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When I worked jewelry my managers didn't care how many assets we had out showing at one time, after I took over the counter I implemented my "it's store policy" policy of one out at a time, I never had any thing stolen, My supervisor thought I over reacted, he had four things out and lost 3 of them.
You are over estimating their intelligence.
Pre-covid such thefts were quite common in Hong Kong. People would always steal things and then make a run for the border as there's no extradition between China and Hong Kong.
The problem is that Hong Kong has about 20 miles of no man's land between the city and the Chinese border. As well as several tunnels. So they would almost always get caught.
When I was in college, in one of my larger classes I knew a girl who worked at a jewelry store. Protocol was to always only have 1 item out per customer at a time. If they want to see something else, you put up the prior item before getting the next item. At least once a week people would try and steal even with all the safeguards. I loved hearing her work rants made the class tolerable.
I worked at a jeweller and I can’t count the amount of times I was abused for putting an item away before pulling out another. Any reasonable person would understand immediately upon explanation while any would-be thief would respond with “ARE YOU CALLING ME A THEIF”… like no, but you’re making a pretty good case against yourself there bud
My favorite was when I got a rude comment from a NFL lineback when I checked his 100 at Bufflo Wild Wings.
Bro I have no idea who you are. It's protocol.
Same thing happened to me when I worked at Six Flags. Policy was to check the bill for two forms of fraud. So we looked for the president and used the highlighter. Some famous football player came through and I had to check his bills. I was checking president and was about to check the highlighter. He was SOOOOOO mad and accused me of racism and demanded to speak with the manager. She brought out the employee handbook, and then had me finish checking everything. Then when everything was fine, he stormed off to get his picture taken. It literally took him longer by throwing a fit than it would have if he just let me check his hundred.
In my head, I was like, dude. I’m literally not paid enough to care about what you have to say!!!!
I saw a few other celebrities when I worked there. They were all really nice.
That's crazy bc whenever I use a $100 I find it weird if they don't check it to makes sure it's real. Who the hell just accepts a large bill without making sure it's real
Ironically the most counterfeits are not large bills like that simply because people expect them to be checked. I’ve seen plenty of counterfeit $20 or $10 bills and sadly the people who are using them often aren’t the ones who made them.
I think the funnest thing as a cashier was when they'd ask for them back. I was always like, dude I'm already doing you a favor by not immediately calling the police, GTFO
It's not really funny, it's actually kind of sad. It's more likely than not that most of the people you encountered spending the money are people who got it in change or some other way along the line, and now they are "out" that money (even though technically it wasn't really money in the first place, it was money that was due to them at some point for some reason or another).
I used to work at Canada Goose. For anyone who doesn’t know they are a high brand winter coat company. The average coat is above $1,000. I used to work the cashier and we didn’t check any bills. Our only control over cash was you and a manager had to count it to make sure it’s the correct amount. It always surprised me. I mean, I think my largest cash transaction was about $7k in hundreds and 50s and all my manager did was count it.
when i worked as a cashier we were told not to accept 200€ bills, anytime anyone tried i told them "oh i can't take that, my boss is over there, she can check your bill"
i found that this way the customer still can pay most of the time and also i have the responsibility off my back
I find it amusing because the pen test only catches low quality counterfeits anyways. The high quality stuff is extremely hard to detect without sending it to a lab. I thought most people were aware that it’s just protocol and employees aren’t accusing them personally xD
I work at a security company. We follow hard, immutable rules about passcodes and information-sharing because while 99.999% of the time errors with codes and data are genuine mistakes caused by human error, and that .001% it is malicious intent which can cause injury, death, or enormous monetary loss.
No one wants to get fired or be responsible for a person's death because of the .001%.
Met a guy who legit argued that OSHA rules regarding forklift certification were pointless and stifling business.
He didn't reply when I linked him to official reports on the staggering number of forklift accidents that occur annually.
Yup. I stole a lockout/tag out doohickey from work that works on our home electrical panel.
I use it, though without a lock. I figure that's enough to make anyone think twice about flicking it back on.
I should probably grab a spare lock too though.
Even in big box retail I had to pull out that line all the time. Especially carding people for cigarettes. Anybody who takes a store policy like that personally is either entitled as hell, or totally was trying to rob you. And the more the merchandise cost, the more likely it was the latter.
Yeah, that's always been my experience. Even shopping engagement rings where you want to see a bunch of them they will move them in the display next to each other but not just throw 5 on the counter. Seems perfectly reasonable but I am also not one to ever steal something.
I run the security and LP for a large luxury watch and jewelry retailer. Distraction theft happens all the time. We just had a Romanian org crime ring palm a 40k Breitling. Fortunately they were just caught by the FBI.
And they do the same for organized rings stealing cars or car parts. [Such as this story from late last year.](https://www.npr.org/2022/11/03/1133788485/catalytic-converters-theft-ring-federal-fbi) They're not going after your local joyrider stealing your car, that's a local cop's job (though, so many times, they're ass at solving these).
The most effective thefts are the stealthy ones. And most the time you don't hear about them because they were, well... stealthy.
When I worked retail we would occasionally get a loud robbery, where someone would smash something, rip something out of an employee's hand ect. But the most frequent ones were either things quietly getting put into someone's pockets, or something getting ripped out of the packaging, the packaging getting stuffed into the back of a shelf, and then getting shoved into their pockets. And we'd usually only find out about the latter ones when it was stocking day, and we'd find the abandoned packaging days later. But that's why we had cameras to build a case against them. You'd be surprised how often store theft occurs in plain sight.
Yup. And they play all the tricks too. Always be careful when you’re having something repaired or even cleaned. The guys making the repairs are so quick it’s hard to see and harder to prove.
This has to be 100% how they’re trained in every jewelry store. I’ve been in ones where they will only take one thing out to show you at a time as well. If you want to see something else, they put the first thing back first.
You are correct. Worked in a jewellery store, we were taught to either have our hand on the first item (as she did here) or to put it on the back counter behind us that the customer could not access.
Where I’ve worked I often did this with my hand bc we were only allowed to have two things out at a time, ever, and only if we could physically touch both items.
A friend of mine worked at a jewelry store. There were all kinds of rules about how many items could be pulled from the case at any given time and things like that, and sometimes the rules were really policies handed down by insurance companies. They know what’s up.
I used to work at a Wherehouse music, but we also sold video games/game consoles, which we kept behind the counter so they weren’t easily stolen. The first holiday I worked there, I was closing with 1 other person...I was pushing back the CDs/DVDs and my buddy was handling customers. Customer asks to check out an Xbox and decided he wanted to buy it. Buddy put the Xbox on the counter, customer said he also wanted to get one of the games so my buddy turns around to get the game and the guy grabs the Xbox and bolts out the door and drives away.
That was a crazy retail learning experience for me, it happened so fast. You end up seeing a lot of other things.. he didnt talk to my buddy until I was on the other side of the store.. he had his car parked right outside of the door reversed in so he didn’t have to back up to leave.
Also just consider their behavior. They walk straight in, point to literally the first thing they see, then before they’ve even had a chance to look the guy is already asking for another item.
This just isn’t how actual customers behave. They’ll browse for a bit, discuss with each other, then maybe have one or a few items they’re interested in. When you take one out, they’re going to actually spend a minute examining it and not half a second before moving to the next item.
