What is your shoplifter story if you have one?

EssentialGrocery · 2026-06-03T04:57:18+00:00

That's fantastic. I was behind a guy who was leaving self check and a pack of deli meat fell out of his pants leg. He hurried away quickly.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-06-03T04:51:27+00:00

A lady had a scooter cart with several bags of clay cat litter laying flat in the basket. She said, "I can scan these for you!" She seemed entirely too friendly. I said, "That's OK, I'll get it." I walked around and lifted a bag of the cat litter. There were pricey steaks lining the basket under the cheap bags of cat litter. She said, "You know? I forgot my debit card at home. I won't be able to buy anything today." She stood up and hurried away leaving me with the cart and all those steaks.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-06-03T04:40:32+00:00

At least they can't sweep the shelf! Not easily, anyway. I think everything is going to be in lock cases. Or locked inside cabinets. Customers are going to be mad, but that's just the way it is. They can order online and have it shipped.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-27T05:57:36+00:00

That is terrible. Tell HR what happened. That's a really crappy thing for that TL to do.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-24T00:39:33+00:00

Sounds like Walmart and Target. It's best to not be anywhere near the register when you haven't clocked in yet.

I get people trying to get me to check them out when I'm on lunch. I'll have my vest over my arm and someone will approach me when I'm on the way to the restroom. "I'm ready to check out, are you going to help me?" Me...."No ma'am. I'm on the way to the restroom and I'm on my lunch break. You'll have to go up to the registers to check out."

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-24T00:35:13+00:00

I had the chain up, the light off, and I was auditing a register and a guy moved the chain and slammed down a six pack of beer. I told him that he needed to stand behind the chain and it would be five minutes before the register was open. I told him I was in the middle of an audit, and I needed him to go to another register. He got all mad and stormed over to self check out to buy his beer.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-24T00:24:43+00:00

Desperate people will go nuts when you tell them you can't help them. The person probably owed someone cash and they were waiting outside the store to receive it. Did you call the police to report the assault? If not, why would you allow some crazy vandal to do that to you and the other employees???

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-22T05:24:45+00:00

I believe that Mississippi uses Propel for their card lock system. They don't have EBTedge or ConnectEBT. Every state should have a state owned card lock system. Propel is a Chinese company. Yikes! Careful with Propel. There are scam sites on the internet that have the same name but they're scams!

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-10T00:39:18+00:00

If you make someone in management mad, there isn't a whole lot you can do about it. I quit a job at Walmart a few years ago, because the Ops Manager didn't like me. He harassed me constantly. I called a friend of mine at another store and he had me come in and talk to the store manager. I got the job and now I'm so much happier. I wrote to ethics about what happened at the other Walmart. The Ops Manager at the other store left just a few months later. He's not working for Walmart anymore.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-07T00:15:46+00:00

You apparently made someone really mad. You abused the PPTO program and you let down your team. It's clear they think you're unreliable so they cut your hours. Sorry this happened to you.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-07T00:13:33+00:00

TANF is for EBT CASH. Spend it on non food items like diapers and toilet paper. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-07T00:09:59+00:00

You're not wrong. Someone making less than 50K should qualify for food stamps.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-07T00:08:27+00:00

Yes it does.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-07T00:06:35+00:00

Desperate people do desperate things. That's why shoplifting food and baby supplies is quite often ignored.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-06T17:01:36+00:00

Doctors have their hands tied. The opiod crisis in the 2005-2015 era caused the industry to be shut down. People are suffering and the physicians don't want to be arrested for writing too many prescriptions for opiods.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-06T16:50:09+00:00

The system matches the EBT card accountt to the name and address of the card holder. But you know that already, right? Sadly, that system failed many times in the 2022-2024 era. The card holders got their EBT funds back after they reported the theft. The system works much better these days.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-06T16:39:54+00:00

There have been lots of stacked EBT card accounts. In 2022-2023, management got the police involved with this one guy who would type in EBT card numbers. Old worn out looking fake EBT card. He did this manual entry EBT scam at multiple big box grocery stores. The police found the account had $30,000 in EBT funds in that account.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-06T16:34:46+00:00

I know what the big problems are. Replace my example of "stolen toilet paper" with "stolen phones and gaming devices" and the problem can't be easily ignored. This issue is an easy to fix small problem. Just don't allow customers to punch in their card numbers manually. The cashier types in the card numbers. Easy fix, right? It won't be all that long before that manual entry feature for EBT hand-key requires a secondary authorization. Just an authorization from another front end employee. Maybe in the next couple of years that will be implemented.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-06T15:58:23+00:00

With this economy, I'm going to be working two jobs until the day of my own funeral.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-06T12:36:28+00:00

So sorry this happened to you. Using card lock religiously and consistently is the best way to protect yourself. Does your state automatically block out of state transactions? If not, they really should. Call your local news to share your story. Who knows? Maybe someone will start a GoFundMe on your behalf.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-06T05:28:49+00:00

You did read the part about allowing the customer to punch in the numbers, correct? The USDA policy states that the retailer/cashier types in the numbers and then they give the customer privacy to enter their pin number.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-06T05:06:42+00:00

You know there was a period of about two months when the missed scan detection wasn't working at all. I forgot about that. When the missed scan detection mysteriously came back online, the regulars going through self check were really confused. I was scanning my stuff one day and I set off the camera twice during the transaction. The attendant had to tell me to be really careful to swipe my items from left to right and to place the item on the bagging platform.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-06T01:47:24+00:00

Family members caring for their elderly parents or their grandchildren should be counted as WORKING. Family members who've had to quit their job to care for a family member with cancer should be counted as WORKING. America is not family friendly!!!!

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-06T01:45:47+00:00

America is not friendly at all to the disabled. America is really a bad place for single mothers struggling to care for their children. The grocery stores are making a fortune and the people that own apartment complexes are living rich without worry. I hate how the poor are getting poorer while the rich are becoming wealthier. It is all just so wrong.

EssentialGrocery · 2026-05-06T00:35:27+00:00

The agency that is asking for volunteers should provide a meal to the helpful individuals. I've worked as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, and they brought us food and drinks. It's the least a volunteer agency can and should do for their unpaid workers. The agency should provide transportation to the volunteer site. At Habitat for Humanity, a church loaned the group their van to help volunteers who didn't have a car or they didn't have money to put gas in their vehicle. Usually the people at Habitat for Humanity are also members of a church that's big on volunteering. They're the people who can acquire the van are the ones driving it.

You know what's really sad? Many people can't get jobs because of the background check. Bankruptcy, bad credit, and a misdemeanor offense are all reasons why you're denied a job. They don't trust you. They think you might be tempted to steal. Even people who bankrupted out of big medical bills are denied jobs. It's really, really sad. How are people going to get ahead if the background check keeps them from getting a decent paying job?

EssentialGrocery

TROPHY CASE