This post will be a little depressing to some of you, so you might want to read
it with a friend - and then wonder why prices might be a little higher at
Sears.
I was at the Sears Hardware in Alsip, IL last week, checking out at the
register.
This big kid in a winter parka sauntered in and started crusing the tool
aisles,
up and down, up and down. One of the older male employees called for help,
but all they would do was stand a couple of aisles away with their backs to the
kid. It was pretty obvious what was happening. The next day I went in for
something or other and asked the old guy if what I thought I was seeing was
what was really happening, and he said, yeah, on a daily basis. Many of the
Sears Hardware stores are going under. They're staffed with a skeleton crew
of mimimum wage employees whose only self-defense training is for punching
themselves in the chest to get the pacemaker going again, so they aren't
going to run out the door to tackle the guys. So if you want to add to your
tool collection, come over to Sears Hardware. It's open season.

Bub 209 notes:

I was at the Sears Hardware in Alsip, IL last week, checking out at the
register.
This big kid in a winter parka sauntered in and started crusing the tool
aisles,
up and down, up and down. One of the older male employees called for help,
but all they would do was stand a couple of aisles away with their backs to
the
kid. It was pretty obvious what was happening. The next day I went in for
something or other and asked the old guy if what I thought I was seeing was
what was really happening, and he said, yeah, on a daily basis. Many of the
Sears Hardware stores are going under. They're staffed with a skeleton crew
of mimimum wage employees whose only self-defense training is for punching
themselves in the chest to get the pacemaker going again, so they aren't
going to run out the door to tackle the guys. So if you want to add to your
tool collection, come over to Sears Hardware. It's open season

Not the clerk's job to catch the kid, anyway. That calls for a store security
person who knows the ins and outs of messing with people and finding zilch when
a search is underway...zilch except for the cell phone already set to dial his
lawyer.

Charlie Self
"Bore, n.: A person who talks when you wish him to listen." Ambrose Bierce, The
Devil's Dictionary

"BUB 209" wrote in message
...
This post will be a little depressing to some of you, so you might want to
read
it with a friend - and then wonder why prices might be a little higher at
Sears.
I was at the Sears Hardware in Alsip, IL last week, checking out at the
register.
This big kid in a winter parka sauntered in and started crusing the tool
aisles,
up and down, up and down. One of the older male employees called for
help,
but all they would do was stand a couple of aisles away with their backs
to the
kid. It was pretty obvious what was happening. The next day I went in
for
something or other and asked the old guy if what I thought I was seeing
was
what was really happening, and he said, yeah, on a daily basis. Many of
the
Sears Hardware stores are going under. They're staffed with a skeleton
crew
of mimimum wage employees whose only self-defense training is for punching
themselves in the chest to get the pacemaker going again, so they aren't
going to run out the door to tackle the guys. So if you want to add to
your
tool collection, come over to Sears Hardware. It's open season.

You're not actually encouraging theft, are you?

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 20:22:39 GMT, "Bob Schmall" wrote:


"BUB 209" wrote in message
...
This post will be a little depressing to some of you, so you might want to
read
it with a friend - and then wonder why prices might be a little higher at
Sears.
I was at the Sears Hardware in Alsip, IL last week, checking out at the
register.
This big kid in a winter parka sauntered in and started crusing the tool
aisles,
up and down, up and down. One of the older male employees called for
help,
but all they would do was stand a couple of aisles away with their backs
to the
kid. It was pretty obvious what was happening. The next day I went in
for
something or other and asked the old guy if what I thought I was seeing
was
what was really happening, and he said, yeah, on a daily basis. Many of
the
Sears Hardware stores are going under. They're staffed with a skeleton
crew
of mimimum wage employees whose only self-defense training is for punching
themselves in the chest to get the pacemaker going again, so they aren't
going to run out the door to tackle the guys. So if you want to add to
your
tool collection, come over to Sears Hardware. It's open season.

You're not actually encouraging theft, are you?


Seemed pretty clear that he was not advocating theft but rather making
commentary upon an overly-permissive society that affords perpetrators more
rights than victims, prosecutes those who defend themselves more vigorously
than those who commit the assaults, and willingly bends to cries of
"racism!" whenever a member of a favored minority is inconvenienced, even
if with probable cause. Probably also sprinkled with a bit of approbation
for a company that barely staffs a store with enough staff to sell things
and fails to provide adequate security capability, assuming that "we can
raise prices to make up for the high vapor pressure of our products".

This is nothing new, you simply noticed what goes on daily and has been
going on daily for decades. Back in the mid 70's I ran a tire store that
also sold do it your self parts and accessories. About once a month a guy
would come in and try to steal 12 to 15 sets of spark plugs. Other managers
of the same stores in town would alert the other managers to be expecting
the guy to show up and he always did.
The store is foolishly allowing this if they do not employ outside security.

