The sears hardwares here were pretty nice for a while but still never carried any lumber. They they changed to Orchard hardware and kind of died out. The big new mall near my office the sears store is huge and there are usually a dozen employees always stocking shelves but 1 out of 10 actually knows where something is and its usually the same old guy at the register who knows me by name.
This post will be a little depressing to some of you, so you might want to read it with a friend - and then wonder why prices might be a little higher at Sears. I was at the Sears Hardware in Alsip, IL last week, checking out at the register. This big kid in a winter parka sauntered in and started crusing the tool aisles, up and down, up and down. One of the older male employees called for help, but all they would do was stand a couple of aisles away with their backs to the kid. It was pretty obvious what was happening. The next day I went in for something or other and asked the old guy if what I thought I was seeing was what was really happening, and he said, yeah, on a daily basis. Many of the Sears Hardware stores are going under. They're staffed with a skeleton crew of mimimum wage employees whose only self-defense training is for punching themselves in the chest to get the pacemaker going again, so they aren't going to run out the door to tackle the guys. So if you want to add to your tool collection, come over to Sears Hardware. It's open season.
Bub 209 notes:
Not the clerk's job to catch the kid, anyway. That calls for a store security person who knows the ins and outs of messing with people and finding zilch when a search is underway...zilch except for the cell phone already set to dial his lawyer.
Charlie Self "Bore, n.: A person who talks when you wish him to listen." Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
You're not actually encouraging theft, are you?
Seemed pretty clear that he was not advocating theft but rather making commentary upon an overly-permissive society that affords perpetrators more rights than victims, prosecutes those who defend themselves more vigorously than those who commit the assaults, and willingly bends to cries of "racism!" whenever a member of a favored minority is inconvenienced, even if with probable cause. Probably also sprinkled with a bit of approbation for a company that barely staffs a store with enough staff to sell things and fails to provide adequate security capability, assuming that "we can raise prices to make up for the high vapor pressure of our products".
This is nothing new, you simply noticed what goes on daily and has been going on daily for decades. Back in the mid 70's I ran a tire store that also sold do it your self parts and accessories. About once a month a guy would come in and try to steal 12 to 15 sets of spark plugs. Other managers of the same stores in town would alert the other managers to be expecting the guy to show up and he always did. The store is foolishly allowing this if they do not employ outside security.
Brilliant! You guessed it!
Sounds familiar. In the tool department of the local Sears (we had a killer Sears hardware, but it was closed) all the employees are either under 20 or over 60. The young guys give you blank stares, the old guys talk about where stuff was in the '70s, but can't find anything now.
I still shop Sears for many hand tools, so it pains me to see this in this condition. I wish for the good old days again, where you could buy outboard motors, metal-turning lathes, car parts, and guns.
GTO(John)
GTO(John)
Do I win a tool?
And poor Mark started frothing about our permissive society when all you were doing was encouraging crime. What a pity.
No, but you win first-in-line status at the audition for our new reality show, "Match THIS Price."
I suspect Bub209 was pulling your leg there (especially since he prefaced his comments with "you might find this depressing"): i.e. engaging in a bit of sarcasm. But even if he was advocating the commission of crime, that further reinforces my comments -- that is, his engaging in public advocacy of the commission of criminal activity with no fear of consequences.
Oh oh, here we go --
Fear not - the black helicopters are on their way to collect him even as we speak...
(Good thing I was already wearing my tinfoil hat!)
Sounds like the store manager needs to be notified that his store is being robbed with the benign assistance of his employees. Also, are there no police in this town?
Sometimes it's more than just trying to avoid the confrontation - there be law-yers out there ready to take you for a lot more than the cost of lost inventory if'n they can get an employee to make a "false" accusation of theft.
Any business has to use all the tech stuff they can to help in their defense - cameras/vcr's and whatever...
I worked in the Phoenix Woodcraft where we lost several months profits through theft because a herd of these sleazes would decend on the store and outnumber the employees 4 to 1. You just can't keep eyeballs on all of 'em at once. That store BTW is history.
-Doug
Sears has an asset protection department. There sole purpose is to stop inventory loss. I'm surprised that this store is allowing this to happen. It's a quick way to get the AP manager replaced. I work part time in a Sears stock room (gotta love that employee discount), and in my 2 years there I've seen them nab plenty of shoplifters, tools aren't usually what they're after. Watches, jewelry, electric razors and clothes are their favorite targets.
Kevin Daly
He was pulling your leg too.
place. They were actually pretty good at catching the shoplifters. Now work part time at a Sears Hardware store in another state and there are no Asset Protection personnel. We do occasionally get the "snatch and run" guy and policy is to not chase them. Get a license plate number if we can but no personal contact or tackling, etc. It isn't worth someone getting hurt and I suspect the cost of an Asset Protection staff on hand all the time would be much more than the little we lose to shoplifting. On the other hand, twice in the last month, I've been almost knocked down by aggressive staff at WalMart as they chased a shoplifter out of their store and tackled them right in front of me. The last shoplifter was screaming in pain that they had broken some part of his body. And a third time, the emt's were attaching a body board to a young lady on the tarmac as I approached the store. I suspect another tackling had taken place. This particular store seems to be on a revenge streak since a shoplifter shot a couple of employees (not fatally) before the cops shot her (fatally) as she was being interviewed in the security office a couple of years ago.
Tom responds:
Revenge streak or not, those employees had better be damned sure those people they are injuring can be proved to be thieves. If there's the slightest doubt, they open themselves and WalMart to a case of which lawyer's dream, especially with personal injury added to false accusations.
Charlie Self "Bore, n.: A person who talks when you wish him to listen." Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
I could only hope they mistake me for a thief :-) May God have mercy on their souls because their wallet will belong to me :-)
ok back to the shadows ...
I suspect if the person being caught is a thief or not, he has a case if he is badly injured. There are way too many liberal laws that go too far to protect the guilty.
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