it’s also vastly different between big box stores and owner-proprietor independent stores, who, by far, get the shortest and shittiest end of the stick when shoplifting *does* become more common, because the person who (regularly) shoplifts from walgreen’s but doesn’t from indie stores doesn’t exist
the whole “shoplifting is killing us” vs “shoplifting isn’t a problem” thing is interesting because i’m willing to buy that there’s been a moderate rise in shoplifting in major chains who have cut staff to the bone, because this is what you would expect to see if you cut staff to the bone
i mean, am i going to lose my mind and start shouting about how we need law and order? no. but do i think shoplifting is harmless, either to the businesses and workers who deal with it or the surrounding communities? also no.
Yeah same, personally witnessing increasing levels of petty crime at Target or wherever doesn’t scar me or make me wish they had cops in there or anything, but I do find myself thinking “well this seems bad”
Saw a guy once ask a much younger female staffer to get something down for him, spending minutes seeming normal to get it, and then ZOOOM. That sort of thing joins the certain type of creep and aggro drunk in making places just feel crappy
It's less that he's nicked something - I've almost certainly seen someone desperate or a kid grab something & run and forgotten about it, because we all know that goes on - but the outright brazen nature of it, 'yeah I can do it, what're _you_ gonna fucking do about it'.
Yeah I’ve been a victim of the classic “confuse the cashier as she counts your change” con and it feels pretty garbage. And I didn’t feel endangered at all in that situation, but a lot of times (when more shoving, grabbing, yanking, running happens) I think they probably do at least a little
There was a known ring at one of my wife’s stores that had 3 people, one was a large man that would yell at, verbally abuse, and intimidate the all-women staff as a distraction while the two accomplices stole items to return to another store for gift cards they could sell. People quit over it.
flagrant violations of the social contract like that freak me out. too strong of a reminder that a major thing keeping us from a purge situation is just everybody pinky-swearing to obey norms and not just do whatever selfish thing pops into our head
the more people brazenly ignore that contract and nothing happens, the more everybody else feels comfortable doing the same, and eventually you get to the guy whose norm violation is, like, rage and scream at you for frustrating him
I don’t think a purge situation is very likely because humans are social animals and most of us want the social contract (that’s the very thing that makes the normal response to this stuff looking around and going “mods???” at least in your head). But that’s also why having a peer group validating—
—shoplifting, or whatever antisocial behavior, is bad, it def can encourage people to do it why would otherwise not because now it’s “acceptable”, in your world, sort of.
100% most people want the social contract, but to keep with the purge metaphor, seemingly most of the people in that world at least attempt to hunker down that day, with a minority actually running around crime-ing, and an even smaller amount doing horror movie behavior. but that's all it takes!
obviously like, a real actual The Purge situation isn't going to happen. but it just wouldn't take that many truly unleashed assholes to make society feel really untenable for the majority who want things to be Normal
Isn't this how broken-windows theory is *supposed* to go? Like, when it doesn't get handed over to cops as the latest justification for destroying anyone who seems like The Wrong Sort?
That's what concerns me... People will start making themselves The Law and they won't do it with fists.
They'll just shoot people.
We really need more WELL TRAINED police, but no one wants the job for any amount of money, at least in some cities here.