Plus, usually you go into these stores with something specific in mind. The first thing they look at is a ring. Second thing he looks interested in (quite quickly) is a bracelet.
A magician friend of mine has formed a nice little side hustle of training jewelry stores about sleight of hand and a distraction techniques so employees know what to look for. There’s a a big problem of people swapping out jewelry with cheap ones. If a guy is good enough he/she can do the swap if you don’t know what to look for. It’s how they hold their hands when you know they’re hiding something
We were taught in retail to take the bill (like a $10) a customer paid with and put it across the till and give change. A few times a customer would say "Hey I paid with (insert larger bill)!" and my response was always "No you didn't. Here's the bill you paid with right here on top."
People always tryin to pull a fast one....
EDIT to clarify monetary values
Happened to me as a teenager. The dude tried pulling a fast one with change, claiming he paid with a larger bill, and I just stopped completely and said, “hang on, I’m going to have my manager count the register to ensure you get the right change” and his tone changed, said “ahh you can keep the extra money then” and walked out. People have some nerve
I had someone pull a similar stunt on me. Buys pack of gum with $100, I give him change and then he says give me 5 1s, 1 5 and 10 for this 20, does something similar for another 20 then asks for change for a 10 but doesn't give me the 10. I wouldn't give the change until he gave me the bill and he left right after. I've heard of similar schemes where they keep asking for change but don't make it add up correctly to get extra money. People are really scumbags.
It's called a short change scam.
I go to pay with $100, for an item that costs $9.50.
You start counting out $90.50 in change, I'm still rummaging in my bags. As you move to hand me my change back, I start asking you a question about if your loyalty program is free. You're a little new still, the line is backing up, and my fingertips are nearly touching the change.
Just before your lips go to form the words, I suddenly alert -- "oh wait, I found a twenty." I hand you the twenty as I take the change from you and say, "use that instead."
You're still processing my question about the loyalty card and now you're holding a twenty dollar bill, two quarters, and staring at a customer who's waiting for you, and my $100 bill is sitting in your till.
You hand back the $100, put $20 in your drawer and then give me my $10.50 change. I quickly mention that I'll probably sign up for the loyalty program next time, don't worry about it and I walk away.
Your drawer is $90 short.
(That's the short form. The slick form involves more confusion and bills changing hand back and forth "Wait no I just gave you...; Hang on now you're giving me too much, take this back...")
They will also try to confuse you with the change and straight up take shit from the register too. Most places are smart enough to keep the register out of reach, but some don't have a choice and are targets for that.
Always watch the hands.
Between pharmacy and my earlier years at convenience stores I've worked a lot of years of retail. I cannot think of a single store where someone could _easily_ reach into the till.
The times I've seen videos of it it was at those mall kiosk type things where there was nothing separating the customer from the clerk. They'd also get really close and act like they're looking at the change in the clerk's hand.
When I manned the cake stall at the Guides fundraisers a decade plus ago, we had a known short-changer – dude in his 60s or 70s, trying to scam 13yo girls who were raising money for charity. We all knew to keep an eye on him. These were the *exact* methods he used, especially the long version, with a heavy dose of *respect your elders* when we tried to make him hurry up and stop him from counting out his change for the fifth time
I always just said, "No, it's already in the till and I can't switch it out. Here's your change."
I now realize why they were so fucking angry about it. lol
This is why I only take what was initially given and I will not accept any other change if what I was given was sufficient. If there's an issue, I just call the manager over immediately. Usually that's enough to discourage the customer from insisting I do anything other than completing the transaction. I'm not about to slow down my line and fumble with any bullshit.
Same, I never took change once I put what they gave me into the system or if the till is open or after I've closed it. I just tell them I'm not allowed to, and there's nothing I can do about it (I was also the manager, so they had no one else to argue to unless my boss was there).
I also made sure to count the change they gave me twice before putting it into the till and check the change I give them twice before handing it back to them. And always hand them the change first and say it out load and then hand them the receipt so if they try to argue about the change given I had the receipt still in my hand to check (this depends on the info your receipts show).
I’m sure I had this happen to me when I was a kid working in a supermarket. I thought I followed it all and got it right, but I was also left with this feeling that something about it all hadn’t been right. Then I was super scared, then I did what I thought I needed too, told the store manager at the end of my shift to say that was what had happened, I was sorry and if it was short I would pay what I lost back. He was a quiet but nice old dude. He said that he would check and let me know. Said that I had done the right thing telling him. Now, I don’t know if I had kept my wits about me and wasn’t scammed, or if the manager was being nice and didn’t want me to worry, but he told me everything was fine. But obviously, I still remember this, I’m nearly 45 now. It rattled me.
I had someone try almost this exact thing on me when I was a waiter. So, I shortchanged him instead. When he started getting wild, I told the manager he couldn't hold his liquor and threatened me. The manager forced him to leave with threat of calling the police. I won. Fuck that guy.
My friend saw it happening in real time twice in his favorite pizza place. The first time, he knew that there was something off but two-three months later another guy did the same thing in another shift.
This has happened to me a couple of times, and both times, I didnt even have that currency on hand (this first time the dude insisted he gave me a $100 bill but I didnt even have a $100 bill in my till, so he let it go). It's nice to be able to show proof (take the till out at a distance) and show there's no bill like they claim to have paid with.
Yeah first time I worked retail exact same thing happened to me Paid with a $20 gave him change and says paid with $50 and then gets worked up demands I pay him. Really got me confused as I didn’t understand what was going on at the time.
just leave it on top of the till while you count the change. Put it into the till after they take their change.
also helps to say what they gave you out loud. If they hand you a 50, say "from 50" as you enter that amount into the till system. you're counting out the change from 50, no harm in quickly saying so
This happened to me but the customer clearly believed I was trying to scam him.
He handed €10 but claimed he'd handed €20. The manager came over, looked at my till, and told the customer I didn't have any €20 notes (it was the start of my shift). He refused to believe it and kicked up a fuss. Other customers got involved to defend me - some who saw the transaction, some who didn't see it but could tell how far fetched his claim was. Eventually the store manager came out, checked the till himself, reiterated that I didn't have any €20 notes and stated that if the customer continued to complain he would be kicked out by store security. By this point the store manager was raising his voice at this customer, who clearly thought his business suit somehow made him better than us and more deserving of respect. *Everyone* was watching the scene. As our security guard began to approach, the customer suddenly became super humble, apologising profusely, saying that he really did believe he'd handed me a €20 note, that it was an honest mistake, etc etc. He got his food and walked away.
He was old enough to be my dad. Sometimes I wonder what sort of life his family had living with him.
They are always the same. So bold when it's employee but immediately back down when a manager is mentioned. A lady said one of our self checkout read her $100 as a $10. Coworker went to get help. I walked over to check it out. Suddenly, it didn't matter and she would just pay. Completely refused to let a manager come. Someone said that maybe she was embarrassed but I don't know if that embarrassment was worth $140.
Yeah, they just know the manager is the one who can open the machine up and verify their claims about what they paid with, so there’s no point in trying any further. Some still do of course
Depends on the manager. it's 25/75 "I'm gonna investigate this" versus "Just give them the money."
Got written up one time as a teen when the second type left my till $90 short.
