Poor Duckie

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
She's had mostly a great few days. Yesterday, she met a friend "uptown" and they had lunch in a sit down restaurant, window-shopped and generally had a great time. Today, she repeated the process with her BFF and they even bought matching bracelets to wear the first day of school. Then, they met up with BFF's twin, another friend and the friend's older sister and they shopped a bit. Duckie and Bff went into the pharmacy I work at and bought drinks, then went into a dollar store nearby. The other girls came in shortly after them. And a group of boys also entered the store. Well, the older clerk, who has a reputation of being crotchety, acted liked the girls were trying to steal something.

The twins called their mother who in turn called me. I called Duckie. She sounded like she was crying when she said that she didn't want this to ruin her good reputation. So I had the girls meet me back at the store and we talked to the clerk. Strange. She called the girls "sweetie" and acted very nice when I was there. She even apologized to Duckie and BFF.

She tried to say that the other girls were the real problem. Then I pointed out that the girls were all together and she blushed. Admitted that the kids weren't stealing but that she didn't want to babysit them. I told her where I work and asked her to let me know if any of these girls were a problem and I'd either deal with it (with Duckie) or put her in contact with the other girls' mothers. I told her also that yelling at them and making them feel embarrassed for something they were not doing was not good for business. I also understand that kids do a lot of shoplifting but she needs to have her facts straight before publically accusing anyone.
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Poor Duckie! That was so uncalled for! Did you talk to the manager? If not I think I would call her/him tomorrow. Give Duckie a hug from me!
 
T

TeDo

Guest
I agree with WO. I think I would definitely put a call into the manager or owner. That is uncalled for and she has no business treating INNOCENT kids that way undeservedly. I am VERY proud of you for sticking up for them to her face. More people should do that ..... but then ...... parents of difficult child's are used to dealing with ignorance and meanness for the sake of our kids. Poor Duckie.
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
Bff's twin was talking to her mom on her cell; Mom asked if she should come to the store. "Uh, no... Mrs. TM has it all under control." :rofl:
 

Andy

Active Member
I vividly remember a similar experience when I was about that age. My sisters and I went into a store and the clerk literally followed us around. They quickly lost any business we may have given and we refused to set foot in that store again! Hate when a store can't figure out how to stop shoplifting without targeting those who never even consider it.
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
Exactly. I was a retail manager and I can tell you the quickest way to greatly reduce shoplifting: give excellent customer service. Be friendly, helpful and available. Your real customers will love it while the shoplifters will just go somewhere else.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
Ugh... Give Duckie a hug from me, too. I was once searched - they said I'd stolen cigarettes (this was back before they were under lock and key). Interestingly, they couldn't find any on me... BECAUSE I HADN'T.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
The old corner store where I grew up had a lot of trouble with shoplifting. So, they did something creative. First, they put up benches and a weathershade outside the front of the store. THEN they put their foot down and said "no more than 2 non-adults in the store at a time". Later - on suggestion from some of us - they put a little wicket through the wall, and we could "order" from there, too. And... us "good" kids didn't have a problem with what they were doing, we still had a place to hang out and an easy way to get our munchies. The bad kids... went elsewhere, which made it even better for the rest of us. But the benches and wicket stayed.

If stores can find a way to address the needs/wants of their customers and still look after their own bottom line... everybody wins. But it takes some creativity, and some understanding of who your customers really are.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Give Duckie and her friends hugs from me! That was totally uncalled for. This woman needs to be retrained at the very least and fired at the most. Her mgr NEEDS to know about this. If it is a locally owned store, it is time to get to know the owner if you don't already. Why? The owner/mgr NEEDS to know that this person is running customers off. Yes, shoplifting is a crime, and it is serious. It does NOT excuse this behavior though, esp toward a group of good kids (Duckie seems to reliably make decent to good to great chioces, so her choice of friends will be good kids for th most part.)

The mgr/owner might not know this, but if a customer gets great service they will tell an average of 3 people. Bad service stories get passed to an average of 7 stories. This was in one of my management textbooks in college and it stuck in my head because I was working retail. This was BEFORE social networking sites, so imagine how many people will hear THIS story?

If the store doesn't watn to deal wtih kids then they shouldn't stock child magnets Know what I mean??? Let them go sell rocks or cleaning supplies.

They sure would not get my business because I don't support rudeness.Not with-o a big apology!
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Good idea, Insane!

Poor Duckie, for sure.

I agree with-this: Admitted that the kids weren't stealing but that she didn't want to babysit them.
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
I had a little talk with the girls and made sure that they understood the sad reality that groups of teens/preteens do often shoplift from stores. That said, they need to realize that there was some suspicious activity as far as the clerk was concerned: Three groups of kids entered the store in tandem. One group immediately tied up the cashier at the cashier (Duckie and BFF), another headed to the back of the store (the boys) and the third went to the make-up aisle which is a high loss area (the other girls). And the other girls were giggling about the boys so the clerk may have thought they were up to something. I advised them all to make sure they are on their very best behavior and remember they are in a place of business, not their personal hang out. They understood this and hopefully there will be no further misunderstandings.
 
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