Lying Scumbag Thieves...Is There Any Other Kind?

Sorry I've been MIA, been real busy and customers haven't actually been too bad lately.

I was just saying that to someone the other day, which of course means I jinxed myself.

I was working the other day when I had to go up front to help get rid of the line that had formed. My coworker was ringing up a guy's purchase and his card kept declining.

I wasn't too sure what was going on but I saw the customer grab his bag and walk to the back of the store.

"Did he pay for that?" I asked my coworker.

"No, his card declined. He said he'd put the items back himself."

Now, I hate when customers do this. Usually when they don't want their purchase I will tell them I'll put the items back. Why? Because some of them steal the items that they can't afford to pay for.

So my coworker started watching him put the items back on the little monitor we have up front. The customer put whatever he bought back in the cooler and leaves the store. Shortly after that, my coworker walks from behind the register saying "He didn't put the nail clippers back," and she follows him out the door.

So I figured she'd go confront him, that's what I usually do unless they scare the hell out of me. This was a guy about 25 years old. I would have went out and said something to him.

My coworker is gone for about ten seconds when she comes back in and yells out a license plate to me. Now, we train them to get the license plate of people that steal or drive off with gas, but I'm thinking "Really? I'm not calling the cops to chase after a guy for $1.49."

So I go outside instead. In my hand I had a piece of paper where I had written down his license plate when she yelled it out to me.

I stop him while he's pulling out of his parking spot. He rolls down his window.

"Where are the nail clippers?" I ask.

"I put them back."

"I don't see them. Where did you put them?"

"I put them where they belong," he says, slightly agitated.

"No you didn't, you just put back the Red Bull. You didn't go anywhere near the other shelves. Did you put them in your pocket?"

"No!" he yells. "I put them somewhere, I just threw them on a shelf!" He was getting really pissed.

"Fine," I said. "If I can't find them I'm giving your license plate number to the police," I said and stormed inside.

I hadn't wanted to press the issue too far because

A) They were just nail clippers and

B) I hadn't yet checked out the security video and was just going on the word of my coworker, which can sometimes be wrong.

But, I don't care that he had just stolen something that was only $1.49, it's the point that I don't want this fuckface in my store because if he steals something small the first time and gets away with it, he'll steal more each time he comes in.

So I went back inside and about an hour later looked up the security video. Sure enough, he put back his Red Bulls in the cooler and you could see him stick something in his pocket, which could only have been the nail clippers.

Naturally, I wasn't going to call the cops for $1.49 so I just decided we had to let it go.

I was doing paperwork in the back room about an hour later when my coworker called me up front. There she was, ringing up the thief that had stolen the nail clippers. She was ringing him up for a pair of NAIL CLIPPERS!

"He said he forgot that they were in his pocket," my coworker said.

I looked at him and he smiled at me sheepishly. "You forgot that you put them in your pocket? Even after I asked you about them in your car?"

"Yeah," he said. "I'm embarrassed. I forgot they were in there." Then he smiled at me while his face turned red.

So I told him that he wasn't allowed in the store anymore and that I didn't want any thieves around here. He agreed, paid for the nail clippers and left.

That's probably a first that someone has come back to pay for something they stole after being confronted about it. It probably scared him that I had his license plate number.

Does this mean that there's more to come? The Dreaded Church Carnival is less than a month away!