Saw Somebody Pinched For Shoplifting

[DemocratSinceBirth]

It was sad... I think the young man stole a bottle of wine. The young man said "I can't get arrested. I'm out on bail." The plain clothes security guard told him "you're not going to get arrested". But as I was leaving I saw a couple of sheriffs come in.

[MidwestRick]

1. Guess he should have

worried about being on bail before he lifted the wine.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. Yeah- I Guess

I also guess the plain clothes security guard told him he wasn't going to get arrested so he wouldn't make a run for it.

It was at a K-Mart- There were about ten people in the entire store. Wal-Mart has eaten their proverbial "lunch".

[Scout]

46. it's up to the police if he's arrested or not, it's not the security guard's call...

the security guard takes them back to the office and calls police, searches them for weapons and other merchandise.

[Egnever]

2. Stealing wine while out on bail

Not such a great idea.

[MineralMan]

3. Had it been a sandwich or a loaf of bread,

I would have some sympathy for the young man. Wine? Not so much.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Maybe He Was Going To Sell The Wine

~

[MineralMan]

12. Do you really think that is likely?

Guy's out on bail and steals a bottle of wine. I'm thinking he's going to try to drown his sorrows.

[Rebubula]

13. Yeah...

...big market for black market wines these days.

Some people are criminals. Some are Republicans. Many times, they are one and the same.

Making excuses for criminal behavior such as this - especially since he is already ensconced in the system - is rather naive.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. Still Kind Of Sad Biut I Respect Your Position

It wasn't like he was stealing a flat screen tv.

[jmowreader]

20. One bottle? Not likely he was going to sell it.

If he was selling to minors, they'll pay whatever you ask so there's no need to steal it.

If he was selling to adults--remember, we're talking mass-market wine here; it's as easy for me to buy it from Kmart as from this guy--he's going to have to sell at a deep discount to overcome the street corner nature of his business, so he'd need a LOT of wine. A case would do just for starters.

If you are stealing Kmart wine, it's for personal consumption.

[NoNothing]

8. I agree

That would at least be morally justifiable.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. Still Sad Nonetheless

~

[Warpy]

9. Same here, even though I know what untreated DTs are like

and he'll undoubtedly suffer them in the can tonight if he's an alcoholic.

Steal food in front of me, I'll offer to buy it for you. Steal cigarettes, booze and lottery tickets, you're on your own. However, be honest enough to panhandle change for a bottle and I'll contribute.

[RZM]

21. Even Jean Valjean didn't steal wine

And he's French!

[MineralMan]

42. Indeed. And let that be a lesson to us all.

[michreject]

37. Maybe he had some cheese

And a hot date.

[Bluzmann57]

4. Now why couldn't he get arrested?

Or did he mean that he couldn't get arrested because he'd be back in jail? If he's out on bail, he should probably realize that swiping a bottle of wine isn't exactly the smartest thing to do.

[itsrobert]

5. "Pinched"

What is this "Oliver Twist Underground"?

[MineralMan]

43. Silly thief. He should have scarpered forthwith.

[Rebubula]

11. Sad??

Stealing wine and getting busted WHILE on bail\parole is not sad. It is a sign of criminal stupidity.

No need to feel sorry for criminal dumbasses.

[Enrique]

16. I think it's sad

:-(

[Caliman73]

26. It could be both simultaneously...

While feeling bad would not cause me to allow him to get away with the crime, I can still feel bad that this young man's life is so out of control that he thought it was a good idea.

It is easy to cut off and insulate ourselves from the tragedies of life by dismissing people as stupid or criminal in order to avoid the humanity of the situation.

[Codeine]

29. It's sad for the retailer.

Businesses are hurting, and grocers more than most.

[Happy Hippy]

14. ....

He must have been mighty thirsty to steal a bottle of wine while out on bail. Yeah. Right.

I hope I am not the only one who thought he was literally pinched before reading the post. That would have made for a mighty entertaining thread.

[ipaint]

17. Wish the law and order crowd would make an appearance

regarding the massive fraud on wall street or the criminal torture network our last idiot in chief built. Not to mention attacking and destroying the wrong country.

