I had a similar experience in the mid 70's when I was stationed at Altus AFB, OK.n5wmk wrote: ↑Sun Feb 09, 2020 5:39 pmSeveral decades ago, when I was a teenager, I was shopping in a department store. IIRC, I was looking at 8-track tapes. (OK, many decades ago...). I noticed a guy hanging around watching me, and following me around the store, and I guessed that he was a loss prevention guy.
Back then, I wore cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. Being a teenager, with more ideas than smarts, I walked into another aisle and slipped my wallet down into one boot and put my car keys under my hat. The guy thinks I've tried to conceal a tape or something, and comes up to me and wants to know what I have hidden. I was still in the store - hadn't yet walked past the register or out the door. I suspect today they would at least wait until the suspected shoplifter was outside.
Anyway, when I showed him my wallet and keys, he got pretty irate, and told me he'd be watching me every time I came in after that.
I thought it was kind of funny at the time, I guess. Chalk it up to being a teenager.
But like this present day loss prevention dude, he wasn't very good at his job, if I noticed him so easily. I never even thought about shoplifting anything so I wasn't looking out for anyone, and yet I realized what he was doing.
I had ridden my motorcycle to the local Gibson's (remember those?) right outside the base. When I got off the bike, I removed my helmet and re-fastened the chin strap. A motorcycle helmet makes a pretty convenient hand basket when you're only getting 2 or 3 small items.
It only took me a few minutes to find the items I wanted and drop them in my helmet. While shopping I noticed this guy watching me and doing a very poor job of blending in, so I spent the next 30 minutes or so leading him all around the store. I picked up and examined many items before putting them neatly back on the shelf. I doubled back many times and occasionally left one aisle only to turn around, while out of his sight, and return to the same aisle. I made him scramble a couple of times.
I finally went to the check out and removed one item at a time from my helmet and placed them on the counter. I then turned my helmet right side up and shook it. I looked straight at him and held my helmet up so he could see it was empty. I asked the checker if he was a new manager or something and she said, "Yes." I told her he was terrible at watching for shoplifters and she laughed.
After paying for my items, I saw him stalking toward the register while I went out the door. I don''t think he was too happy with me.