Michael: It's Not Shoplifting Anymore

Warmly meditate;
Lie in the comfort of bed
Until we believe.

Sunday, December 30, 2018

I made one trip to the mall this year for Christmas, and as much as I hate going to the mall (I worked retail for 12 years first at Kmart then at May Co.), it was a very interesting experience and again one of those eye-openers telling me just how old I am.

In the good old days when I was a young skinny 20 year old stock boy everyone knew what role they played in the whole shoplifting scenario. The shoplifter ran. Our security gave pursuit. Sometimes they won. Sometimes people were handcuffed.

 At Kmart when someone tried to steal and tried to evade capture sometimes a code 2 was called and that meant all male employees were to head to the front of the store and assist in securing the criminal. I always, hesitantly, answered these calls and feel fortunate that I was never hurt.

Now last week Kimme and I were at a bookstore at the Grove and, although it sure sounded like someone was shoplifting, the store itself seemed to be much more lenient and accommodating in providing the suspicious person with an alibi or excuse as to what their true intent was.

As someone left the store this was the automatic voice response after the buzzers sounded, “You have activated our automatic inventory control system. Please see our concierge for assistance.” Or something pretty close to that.

Wow, if Kmart would’ve played that message by the time it was over the shoplifter would’ve had such a head start there never would’ve been a need to call for a code 2 and I would’ve never had to hang on to big old dude’s leg for dear life hoping that he wasn’t going to shake loose and kick me across Bristol street and through the goal post at Mater Dei high school.