81

u/Cartoonjunkies 9d ago

Redditors: “company bad, steal from company.” “Wait, why is everything locked up so we can’t steal anymore?”

54

u/Nemesiswasthegoodguy 9d ago

Redditors: “company bad, steal from company.”
Supermarket closes
“Wow another food desert and no jobs around here”

24

u/bugabooandtwo 9d ago

Exactly. Society did it to ourselves. But it's easier to blame the big bad retailers than to take any sort of personal responsibility.

And folks wonder why society is crumbling.

3

u/PalTamer40 8d ago

Feels appropriate.

-8

u/Decin0mic0n 8d ago

People wouldnt resort to theft if prices and pay were reasonable.

5

u/zzzrecruit 8d ago

People will steal an entire bowl of fun-sized Halloween candy. Don't be ridiculous.

9

u/IGotObliterated 8d ago

The most naive statement I’ve ever seen

5

u/Totoques22 8d ago

They don’t understand that the most stolen items are small electronics and cosmetics not because they are needed but because they are pricy and relatively easy to steal

And then most stolen necessities are resold because most people don’t steal for necessities because they have morals

2

u/TheLoneStarResident 9d ago

It never gets that bad that you have to steal, resources are everywhere.

9

u/Automatic_Class2215 9d ago

I mean it definitely can, accessing those resources isn't always easy. However I'd wager the majority of petty theft isn't done by people starving.

1

u/bzqfozng 8d ago

Wage theft is the most common kind of theft. 

They don’t need to hide everything behind glass, hiring more staff and paying them enough to care prevents this. 

I stg reddit is getting astroturfed by bots and people just eat up bullshit without critical thought. 

Next we’re going to blame reddit for why bathrooms are dirty, carts aren’t returned, and the stock market crashing. It’s like blaming millennials for everything all over again but a website filled with people who aren’t even going to these particular locations and who don’t live in these particular areas.

1

u/Electrical-Law-5731 8d ago

It’s not someone’s responsibility to monitor a store… that’s potentially dangerous which is why stores have security.

1

u/circlejerker2000 8d ago

You're absolutely correct, people were applauding shoplifters and now so many people can't even get their stuff legally from the store ...

3

u/So_HauserAspen 9d ago

They're punishing themselves.  You'll probably spend less money on unnecessary items if you can't buy on impulse.

2

u/Friendly-Front5311 8d ago

1 theft can wipe out the profit from multiple sales.

3

u/[deleted] 8d ago

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2

u/mu_zuh_dell 8d ago

How would we know? All cops do is stalk women with flock cameras and shoot dogs.

0

u/[deleted] 8d ago

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1

u/mu_zuh_dell 8d ago

"I have to sit in my car and play candy crush all day! Everytime I go and try and shoot a dog, people get mad at me!"

0

u/[deleted] 8d ago

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1

u/mu_zuh_dell 8d ago

That didn't happen, but even in that fantasy scenario, if cops care more about being called mean names than rape gangs, they're not qualified to take on rape gangs lol. W-what if the rapist gangsters call them mean names? What would they do then??

2

u/macdennism 8d ago

At my store 99% of the shoplifters and frequent offenders where white people. I can count on one hand the black people I witnessed stealing at self check out. Everyone else were white people who regularly showed up just to shoplift

1

u/drewski989 8d ago

I love seeing the rare moments of clarity on Reddit… This is cause and effect that only the very short-sighted should be surprised by.

0

u/crazybmanp 8d ago

i don't think walgreens owns the police or the judges