Home Depot fires employee who stopped a thief

Temporal Renegade said:
Sorry if this is in the wrong section.

Apparently, it's against store policy to stop theft:

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070829/NEWS01/70829023
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would it be fairer to say that the company policy is to deal with theft according to thier anti theft policies and procedures and also have a firm policy against staff physically grappling with armed thieves? This is very common stuff, I don't know of many companies who would think it a good idea for thier staff to persue and attempt to arrest armed thieves.
 
I agree with The Fool. A store like that must have a policy forbidding employees from entering into a dangerous situation, if for no other reason than to avoid lawsuits. I do think going so far as to fire these guys was a mistake.
 
schplurg said:
I do think going so far as to fire these guys was a mistake.
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on the face of it I agree with this......but unfortunately in these sort of stories the individual can say what they wish but the company is often unable to discuss an individuals case due to privacy concerns. The guy can say he never heard of the policy but even if this was his final warning after 5 cases of him bashing children for pocketing candy they may not be able to point that out to the paper.....or maybe they did but it doesn't make for a good story and is "accidentally" left out....
 
I worked for a large retail chain once. Their policy was to not confront shoplifters. Not because they cared about the safety of the employees (of course not!) but because they were terrified of the following scenario:

Employee sees Thief slip merchandise into pocket, bag, or purse.
Thief moves around store.
Thief, unseen by employee, quickly dumps the merchandise somewhere in the store.
Employee confronts Thief.
Thief has nothing on him/her.
Big noisy public fuss. Bad publicity. Scandal. "This store treats customers like criminals!!!" Lawsuits. Firings. Drop in sales.

So we were told that if we saw somebody steal stuff, just ignore it. As a result, of course, our store lost enormously to theft.

Which the company decided was employee theft, so we had to be searched every time we exited the store. In front of customers, we had to turn out our pockets and stuff. Yeah, that looks good to the public, that our employer treated the employees like thieves.

Retail stinks.
 
TragicMonkey said:
Which the company decided was employee theft, so we had to be searched every time we exited the store. In front of customers, we had to turn out our pockets and stuff. Yeah, that looks good to the public, that our employer treated the employees like thieves.
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The store where I worked Saturdays and vacations in my last couple of years of school had a similar policy and so we couldn't leave until a member of management had inspected our bags and pockets. What made this surreal was that this was a furniture store. I suppose someone might have tried to steal a sofa piece by piece over a period of years, but I reckon it would have been unlikely.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I worked for a large retail chain once. Their policy was to not confront shoplifters. Not because they cared about the safety of the employees (of course not!) but because they were terrified of the following scenario:

Employee sees Thief slip merchandise into pocket, bag, or purse.
Thief moves around store.
Thief, unseen by employee, quickly dumps the merchandise somewhere in the store.
Employee confronts Thief.
Thief has nothing on him/her.
Big noisy public fuss. Bad publicity. Scandal. "This store treats customers like criminals!!!" Lawsuits. Firings. Drop in sales.

So we were told that if we saw somebody steal stuff, just ignore it. As a result, of course, our store lost enormously to theft.

Which the company decided was employee theft, so we had to be searched every time we exited the store. In front of customers, we had to turn out our pockets and stuff. Yeah, that looks good to the public, that our employer treated the employees like thieves.

Retail stinks.
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The retail stores I worked for in the past told us not to confront the thief but to follow them through the store, never letting them out of our sight, and once they were outside we could call management, police and have them arrested. I once saw a man lift a can of spray paint (this was before sprays were locked up), put it in his coat and leave. When the manager stopped the man we saw the inside of his jacket was coated with different colors. Icky.
 
Sasha said:
The retail stores I worked for in the past told us not to confront the thief but to follow them through the store, never letting them out of our sight, and once they were outside we could call management, police and have them arrested. I once saw a man lift a can of spray paint (this was before sprays were locked up), put it in his coat and leave. When the manager stopped the man we saw the inside of his jacket was coated with different colors. Icky.
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They lock up spray paint? That seems awfully inconvenient. Where is this?
 
Modified said:
They lock up spray paint? That seems awfully inconvenient. Where is this?
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It is not that uncommon. I know in some areas you can not sell spray paint to those under age. It is intended to reduce its use as and inhalant and for vandalism.
 
Well, now I know I should put Home Depot on the short list of stores to rob if I need to resort to stealing to support my heroin habit. I can also conveniently hire a getaway driver for ten bucks. Cool.

Which the company decided was employee theft, so we had to be searched every time we exited the store. In front of customers, we had to turn out our pockets and stuff. Yeah, that looks good to the public, that our employer treated the employees like thieves.
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I have read most stores lose more money due to employee theft -- considerably more. Of course, if the association/group compiling statistics categorizes what you describe here as "employee theft," then their figures are rendered worthless.

