Best Buy Employee Fired for Stopping Laptop Thief

reply to post by krakencampbell


Do you believe that Bestbuy is a moral, altruistic corporation? Do you think they have this policy just to stop people from doing what is right in your eyes? Do you understand why they have this policy? Do you know any major corporations that you think would get into a Christian Heaven? I guess I just feel like people are transposing their own personal feelings of right and wrong onto someone else and basically deciding for them what is and is not damage to them. Bestbuy obviously came up with this policy for a reason and I find it hard to believe it is just to stop people from doing what they think is right.

Think about it. You break that guys finger as you tackle him. He sues Bestbuy for $500,000. Did you do what was "right" by causing Bestbuy such a huge expense? If so, how? Do the means justify the end because the end certainly does not justify the means.

If it goes baddly for you and the store, is it still right? Do you not think Bestbuy has thought about this? Do you not remember the lawsuit over coffee that was too hot?

I was told by a friend that works in a clothing store that they are not allowed to confront a person who may be stealing. If the person has not left the store with the apparel or equipment he has not yet stolen anything. He tells me that the people will stuff the clothing in there own clothes and walk around the shop. He just has to wait until they leave the store. Ridiculous!

Lesson Learned: Grab Laptops and run out of store.

Originally posted by ahmonrarh
so its solved then, people of the world.

DO YOUR JOB or WHAT YOUR TOLD, NOT WHATS RIGHT.

that honestly seems to be the final lesson that we see everywhere. like the guy that was arrested for saving a drowning girl in a river, that i seen posted here on ats a while back.

Maybe you can explain why it is right. So far all asking that has gotten me is flamed. I honestly do not see how it is "right." You are not saving your mom and pop store from being robbed out of business here. This is not about saving any person from being harmed. This is about you presenting the company you work for with a possible lawsuit costing exponentially more than the loss of the two laptops. It is not like this means the doors are swung open and everyone has blinders on now. They still have loss prevention. No loss prevention is perfect and big corporations weigh the cost of what slips by against the cost of a lawsuit from jonny dogood breaking someones big toe in a minimum wage act of herosim to save two overpriced laptops.

So please. Tell me if what he did is so "right" then why does the company have this policy?

reply to post by anon102


Its because best buy can afford he theft but they cant afford the bad publicity if a customer is harmed during an altercation. It is svery dumb to fire him for this, but to be honest I would just let the guy go, best buy can afford it and its not worth a customer being hurt even if you are willing yourself to risk harm

Originally posted by LiquidAsh
I was told by a friend that works in a clothing store that they are not allowed to confront a person who may be stealing. If the person has not left the store with the apparel or equipment he has not yet stolen anything. He tells me that the people will stuff the clothing in there own clothes and walk around the shop. He just has to wait until they leave the store. Ridiculous!

Well there really is nothing you can do. The cops will not do anything. No court would hear it. As obvious as someone stuffing something under their clothes' intentions may be, the fact is there is no legal action that can be taken in a case of theft until the item is stolen. Maybe that is not perfect but it is reality.

Originally posted by Bonified Ween
Lesson Learned: Grab Laptops and run out of store.

Yup, that is exactly what that meant.
Be sure and report back tomorrow and tell us how many you got.
Obviously because one guy tried to steal two laptops and the wrong person tackeld him they are not doing anything for loss prevention. Get me a pink one!

A guy is out of a job, and all he was doing was trying to save his company some money.

Personally, i would hire this guy as some kind of executive, since he obviously cares more about the "bottom line" of the company then the company itself.

This kind of crap is why i would never give an ounce of loyalty to any company these days. Everything is all wrapped up in "policy" and "liability" at the expense of basic humanity.

reply to post by invetro


Exactly,they don't care about laptops, now a days most of em are made for so cheap it's no real loss. Especially with planned opalescence the whole point is to make products like that cheap. Easier to arrest the guy and make him pay 2x that at least in legal fees. Sucks that they fired him, mainly cause he put himself on the line for the company and they cut him loose to protect their hides. I know it was policy but kinda warped, It seems in today's society it's mainly about knowing the price of everything, but knowing the value of nothing.

Just my 2 cents

TSIR

He may have lost his job but he made the choice by his values and I respect the man.
Nothing should stand in front of our values has long that it doesn't unfairly hurt anyone.

Actually it's not totally Best Buy's fault, they have to operate in this insane upside down business environment these days where, even if you're careful, your money is eventually going to get siphoned into the pockets of attorneys and bankers, one way or another.

And people wonder why our economy is tanking

The thing that is overlooked is that the employee who was fired was 51. He harkens from a different time when running down (and potentially laying a beating on) a would be thief was normal and considered something of a civic duty. Cut this guy some slack and give him his job back, already.

In other news:

Massive Electronics sale this weekend in Billings one block from Bestbuy... see the gentleman in the nondescript white cube van

Originally posted by Skewed

Originally posted by captaintyinknots

Thats just the way it is, and it is why stores have specific loss prevention agents.

