To catch a thief... in aisle 3?

You just finished shopping at your local Walmart. Your items are on the conveyor belt heading toward the cashier. Seven pairs of jeans, four pair of slacks, a pair of scrubs, a bra, a sweat suit, a picture frame, laundry detergent, diapers, pizza, coffee, four 12-packs of drinks, canned vegies, air freshener, nachos, noodles, some frozen stuff, chips, ground beef, and a baby crib…total? $5.25. What?!

Yep. A 20 year old Natchez Mississippi Walmart employee was arrested for attempting to sell her friend $547.50 worth of merchandise for five bucks. The story in the Mississippi newspaper doesn’t say HOW they were busted for rolling back prices on their own, just that the 22 year old woman never left the store with the products.

What were they thinking? Oh wait, I know, they were thinking they could get away with it. I bet that kind of thing happens all the time but no one notices. With all the beeping going on from other registers around them I imagine it’d be easy to do. And unless you are involved in security for the store, you more than likely wouldn’t be watching the screen to see what was being rung up. Plus those people that stand at the exit doors and check peoples receipts only do that if something is out of a bag. That’d be easy to prevent too.

I’m not trying to encourage people to steal by explaining how easy it would be. I’m actually very disgusted by these people that think it’s ok to steal. They try to argue that it’s a big store (Walmart) so they can afford the loss but I believe even if they could afford the loss, we’re the ones that pay for it in increased prices so they didn‘t hurt that big store. They hurt me.

Everyone I know has worked hard their whole lives and paid for everything they own. I have no patience for people that won’t earn their own keep. And even less patience for those that want to take out of my pocket.

So needless to say, I’m happy these women were caught and arrested. I hope they at least get a hefty fine. And as far as the cashier goes, I hope it’s noted on her work record so that she doesn’t get the opportunity to raise prices in another store that I shop at.

Where are my crackers...

Yesterday I did my grocery shopping as I mentioned on my Happy At Home site. Then this morning, browsing through the headlines as usual, I came across this story from Irvine, California.

It seems a family did a little shopping in their local grocery store where they bought a box of crackers. Upon returning home they discovered an envelope in the box of crackers. Inside the envelope were one hundred crisp $100 bills.

Now I can imagine the shock on the mothers face when her daughter brought her the envelope filled with money. And I can also imagine the thoughts that would be in my head. Maybe the store was giving away a prize. Maybe it’s my lucky day. Maybe somebody was hiding the money for someone else…

It turns out an elderly Lake Forest lady had decided the box of crackers was a safer place for her money than the bank. She then inadvertently returned the wrong box of crackers to her grocery store in Tustin. Frantic she went back to the store but her crackers were gone.

Then in an odd and a little disturbing twist, the crackers were put back out for sale in the Irvine store where the unsuspecting family bought the woman’s life savings.

I can’t begin to imagine how a store would resell a returned food item but thankfully this time they did. And luckily an honest person found the money and it was returned to the rightful owner.

While I believe it’s appropriate to return items to the people they belong to, I also believe the family that turned the money in should have received something for their good deed. Sadly all they received was a new box of crackers. Now that would be my luck.