Home Depot fires two managers

[JoeSpareBedroom]

If you would risk your life to keep someone from stealing a piece of merchandise from Home Depot, you're out of your mind. Full of shit, too.

[curmudgeon]

I'm just a part-time sales associate at the Depot and I've been told many many times to never confront a thief. The reason's simple: ain't no lawn mower or light bulb worth dying over...and these days when kids shoot other kids for dissing 'em...makes a whole lot of sense. And BTW, the vending machines don't belong to the Depot anyway....they're put there on a commission basis by the bottler.

[Al Bundy]

dpb wrote in news:fb7did$8md$ [e-mail]:

How bout two nailguns on a compressor. Good marketing gimmick. I mean, I'd stop to watch.

[Caesar Romano]

On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:23:09 -0400, "curmudgeon" wrote Re Re: Home Depot fires two managers:

That's very true if it's *some else's* lawn mower vs. *your* life.

OTOH, if it's your mower, then it's really not about your mower, but rather it's about your ability to live free without constant and continuing fear of being a victim.

Then again, many people in this country are conditioned to be victims.

[Charlesmurphy via HomeKB.com]

I also worked in a convenience store with the same type of policy. I think the reason is because of the insurance the stores carry. All merchandise and monies are covered but your life is not. Besides I have heard of a store employee injured during the commision of a crime and sued the store owner. If you were killed, your family may sue them.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

As much as I'd love to shoot a thief who steals MY stuff, hiding the body is a bitch, and if the guy's not **IN** your house, the paperwork is going to be a real bitch.

[Bernardo Gui]

There is no end to macho TALK on the Internet.

This issue boils down to whether or not these two employees did what their bosses told them to do. They didn't. They got fired. End of story.

Bernardo

[HeyBub]

You can't shoot a guy just for being in your house (in states without a "Castle Doctrine" law).

You can ALWAYS shoot someone if you are in fear of your life - doesn't matter, ever, whether he's in your house, across the street, or on the moon.

What you say at the first interview will set in motion an almost irrevocable chain of events. Contrast:

"He then pulled a large-caliber pistol and pointed it in my direction. I, in fear of my live, discharged my own weapon."

with

"He went for his piece and I smoked him."

The best thing is to avoid that first interview: "I'd like to help officer, but I don't feel too well. I think I'm having a heart attack. I really need to go to the hospital."

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Let's apply this to the message that started the thread. If a guy's stealing change from a soda machine outside Home Depot, you're going to have one hell of a time proving you were in fear for your life when they find out he wasn't armed with anything but his house keys.

[HeyBub]

You know, we used to have the same policy with regard to airplane hijackings; remain calm, submit to demands, and you'll end up with a few days in Cuba.

[Red]

And the message we're sending the thieves is "do whatever you want & we won't stop you". Doesn't take long for that message to spill over from store merchandise to customer's property.

I agree employees should not attempt to stop thieves, but the stores really need to get tough to put a stop to it. I've seen whole shopping centers completely shut down because no one had the balls to stop crime issues and customers just quit shopping there.

Red

[JoeSpareBedroom]

How do you think they should get tough?

[Norminn]

clipped

Stores and manufacturers, over time, have made changes to make products more difficult to steal. Examples: printer cartridges either have huge packages or are not on the shelf = you take a ticket for the item you want and clerk gets it from stock. CD's with electronic tags. The fabric shop I shop at regularly sells pre-cut fabric in 1/4 yard folded condition, a very small, concealable item - each has a little label inside with electronic-looking printing. Employee theft has been in the news - didn't Walmart just change their policy about theft by minors? For the neighborhood, police and politicians are of help, if you live long enough.

