The store was … extremely slow. There were people, I’d just vibed them out already, and there weren’t any more entering the store. It was a Sunday at 6pm, so the craziness that flooded the aisles earlier had now settled. I zoned in on a young girl with no purse, cart or basket, just keys. She couldn’t be more than 20, but could certainly be younger. She was holding a $6 nail polish remover. “That’s odd,” I thought aloud. I knew there were some nail polish removers on sale at the moment for $0.99, “why would she grab two of the expensive ones?” It wasn’t much, but I didn’t have anything else to watch.
I kept cameras on both monitors to provide me two angles on the girl, and just observed her. She kept brushing her hair behind her ears, but wasn’t really exhibiting any other nervous behavior. Then she left the aisle. “Ok, that’s over,” I thought. I popped off the makeup camera and pulled up one that showed me the walkway in front of the aisles, behind the registers. There she was, grabbing an abandoned cart two aisles down from the makeup aisle. A cart? No purse? She began walking back towards the aisle I’d first seen her in. Now I was interested.
The woman began selecting various makeup and placing it into the child seat of her cart; eyeliner, mascara, foundation, etc, along with the two $6 nail polish removers I’d seen her with first. She then moved on to skin care, expensive lotions, creams, pore minimizers, face masks and toners. Then hair care, shampoos, conditioners, deep conditioners, gels and hair dyes. Finally she grabbed some first aid products, like bandaids and antibacterial ointment, before exiting the aisle.
She parked her cart in the feminine care aisle, which was secluded and could be difficult to get a good view of. I had to angle one of my cameras towards a security mirror hanging in the back corner of the aisle to see her clearly. Then she … left? She headed towards produce, returning moments later with some plastic produce bags, which she filled with all of the smaller items she’d placed in her cart. When she tied the bags shut and threw them into her cart, I called a manager.
Barb was on tonight. She would be perfect. Since the store was slow, I figured if I took her off the floor for a few minutes, it wouldn’t be that big a deal. I called her and asked her to come to my office. I quickly placed a magnet over the keyhole of my door so she could just push it open. I had to keep on this girl, I needed to watch everything she was doing, so I couldn’t risk breaking my concentration.
As she left the feminine care aisle, she headed towards the Home and Entertaining section, Barb popped her head into the office. “We’ve got a live one,” I quipped as she entered. Barb was a mom, so I fully expected her surprise when she saw the young woman on my screen. “She looks so young,” Barb said. “I know, but look at those produce bags. They are filled to the brim with expensive makeup, skincare and haircare, and she tied them shut!” I barked. I was getting fired up, I needed to take a breath. “Sorry,” I continued, “I’m just concerned about the dollar amount right now, that stuff is all pretty pricey.” “Don’t worry about it,” she replied, “I get it.” Which was exactly what I needed, a calm observer.
“Are those bug repellent bracelets?” Barb asked. “Yep, and why would she need 8 of them?” I responded. The young woman threw the bracelets into the large part of her cart, and then began selecting storage containers of varying sizes. She lined the large part of her cart with these containers, transferring the bracelets into one, and then sealing the container with its lid. Moving onto dishware, the girl began opening boxes containing four grey ceramic dinner dishes each. She placed the dishes on some aisle shelves, selected four red dinner dishes being sold individually on a shelf, and put them into the now empty box. She did this with another dish set, swapping grey for red, and then placed both packages into her cart, next to the storage containers.
After selecting some other random housewares, including a wine key, coffee mugs and some tumblers, the girl selected two doormats and laid them next to each other overtop the large portion of her cart. “Did she just conceal everything under those door mats?” Barb asked. “I think so, but that is ballsy,” I stated. The girl took a hard left out of the home aisles, b-lined it to the beverages, selected two large cases of water, a pack of soda, and placed them all underneath her cart.