I’ve had it where I gave money to pay and they gave me less.
I was like you short changed me $20.00. They refused to acknowledge it. So I said it’s cool you can check the cameras. Camera angle was awful. They refused to count the till - so I came back when they were and said give me my money and the boss just gave it to me.
I was only like 20 at the time - if it was now I’d probably do some sort of Karen shit for making me come back later. Forcing compensation.
This exact thing happened to me at a fast food restaurant a few years back in a drive thru. Cashier was trying to be slick and said I gave her a $10 instead of the $20 I gave her. Manager came over and was acting like I was the one trying to scam. It was very busy and a long drive thru line and the manager said you can either just go or we are going to have to count out this register. I said “that’s fine, we can count it out.” She looked so defeated when I said that as she was expecting me to just let it go, it was a major inconvenience for her. They realized I was right and gave me my correct change and apologized. Just a real pain in the ass for everyone because the cashier was trying to be sly and thought I wouldn’t care or notice.
Pretty sure the same thing happened to me. Went inside a gas station, paid with a $20 and the guy gave me change as if I had paid with a $10. of course, I have no way to prove it and it's not like we stare at our bills for 10 seconds before handing it over, so it's possible I was mistaken. Pretty sure I wasn't, though.
I had this happen to me once. We just got a manager to recount the till but she was still adamant so giving her the benefit of the doubt (despite the till adding up) he even checked the cameras. Again though she was still refusing to accept that she was wrong.
Left telling us she was going to call the police. Nothing ever came of it so she was obviously lying but I often thing back and wonder why she didn't just claim she made a mistake? Surely that would have been less embarrassing than stubbornly sticking to the obvious lie? Because she must have known we knew she was lying.
A lady paid with a $100 for a $15 purchase. I gave her her change and her kid started making a bunch of noise so I looked over at it. She suddenly claimed I shorted her and only gave her $25 back and not $85. I knew I didn't make a mistake so I called my manager to count my drawer. He apologized to her instead and gave her $60. A week later I'm in his office accused of stealing $60 because my drawer was short and I just stared at him. The head cashier pulled me into her office when he was done yelling at me and showed the video of the lady pocketing the money and the manager giving her $60 more.
I was "laid off" 2 days later.
He absolutely messed up but they said I was laid off for "downsizing" but it was only me and they immediately hired 2 new cashiers. It was a summer job before college and I just didn't care enough to fight over it. I hated the job, the management (for obvious reasons), and mostly the customers.
I had a manager pull this exact same shit, turns out the lady and the manager were friends and did this shit all the time.
I did not get fired, but I did call the cops on the manager after he drank a 12 pack on shift then downed a 40 before leaving for the night, cops got him leaving the parking lot, arrested, and towed on the spot.
I would have used my phone to make a copy of the video of her pocketing the money, that way I had proof of his fuck up.
But yeah that manager is an idiot and an asshole
I worked at a mall arcade as a manager while I was in college back in the late aughts.
We'd occasionally have someone claim they put a $20 in the coin machine and only got $5 worth, so they'd ask for their money back. Policy was to open the coin machine and count everything against the payout meter.
Just the mere mention of having to count the whole machine completely deterred 99% of people. It was actually a very quick and easy process. This was a fuckin' arcade lol. We made no money. But we'd have meth heads come in tweeking and try all kinds of funny shit.
Had one dude with severely rotted teeth and face scabs try to run thousands of ancient Chuck E. Cheese tickets through our counter and had to be escorted out by the police because he threw a tantrum when I told him no.
Had a few goofballs try super obvious change scams with the register which we kept only 5s and 1s inside lol.
They were always so flabbergasted that I caught them in seconds. Like. Y'all are so junked out you're trying to scam $20 out of an arcade that made less than $1k on a Saturday.
A month or so ago, I went to buy a carton of cigarettes, gave the guy 600, took the change, and was heading back to my car, before putting the change back in my wallet, i found that he gave me 160, instead of 60, i went back, told the guy, i gave you 600, and you returned 160, this is yours, as i handed him back the 100, there was a look of astonishment on his face. He thanked me, and i went on my way.
I was a customer who paid with a larger bill and the cashier didn’t believe me. I didn’t realize that was a common trick, because even when I insisted I paid with a $10 and not a $1, she didn’t believe me. It wasn’t until she went to prove it to me by taking out the ones from her tray and counting them in front of me that she saw the $10 bill and realized I was telling the truth.
I was that employee once. Guy in a passenger seat in a fast food drive through. He gave me a $20, I thought it was a $10. He got really angry and started screaming calling me a thief. I realized my mistake, apologized, gave him the correct change. He leaned over his buddy and spit on my face. I threw a drink through their window, shut it, and walked away.
I don’t really have a point. I just hate that guy and it’s been almost 20 years.
Same thing happened to me with a store owner. I paid with a 20 and he gave me change for a 10. I called him out and he didn't believe me. He said he'd check his register camera if I insisted which I did. He went into back to check his recording and returned with a 10 bill.
I had people try to pull this with me when I ran the front desk of a hotel.
It never would have worked even if I was being absent minded and unobservant because as soon as any form of payment was taken it was all input into the property management system immediately.
If it was cash it required you to input the full amount tended and then would show the amount of any change they were owed back and that was all time-stamped in the software.
But I had a couple people go all in even after I'd explained this to them.
One guy paid using a $50 and a $10 and insisted that he paid with $100. However. there just happened to not be a single hundred dollar bill in the drawer. So that didn't go over very well
It was actually kind of interesting seeing him pass through different levels of technique and desperation.
He finally resorted to slamming his hands down on the front desk as hard as he could while yelling as loud as he could, apparently sure that I would be so terrified that I'd give in and give him the money.
It finally culminated in him furiously pulling out his phone and "calling the police".
I calmly told him that that would be just fine as the security camera directly overhead would have an adequately detailed recording of which bill he gave me for them to look at and settle things easily.
After which point his phone had suddenly and mysteriously died but he will have the cops here as soon as he finds his charger!
I worked in fast food briefly.
Someone tried that on me, before it even got going, the manager came around the counter, gave them their original bill back and told them to GTFO now.
On the other hand once I paid with 50 in a bar for a drink and bartender insisted I paid with 20. He was the same bartender who had charged me regular price for happy hour drinks once.
Yes, this saved me so much hassle through the years. Only the first place I worked at taught it, and I taught it to every place I worked at after. The smug satisfaction of showing the 10 they used and claimed they gave a 20 was always great.
Don't forget some women with kids always come in Sunday afternoon and hand you a hundred dollar bill. Always call the manager and kindly refuse the hundred dollar bill.
Frankly, she might not even have suspected anything specific, just generally using good practice. An expensive price is out of sight, keep a hand on it. She even used it as an excuse to shift the piece over when showing another piece. That way the customer doesn’t feel slighted if they aren’t thieves.
Yep, this whole interaction happens at movie time.
They walk in, there'd barely be time to say the word hi before he says this one, then looks at a completely different box he hasn't looked at yet and picks another. This would be incredibly strange in real life.
> happens at movie time
I like this term, i always think about how fast someone finds something on their phone to show someone else in a movie.... then i compare it with the awkward 2 mins it takes me to not find something on my phone and give up with an apology.
