Cart-ing Them Off To Jail

I’m working at a large superstore while in college.

Two women come in together. Each has a baby in their cart. One cart is normal. The other is overflowing, and I mean overflowing, with DVDs (yeah, this story is old).

They loop the store for a bit. Then one of them picks up an activated security tag from a shelf, but steals nothing. They head for the exit together. 

As they push through the doors, the alarm blares.

[Lady #1], with the empty cart, immediately throws herself into a meltdown.

Lady #1: “Why is this happening?! I didn’t do anything! This store is always harassing me!”

Everyone focuses on her.

Meanwhile, Lady #2, the one with the cart full of DVDs, just keeps walking straight out of the store, completely ignored. 

How do I know that’s what happened? Because they’ve pulled this trick twice, successfully. We noticed the large loss of DVDs after their visit, and we caught them doing it after the fact on the security cameras. 

The third time, Loss Prevention is waiting.

As soon as the alarm goes off, [Lady #1] starts her usual performance.

Lady #1: “THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS! I—”

LP Staff: “Ma’am, we’re not here for you.”

They stop [Lady #2] at the door.

Lady #2: “Uh… I can explain—”

They can’t. They don’t get to try the trick a fourth time.