As soon as she passed all the registers, moving quickly I might add, I called the police. I told the dispatcher I’d be approaching this young woman in the parking lot. I gave a vague description, knowing they’d be looking for me anyways. I remained on the line as the woman grabbed two 6 packs of hard lemonade, placed them in her cart, and took a brisk stride towards the exit. “She’s headed out, I’m going to approach her and I will probably lose this connection,” I told the dispatcher. “Okay,” she replied. “Let’s go Barb,” I called, as I bolted out my office door and exited the store.
With Barb on my heels, I jogged to catch up to the woman walking briskly towards the center of the parking lot with a cart full of the store’s merchandise, unpaid for. “Miss,” I called out, “I’m with the store Miss, I need you to come with me,” I finished, resting my hands on the shopping cart she was pushing. “I’m going to take this with us,” I told her. “What?” she said abruptly, “I was, I was just … I was just putting these things in my car,” she told me. “Without paying for them?” I asked, pushing the cart in the direction of the store. “I was going to,” she replied, following me hesitantly. “Without the merchandise to ring up or a wallet to pay with?” I retorted, “no, I don’t really think so. We’re going to go inside and talk about it,” I said gently, indicating she should walk in front of me and the shopping cart, and behind Barb.
As we walked, I spoke with the girl. She told me she was 23 years old, that she was stocking a post graduate apartment for herself that’s why she needed the items in the cart. When we got to the office, I pointed to a seat for the woman to sit in, and then turned the shopping cart over to one of the employees to ring up. “Make sure you make 3 copies,” I told them. It wasn’t long before a familiar knock was at my door. Barb opened it, and upon seeing the police officer, asked if it was okay if she took her leave. Barb never spent more time than she had to and I always appreciated that.
“Good evening officer,” I said, “how are you tonight?” “I’m doing well, what do we have going on here?” he asked. “Well, this young lady does not have any form of identification on her, so all I can tell you is what she did,” I told him, and as if my employee heard me, the receipt for the merchandise she’d walked out with showed up at my door. “She walked out with a shopping cart filled with approximately $879 in unpaid merchandise. I stopped her in the middle of the parking lot, almost at her car where she expressed her intention to pay for the merchandise,” I said. “A little late for that,” he laughed.
“What’s your name Miss, and please spell it for me,” the officer grabbed a pen from his pocket and I handed him a piece of paper. The young woman spelled out her name and supplied her date of birth. The officer relayed the information into the walkie on his shoulder, and on the other end of the line dispatch ran it through their database at the station. “What’s your address Miss?” he asked. The girl gave it to him and he nodded to me. “Everything checks out,” he told me. “Great, I’ll start getting the footage together and print an evidence photo for you,” I replied.
The officer removed handcuffs from the utility belt around his waist and began to mirandize the young woman. Though she’d been extremely quiet during this entire process, she called out for me to “not do this to” her. Over and over she pleaded, as the officer cuffed her respectfully. I’d worked with him before, I watched him be gentle in the past and this time was no different. “This is not going to ruin your life,” I told her, as I followed close behind her to the police cruiser. I always tried to give people some privacy when this happened, so others passing by could not easily see the handcuffs. This meant using my body as a visibility shield.
The officer helped her into the back seat and then closed the door. “This is not her first time,” I said to him. “Hardly,” he retorted, “but she’s never been caught before.” “Well, she looks harmless so I bet no one watches her, and you don’t start by stealing a full cart of merchandise just shy of $1,000,” I laughed. “No, you don’t,” he smiled, “that was severely gutsy”. “I wonder how many times I have missed her,” I said. “I wouldn’t think too much about it. You caught her this time,” he said, and with that he hopped in his cruiser to take the girl to the police station for processing. After they were gone, I took a couple of laps around the store. I was buzzing with adrenaline and could not sit still at my desk quite yet. $879, holy shit that’s a lot! An average, young, well-educated female just pushed a full cart of almost $900 in merchandise out the doors of the store, in broad daylight, completely un-bagged in the cart, that can’t be right can it? Now what’s that commonly accepted criminal profile floating around? Not here my fellow humans, not here.
Catie Zimmerman 