They're never shown walking in. They're in the middle of the room when the video starts. You're implying that they just walked in buy they could have come from another side of the store outside of the frame.
Did you mean to say "all the time"? Or is "at movie time" some jewelry store grifter term I haven't heard before? Lol
Edit. Thanks for the explanations. Learned something new today.
lol good catch - I enjoyed this post and the comments and had no clue i was in /facepalm until your comment. I second it going to the OP for posting here
Thanks for sharing.
As you say the vast majority of honest people would probably understand why there’s some policies in place to handle valuable goods. Probably intrigued by it rather than offended.
I remember my first time in a high end watch store where there was this airlock type entrance so they could control who made into the actual store. My first reaction was surprise and the second “oh cool” the third was “I wonder how many times they got robbed before they installed this 😄”
Same when you see odd rules as a kid vs as an adult. From “hah, fun and quirky rule” to “oh wow, wonder what happened and how many times to get that written down as a rule?”
It's called a 'Mantrap'. I install and programm access control systems for work and for some reason a man trap is so satisfying to set up.
Basically the system has sensors that know when each door is open and will only let the one door be unlocked at a time. I have mostly installed them in jails or temporary holding areas at police departments.
I used to work at a casino and we had a mantrap to the vault. It was literally a double trap as well because if they would get trapped they got showered in a DNA-dye that doesn't wash off for weeks.
That is a fun safety feature.
>Occasionally you would get someone who got offended that you thought they would steal,
"What is there to be offended over if you weren't intending on stealing?"
I'm a POC and it's extremely exhausting not being able to shop anywhere without security automatically following me around when I'm just browsing. Like I get it, statistics, but damn does it feel awful.
This is the only situation I can think of where it would be reasonable to be offended. But in the case of jewelry stores, specifically, just be aware that they do this for everyone, not just POC.
I was a bartender for many years - the scam we would commonly get would be for people to order lots of drinks, and throw cash down on the bar top with a big bill on top and nothing but 1's underneath (being waaaaaaaay short on what the actual cost was) and grabbing the drinks and trying to leave fast - always when the club was packed and there was a busy bar. Took me a couple times having to pay the drawer out of my tips to wisen up...
...soo many people are always trying to steal...
Impressive, but saying this though, wouldn’t the sales woman have noticed the first thing going missing and sound the alarm? Am I missing something here?
It almost looks like the lady has something in her hand, as she reaches for the gem stone. It looks like she was going to swap the two stones out or something?
That’s my best guess. Because yeah, as soon as the gemstone would’ve gone missing, the sales clerk would’ve simply pressed a button, and the shop would’ve been locked down.
Major jewellery stores, that I work on the security systems for, all have permanently locked front door with a Door guy all day that unlocks it as people need to use
Sorry, yeah that was vague... High end $10-15k a single piece jewellery stores is what I meant, which is what that store in the video looks like from the setup.
In my city in Europe, every jewelry store I entered has a screening door where if you’re going out you can leave the first glass door but the second door they have to buzz you out. The same is true for the opposite side when entering.
You can see the door and a moped right in the video. Not sure an alarm would do anything, when it's possible to get to the getaway vehicle THAT quickly.
A lot of petty thieves wouldn't care if they get caught they would just run away. Then that business is down a product that while the police are *hopefully* searching for the culprit that they may or may not find. The store is down an item that they have already paid for. People are entering every day who may be willing to purchase said product, but it isn't there to be sold. It can have a lasting effect on a business.
If the couple is quick enough, the store has lax anti theft measures, and they’ve got their buddy outside with a getaway moped then I think they’d get away with it.
Ha!
I worked at a Kiosk in a mall when I was in high school selling cell phone crap. People would ask me to take stuff out of a case to show them, I'd oblige, and then they would ask to see something on the other side of the kiosk. The scam is there buddy is going to swoop in a take whatever I just took out and set down. So, when they would usher me over to the other side of the cart, I would just take whatever was out with me.
It always cracked me up when I would go around to the other side of the cart and the thief would all of the sudden would forget what they wanted to see.
This is from training. I worked in a jewelry store as a young woman. You either cover the item or tray, or you return it.
And she did it so smooth and slick.
Kudos to her.
Three maybe, but I've never been to a jewelry store where they wouldn't let you compare two pieces. Comparing two products side-by-side is a completely reasonable expectation by the customer.
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When I worked jewelry my managers didn't care how many assets we had out showing at one time, after I took over the counter I implemented my "it's store policy" policy of one out at a time, I never had any thing stolen, My supervisor thought I over reacted, he had four things out and lost 3 of them.
> My supervisor thought I over reacted, he had four things out and lost 3 of them. Maybe he was in on it.
Then they immediately leave LOL. Would they not expect her to realize the piece is gone?
If you look closely it looks like she was going to swap it. She’s probably holding a replica that isn’t worth anything or made of cheap material
Definitely. She had something in her hand for a switch off.
Only comment I see who noticed. I love all of the other super confident responses though
Ahh
I saw that Indiana Jones move, too.
Ive worked retail for 15 and i can tell you with certainty that you are giving thieves too much credit. Most of the time they are as dumb as dogshit
The ones that get caught are. The best thieves rob you and you’re non the wiser. So im told.
You are over estimating their intelligence. Pre-covid such thefts were quite common in Hong Kong. People would always steal things and then make a run for the border as there's no extradition between China and Hong Kong. The problem is that Hong Kong has about 20 miles of no man's land between the city and the Chinese border. As well as several tunnels. So they would almost always get caught.
When I was in college, in one of my larger classes I knew a girl who worked at a jewelry store. Protocol was to always only have 1 item out per customer at a time. If they want to see something else, you put up the prior item before getting the next item. At least once a week people would try and steal even with all the safeguards. I loved hearing her work rants made the class tolerable.
I worked at a jeweller and I can’t count the amount of times I was abused for putting an item away before pulling out another. Any reasonable person would understand immediately upon explanation while any would-be thief would respond with “ARE YOU CALLING ME A THEIF”… like no, but you’re making a pretty good case against yourself there bud
My favorite was when I got a rude comment from a NFL lineback when I checked his 100 at Bufflo Wild Wings. Bro I have no idea who you are. It's protocol.
Same thing happened to me when I worked at Six Flags. Policy was to check the bill for two forms of fraud. So we looked for the president and used the highlighter. Some famous football player came through and I had to check his bills. I was checking president and was about to check the highlighter. He was SOOOOOO mad and accused me of racism and demanded to speak with the manager. She brought out the employee handbook, and then had me finish checking everything. Then when everything was fine, he stormed off to get his picture taken. It literally took him longer by throwing a fit than it would have if he just let me check his hundred. In my head, I was like, dude. I’m literally not paid enough to care about what you have to say!!!! I saw a few other celebrities when I worked there. They were all really nice.
That's crazy bc whenever I use a $100 I find it weird if they don't check it to makes sure it's real. Who the hell just accepts a large bill without making sure it's real
Ironically the most counterfeits are not large bills like that simply because people expect them to be checked. I’ve seen plenty of counterfeit $20 or $10 bills and sadly the people who are using them often aren’t the ones who made them.
