Reply #68: Wow...thanks for all the kind words--and the thoughts to ponder, too!

[oldlady]

I like dialogue, so I don't mind those posters who felt I was wrong. I'd like to throw some other considerations into the pot though... while it might seem to be "good citizenship" to catch a shoplifter, it isn't good business to let six high school or early college aged kids to handle it. I think that the rush they seemed to get (talking on cell phones about the adventure) could be dangerous to them in the future. People steal for lots of reasons: desperate need, to get a kick, or because they are not stable. Next time, one of those six young people might get seriously hurt if the person is carrying a weapon. It's not simply expecting the cops to handle everything, it's being sensible & I think the bosses are not sensible to set these clerks to such a task. If my high school child was clerking somewhere and expected to wrestle a stranger I'd suggest they look for a new job and new boss. As to getting away with it - between the security cameras and the license plate on the car, I think they could have safely let her drive off and passed the information on to the police. As to driving up the costs or hurting customers/clerks financially, I doubt the costs to businesses of shoplifting have begun to approach the costs to consumers of executive perks in the big corporate office. They may not pay the employees fairly and blame it on theft loss, but I don't think that's truthful, considering they never take a loss at the upper levels. Thanks, again for giving me something to think about.
peace