BUB 209 wrote:

This post will be a little depressing to some of you, so you might want to
read it with a friend - and then wonder why prices might be a little
higher at Sears.
I was at the Sears Hardware in Alsip, IL last week, checking out at the
register.
This big kid in a winter parka sauntered in and started crusing the tool
aisles,
up and down, up and down. One of the older male employees called for
help, but all they would do was stand a couple of aisles away with their
backs to the
kid. It was pretty obvious what was happening. The next day I went in
for something or other and asked the old guy if what I thought I was
seeing was
what was really happening, and he said, yeah, on a daily basis. Many of
the Sears Hardware stores are going under. They're staffed with a skeleton
crew of mimimum wage employees whose only self-defense training is for
punching themselves in the chest to get the pacemaker going again, so they
aren't
going to run out the door to tackle the guys. So if you want to add to
your
tool collection, come over to Sears Hardware. It's open season.
The sears hardwares here were pretty nice for a while but still never
carried any lumber. They they changed to Orchard hardware and kind of died
out. The big new mall near my office the sears store is huge and there are
usually a dozen employees always stocking shelves but 1 out of 10 actually
knows where something is and its usually the same old guy at the register
who knows me by name.

This post will be a little depressing to some of you, so you might want to
read
it with a friend - and then wonder why prices might be a little higher at
Sears.
I was at the Sears Hardware in Alsip, IL last week, checking out at the
register.
This big kid in a winter parka sauntered in and started crusing the tool
aisles,
up and down, up and down. One of the older male employees called for help,
but all they would do was stand a couple of aisles away with their backs to
the
kid. It was pretty obvious what was happening. The next day I went in for
something or other and asked the old guy if what I thought I was seeing was
what was really happening, and he said, yeah, on a daily basis. Many of the
Sears Hardware stores are going under. They're staffed with a skeleton crew
of mimimum wage employees whose only self-defense training is for punching
themselves in the chest to get the pacemaker going again, so they aren't
going to run out the door to tackle the guys. So if you want to add to your
tool collection, come over to Sears Hardware. It's open season.

Sounds familiar. In the tool department of the local Sears (we had a killer
Sears hardware, but it was closed) all the employees are either under 20 or
over 60. The young guys give you blank stares, the old guys talk about where
stuff was in the '70s, but can't find anything now.

I still shop Sears for many hand tools, so it pains me to see this in this
condition. I wish for the good old days again, where you could buy outboard
motors, metal-turning lathes, car parts, and guns.

GTO(John)

GTO(John)

On 16 Aug 2004 19:31:35 GMT, BUB 209 wrote:

One of the older male employees called for help,
but all they would do was stand a couple of aisles away with their backs to the
kid. It was pretty obvious what was happening. The next day I went in for
something or other and asked the old guy if what I thought I was seeing was
what was really happening, and he said, yeah, on a daily basis.

Sounds like the store manager needs to be notified that his store
is being robbed with the benign assistance of his employees.
Also, are there no police in this town?

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 02:06:03 +0000, Dave Hinz wrote:

Sounds like the store manager needs to be notified that his store is being
robbed with the benign assistance of his employees. Also, are there no
police in this town?

Sometimes it's more than just trying to avoid the confrontation - there be
law-yers out there ready to take you for a lot more than the cost of lost
inventory if'n they can get an employee to make a "false" accusation of
theft.

Any business has to use all the tech stuff they can to help in their
defense - cameras/vcr's and whatever...

I worked in the Phoenix Woodcraft where we lost several months profits
through theft because a herd of these sleazes would decend on the store
and outnumber the employees 4 to 1. You just can't keep eyeballs on all
of 'em at once. That store BTW is history.

-Doug

--
"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples
then you and I will still each have one apple.
But if you have an idea and I have one idea and we exchange these
ideas,then each of us will have two ideas" George B. Shaw

Sears has an asset protection department. There sole purpose is to stop
inventory loss. I'm surprised that this store is allowing this to happen.
It's a quick way to get the AP manager replaced.
I work part time in a Sears stock room (gotta love that employee discount), and
in my 2 years there I've seen them nab plenty of shoplifters, tools aren't
usually what they're after. Watches, jewelry, electric razors and clothes are
their favorite targets.

Kevin Daly
http://hometown.aol.com/kdaly10475/page1.html

"Kevin Daly" wrote in message
...
Sears has an asset protection department. There sole purpose is to stop
inventory loss. I'm surprised that this store is allowing this to happen.
It's a quick way to get the AP manager replaced.
I work part time in a Sears stock room (gotta love that employee
discount), and
in my 2 years there I've seen them nab plenty of shoplifters, tools aren't
usually what they're after. Watches, jewelry, electric razors and clothes
are
their favorite targets.