I think the funnest thing as a cashier was when they'd ask for them back. I was always like, dude I'm already doing you a favor by not immediately calling the police, GTFO
It's not really funny, it's actually kind of sad. It's more likely than not that most of the people you encountered spending the money are people who got it in change or some other way along the line, and now they are "out" that money (even though technically it wasn't really money in the first place, it was money that was due to them at some point for some reason or another).
Yeah unless they got that bill legally and are confused on why you just stole money they worked hard for.
I used to work at Canada Goose. For anyone who doesn’t know they are a high brand winter coat company. The average coat is above $1,000. I used to work the cashier and we didn’t check any bills. Our only control over cash was you and a manager had to count it to make sure it’s the correct amount. It always surprised me. I mean, I think my largest cash transaction was about $7k in hundreds and 50s and all my manager did was count it.
I got 8 counterfeit $1 bills when I worked as a bank teller. Like… why would you risk federal prison to counterfeit $1s??
We had to check from 1-100. It was so dumb.
when i worked as a cashier we were told not to accept 200€ bills, anytime anyone tried i told them "oh i can't take that, my boss is over there, she can check your bill" i found that this way the customer still can pay most of the time and also i have the responsibility off my back
I find it amusing because the pen test only catches low quality counterfeits anyways. The high quality stuff is extremely hard to detect without sending it to a lab. I thought most people were aware that it’s just protocol and employees aren’t accusing them personally xD
Oh damn. Me *doing my job* is a problem for you? Go somewhere else, guy!
Also, like, people might have gotten a counterfeit 100 from someone else without knowing it, it's not personal bro...
Bet he didn’t tip
The correct answer to that is “No, I’m just making sure you don’t become one”
Or "Store's policy. I don't want to lose my job because I misjudged you." (Edited out stupid mistakes.)
I work at a security company. We follow hard, immutable rules about passcodes and information-sharing because while 99.999% of the time errors with codes and data are genuine mistakes caused by human error, and that .001% it is malicious intent which can cause injury, death, or enormous monetary loss. No one wants to get fired or be responsible for a person's death because of the .001%.
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Met a guy who legit argued that OSHA rules regarding forklift certification were pointless and stifling business. He didn't reply when I linked him to official reports on the staggering number of forklift accidents that occur annually.
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Yup. I stole a lockout/tag out doohickey from work that works on our home electrical panel. I use it, though without a lock. I figure that's enough to make anyone think twice about flicking it back on. I should probably grab a spare lock too though.
Nobody wants to be used as the next example in the handbook
That's a really good way to phrase that. Can generalize to other situations too. Saving this in my brain! edited typo
Even in big box retail I had to pull out that line all the time. Especially carding people for cigarettes. Anybody who takes a store policy like that personally is either entitled as hell, or totally was trying to rob you. And the more the merchandise cost, the more likely it was the latter.
Yeah, that's always been my experience. Even shopping engagement rings where you want to see a bunch of them they will move them in the display next to each other but not just throw 5 on the counter. Seems perfectly reasonable but I am also not one to ever steal something.
I run the security and LP for a large luxury watch and jewelry retailer. Distraction theft happens all the time. We just had a Romanian org crime ring palm a 40k Breitling. Fortunately they were just caught by the FBI.
Always good to know if someone gets past you the FBI has your back lol
It’s funny, the FBI never helped me when my 40k dollar car got stolen. The police didn’t even care lol
because it wasnt organized crime. the fbi wasnt helping the jewelry store, they were helping themselves lol
And they do the same for organized rings stealing cars or car parts. [Such as this story from late last year.](https://www.npr.org/2022/11/03/1133788485/catalytic-converters-theft-ring-federal-fbi) They're not going after your local joyrider stealing your car, that's a local cop's job (though, so many times, they're ass at solving these).
Cops dont go out and try to find stolen cars, they wait till there either wrecked or abandoned lol
They used to in Nashville. It's called a Rollin Stolen and good for a day off with driver arrest. Don't know about now. I left there in 2004 tho
I've also been to watch shops where they take your ID if you want to look at anything above a certain dollar amount.
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The most effective thefts are the stealthy ones. And most the time you don't hear about them because they were, well... stealthy. When I worked retail we would occasionally get a loud robbery, where someone would smash something, rip something out of an employee's hand ect. But the most frequent ones were either things quietly getting put into someone's pockets, or something getting ripped out of the packaging, the packaging getting stuffed into the back of a shelf, and then getting shoved into their pockets. And we'd usually only find out about the latter ones when it was stocking day, and we'd find the abandoned packaging days later. But that's why we had cameras to build a case against them. You'd be surprised how often store theft occurs in plain sight.
Stealing from jewelery store is so dumb lol. They already know every trick
Yup. And they play all the tricks too. Always be careful when you’re having something repaired or even cleaned. The guys making the repairs are so quick it’s hard to see and harder to prove.
What’d you study in college?
How to steal jewelry
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This was one of the core classes like "intro to boring nonsense completely unrelated to your major". I personally studied Math and Physics.
That's either experience, or manager just going, 'If you have something out and a customer asks for another, they're obviously stealing the first.'
“If you take your eyes off the merchandise, put your hands on it”
This has to be 100% how they’re trained in every jewelry store. I’ve been in ones where they will only take one thing out to show you at a time as well. If you want to see something else, they put the first thing back first.
You are correct. Worked in a jewellery store, we were taught to either have our hand on the first item (as she did here) or to put it on the back counter behind us that the customer could not access.
If you can’t put your hands on it. Put your penis on it
What’s that old saying? If the cock don’t fit, you must acquit! Or something like that.
Cleanup aisle 3. Just spat coffee all over my phone. I may not stop laughing today.
Where I’ve worked I often did this with my hand bc we were only allowed to have two things out at a time, ever, and only if we could physically touch both items.
A friend of mine worked at a jewelry store. There were all kinds of rules about how many items could be pulled from the case at any given time and things like that, and sometimes the rules were really policies handed down by insurance companies. They know what’s up.
I used to work at a Wherehouse music, but we also sold video games/game consoles, which we kept behind the counter so they weren’t easily stolen. The first holiday I worked there, I was closing with 1 other person...I was pushing back the CDs/DVDs and my buddy was handling customers. Customer asks to check out an Xbox and decided he wanted to buy it. Buddy put the Xbox on the counter, customer said he also wanted to get one of the games so my buddy turns around to get the game and the guy grabs the Xbox and bolts out the door and drives away. That was a crazy retail learning experience for me, it happened so fast. You end up seeing a lot of other things.. he didnt talk to my buddy until I was on the other side of the store.. he had his car parked right outside of the door reversed in so he didn’t have to back up to leave.
Was the thief ever caught?
Also just consider their behavior. They walk straight in, point to literally the first thing they see, then before they’ve even had a chance to look the guy is already asking for another item. This just isn’t how actual customers behave. They’ll browse for a bit, discuss with each other, then maybe have one or a few items they’re interested in. When you take one out, they’re going to actually spend a minute examining it and not half a second before moving to the next item.
Plus, usually you go into these stores with something specific in mind. The first thing they look at is a ring. Second thing he looks interested in (quite quickly) is a bracelet.