I guess those who deserve their punishments mainly reside in the lower classes and predominantly commit petty crimes.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. I Don't Think He Should Get A Medal

But he wasn't exactly Tony Soprano.

[Obamanaut]

38. You're right. Just because the wall street crowd and the torture

network are running loose, we should condone lawlessness wherever it appears.

How's that.

[ipaint]

45. No, but you want to erode the effectiveness of the "rule of law"

keep purposely NOT applying to the political and business elite even though their crimes are among the most heinous and destructive.

Se what that does for lawlessness.

[madmom]

19. Maybe he wanted to get caught.

[jmowreader]

24. You've got something there

Alcohol is very well controlled in retail establishments because the state is so worried about minors getting it. They hire teenaged girls to "dress 21" and try to buy booze just to make sure the retailers are checking ID cards. Stealing alcohol WILL get you caught.

[malaise]

22. I saw two women who were stopped for shoplifting

on Saturday in the Supermarket. The cashier told me that they brought a bag in and filled it up with a thousand dollars worth of high end stuff (US$1 =$J89), while shopping for other stuff. The store security made them pay for the goods and they headed to their car as if they had done nothing wrong. I stood their in shock. These two women had no need whatsoever. Here the only way supermarket people call the cops is if you manage to leave the store or if you make a scene when you're caught.

[Codeine]

35. The part of your story that burns me

is that they had the money to pay for the stuff. :mad: Stealing for convenience and greed is far different than stealing for need.

[malaise]

44. You'd have been even more annoyed if you saw them

Well dressed and driving a Honda Accord.
By the way that was there not their :D

add

[Codeine]

36. Dupe

dumb software

[proteus_lives]

23. I don't have any sympathy for thieves.

Don't want to get arrested? Then don't break law.

[mn9driver]

25. There's no assurance that he was telling the truth.

Maybe he was "out on bail", then again maybe he wasn't. When people are caught stealing they will often say things that aren't true...just sayin'.

[nonconformist]

27. Announcing you're out on bail would make them more likely to call the police, wouldn't it?

At least it seems like it would.

[Codeine]

32. Depends.

I've often let shoplifters who are cooperative go when they've explained that they're on parole or might get Third Strike charges. I've also let shoplifters who do get arrested flush whatever drugs (usually speed around this area) they might be holding so as not to make a petty violation grow larger than need be.

All too often they fight, however -- those motherfuckers get zero leeway.

[Codeine]

28. I work grocery retail.

Shoplifters fucking suck. Margins are razor-thin in this industry, and losing anything is painful to bottom lines. Right now almost every major grocery retailer and every small one is losing money or barely breaking even.

We're not the bad guys, and stealing from us is shitty. Stealing food is forgivable, but booze -- fuck that.

[Texasgal]

47. WERD!

I am with you...100%.

[NeedleCast]

30. This dude wins the poor decision making gold medal

I'm just having a hard time finding sympathy for this sort of shit. I agree that it's sad, but possibly not in the same way you think it's sad.

[Bozita]

34. That medal goes to the Detroit firefighter who parked a $600k ladder truck on some RR tracks today

[NeedleCast]

40. I concead the medal to the Detroit firefighter

[petronius]

31. He might have figure that the store would just overlook it if he was caught

I've seen kids around here get caught, and just sent away empty-handed. I've also seen clerks who don't bother to notice.

Dumb move, though - both the stealing, and listening to the guard...

[Codeine]

33. The guard shouldn't have said that.

The store manager makes those decisions. In that situation I'd have let the dude walk with the understanding that he not darken our door again. That's assuming he wasn't someone with whom I've had theft or loitering issues in the past, of course.

[Fumesucker]

39. Shoplift a bottle of wine.. Go to jail..

Steal billions, torture, start a war under false pretences and bankrupt the most powerful nation on the planet.. Get protected by the system.

[emilyg]

41. Yesterday I saw an older

man being arrested for stealing a package of bologna. I offered to pay for it - they wouldn't let me. Sad.