I call the cops regularly about neighbors screaming, prowlers, insane drivers, etc. I called once when I saw someone lurking in the dark at the condo next-door at about 3 am. I went outside to peek around the corner first, and next thing I knew the guy was standing behind me. "I'd like to explain why I am here.", he says. I made a bee-line for the phone and when the cops came he was sitting in a car across the street. According to the cop, the prowler was training to do undercover detective work, and the cop bought the story. Couple of years later, I was shopping nearby and discovered a store-front business for a security training biz. Guess he was ok, but I could have shot him first and then called the cops :o)

Hubby is retired cop, and we have a neighbor who likes to knock on our door for police matters. She is always drunk, probably in late stages of cirrhosis, and not much of a threat to anyone. She can barely stand much of the time. She came to the door one day because her hubby had allegedly tried to strangle her. She didn't have any visible injury, but I figured the cops should know, just in case. And I thought it might discourage her from bringing her trouble to my door. She wasn't pleased, but I told her I could not ignore it if I thought someone was being hurt by someone else. Cops told me she hangs out with homeless people - probably banned from all the nearby bars and has nobody else to drink with. The drunks in the local bars are a tad classier :o)

[Andy Asberry]

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." __ Edmund Burke

I'm with you.

--Andy Asberry--

------Texas-----

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Speaking of guns, in our industry, we use a pneumatic operated venturi fill mechanism on molds to blow material into it. They have been knows as "fill guns" since 1955 when they were invented. No problem until about 10 years ago when anything with the word "gun" on import/export paper was flagged. Could be held up in transit for weeks. We know call them fill injectors.

[PaPaPeng]

I am of the opinion that firing an employee acting on a natural instinct to do good is very inappropriate punishment. To enforce store policy, and it is a good policy, perhaps a known fine (of $300?) to be paid to the store employees' annual picnic fund would be more fair.

[tom]

Couldn't resist:

Dear Mr. Tom,

Thank you for contacting The Home Depot Customer Care

We have a policy in place regarding associate interaction with suspected shoplifters. That policy calls for any associate who witnesses criminal activity to immediately contact the designated loss prevention associate or security guard assigned to their store, who is professionally trained to handle the situation in the safest way possible. We do this to protect everyone in our stores, both associates and customers. In short, this is among the most important policies we have for governing the operations of our stores because violation of it can have serious consequences.

Unfortunately, the associates involved in this specific incident violated that policy. Actions like this are unacceptable and can be extremely dangerous. Safety is a primary focus for our Company and this violation could have put our customers and associates at greater risk, had the situation evolved differently.

Sincerely,

Poonam Customer Care

Original Message Follows:

------------------------ Contact Us Form Message From: tom g Submitted: 08-29-2007 07:13:53 PM EDT E-mail: [e-mail] Phone: Zip/Postal Code: 60123 Subject: Company Feedback Store Locator: Service Number: Comments:Home Depot employee looking for job after stopping alleged thief. Guess I'll be shopping at Menards or Lowes from now on....even Ace Hardware. Way to Go!!!! Tom G.

[mm]

I think they should have atomic bombs. Vaporize the scum.

(Any collateral damage will be limited if the bombs are under 30 kilotons.

[Red]

For example, Lowes policy is that a shoplifter/thief must have continual video coverage from exiting their car in the parking lot, entering the store, continual unbroken coverage throughout the store including picking up said merchandise, exiting the store without paying, and reentering their car before they can be confronted by loss prevention. Quite impossible to inforce in most cases. Again a true example I personally witnessed, a perp exited the store with a shopping cart containing several boxed weedeaters which set off the alarm. Employee approached the guy and said "sir, may I see your sales receipt?" Guy said "hell no, I ain't showing you nuttin!" and off he went. Store policy mentioned above was probably not met so store did nothing. Store should have the authority to demand a sales receipt or demand return of items. If refused, store should turn video over to the police. Another thing stores do: items are stolen from store 1, driven across town to store 2, taken to customer service and asks for a refund without a sales receipt, which the store gladly provides. No refund for items over $x.xx without a sales receipt would stop that kind of losses. Yea, some legit customers will be affected, but they'll learn to hang on to their sales receipts.

Red

[mm]

And I'd support it if I were standing behind either of them.

Or if anyone might be, which they might.