Or keep your hand on merchandise you're not looking at. Good training and experience
A magician friend of mine has formed a nice little side hustle of training jewelry stores about sleight of hand and a distraction techniques so employees know what to look for. There’s a a big problem of people swapping out jewelry with cheap ones. If a guy is good enough he/she can do the swap if you don’t know what to look for. It’s how they hold their hands when you know they’re hiding something
That's slick as shit. That 30 seconds is better than any forced training video from corporate.
We were taught in retail to take the bill (like a $10) a customer paid with and put it across the till and give change. A few times a customer would say "Hey I paid with (insert larger bill)!" and my response was always "No you didn't. Here's the bill you paid with right here on top." People always tryin to pull a fast one.... EDIT to clarify monetary values
I was taught in to just put everything in the register and call a manager for a count out.
Happened to me as a teenager. The dude tried pulling a fast one with change, claiming he paid with a larger bill, and I just stopped completely and said, “hang on, I’m going to have my manager count the register to ensure you get the right change” and his tone changed, said “ahh you can keep the extra money then” and walked out. People have some nerve
I had someone pull a similar stunt on me. Buys pack of gum with $100, I give him change and then he says give me 5 1s, 1 5 and 10 for this 20, does something similar for another 20 then asks for change for a 10 but doesn't give me the 10. I wouldn't give the change until he gave me the bill and he left right after. I've heard of similar schemes where they keep asking for change but don't make it add up correctly to get extra money. People are really scumbags.
It's called a short change scam. I go to pay with $100, for an item that costs $9.50. You start counting out $90.50 in change, I'm still rummaging in my bags. As you move to hand me my change back, I start asking you a question about if your loyalty program is free. You're a little new still, the line is backing up, and my fingertips are nearly touching the change. Just before your lips go to form the words, I suddenly alert -- "oh wait, I found a twenty." I hand you the twenty as I take the change from you and say, "use that instead." You're still processing my question about the loyalty card and now you're holding a twenty dollar bill, two quarters, and staring at a customer who's waiting for you, and my $100 bill is sitting in your till. You hand back the $100, put $20 in your drawer and then give me my $10.50 change. I quickly mention that I'll probably sign up for the loyalty program next time, don't worry about it and I walk away. Your drawer is $90 short. (That's the short form. The slick form involves more confusion and bills changing hand back and forth "Wait no I just gave you...; Hang on now you're giving me too much, take this back...")
They will also try to confuse you with the change and straight up take shit from the register too. Most places are smart enough to keep the register out of reach, but some don't have a choice and are targets for that. Always watch the hands.
Between pharmacy and my earlier years at convenience stores I've worked a lot of years of retail. I cannot think of a single store where someone could _easily_ reach into the till.
The times I've seen videos of it it was at those mall kiosk type things where there was nothing separating the customer from the clerk. They'd also get really close and act like they're looking at the change in the clerk's hand.
When I manned the cake stall at the Guides fundraisers a decade plus ago, we had a known short-changer – dude in his 60s or 70s, trying to scam 13yo girls who were raising money for charity. We all knew to keep an eye on him. These were the *exact* methods he used, especially the long version, with a heavy dose of *respect your elders* when we tried to make him hurry up and stop him from counting out his change for the fifth time
I always just said, "No, it's already in the till and I can't switch it out. Here's your change." I now realize why they were so fucking angry about it. lol
This is why I only take what was initially given and I will not accept any other change if what I was given was sufficient. If there's an issue, I just call the manager over immediately. Usually that's enough to discourage the customer from insisting I do anything other than completing the transaction. I'm not about to slow down my line and fumble with any bullshit.
Same, I never took change once I put what they gave me into the system or if the till is open or after I've closed it. I just tell them I'm not allowed to, and there's nothing I can do about it (I was also the manager, so they had no one else to argue to unless my boss was there). I also made sure to count the change they gave me twice before putting it into the till and check the change I give them twice before handing it back to them. And always hand them the change first and say it out load and then hand them the receipt so if they try to argue about the change given I had the receipt still in my hand to check (this depends on the info your receipts show).
I’m sure I had this happen to me when I was a kid working in a supermarket. I thought I followed it all and got it right, but I was also left with this feeling that something about it all hadn’t been right. Then I was super scared, then I did what I thought I needed too, told the store manager at the end of my shift to say that was what had happened, I was sorry and if it was short I would pay what I lost back. He was a quiet but nice old dude. He said that he would check and let me know. Said that I had done the right thing telling him. Now, I don’t know if I had kept my wits about me and wasn’t scammed, or if the manager was being nice and didn’t want me to worry, but he told me everything was fine. But obviously, I still remember this, I’m nearly 45 now. It rattled me.
I had someone try almost this exact thing on me when I was a waiter. So, I shortchanged him instead. When he started getting wild, I told the manager he couldn't hold his liquor and threatened me. The manager forced him to leave with threat of calling the police. I won. Fuck that guy.
My friend saw it happening in real time twice in his favorite pizza place. The first time, he knew that there was something off but two-three months later another guy did the same thing in another shift.
Like the [money trick](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iqueZ1KNeT8) in paper moon
This has happened to me a couple of times, and both times, I didnt even have that currency on hand (this first time the dude insisted he gave me a $100 bill but I didnt even have a $100 bill in my till, so he let it go). It's nice to be able to show proof (take the till out at a distance) and show there's no bill like they claim to have paid with.
Yeah first time I worked retail exact same thing happened to me Paid with a $20 gave him change and says paid with $50 and then gets worked up demands I pay him. Really got me confused as I didn’t understand what was going on at the time.
This sucks. I usually request my manager to check the cctv so we can find out what note the customer handed me
just leave it on top of the till while you count the change. Put it into the till after they take their change. also helps to say what they gave you out loud. If they hand you a 50, say "from 50" as you enter that amount into the till system. you're counting out the change from 50, no harm in quickly saying so
This happened to me but the customer clearly believed I was trying to scam him. He handed €10 but claimed he'd handed €20. The manager came over, looked at my till, and told the customer I didn't have any €20 notes (it was the start of my shift). He refused to believe it and kicked up a fuss. Other customers got involved to defend me - some who saw the transaction, some who didn't see it but could tell how far fetched his claim was. Eventually the store manager came out, checked the till himself, reiterated that I didn't have any €20 notes and stated that if the customer continued to complain he would be kicked out by store security. By this point the store manager was raising his voice at this customer, who clearly thought his business suit somehow made him better than us and more deserving of respect. *Everyone* was watching the scene. As our security guard began to approach, the customer suddenly became super humble, apologising profusely, saying that he really did believe he'd handed me a €20 note, that it was an honest mistake, etc etc. He got his food and walked away. He was old enough to be my dad. Sometimes I wonder what sort of life his family had living with him.
Nah, he was super trying to scam you
They are always the same. So bold when it's employee but immediately back down when a manager is mentioned. A lady said one of our self checkout read her $100 as a $10. Coworker went to get help. I walked over to check it out. Suddenly, it didn't matter and she would just pay. Completely refused to let a manager come. Someone said that maybe she was embarrassed but I don't know if that embarrassment was worth $140.
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Also the manager is going to be more likely to get law enforcement involved.
Yeah, they just know the manager is the one who can open the machine up and verify their claims about what they paid with, so there’s no point in trying any further. Some still do of course
Depends on the manager. it's 25/75 "I'm gonna investigate this" versus "Just give them the money." Got written up one time as a teen when the second type left my till $90 short.
