Best Buy Employee Fired for Stopping Laptop Thief

That sucks but yet they stop the people that make purchases to check your reciept and make sure the buyers didn't take anything they didn't buy. Stupid backward azz system.

CMON everybody to bestbuy. With our new five finger discount bargains!!!!

Seriusly, I believe that these companies dont really care if they get stolen,
because everything is insured.
They probably make at least double the price from the insurance agency, plus if someone stole for example 1 piece, why not tell them that 10 or 20 pieces were stolen!
They never lose.

Five stars, three cheers, and two thumbs up for the Best Buy Employee. I do not understand people who stand by and watch shoplifters. The "beer run" phenomenon which has exploded lately comes to mind. It would be so easy to trip up a couple of meatheads running to the door with their hands full of cases of beer. A born loser with his hands full of merchandise cannot punch you, or shoot you, or cut you with a knife. You have the drop on him. Make the first blow count.

Originally posted by mikepopy
CMON everybody to bestbuy. With our new five finger discount bargains!!!!

Seriusly, I believe that these companies dont really care if they get stolen,
because everything is insured.
They probably make at least double the price from the insurance agency, plus if someone stole for example 1 piece, why not tell them that 10 or 20 pieces were stolen!
They never lose.

Im not 100% certain, but am pretty sure that shrinkage(which is what theft is) is not insurable. It is, generally speaking, the #1 concern for major retailers. A company does not get reimbursed for things that are stolen, especially without a conviction.

reply to post by captaintyinknots


Yes, well, put me on that jury.

Originally posted by groingrinder
Five stars, three cheers, and two thumbs up for the Best Buy Employee. I do not understand people who stand by and watch shoplifters. The "beer run" phenomenon which has exploded lately comes to mind. It would be so easy to trip up a couple of meatheads running to the door with their hands full of cases of beer. A born loser with his hands full of merchandise cannot punch you, or shoot you, or cut you with a knife. You have the drop on him. Make the first blow count.

Make the first blow count....and then watch the legal bills pile up.

Originally posted by chiefsmom
reply to post by captaintyinknots

 

Yes, well, put me on that jury.

I get your point, but history shows that these people win. Often. And big.

Originally posted by captaintyinknots

Originally posted by mikepopy
CMON everybody to bestbuy. With our new five finger discount bargains!!!!

Im not 100% certain, but am pretty sure that shrinkage(which is what theft is) is not insurable. It is, generally speaking, the #1 concern for major retailers. A company does not get reimbursed for things that are stolen, especially without a conviction.

Im not that sure either, but I think that all they have to do is report it to the police and from there the insurance agencies take over to check things out.
Maybe im wrong though.

I work at a casino, our policy is in the attempt of a robbery to give the person what they want. Even to go as far as "Let the robber know what you are doing at all times."

I.E. I am opening the safe, it will take 10 min. We have no security alarms so please just be patient with me. Thank you.

After the robber has left we are to call our boss then police.

At first I was taken back by this have what you want policy, but this casino has been robbed 3 times in the past 5 years and they have caught the person every time within hours with no lives hurt or lost and all money recovered.

So it works.

Leagally to apprehend a shopliftes, the thief must be past the last Point of Sale or cash register. If this thief was tackeled before he left the store, it opens up the possibility of a lawsuite against best buy. This is why major chain stores have specially trained loss prevention associates.


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Did the employee tackle the thief inside the store or outside? I couldn't tell from the story. It makes a huge difference legally, because if the thief was still inside, then technically they hadn't stolen the laptops yet and could make the defense that they 'were going to pay for them'. If the thief was already outside the store, then the theft had been committed and assuming the employee witnessed the theft, was within his rights to do what he did. (essentially a citizen's arrest)

This explanation is going from my training when I was a security guard several years ago, and is true at least for Canada, but it's probably fairly similar in most places. For example, a friend of mine who is an RCMP officer once witnessed a shoplifting while off-duty. He told the person he had seen her shoplift, but he couldn't do crap legally until she left the store. As soon as she did, he followed her out and arrested her.

From experience, you can hold a job in a retail outlet when you're young, & get all caught up in the "mission of the business". It's all so bloody important & vital while you're in there, but unless you're following some kind of career path, it immediately becomes "just another job I had in the past" once you've moved on, & nothing more than an addition to your skill set (if you're lucky), & another set of memories.

