It is said that confronting thieves is a big mistake when you work in retail. After all, the stock they steal is insured, but it goes without saying that staff are not so easily replaced! Risking one’s safety to protect a laptop or some ink cartridges really isn’t worth it, and it would be extremely cold comfort to tell a grieving family their loved one died to stop a printer or a pen being stolen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know this, yet one evening in 2014, on a day where I had already received some bad news, an email came through warning of a group of laptop and tablet thieves operating in the area. I made a note of the details, and carried on with my duties. Working that night were myself, and a 17 year-old girl with a knee brace on, so I naturally hoped we wouldn’t get any unpleasant visitors. It was therefore one of fate’s worst jokes that the thieves from the email would stroll in a short time later. They made a beeline for the tablet PCs, and yanked them off their flimsy alarm hooks. In a burst of anger, I tried to get in their way, and got pushed to the ground for my troubles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was shaking from the adrenaline and the fury, but in hindsight, I came to realise what a stupid move that was. Any one of the four thieves could have had a blade, or some other weapon. The stuff they took was not worth my life, but in that moment it was all happening a red mist descended, and I wanted to stop the little shits (pardon my language) from stealing from my store. In the aftermath of it all I still had to do the banking and close up, and the next morning I went back in to record the CCTV and pass it to the police. I never did find out if the thieves were apprehended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 10 years on from that particular incident, I would like to believe I am a bit calmer, and less inclined to risk it all for the sake of product. I have too many far more important things in my world to make such a stupid choice again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n