I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but you did in fact fuck up and act recklessly
I start moving to the side of the exit to make myself visible and just convince the guy to not bother. Not here to be a hero or get someone arrested. Just trying to deter.
No. Don’t ever do that. You don’t know what a thief will try, and the cost of the product isn’t worth getting punched or worse. You’re lucky the guy wasn’t armed.
Do not attempt to deter thieves. Your job is not worth it.
The company does not have a choice but to fire you. They need to make it absolutely clear to every other employee to never, ever, under any circumstances, place yourself in harms way to deter a crime.
Your coroporate overlords do not give a shit about you. They don’t care if you have been loyal, so don’t be. They won’t reward you for going the extra mile, so stop exactly where they stop paying you.
You were injured on the job. Did you file for employer’s compensation? You should talk to a lawyer. Maybe you didn’t want to, because you felt like it was partly your fault, or you were worried about keeping your job. That’s over, it’s time to protect yourself. Call lawyers now. Make a list of local employment and injury lawyers and start calling when their offices open.
That’s what your employer is afraid of. That’s why you were fired, and why they want to be absolutely clear that employees should never act recklessly like you did. Not because they care about you or their employees, as we already know they don’t. It’s because they are afraid of being sued. And they are afraid of that because being sued will cost them more money than training your replacement.
Be the thing they are afraid of. Win or lose, you’ll know you did what you could to protect yourself this time.
Man I do security and even I don’t try to stop them. My job is to observe and report. If I get in a fist fight I will be lucky to keep my job and 100% would get workers comp denied if I needed it.
Then he should refer to himself as working in “surveillance”, because “security” involves ensuring unauthorized people cannot do unauthorized things. Theft is an unauthorized thing happening, and a system that makes no effort to control whether that happens is not a “security” system, and the people who work to enact that system aren’t “security” employees.
They’re “surveillance” employees. “Intelligence”, if you want to make it sound cooler.
So is ‘security camera’ also a misnomer? His job is to make theft less likely because he will report you to the police. That still falls in the realm of security. I will say that ‘security observer’ would be a better job title than ‘security guard’ but they never claimed a job title, just a general field of work.
The company does not have a choice but to fire you. They need to make it absolutely clear to every other employee to never, ever, under any circumstances, place yourself in harms way to deter a crime.
Man, when I worked retail in the 90s, we were TOLD to follow known shoplifters and would-be shoplifters, deter them, and even stop them before leaving.
Yeah shit happened like a guy lifting liquor got tackled and got bottle glass pushed into his torso and employees got hurt and or killed in other incidents, shoppers got harassed and confined, all these people sued and now if you want to arrest some guy, get trained for it and do it properly.
It’s honestly never worth it to stop petty thieves. The company still makes profit, the police will end up dealing with unruly individuals eventually even if you don’t report them. The only reason to try is to satisfy humanity’s violent tendencies, which perpetuates a cycle of harm.
I had a good friend who worked LP for wal-mart back in the '90’s. He loved that shit. He’d burn CD copies of the surveillance videos of his latest escapades fighting with and tackling shoplifters and bring them home for us to see. He was a master of “redirecting” someone running away from him into whatever nearby solid object he had available. I know those big red bollards that keep cars from driving thru the front doors claimed more than a couple of victims at his, um… urging. Entertaining stuff for sure.
Man, when I worked retail in the 90s, we were TOLD to follow known shoplifters and would-be shoplifters, deter them, and even stop them before leaving.
Yeah but did you work in a country that has sensible gun laws? It sounds like the person you reply to is from the US, and I sure as hell would not try to stop a thief if I have to assume they might as well have a shotgun in their trousers’ leg or an assault rifle in their car.
In the US I’d probably help them carry the product out anyways, fuck labor “laws” in the US.
It’s been a good while, but as I recall working the late 90s at a Target in the Midwest, I believe we were told to follow them as far as the parking lot and get the license plates if they went to a vehicle.
