Retail Is No Freakin’ Joke. (But Your Manager Might Be…)
CONTENT WARNING: Armed Robbery
This happened when my girlfriend and I were eighteen, and we worked at the same store. Our store manager was a small, middle-aged lady who overall wasn’t a bad manager, but she had one big problem. She was terrible at dealing with shoplifters. I don’t know what the laws are in other countries and states, but where this took place, workers were not allowed to touch shoplifters or else they could sue our company. According to store policy, for safety reasons, we were not allowed to block or stand in the way of shoplifters. Our store manager regularly yelled at, confronted, harassed, and blocked shoplifters. She had gotten in trouble for it before, but she was good at her job and we had no replacements.
One morning, my girlfriend, the store manager, and I were all working in the store. My girlfriend was working the front register, managers are supposed to stay at the front, and I was in the back helping people if they needed something from our back room.
At some point, I came out of the back room and found [Manager] arguing with some woman, who was carrying a large bag that appeared to be empty. This person was a regular shoplifter in the plaza where the store was located. So, [Manager] had followed her all the way to the back of the store.
Shoplifter: “Stop following me!”
Manager: “I’m just here in case you need anything.”
[Manager] was constantly about five to ten feet away from her just cleaning up shelves.
This was nothing new, so I didn’t think much of it. The shoplifter asked for some items from the back, which I brought out to her because she hadn’t done anything wrong yet and I didn’t know she was a regular shoplifter. I was still being nice and cordial with her because that’s just how I work.
Afterward, I convinced [Shoplifter] to let me bring the items she had asked for to the front for her. We do this to prevent shoplifting by placing the items behind the counter of the register and not bringing them back up until they pay for them. When I got to the front, I began helping my girlfriend cut the line down and got on the other register.
As [Manager] and [Shoplifter] approached the front, they were getting more and more aggressive with each other. [Shoplifter] had begun grabbing items off of the shelves and stuffing them into her bag.
Shoplifter: “Now I’ll give you a reason to follow me!”
[Manager] started berating her and slapping items out of her hands onto the floor. [Shoplifter] then tried to leave out the front door, and [Manager] blocked the door, two feet in front of her. [Manager] told me to call the cops, so I did. This whole time, I was trying to ignore what was happening and help other people at checkout, and my girlfriend was doing the same. At the same time as I was trying to ring people up for their items, I was on the phone with the cops telling them the situation and the description of the shoplifter.
At some point, I looked over, and [Shoplifter] had pulled a gun out of her bag and was now pointing it at [Manager]’s head. As I relayed this new more terrifying situation to the operator, [Manager] continued to stand her ground and MOCKED HER GUN, saying the gun wasn’t real and that she was doing a poor job of threatening her. The operator was asking for descriptions of the gun; it was a small pistol with a sight accessory on the top.
[Shoplifter] then pointed the gun to the floor behind [Manager] and shot it, causing everyone to suddenly crouch down. I continued relaying this information to the operator. It was pretty loud but not as loud as normal firearms, and there was little to no flash. So, when she brought the gun back to point it at [Manager]’s head, she STILL didn’t believe it was real and was still berating her and blocking her from leaving the store.
A few seconds later, [Shoplifter] pushed past [Manager] and began running down the sidewalk. [Manager] FOLLOWED HER OUTSIDE and continued to yell at her as she ran away. I explained to the operator the direction she ran, and they said the police would be there soon.
At this point, I would like to mention that [Manager] owns many firearms and regularly takes them to firing ranges.
[Manager] walked back inside complaining about how the cops were still not there yet.
Manager: “People who do that are so funny. Like, don’t you think I can tell it’s not real?”
To which I pointed at the bullet casing lying on the ground. She picked it up, said, “Huh,” and set it on the counter. Then, she walked to the office to pull up a security camera of all this being caught on tape.
Not too long after, the cops arrived and said that they found someone hiding behind the building behind a dumpster. The cops gave [Manager] s*** for not closing the store immediately as people were still walking in and out. They took our statements and information, and I was taken around the back in the police car to verify that they had gotten the right person. They also found her bag and gun in nearby bushes.
For some reason, I was calm throughout the whole thing and still was afterward, but my girlfriend was freaking out and shaking, which is fair. I was glad I was there to help calm her down and hold her.
[Manager] asked the police when we could open the store back up, and she was told a minimum of two hours. She wanted to open back up immediately. The cops explained to all of us that we should never block shoplifters or confront them, and they told us to always assume the gun is real just in case.
And just like that, we reopened two hours later, and my girlfriend and I worked the rest of our shifts like nothing had happened.
Except for the entire front of the store being covered in and smelling like gunpowder dust.