My point here is that anyone working in a retail outlet who takes it on him/herself to pursue or confront a shoplifter, or worse yet, to attempt to physically restrain that individual, is not a hero. IMO, he/she is too naive for his/her own good. Sure, remember as many details about the shoplifter's appearance as you can, & pass them along, but it's foolish to risk your safety, & maybe your life, over a lousy piece of store merchandise.
Best Buy's reaction to this seemingly selfless act on the part of their former employee only goes to prove the point. Leave the heroic measures for defense of yourself and/or your loved ones, or the saving a life. Nothing else is worth it.

Originally posted by v1rtu0s0
Best Buy management, however, saw fit to terminate Kline's employment after he tackled a thief who was trying to run out of the electronics store with two unpaid laptops.

I know someone who works at Best Buy and as a result I know a lot about the Best Buy policies. The person who mans the door is told in no uncertain terms that if he(or she) attempts to physically restrain a person for any reason, they'll be fired. So, I have a hard time having any sympathy whatsoever. Another person I talked to who was a Best Buy employee told me they don't work Asset Protection (the name of their Loss Prevention department) because if they did they'd end up roughing up some criminal and getting fired over it. That person is smart... the guy who got fired from Best Buy was a fool (if he was told the same thing). Its very easy to change departments at Best Buy if you can't handle what your told to do.

Here we seem to have a moral versus law issue. For the majority of people he would be considered a hero but to the company he broke the law. A shoplifter is not truly shoplifting until they leave the store and in some cases property. Technically he is guilty of assault as he accosted a customer while on duty. We know by the story that the man was attempting to leave the store with unpaid merchandise but probable cause does not apply to civilians.

The problem is, is that fighting on an airplane is against airline policies and against the law so what those brave souls did on flight 93 was technically wrong. Yet they are heroes to the people.

I am curious about something. When is a person's life worth more than a computer? You guys kill me! Computers can be replaced. Human life can't unless you clone them.

Best buy can't have people engaging in shoot outs and nonsense for stuff they have insurance on. What would be the point of having insurance if employees are going to take matters into their own hands?

Originally posted by IPILYA
Here we seem to have a moral versus law issue. For the majority of people he would be considered a hero but to the company he broke the law. A shoplifter is not truly shoplifting until they leave the store and in some cases property. .

What is the point of having insurance if employees are going to go all Rambo on people? No one can predict what a criminal would do or not do. But employees taking matters into their own hands escalates the situation. We could go from a robbery to a murder in a heart beat.

THEY HAVE INSURANCE! People can 't take the law into their own hands without collaterall damage.

Originally posted by Skewed
reply to post by anon102

 

Actions like that, certainly makes it more enticing for would be criminals.

If I were a store owner, I too would tell my employees to comply or leave alone any criminal as I would not want them getting hurt for my benefit. But I would never terminate employment for someone taking it upon their self to stop a criminal if they felt they could handle it.

I will no longer shop at Best Buy, man, my list is getting pretty long.

In most places a criminal that got hurt in the commision of a crime has not right to sue.

reply to post by captaintyinknots


actually that's probably not entirely true. if best buy's corporate policies work in a similar fashion to other retailers, the home improvement store i work at has no loss prevention person. it has to do with store performance and yearly budgets. so in reality this store in question may have had a loss prevention person, but it's not true that every retail store does.

Originally posted by LosLobos

Originally posted by IPILYA
Here we seem to have a moral versus law issue. For the majority of people he would be considered a hero but to the company he broke the law. A shoplifter is not truly shoplifting until they leave the store and in some cases property. .

What is the point of having insurance if employees are going to go all Rambo on people? No one can predict what a criminal would do or not do. But employees taking matters into their own hands escalates the situation. We could go from a robbery to a murder in a heart beat.

THEY HAVE INSURANCE! People can 't take the law into their own hands without collaterall damage.

Apparently you didn't read my whole post. would you rather the people of fight 93 done nothing because it wasn't their job or they worried about insurance?

There are times when the right thing should be done regardless

Originally posted by captaintyinknots

When you break a written agreement with your employer, you are fired. Thats just the way it is, and it is why stores have specific loss prevention agents.

True, but those "loss prevention agents" have the same rules applied to them. Wal-Mart for example, has a loss prevention staff employed by... Wal-Mart. They are not allowed to do much of anything at all, mainly because of all the lawsuits.

I do think the "loss prevention" policies at the retail chains are ridiculous, and cater to thieves. Just let them keep winning petty lawsuits and continue to watch all our prices go up.