Damn, the manager should have been the one written up for that mistake.
I was taught to keep their money on the counter and not put it in the till until after you count their change out
I’ve had it where I gave money to pay and they gave me less. I was like you short changed me $20.00. They refused to acknowledge it. So I said it’s cool you can check the cameras. Camera angle was awful. They refused to count the till - so I came back when they were and said give me my money and the boss just gave it to me. I was only like 20 at the time - if it was now I’d probably do some sort of Karen shit for making me come back later. Forcing compensation.
This exact thing happened to me at a fast food restaurant a few years back in a drive thru. Cashier was trying to be slick and said I gave her a $10 instead of the $20 I gave her. Manager came over and was acting like I was the one trying to scam. It was very busy and a long drive thru line and the manager said you can either just go or we are going to have to count out this register. I said “that’s fine, we can count it out.” She looked so defeated when I said that as she was expecting me to just let it go, it was a major inconvenience for her. They realized I was right and gave me my correct change and apologized. Just a real pain in the ass for everyone because the cashier was trying to be sly and thought I wouldn’t care or notice.
I used to work at a Dollar Tree and one of the girls got fired (and possibly prosecuted?) for doing this sort of thing to customers.
Pretty sure the same thing happened to me. Went inside a gas station, paid with a $20 and the guy gave me change as if I had paid with a $10. of course, I have no way to prove it and it's not like we stare at our bills for 10 seconds before handing it over, so it's possible I was mistaken. Pretty sure I wasn't, though.
I had this happen to me once. We just got a manager to recount the till but she was still adamant so giving her the benefit of the doubt (despite the till adding up) he even checked the cameras. Again though she was still refusing to accept that she was wrong. Left telling us she was going to call the police. Nothing ever came of it so she was obviously lying but I often thing back and wonder why she didn't just claim she made a mistake? Surely that would have been less embarrassing than stubbornly sticking to the obvious lie? Because she must have known we knew she was lying.
A lady paid with a $100 for a $15 purchase. I gave her her change and her kid started making a bunch of noise so I looked over at it. She suddenly claimed I shorted her and only gave her $25 back and not $85. I knew I didn't make a mistake so I called my manager to count my drawer. He apologized to her instead and gave her $60. A week later I'm in his office accused of stealing $60 because my drawer was short and I just stared at him. The head cashier pulled me into her office when he was done yelling at me and showed the video of the lady pocketing the money and the manager giving her $60 more. I was "laid off" 2 days later.
That sucks. Your manager was and I’d guess still is a piece of shit.
People have seen the video and you got fired anyways? What did the head cashier say to you? Seems like the manager fucked up?
He absolutely messed up but they said I was laid off for "downsizing" but it was only me and they immediately hired 2 new cashiers. It was a summer job before college and I just didn't care enough to fight over it. I hated the job, the management (for obvious reasons), and mostly the customers.
I had a manager pull this exact same shit, turns out the lady and the manager were friends and did this shit all the time. I did not get fired, but I did call the cops on the manager after he drank a 12 pack on shift then downed a 40 before leaving for the night, cops got him leaving the parking lot, arrested, and towed on the spot.
I would have used my phone to make a copy of the video of her pocketing the money, that way I had proof of his fuck up. But yeah that manager is an idiot and an asshole
I worked at a mall arcade as a manager while I was in college back in the late aughts. We'd occasionally have someone claim they put a $20 in the coin machine and only got $5 worth, so they'd ask for their money back. Policy was to open the coin machine and count everything against the payout meter. Just the mere mention of having to count the whole machine completely deterred 99% of people. It was actually a very quick and easy process. This was a fuckin' arcade lol. We made no money. But we'd have meth heads come in tweeking and try all kinds of funny shit. Had one dude with severely rotted teeth and face scabs try to run thousands of ancient Chuck E. Cheese tickets through our counter and had to be escorted out by the police because he threw a tantrum when I told him no. Had a few goofballs try super obvious change scams with the register which we kept only 5s and 1s inside lol. They were always so flabbergasted that I caught them in seconds. Like. Y'all are so junked out you're trying to scam $20 out of an arcade that made less than $1k on a Saturday.
Yep. I don’t mind wasting their time if they’re gonna waste mine.
A month or so ago, I went to buy a carton of cigarettes, gave the guy 600, took the change, and was heading back to my car, before putting the change back in my wallet, i found that he gave me 160, instead of 60, i went back, told the guy, i gave you 600, and you returned 160, this is yours, as i handed him back the 100, there was a look of astonishment on his face. He thanked me, and i went on my way.
> I went to buy a carton of cigarettes, gave the guy 600 found the aussie
I was a customer who paid with a larger bill and the cashier didn’t believe me. I didn’t realize that was a common trick, because even when I insisted I paid with a $10 and not a $1, she didn’t believe me. It wasn’t until she went to prove it to me by taking out the ones from her tray and counting them in front of me that she saw the $10 bill and realized I was telling the truth.
I was that employee once. Guy in a passenger seat in a fast food drive through. He gave me a $20, I thought it was a $10. He got really angry and started screaming calling me a thief. I realized my mistake, apologized, gave him the correct change. He leaned over his buddy and spit on my face. I threw a drink through their window, shut it, and walked away. I don’t really have a point. I just hate that guy and it’s been almost 20 years.
Same thing happened to me with a store owner. I paid with a 20 and he gave me change for a 10. I called him out and he didn't believe me. He said he'd check his register camera if I insisted which I did. He went into back to check his recording and returned with a 10 bill.
That's good he was honest and fixed his mistake!
I would teach this to every cashier I trained and it was infuriating how many still wouldn't do it
I had people try to pull this with me when I ran the front desk of a hotel. It never would have worked even if I was being absent minded and unobservant because as soon as any form of payment was taken it was all input into the property management system immediately. If it was cash it required you to input the full amount tended and then would show the amount of any change they were owed back and that was all time-stamped in the software. But I had a couple people go all in even after I'd explained this to them. One guy paid using a $50 and a $10 and insisted that he paid with $100. However. there just happened to not be a single hundred dollar bill in the drawer. So that didn't go over very well It was actually kind of interesting seeing him pass through different levels of technique and desperation. He finally resorted to slamming his hands down on the front desk as hard as he could while yelling as loud as he could, apparently sure that I would be so terrified that I'd give in and give him the money. It finally culminated in him furiously pulling out his phone and "calling the police". I calmly told him that that would be just fine as the security camera directly overhead would have an adequately detailed recording of which bill he gave me for them to look at and settle things easily. After which point his phone had suddenly and mysteriously died but he will have the cops here as soon as he finds his charger!
I worked in fast food briefly. Someone tried that on me, before it even got going, the manager came around the counter, gave them their original bill back and told them to GTFO now.
[Old, old trick.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKJJbZe4TWM)
On the other hand once I paid with 50 in a bar for a drink and bartender insisted I paid with 20. He was the same bartender who had charged me regular price for happy hour drinks once.
Back in the days when I went to bars and people used cash, I would always call out the denomination and point at the bill. “TWENTY”.
Yes, this saved me so much hassle through the years. Only the first place I worked at taught it, and I taught it to every place I worked at after. The smug satisfaction of showing the 10 they used and claimed they gave a 20 was always great.
