Adventures of a Shopgirl: Five Finger Discount

I stole a hello kitty eraser once. It was blue and smelled like bubblegum. I carefully hid it under my bed (why children think under the bed is a good hiding place, we will never know). My mother found it while straightening up my room and asked me where came from. Clever child that I was, I told her my aunt gave it to me. Unfortunately, I was not as clever as I thought. My mother called my aunt, and I was swiftly caught. After a stern lecture, my mother packed me into the car and drove me back to the scene of the crime. I was told to return the eraser, explain what I had done, and apologize. I was mortified, my mother more so. I never shoplifted anything again.

We are having a string of theft at the store where I work. Each week, we discover something new is missing. And while we’ve had occasional problems with shoplifting in the past, it has never been like this. We have come to realize that it is someone we know, someone we probably like, and now everyone is suspect. Forget what I said about hovering. We are following customers around the store, peering into shopping bags, and scrutinizing each baby stroller as it comes out of the dressing room. We are especially suspicious of small women who are drawn to white colored clothing.

It’s sad that it had to come to this. It’s not pleasant for us, and it can’t be pleasant for the customers. A lot of the energy that was once devoted to being helpful is now being funneled into protecting our inventory. The constant suspicion wears us out. We are angry; we are tired; and we feel betrayed.

Yes, it feels personal. I work at a small, neighborhood store that has been in business for over 30 years. Many of our customers have been shopping at the store from the beginning. They were there for the hippie dresses, the corduroys, and the shoulder pads. They come in now for the soft clothing made out of tencel and those fabulous Nat Nast shirts. We shopgirls have been there for the important moments in our customers' lives. We've helped them find outfits for their children's bar mitzvahs and their children's weddings. We've offered advice on anniversary and birthday gifts. We've secretly wrapped up many a gift while the recipient was in the dressing room. Occasionally customers just drop in to chat. We've seen romance spring up between our customers (and sometimes between us and the customers). But now.... Well, there is someone that we can't trust. And because we don't know who it is, we can't really trust anyone. I just want things to go back to the way they were before -- when a customer finds something they like, they come to the counter, and we ring them up. Easy, simple. After all, we are a store.

So whoever you are, just cut it out. And if your mother brings you in, with everything that you have stolen, and you are properly mortified, you will be forgiven.