Kevin Daly
http://hometown.aol.com/kdaly10475/page1.html
I retired from a full line Sears store with Asset Protection personnel in
place. They were actually pretty good at catching the shoplifters. Now
work part time at a Sears Hardware store in another state and there are no
Asset Protection personnel. We do occasionally get the "snatch and run" guy
and policy is to not chase them. Get a license plate number if we can but
no personal contact or tackling, etc. It isn't worth someone getting hurt
and I suspect the cost of an Asset Protection staff on hand all the time
would be much more than the little we lose to shoplifting. On the other
hand, twice in the last month, I've been almost knocked down by aggressive
staff at WalMart as they chased a shoplifter out of their store and tackled
them right in front of me. The last shoplifter was screaming in pain that
they had broken some part of his body. And a third time, the emt's were
attaching a body board to a young lady on the tarmac as I approached the
store. I suspect another tackling had taken place. This particular store
seems to be on a revenge streak since a shoplifter shot a couple of
employees (not fatally) before the cops shot her (fatally) as she was being
interviewed in the security office a couple of years ago.

Tom responds:

n the other
hand, twice in the last month, I've been almost knocked down by aggressive
staff at WalMart as they chased a shoplifter out of their store and tackled
them right in front of me. The last shoplifter was screaming in pain that
they had broken some part of his body. And a third time, the emt's were
attaching a body board to a young lady on the tarmac as I approached the
store. I suspect another tackling had taken place. This particular store
seems to be on a revenge streak since a shoplifter shot a couple of
employees (not fatally) before the cops shot her (fatally) as she was being
interviewed in the security office a couple of years ago.

Revenge streak or not, those employees had better be damned sure those people
they are injuring can be proved to be thieves. If there's the slightest doubt,
they open themselves and WalMart to a case of which lawyer's dream, especially
with personal injury added to false accusations.

Charlie Self
"Bore, n.: A person who talks when you wish him to listen." Ambrose Bierce, The
Devil's Dictionary

Totally unfair to profile this poor kid that wears a winter parka in
the middle of summer!



(BUB 209) wrote in message ...
This post will be a little depressing to some of you, so you might want to read
it with a friend - and then wonder why prices might be a little higher at
Sears.
I was at the Sears Hardware in Alsip, IL last week, checking out at the
register.
This big kid in a winter parka sauntered in and started crusing the tool
aisles,
up and down, up and down. One of the older male employees called for help,
but all they would do was stand a couple of aisles away with their backs to the
kid. It was pretty obvious what was happening. The next day I went in for
something or other and asked the old guy if what I thought I was seeing was
what was really happening, and he said, yeah, on a daily basis. Many of the
Sears Hardware stores are going under. They're staffed with a skeleton crew
of mimimum wage employees whose only self-defense training is for punching
themselves in the chest to get the pacemaker going again, so they aren't
going to run out the door to tackle the guys. So if you want to add to your
tool collection, come over to Sears Hardware. It's open season.

Dave Mundt writes:

Hum...I don't know if *I* am the "prior comment" here or not.
I suspect I am. In any case, let me touch on this a bit, too. When
I said "extreme" I was actually thinking more of some of the trend
towards black and white thinking as discussed above. However, I have
also spoken out with concern about the increasing disparity between
the lowest paid job in a given company and the highest paid job. It
makes no real sense for there to be a 50x or more difference between
the lowest and highest paid jobs. The main result of this is that it
fuels the trend of society in general to have more and more folks
drifting into poverty from what used to be the "Middle Class". I
would suggest that it would be BRIGHTER for the companies to do more
to pump up the pay of the lower ranks and lower the pay of the higher
ranks a bit.

Yes. Does it make sense--and we're not talking 50 times here--for a company to
pay its chairman 50 million bucks in a money losing year, while the guy
emptying trash baskets gets 18 grand even though he does his job magnificently?

Not to me it doesn't.

Do I advocate the government using taxes to do this.
Emphatically, NO! Money to a politician is like crack to an addict.
It becomes the center of their lives, and, it does not matter how much
they have, they always need more. What good does it for anyone for
the goverment to take (as an example) a million bucks from one guy,
keep $900,000 of it for their own programs, and, "give back" $100,000
to folks in poverty? As we have seen time and time again over the
years, way too much of that cash ends up in the pockets of the "fat
cats" again through lucrative governmental contracts, double dealing
and padded billing.

What doesn't stop in government pockets tends to shift over to the pockets of
their pals.

Charlie Self
"Bore, n.: A person who talks when you wish him to listen." Ambrose Bierce, The
Devil's Dictionary

Hey BUB where are you located? I was living in Blue Island till I moved to
Cinci. Larry
"BUB 209" wrote in message
...
This post will be a little depressing to some of you, so you might want to
read
it with a friend - and then wonder why prices might be a little higher at
Sears.
I was at the Sears Hardware in Alsip, IL last week, checking out at the
register.
This big kid in a winter parka sauntered in and started crusing the tool
aisles,
up and down, up and down. One of the older male employees called for
help,
but all they would do was stand a couple of aisles away with their backs
to the
kid. It was pretty obvious what was happening. The next day I went in
for
something or other and asked the old guy if what I thought I was seeing
was
what was really happening, and he said, yeah, on a daily basis. Many of
the
Sears Hardware stores are going under. They're staffed with a skeleton
crew
of mimimum wage employees whose only self-defense training is for punching
themselves in the chest to get the pacemaker going again, so they aren't
going to run out the door to tackle the guys. So if you want to add to
your
tool collection, come over to Sears Hardware. It's open season.