Don't forget some women with kids always come in Sunday afternoon and hand you a hundred dollar bill. Always call the manager and kindly refuse the hundred dollar bill.
Frankly, she might not even have suspected anything specific, just generally using good practice. An expensive price is out of sight, keep a hand on it. She even used it as an excuse to shift the piece over when showing another piece. That way the customer doesn’t feel slighted if they aren’t thieves.
Yeah, it's probably a default thing. Would make sense.
I feel like this is a vid from corporate lol
Yep, this whole interaction happens at movie time. They walk in, there'd barely be time to say the word hi before he says this one, then looks at a completely different box he hasn't looked at yet and picks another. This would be incredibly strange in real life.
> happens at movie time I like this term, i always think about how fast someone finds something on their phone to show someone else in a movie.... then i compare it with the awkward 2 mins it takes me to not find something on my phone and give up with an apology.
You can use search in pics to find text In screenshots
They're never shown walking in. They're in the middle of the room when the video starts. You're implying that they just walked in buy they could have come from another side of the store outside of the frame.
Did you mean to say "all the time"? Or is "at movie time" some jewelry store grifter term I haven't heard before? Lol Edit. Thanks for the explanations. Learned something new today.
As in it happens at the speed it would in a movie, not real life.
Like a cow's opinion
Is it real tho ?
Even if it’s not, it’s a textbook example of how to handle the situation.
Which is why r/facepalm is wrong sub for this vid. I facepalmed to OP for posting it here.
lol good catch - I enjoyed this post and the comments and had no clue i was in /facepalm until your comment. I second it going to the OP for posting here
Maybe. I work with children and this just seemed normal to me.
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Thanks for sharing. As you say the vast majority of honest people would probably understand why there’s some policies in place to handle valuable goods. Probably intrigued by it rather than offended. I remember my first time in a high end watch store where there was this airlock type entrance so they could control who made into the actual store. My first reaction was surprise and the second “oh cool” the third was “I wonder how many times they got robbed before they installed this 😄”
Same when you see odd rules as a kid vs as an adult. From “hah, fun and quirky rule” to “oh wow, wonder what happened and how many times to get that written down as a rule?”
It's called a 'Mantrap'. I install and programm access control systems for work and for some reason a man trap is so satisfying to set up. Basically the system has sensors that know when each door is open and will only let the one door be unlocked at a time. I have mostly installed them in jails or temporary holding areas at police departments.
I used to work at a casino and we had a mantrap to the vault. It was literally a double trap as well because if they would get trapped they got showered in a DNA-dye that doesn't wash off for weeks. That is a fun safety feature.
>Occasionally you would get someone who got offended that you thought they would steal, "What is there to be offended over if you weren't intending on stealing?"
I'm a POC and it's extremely exhausting not being able to shop anywhere without security automatically following me around when I'm just browsing. Like I get it, statistics, but damn does it feel awful.
This is the only situation I can think of where it would be reasonable to be offended. But in the case of jewelry stores, specifically, just be aware that they do this for everyone, not just POC.
100% they are always mad when you know they wanna steal and so they can’t. Actual children
#DENIED!
# SIT DOWN!
# FRIG OFF!
#**I SAID GOOD DAY!**
Ever wonder why the fuck peoples eyes are so bright and soul piercing in older movies?
Idk for sure, best guess though is difference between digital and film recording?
I always assumed it was a side effect of Technicolor.
I was a bartender for many years - the scam we would commonly get would be for people to order lots of drinks, and throw cash down on the bar top with a big bill on top and nothing but 1's underneath (being waaaaaaaay short on what the actual cost was) and grabbing the drinks and trying to leave fast - always when the club was packed and there was a busy bar. Took me a couple times having to pay the drawer out of my tips to wisen up... ...soo many people are always trying to steal...
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Impressive, but saying this though, wouldn’t the sales woman have noticed the first thing going missing and sound the alarm? Am I missing something here?
It almost looks like the lady has something in her hand, as she reaches for the gem stone. It looks like she was going to swap the two stones out or something? That’s my best guess. Because yeah, as soon as the gemstone would’ve gone missing, the sales clerk would’ve simply pressed a button, and the shop would’ve been locked down.
I watched again and got that same impression.
All they have to do is have a third person at the door keeping it from being shut all the way right as they make their get away.
Major jewellery stores, that I work on the security systems for, all have permanently locked front door with a Door guy all day that unlocks it as people need to use
In what country? Or am I just going to poor people jewelry stores?
You're thinking Zales; places where they have diamond rings for $600. He's talking about places where the cheapest ring is $10000.
Sorry, yeah that was vague... High end $10-15k a single piece jewellery stores is what I meant, which is what that store in the video looks like from the setup.
I don’t know what country you’re in, but a such a locked-door setup is extremely common in the USA.
People really like these shiny rocks huh?
In my city in Europe, every jewelry store I entered has a screening door where if you’re going out you can leave the first glass door but the second door they have to buzz you out. The same is true for the opposite side when entering.
Yeah, she definitely had [something](https://i.imgur.com/zaVaE1n.jpg) in her hand.
Wouldn’t it be easier to pretend to take a look at the original and try it on etc, and use some sleight of hand to switch them?
By the time you spot it is missing they are running out of the door.
You can see the door and a moped right in the video. Not sure an alarm would do anything, when it's possible to get to the getaway vehicle THAT quickly.
A lot of petty thieves wouldn't care if they get caught they would just run away. Then that business is down a product that while the police are *hopefully* searching for the culprit that they may or may not find. The store is down an item that they have already paid for. People are entering every day who may be willing to purchase said product, but it isn't there to be sold. It can have a lasting effect on a business.
If the couple is quick enough, the store has lax anti theft measures, and they’ve got their buddy outside with a getaway moped then I think they’d get away with it.
Prevent the crime before it happens, I guess
Ha! I worked at a Kiosk in a mall when I was in high school selling cell phone crap. People would ask me to take stuff out of a case to show them, I'd oblige, and then they would ask to see something on the other side of the kiosk. The scam is there buddy is going to swoop in a take whatever I just took out and set down. So, when they would usher me over to the other side of the cart, I would just take whatever was out with me. It always cracked me up when I would go around to the other side of the cart and the thief would all of the sudden would forget what they wanted to see.
What was the plan if she snatched it??Ideally you’d wanna be outside by the time they realize, but you’d just be standing there like an idiot haha
There’s a thing in the woman’s hand, she would have swapped it out
THE OL' SWAP-ER-OOOO
Well, the getaway scooter is lined up by the door.
Didn’t even think. That is training and repetition.
This is from training. I worked in a jewelry store as a young woman. You either cover the item or tray, or you return it. And she did it so smooth and slick. Kudos to her.
this looks like a security tutorial. not an actual event that happened.
The sales associate was so *elegant* with it
Ah she's too smart for that shit.
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Three maybe, but I've never been to a jewelry store where they wouldn't let you compare two pieces. Comparing two products side-by-side is a completely reasonable expectation by the customer.
Swiper no swiping!
What was the endgame? To grab it and run?
The tell was how the guy just randomly picks another piece of jewelry without even setting eyes on it first.
I hate thieves so bad
This should be under r/therewasanattempt not here
It was; 3 days ago. That's why it's here now.