Do You Buy Stolen Goods? (the Prelude)
When I worked in retail we had a major problem with stealing. I wasn’t going to go into specifics but I might as well tell you this story because it makes me smile just thinking about it.
Okay, so I worked for Harvey Norman – I usually wouldn’t tell you who because it’s the correct thing to do but since they made me redundant I really couldn’t give two hoots now – as cashier in the Computer franchise (just to set the scene). It was in the afternoon of a Wednesday and one of our sales guys found an empty box in the mobile phone section. The box used to contain a phone with a cost of AUD$240, give or take. Our franchisee searches through the video footage and finds this half-white half-Asian fellow who took the phone into an area with no staff, removed all the security from the box and buggers off with it. Now here is where it gets good. Thursday afternoon, around 1-2, just after everyone’s had their lunch breaks and we’re really starting to get sick of the day, the PA to our franchisee recognises a half-white, half-Asian guy who was wondering the store. Now how about that, the cocky bastard returns THE VERY DAY AFTER and tries his lucky again! No phrase has been more appropriate ever in it’s life of being a phrase than “quit while you’re ahead” was right then.
So our franchisee is standing just outside our section (there is electrical and computer up the back of the store, then cashiers, then those security tower things then bedding and furniture section, of which the only entry and exit is for the store), coppers hiding behind a couch somewhere in furniture and all of us just minding our own business acting like we always do. The most memorable moment would have to be when the PA walks naturally out to our franchisee to tell him that she’s seen our little friend take an external hard drive and has seen him put it back since (he’s been walking around the store for quite some time now). Which was followed by our boss turn to a couple of couches and give a leather three-piece with a recliner a thumbs up sign, of which two hands from behind said three-piece return the gesture. Our little half-white, half-Asian friend passes me as I say my usual cheery goodbye, past the security towers which lay silent, and is stopped by our lovely, smiling boss who asks to see inside his bag. A smile to the three-piece and our lovely boys in blue appear and take him back inside where he was met with three solid, slow, claps.
I think the thing that makes me smile the most is when a rather fancy and no doubt expensive folding knife (of the Stanley variety as opposed to a Balisong or hunting knife) and pliers is pulled from his bag (among the stolen objects). “Ohh, geez, they look pretty nice!” exclaims our boss,
*click of a voice recorder* “I’m returning the knife and pliers to <Boss’s name>” *click of the voice recorder* says a boy in blue as he hand the two items to our Boss.
Good times. I’ll finish why I wrote this introduction in some other post when I can be stuff – stay tuned (other post can be found here if you cannot be bothered to scroll up or you are viewing this as a standalone post or this post is at the top of a page).
Pino…