Anyway, this guy who caught the thief is young (24), college educated, already a department manager (I'm not sure if that's impressive), and a one-time employee of the year. Getting fired and then getting all this publicity will help him land an even better job. He just sent out his resume to thousands of possible employers and for special skills he put "hero" on it.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I worked for a large retail chain once. Their policy was to not confront shoplifters. Not because they cared about the safety of the employees (of course not!) but because they were terrified of the following scenario:

Employee sees Thief slip merchandise into pocket, bag, or purse.
Thief moves around store.
Thief, unseen by employee, quickly dumps the merchandise somewhere in the store.
Employee confronts Thief.
Thief has nothing on him/her.
Big noisy public fuss. Bad publicity. Scandal. "This store treats customers like criminals!!!" Lawsuits. Firings. Drop in sales.

So we were told that if we saw somebody steal stuff, just ignore it. As a result, of course, our store lost enormously to theft.

Which the company decided was employee theft, so we had to be searched every time we exited the store. In front of customers, we had to turn out our pockets and stuff. Yeah, that looks good to the public, that our employer treated the employees like thieves.

Retail stinks.
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Wouldn't the security cameras catch the thief doing all this? Surely a big retail chain has cameras.
 
Modified said:
They lock up spray paint? That seems awfully inconvenient. Where is this?
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Texas - the reasons are those that ponderingturtle gave, mostly guarding against underage inhaling. Yes, it was very inconvenient for the store personnel who had to ask young-looking people for ID, and for anyone buying it legitimately who had to wait around for help.
 
trip.i said:
Wouldn't the security cameras catch the thief doing all this? Surely a big retail chain has cameras.
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Snort. Retail chains don't make money by spending it. In my bitter and distant past I worked in three different retail places, all of them national chains. In one, two thirds of the "cameras" were fake. In the other two stores, all of the "cameras" were fake.

Only the physically largest stores are going to have real cameras, and staff to watch them. Non-anchor mall stores, even the ones that do a million bucks a year in business, don't have the time, space, or interest.
 
You'd think they'd *want* to stop theft, and keep money in the store, since they paid that CEO $200-plus million in severance.
 
At a retail store where I used to work, let's call it the Bullseye Boutique, a security person stopped a thief and during a struggle blows were exchanged. The security person was terminated, due to violation of store policy. IMO companies are more concerned with civil action if the suspect or security guard is injured than the actual loss of the product.
 
malbui said:
The store where I worked Saturdays and vacations in my last couple of years of school had a similar policy and so we couldn't leave until a member of management had inspected our bags and pockets. What made this surreal was that this was a furniture store. I suppose someone might have tried to steal a sofa piece by piece over a period of years, but I reckon it would have been unlikely.
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Maybe they suspected someone was surrepticiously clipping off the "Do Not Remove This Tag" tags to make a rug or blanket. Many and mysterious are the ways of great minds.
 
Cain said:
Well, now I know I should put Home Depot on the short list of stores to rob if I need to resort to stealing to support my heroin habit. I can also conveniently hire a getaway driver for ten bucks. Cool.



I have read most stores lose more money due to employee theft -- considerably more. Of course, if the association/group compiling statistics categorizes what you describe here as "employee theft," then their figures are rendered worthless.

Anyway, this guy who caught the thief is young (24), college educated, already a department manager (I'm not sure if that's impressive), and a one-time employee of the year. Getting fired and then getting all this publicity will help him land an even better job. He just sent out his resume to thousands of possible employers and for special skills he put "hero" on it.
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And there are many ways (though some won't work at Home Depot due to the chicken trick they do) for employees to steal that these stop and searches won't catch.

I am not a thief, I have just found security interesting since early high school days both in the doing it right and the getting around it modes.
 
CptColumbo said:
At a retail store where I used to work, let's call it the Bullseye Boutique, a security person stopped a thief and during a struggle blows were exchanged. The security person was terminated, due to violation of store policy. IMO companies are more concerned with civil action if the suspect or security guard is injured than the actual loss of the product.
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I think that is exactly the concern.

If the Home Depot guy had been killed in the struggle with the crook, who would be responsible?

Home Depot would. They would likely be sued by the guys family, in addition to what ever payments they were already obligated to pay in case of a work related death.

It only makes sense to forbid such action, from a business stand point. They lost what? Less than $200 if memory serves. But the potential loss from lawsuits would be in the millions.
 
I worked for a major international jewelry house as a watchmaker. The facility I worked at was also the major warehouse and shipping point for the US operations. How major? When we moved into the new facility, we transferred 45 million dollars worth of inventory.

Anyhow, we had a written company policy concerning theft and robbery. Basically, it said roll over and play dead, let'em take anything they want, put up no resistance. Personally, I supported it whole-heartedly. My only suggestion was that they post it on the front door so as to reassure any nervous, trigger-happy robbers that we'd even gift-wrap the loot for them if they wanted.


Beanbag
 
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