heavenlydaze
Music keeps me sane!!!
OK, this subject is near & dear to my heart. Hubby & I own a little record & CD store. 11 years of coolness marred by only an occasional shoplifter, but I gotta' tell you guys about what we now call "The Three Stooges Shoplifting Incident". I've got it all on tape and once in awhile we play it back when we want a good laugh.
Here's what happened.
By the front doors we keep a few free trade publications about music. People are welcome to take any of them, but without exception, most get them on their way OUT. This guy walks in followed by a gal (both of them about 30 yrs old) and he immediately picks up about three of the newspaper-sized rags and starts carrying 'em around (folded) under his arm.
I had a couple of 'regular's' (customers we've know forever) on the floor, but my attention was on the GAL who had one of those 'open' over-sized tote bags. She heads to the record room and the guy goes the opposite direction toward the R&B CD section.
Now, I think I know what's going to transpire, but I'm thinkin' it's HER who's gonna' do the dirty deed. I'm watching the monitor (4-split screen), but all she does is flip through albums. The guy is down the aisle about 30 ft in front of me and just keeps looking through the CDs with those publications still tucked under his arm. By now, I'm starting to believe my hinkey meter made a mistake. It's been known to happen, but not very often.
Bear with me. This gets good.
I'm starting to think I might actually make a sale, but I've got the music cranked pretty loud, so instead of yelling out 'whatcha' looking for', I decide to just walk up to him. Like I said, the music was loud, and he obviously didn't hear me coming. I'm about 2 ft behind him and said, "Can I help you find something"?
He spins around & those publications he's holding tightly under his arm clipped my elbow. When that happened, the CD's he'd stashed in there (yep...they were in those long plastic 'holders') came tumbling to the floor. FIVE of them. It caught me off guard, 'cause this was a new trick I hadn't seen before. I'M lookin' down at 'em...HE'S lookin' down at 'em and we were both speechless.
The gal senses something is up and comes out of the record room, turns the corner around CD rack #2 a little too quickly & runs smack into the rocking recliner we brought down here after our youngest granddaughter was born. She falls over the chair and goes down. When she hit the floor, the open tote spewed it's contents. Four CDs in plastic holders, but with the tags FROM THE MUSIC STORE DOWN THE STREET (our major competitor).
By now, we all have the attention of the 'regulars' who weren't quite sure what was happening, and quite frankly, neither did I.
The guy finally bolts for the door and the girl scoops up the competition's CDS and quickly stashes 'em back in the tote, BUT.... before she could get back on her feet, one of the 'regulars' grabs the tote and they have about a five second tug of war before she gives up and also heads out the door at a dead run.
Mike (regular customer) is standing there with this purse (that doesn't even go with the leather jacket or spike collar he's wearing...totally wrong color) and Jerry(other customer) picks the R&B CDs up off the floor.
I called the cops and when the two 'ossifers' showed up, we all watched the video playback. The cops were cracking up and no...I didn't press charges 'cause they would have taken the video, and I wanted to keep it, and I kinda' figured the two perps had already had a really bad day.
I DID call the other music store and told 'em to come get their CDs. They were a little embarrassed because their security system is much more advanced than ours, so there was a little satisfaction there. No ID in the tote (more room for 'product' that way). I offered the purse to Mike, but he declined and swore that if I ever posted a picture of him holding that thing, he'd never grace my doors again.
Here's what happened.
By the front doors we keep a few free trade publications about music. People are welcome to take any of them, but without exception, most get them on their way OUT. This guy walks in followed by a gal (both of them about 30 yrs old) and he immediately picks up about three of the newspaper-sized rags and starts carrying 'em around (folded) under his arm.
I had a couple of 'regular's' (customers we've know forever) on the floor, but my attention was on the GAL who had one of those 'open' over-sized tote bags. She heads to the record room and the guy goes the opposite direction toward the R&B CD section.
Now, I think I know what's going to transpire, but I'm thinkin' it's HER who's gonna' do the dirty deed. I'm watching the monitor (4-split screen), but all she does is flip through albums. The guy is down the aisle about 30 ft in front of me and just keeps looking through the CDs with those publications still tucked under his arm. By now, I'm starting to believe my hinkey meter made a mistake. It's been known to happen, but not very often.
Bear with me. This gets good.
I'm starting to think I might actually make a sale, but I've got the music cranked pretty loud, so instead of yelling out 'whatcha' looking for', I decide to just walk up to him. Like I said, the music was loud, and he obviously didn't hear me coming. I'm about 2 ft behind him and said, "Can I help you find something"?
He spins around & those publications he's holding tightly under his arm clipped my elbow. When that happened, the CD's he'd stashed in there (yep...they were in those long plastic 'holders') came tumbling to the floor. FIVE of them. It caught me off guard, 'cause this was a new trick I hadn't seen before. I'M lookin' down at 'em...HE'S lookin' down at 'em and we were both speechless.
The gal senses something is up and comes out of the record room, turns the corner around CD rack #2 a little too quickly & runs smack into the rocking recliner we brought down here after our youngest granddaughter was born. She falls over the chair and goes down. When she hit the floor, the open tote spewed it's contents. Four CDs in plastic holders, but with the tags FROM THE MUSIC STORE DOWN THE STREET (our major competitor).
By now, we all have the attention of the 'regulars' who weren't quite sure what was happening, and quite frankly, neither did I.
The guy finally bolts for the door and the girl scoops up the competition's CDS and quickly stashes 'em back in the tote, BUT.... before she could get back on her feet, one of the 'regulars' grabs the tote and they have about a five second tug of war before she gives up and also heads out the door at a dead run.
Mike (regular customer) is standing there with this purse (that doesn't even go with the leather jacket or spike collar he's wearing...totally wrong color) and Jerry(other customer) picks the R&B CDs up off the floor.
I called the cops and when the two 'ossifers' showed up, we all watched the video playback. The cops were cracking up and no...I didn't press charges 'cause they would have taken the video, and I wanted to keep it, and I kinda' figured the two perps had already had a really bad day.
I DID call the other music store and told 'em to come get their CDs. They were a little embarrassed because their security system is much more advanced than ours, so there was a little satisfaction there. No ID in the tote (more room for 'product' that way). I offered the purse to Mike, but he declined and swore that if I ever posted a picture of him holding that thing, he'd never grace my doors again.
