Memorial Day at work...

So today I reflected on my rotation at work and pondered how many people had to deal with the craziness I've had at my job in one day. Aside from my usual routine of crap I or my co-workers deal with, Here is a summary of the last 24 hours at my job.

• Police taking a report for a stolen vehicle
• Redemption against the thieves
• Stolen cell phones in a kiosk
• Random guy wants me to share my cigarette
• Fist fight
• Fury of a 1000 crickets

What is my job? I'm a manager at a big box retail store. This is where you see the worst of humanity and learn to hate or lose faith in people.

• Stolen Vehicle

So I work the overnight shift, as I pull in to the parking lot I see a cop talking to a family. After asking the closing manager what happenend, apparently the victim's sister stopped by the store because she left left something in the car, she went to get it. The victim never got her keys back. Turns out, the sister lost the keys somewhere outside of the car, and somebody took the keys and drove away with it.
Man the situation really sucks for the victim, hope they find the car.

• Redemption against the thieves

So sometime last week I had a run in with a shoplifter. This is my first time seeing her, but my associates knew of her from her past actions. First she had an overflowing shopping cart full of stuff with random expensive stuff. Red flag #1, She asked me 3 different times asking to go into the fitting room, Red flag #2 ( fitting room closes at 10pm, she was in the store 10 mins before closing, and fitting rooms are a popular stealing spot), and finally out of 50+ items she had in her cart, she only bought 6 items Red flag #3 ( she likes to push out with the full shopping cart, unfortunately for her, I was watching the front door ). So I have a cart full of mixed stuff that I have to get my team to put away along with the million other items that's scattered through out the store. So I didn't actually see her steal anything so I let her out. As I was about to lock up the door to close up, she tried to come back in and claim she left her vacuum that she brought in with her. I smile and ask her if she has a receipt, she said no, she was going to bring it in for an exchange. Then I said no problem! Just wait outside since the store is closed and I will verify it on the cameras and if that was the case, I will gladly let her have the vacuum. Long story story short, she tried to confuse me and flipped out so she can get a free vacuum, but I stood my ground knowing full well she is full of shit. she left the store pissed and was supposed to come back in with a receipt she now magically had. She never came back.. until.....

Yesterday I see her walk in the store and grab an empty bag. I knew right away what she was up to. I call my Loss Provetion and put them on her. With in 5 minutes they get her In the office for trying to walk out with 2 pairs of shoes. She didn't walk out in handcuffs but she is banned from the store now, which is still a win in my book.

Later on, they got a repeat offender who under rings on the self scan register ( scan one item, put 5 in the bag ) and got her banned from the store. So justice was going good that night.

• Stolen cell phones in a kiosk

At my store we have one of those kiosks where you can trade in your phone for cash. Police came in the 4th time that night, because some one reported that both their phones were in the machine after they traced it there. Not sure what the end result was there, but just a note on how busy the police were there that night.

• Random guy wants me to share my cigarette

So our store closes at 11pm and opens at 6am. So our doors are locked, but I have to let a few associates in that come in before opening. So at 3:30am I'm waiting for an associate to come in, so I sit out front and have a quick cigarette. Sadly it was the last one in the pack. So I sit there and enjoy it. Now here comes a random dude in his car and drives to the front of the store. He asked me if we are open, I told him we're closed. Then he asks "Let me get a drag of that cigarette" I simply respond "No I'm good." "I'll park my car and let me have a drag" wtf? This random ass dude in the middle of the night wants to hit my cigarette in a bad area. No thank you.... "No man, it's my last one and I don't share cigarettes like that " "Where am I supposed to get cigarettes then?" I simply pointed to the gas station 50 ft away in the same parking lot. I really don't get the strangness of people sometimes.

-Fist Fight

Don't have much details on this one as I was home sleeping, but this happened during the day, two dudes got into a fight in front of the store over some some bull shit, cops were called, one guy got some good hits in, they left the scene.

-Fury of 1000 crickets

Crickets? Really? So we do not sell crickets and thank God this happened during the day, but 3 dudes came in the store with boxes in a shopping cart. They rushed into the home area, and unloaded a shit ton of crickets in the store. This caused havoc for customers and associates. People screaming and freaking out over swarms of crickets inside the building. The store manager rushed over with a push broom, and he was sweeping them in a pile trying to keep them contained, while other associates were either stomping or using a shop vac to get rid of these little monsters. I still found a few crickets when I came in, due to customer complaints.
I'm sure a video will surface, if not now, then in a few years. I see no other reason for people to do this other then social media reaction and hits.

So that's just some of the major stuff that happened in 24 hours in my work place. For you Americans out there, how was your memorial day?

(Photo from freepik.com)

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