I bet the real truth is, the loss prevention agents are union and that employee stepped over the union line and did their job for them while the agent was sitting on their ass in the back room. Union workers from my experience tend to have the attitude that they will work when they get around to it or when it fits their schedule.

your dead wrong...you just don't like union workers. i was employed as a retail store manager with gross sales of over 2 million a year back in the late 80's. store losses (especially ones documented by cameras) can be written off against profits, while at the same time loss prevention insurance taken out by the company, and paid back through claims, are tax deductible. or at least it was during my time.

reply to post by v1rtu0s0


A lot of businesses have rules like this that you've read and accepted to when being hired. You're supposed to either let them go, such as in this case, or if you're behind a register, simply hand them the money and let them leave.

Not surprising, really.

Originally posted by captaintyinknots

Originally posted by jjkenobi
reply to post by captaintyinknots

 

I can understand the rule... However my point stands. Grab your stuff and bolt through the front door because nobody there is going to stop you. Some loss prevention guy in a back room on a camera isn't going to do squat.

Most loss prevention agents are strolling around the store in street clothes. I worked for a MAJOR retailer for a very long time and know this as fact. The cameras are for gathering evidence. Generally speaking there is not someone there sitting and watching them all the time.

You are right, most shoplifters get away the first time or two. They generally get caught because they get recorded, and a file is started on them. They are usually issued "no trespassing" notice and are caught when they break that notice.

The majority of shoplifters are not arrested for shoplifting. It is usually for trespassing.

Yep, a store I worked at we had a room full of the monitors but our security guy was never there. He (or they) would get there about 1-2 hours before close and hang out around the store and then at close they would stay and watch through the footage.

We actually had two instances where somebody tried to steal while our security guy was pretty close to the doors. The first guy who tried running out got chased down and tackled outside. The second time the guy running got taken down right before he got to the doors.

Of course he wasn't fired because a) I don't think he was directly employed by the store (read: contracted out, some bars here do this for their bouncers for lawsuit reasons) and b) if he was directly employed it stated in his contract (rules, guidelines, etc he agreed to when hired) that he was allowed to take action.


I don't think that the rules are set to protect the criminal, but rather the people in the store, because you never know what someone has on them and how they may react. It's more about laws to protect the innocent people from criminals. Plus in a situation like this, Best Buy has cameras and would most likely have caught this guy had he not been a clumsy fool and fallen down. Yes it is sad that you can't be a hero in situations like these, but they are there for those other times when being a hero leads to being the reason 15 people are dead for no reason other than that some junkie wanted to steal a laptop.

Wow just wow...I have read 4 pages of this and a lot of it blows my mind. Did it ever occur to anyone that best but and other companies just might be doing the right thing. If I owned a store of some kind, I would never place more value on the goods I sell than life itself. Anyone's life! So what a couple of laptops... Not that stealing is the right thing to do. But I would never want my employees to think that I would in any way, would want to risk anyone's life or health for some stupid replaceable merchandise.so if I had made this abundantly clear upon hiring, I think I would have to fire them too. Would I want someone working for me who puts the value of replaceable crap above the value of life and health. Seriously...and all law suits aside, if I looked at it like all the employees were my family, I would only think the same thing. I would tell a son or daughter, wife or father the same. Why not extend that same respect for life and health to all employees?

same stupid crap happened to me once, I worked at a gas station, and this guy came in with a steak knife, and told me to give him all the money in the till, and the smokes. I came out from behind the counter screaming that I was gonna take that knife from him, and he ran out of the store. The manager saw the tape the next day, and fired me. I couldnt believe it. I didnt even make physical contact with the guy, and I was fired. Makes me wish I would have just grabbed him, and tossed him around a while to make it worth it. It's a sad sad world we live in now. I refuse to be a victim, and refuse to let anyone around me, or the place I work for to fall victim to any meat heads out there who wanna cause grief.

Originally posted by anon102
Well the widely accepted argument for this is that its for the protection of other customers. What if the guy was armed?

Of course, I never understood that argument to begin with. I know the store that I work for requires employees to report the theft to there supervisor or head manager and leave the thief alone..

But then I ask myself, so we just let them go? Golly, I should go out and steal something. I'll just walk away

Not only of their customers.. but their employees. What if the guy WAS armed? Chasing after him can surely provoke his usage of a firearm. That $500 dollar laptop he's stealing is =! the life of ANYONE.

Originally posted by Wetpaint72
Wow just wow...I have read 4 pages of this and a lot of it blows my mind. Did it ever occur to anyone that best but and other companies just might be doing the right thing. If I owned a store of some kind, I would never place more value on the goods I sell than life itself. Anyone's life! So what a couple of laptops... Not that stealing is the right thing to do. But I would never want my employees to think that I would in any way, would want to risk anyone's life or health for some stupid replaceable merchandise.so if I had made this abundantly clear upon hiring, I think I would have to fire them too. Would I want someone working for me who puts the value of replaceable crap above the value of life and health. Seriously...and all law suits aside, if I looked at it like all the employees were my family, I would only think the same thing. I would tell a son or daughter, wife or father the same. Why not extend that same respect for life and health to all employees?

This, by the way is basically what I was going for. You guys need to relax with the bashing.. There are reasons that this rule is in place.

reply to post by joshnichols189


You know and to think about it...maybe they DO have family members in these stores too. Would it not be uncommon for , say a regional manager or the likes to gave his/her son or daughter a job so they may work their way through college as a summer or part time employee. I would only want the same for my loved one.

I guess we know who to steal from then.... JK.