Indeed. we would straight-up chase shoplifters right out the front door and further, if they didn’t give up what they stole. Myself and another employee ran after a guy who stole some meat and what-not. He ran across the street and into a sketchy apartment building. My coworker went to the door to open it and enter the building and it’s only then that common-sense clicked in. I called him off telling him we had no idea what was waiting for us in there…
I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but you did in fact fuck up and act recklessly
No. Don’t ever do that. You don’t know what a thief will try, and the cost of the product isn’t worth getting punched or worse. You’re lucky the guy wasn’t armed.
Do not attempt to deter thieves. Your job is not worth it.
The company does not have a choice but to fire you. They need to make it absolutely clear to every other employee to never, ever, under any circumstances, place yourself in harms way to deter a crime.
Your coroporate overlords do not give a shit about you. They don’t care if you have been loyal, so don’t be. They won’t reward you for going the extra mile, so stop exactly where they stop paying you.
You were injured on the job. Did you file for employer’s compensation? You should talk to a lawyer. Maybe you didn’t want to, because you felt like it was partly your fault, or you were worried about keeping your job. That’s over, it’s time to protect yourself. Call lawyers now. Make a list of local employment and injury lawyers and start calling when their offices open.
That’s what your employer is afraid of. That’s why you were fired, and why they want to be absolutely clear that employees should never act recklessly like you did. Not because they care about you or their employees, as we already know they don’t. It’s because they are afraid of being sued. And they are afraid of that because being sued will cost them more money than training your replacement.
Be the thing they are afraid of. Win or lose, you’ll know you did what you could to protect yourself this time.
Man I do security and even I don’t try to stop them. My job is to observe and report. If I get in a fist fight I will be lucky to keep my job and 100% would get workers comp denied if I needed it.
Damn, so you aren’t allowed to do your job?
Did you not read?
Then he should refer to himself as working in “surveillance”, because “security” involves ensuring unauthorized people cannot do unauthorized things. Theft is an unauthorized thing happening, and a system that makes no effort to control whether that happens is not a “security” system, and the people who work to enact that system aren’t “security” employees.
They’re “surveillance” employees. “Intelligence”, if you want to make it sound cooler.
So is ‘security camera’ also a misnomer? His job is to make theft less likely because he will report you to the police. That still falls in the realm of security. I will say that ‘security observer’ would be a better job title than ‘security guard’ but they never claimed a job title, just a general field of work.
Talk to any security company that has guards at unarmed posts. Our jobs are to observe and report.
Man, when I worked retail in the 90s, we were TOLD to follow known shoplifters and would-be shoplifters, deter them, and even stop them before leaving.
Times have really changed! 😂
Yeah shit happened like a guy lifting liquor got tackled and got bottle glass pushed into his torso and employees got hurt and or killed in other incidents, shoppers got harassed and confined, all these people sued and now if you want to arrest some guy, get trained for it and do it properly.
It’s honestly never worth it to stop petty thieves. The company still makes profit, the police will end up dealing with unruly individuals eventually even if you don’t report them. The only reason to try is to satisfy humanity’s violent tendencies, which perpetuates a cycle of harm.
Yeah… there was a security guard at a Costco near my hometown that was shot and killed by a shoplifter.
I had a good friend who worked LP for wal-mart back in the '90’s. He loved that shit. He’d burn CD copies of the surveillance videos of his latest escapades fighting with and tackling shoplifters and bring them home for us to see. He was a master of “redirecting” someone running away from him into whatever nearby solid object he had available. I know those big red bollards that keep cars from driving thru the front doors claimed more than a couple of victims at his, um… urging. Entertaining stuff for sure.
Yeah but did you work in a country that has sensible gun laws? It sounds like the person you reply to is from the US, and I sure as hell would not try to stop a thief if I have to assume they might as well have a shotgun in their trousers’ leg or an assault rifle in their car.
In the US I’d probably help them carry the product out anyways, fuck labor “laws” in the US.
It’s been a good while, but as I recall working the late 90s at a Target in the Midwest, I believe we were told to follow them as far as the parking lot and get the license plates if they went to a vehicle.
For good reasons.
Indeed. we would straight-up chase shoplifters right out the front door and further, if they didn’t give up what they stole. Myself and another employee ran after a guy who stole some meat and what-not. He ran across the street and into a sketchy apartment building. My coworker went to the door to open it and enter the building and it’s only then that common-sense clicked in. I called him off telling him we had no idea what was waiting for us in there…