Shoplifting At Target! Go Ahead!

Just kidding on the title, but it has to do with my experience yesterday! My Mom and I headed to Conway to do a little shopping with one of our last stops being the local Target store. My Mom finished before I did and checked out. While she was waiting for me to check out she enjoyed a latte at Starbucks (inside Target). I got in line behind this woman whom I soon realize is having some kind of a problem...

Not trying to stereotype, but this woman had the look of someone "hard" and acted like she might have been on drugs (after the whole scenario...I would venture to say that she was!) She had tatoos on her hand, arm, neck and they looked like they might have been done while high, not by a true professional (you know the look?) She was also very antsy and couldn't stand still.

I feel that I'm a very observant person, not only visually but also by hearing things around me. I soon grasp that this woman has a gift card. She had a credit on it of almost $70.00. Her purchases totaled, at first, over $100.00. She also had a shopping cart next to her that held several Target bags. The bags in the cart didn't look "new". Anyhow, she had the cashier deduct one thing after another and then put these items into her bags in the shopping cart. See anything wrong here?? So the woman now has the problem that she has a credit left of $10.00 and she tells the cashier that she won't be at a Target for some time, yada yada. The cashier tells her that the credit won't expire and then for some reason (maybe because she's putting things in the bag/in the cart that aren't paid for) the cashier calls over a supervisor and they discuss the fact that the woman still has a credit of $10. The supervisor tells her that she will still have a credit of about $10.00 but with taxes etc. she should/could use it for about $8.00. The woman comments "my daughter is having her first baby, so I can use it for that". Even seeing that I'm in line behind her, she leaves her purchase/cart with bags and goes to find something for $8.00. I said to the cashier "she put things in her bag" and the supervisor at that point asks me if I will be a witness. She said, I hate to ask you that. I told her "no problem" and she told the cashier to get my name/number and give it to her later. A few minutes later the woman comes back and asks about bottled soda. She grabs a Mt. Dew/Slice or Seven Up (hey, it was green!) from the cooler and comes back to the front of the line. In the meantime, the cashier had suspended her transaction and started mine. She then goes back to the woman's transaction. Are you confused yet? So now, the cashier adds the soda and there is still a small balance on the gift card. At this point the woman says "my friend is waiting out in the car for me, I'm going to go see if she has a Target card". She leaves both her "purchase" and her shopping cart with the bags in it and goes outside. The cashier and I talk for a moment about the woman and another employee came up and asked if that was her cart/purchase/etc. The cashier showed her which was hers and then what was now mine. She (the employee) put the purchase into the cart and pushed it over to the next register. Then the woman returns and I told the cashier "here she comes" so she will stop talking about her (she started to tell me that she first thought the woman was high.) The woman takes her cart and then proceeds to go into the Starbucks and waves (really, really waves with much more gusto than a normal person would!) to the person waiting for her in the car. I'm done with my shopping and I PAY for it! (Amazing concept, really!) The cashier apologizes to me for having to wait and then thanks me and I head to Starbucks to get my Mom! At that point, the woman turns and heads out the store. So now, I'm waiting. Waiting for something to happen. Someone at Target to detain her, someone to tell her that those purchases weren't paid for...the cops to show up? What the heck? I see her put her bags in the car, she gets into the car and lo and behold...they drive off! WTH? I'm stunned! I said (to no one in particular) isn't someone going to do anything? I tell my Mom what happened and we walk out of the store. I am in disbelief. So you can blatantly shoplift in front of employees and at least one witness and get away with it?

I couldn't believe what I actually witnessed that went far beyond the woman putting unpaid for items into her bag RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE TARGET EMPLOYEES! I thought about it and thought about it and this morning I decided to call Target and ask them "what happened, why wasn't she stopped". I wish I could remember the name of the store manager (what's up with that? I can remember all that happened in the store, but not his name!!). After I talked to him and told him about what had transpired I really felt that he only tried to patronize me. He told me that Target has a policy of who can detain a shoplifter. Maybe someone in that capacity wasn't in the store at that time. Target actually has a pretty low loss rate, etc., etc., etc. Excuse me? There was plenty of time between when "I" first saw the woman put stuff into her bags and when she finally walked out the store with the stuff. And did you know that actually you don't even have to walk out the door with it to be considered shoplifting? He told me that concealing it was all you needed to do, to be considered guilty of shoplifting. I was also told about all the cameras tehy had around the store, that they could still identify this person and charge them, and yada, yada, yada!!!

I made the comment to the store manager during my conversation that ultimately I and other customers of Target ended up paying for this. I also made the comment that maybe I should consider doing the same thing and was told that the consequences actually outweight the benefit. Didn't look like that to me! Oh well, actually it WOULD be my luck that nope, they wouldn't let me, a NORMAL everyday person walk out the store with all this stuff!!

To say that I'm angry about this incident is an understatement and why I felt the need to blog about it! How would you feel? Anything that you would do different? One thing I would have done, IF, I knew that nothing was going to be done was I would have personally called her on it! I would have had no problem commenting OUT LOUD that excuse me...you didn't pay for that stuff you just put into your bags!! Maybe then they would have done something, but after my conversation today I'm doubting it! Hey, if you happen to shoplift in Target (and get away with it) why don't you let me know that as well!