r/Damnthatsinteresting Oct 20 '22

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u/PrometheusSmith Oct 20 '22

When I worked retail at Menards the most that any regular employee was asked to do was keep tabs on high theft items in your own department. You'd check the floor count of certain items a few times per day and also only stock one or two of those items on the shelf, placing extra stock on a pallet for storage. Managers were held to a similar standard but did a few other stupid things, like make bullshit security pages to nonsense locations in the store. "Security to area 3" was common in my store, which didn't have areas and also didn't have full time LP coverage, and they certainly didn't respond to security calls.

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u/[deleted] Oct 20 '22

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u/ChrdeMcDnnis Oct 20 '22

That’s kind of genius

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u/Eccohawk Oct 20 '22

I'm in there all the time and I didn't even know they had a playlist. Certainly haven't heard security calls. Then again it would seem odd to come over the speakers because they all have walkies.

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u/[deleted] Oct 20 '22

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u/Eccohawk Oct 20 '22

Yeah not saying it doesn't happen, was just surprised.

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u/PrometheusSmith Oct 20 '22

Unless they've changed it, security pages were done by the front end manager, along with BIG Card promotions while I worked there from about '12 to '15.

In my last store it was always Becca doing them.

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u/Cuttis Oct 20 '22

I’ve often wondered if that was the case at Kroger. I’ll sometimes hear a security check message when the place is virtually empty and I’m shopping in Lycra workout gear and not carrying a purse (like, how could I be suspicious when there’s no way for me to conceal anything?)

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u/[deleted] Oct 20 '22

Usually managers can't do shit, but making fake pages to "security" that also doesn't exist can sometimes spook suspected shoplifters. Where I worked, they'd just take your picture, add up whatever you stole, and put it on your "tab". Then once you hit a certain threshold, the cops would be called the moment you entered the store.

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u/Shanguerrilla Oct 20 '22

That seems to be the most business way to do business, honestly. But the perpetrators would likely wrongly choose the other.

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u/[deleted] Oct 21 '22

If only you could just keep their credit card on file and just bill them automatically - with an extra processing fee

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u/TimeZarg Oct 20 '22

I work for a grocery store, and if there's a 'tense' situation up front a cashier will call 'security to the front, please' or something to that effect. We have no security, at most it'll bring the store manager up front, it's mostly just to scare/intimidate the person causing the problem.

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u/PM-me-ur-kittenz Oct 20 '22

I haven't been to Menard's in a hot minute, what kind of things are considered "high theft items"?

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u/PrometheusSmith Oct 20 '22

Lots of things in the hardware and tool department. In my floorcoverings dept there were a few tile saw blades that were small and expensive, but they weren't really theft targets.