Originally published at: Pregnant shoplifting suspect shot by Walgreens staffer | Boing Boing
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God damn, am I sick to death of corporations and their needs being seen as more important than HUMAN LIVES…
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I used to run McDonalds decades ago. We told people always you give them what they ask for and let them leave. Do not pursue, don’t try to be a hero. This is not a movie.
The corporation isn’t going to help the employee if something happens to them.
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I think more recently, there is more pressure on employees in some businesses to “preserve inventory” at all costs.
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True, but I also guarantee you Walgreens has a written policy against employees carrying guns at work. The shooter was 21. What gets me is how he’s been programmed to think property that’s not even his, and that he has minimal responsibility for, is more valuable than a human life.
When I worked at Walmart 13 years ago, we were definitely told to leave shoplifters alone. It wasn’t our job to stop them or confront them. The store had cameras everywhere and employees whose only job was dealing with that stuff. Of course, we were told lots of things in training, like you have to take breaks and you can’t work off the clock, that low level managers subtly encouraged anyway, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this kid’s manager convinced him that he had to do whatever it takes to prevent shoplifting.
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Another problem guns made worse, wow, would ya look at that.
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MTG tweet saying the shooter is a hero and should be in congress in 3…2…
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Pregnant woman shot by Walgreens staffer
Ftfy, “suspect” is a cop label. I’m sure there was far more to her than “maybe she stole something once”
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In this situation, I’m sure what the guard did was in violation of corporate policy. They do not want their guards pursuing shoplifters like this. The guard company’s insurance is going to have to make a huge payment. Walgreens may also have a big loss from this.
This was an individual security guard who let his emotions get out of control, violated policy, and now is in huge legal trouble.
Lesson to security guards: do not pursue or block shoplifters. Let them go.
Walgreens and other retailers carefully track their losses by store and simply shut down when the store doesn’t make sense. Even Whole Foods does this - they simply bailed out of San Francisco recently after investing (guessing) many millions of dollars. They had a whole team of armed guards but they are not allowed to detain shoplifters in many cases.
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Yeah, I can’t think of any corporate policy that encourages following a person out to their car; that’s just asking for trouble. He went to her car, she sprayed him with mace, he pulled out his gun and shot her…all over retail products.
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No, a normal apple really. It’s common for people to get upset when they see shoplifting. There’s a natural guard mentality of "it’s my job to stop this. " Even though it factually isn’t in this case.
The reason why Walgreens etc have guards like this is to act as a deterrent. They very much do not want guards doing what this guy did, and they realize there is a tendency for this to happen, but they can’t always train their staff to not do it.
This low-paid guard should not be putting himself at any risk for this corporation’s retail goods. Walgreens doesn’t even want him to. But people act on emotions pretty often.
What happens is Walgreens in bad locations like this will close, their consumers will have to buy on-line or have to deal with smaller, independently (often family) owned convenience stores which have higher prices, less selection, and more trigger happy staff who are often related to the owners.
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There is nothing “normal” about thinking it’s somehow acceptable to shoot a pregnant woman for stealing, regardless of the guard’s hypothetical motivation.
That you seem to have more empathy for the shooter than the person who was shot is telling.
I didn’t bother reading the rest of your comment; Bertrand Russell is my guide.
Good day.
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Officially, Tennessee does require armed security guards to be licensed.
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I don’t buy some of that though.
This kind of idiotic pseudo-heroism isn’t the kind of thing that is inspired by one’s deep love for the quality merchandise available for purchase at one’s local convenience store and desire to protect the virtue of the fine walgreen’s brand. This is contempt for human life fueled by a narrative of idiotic vigilante justice thinking “this is my chance to shine by shooting a woman!!!”
I’ve worked retail during a crime wave in a “bad part of town” in a major southern city. I’ve actually been robbed and I’m sure I failed to deter a shoplifter well enough once or twice. They used to make us balance the cash out and then we had to hand deliver all the day’s cash to an atm behind a club known for violence. Just one shitty yellow light in the whole parking lot right on the damned atm. Felt like a trap. Closing at midnight and dropping that cash made me terrified because it was so predictable and I would walk with the cash in my trenchcoat up against my chest bc my plan was that if I was robbed I’d throw the cash bag and run the other direction hoping they were more motivated by money than rapemurderwhatever. Working retail in shit parts of town with a corrupt police force during a crime wave just sucks for everyone really. And yet… I have NO sympathy for this guy. None.
Fuck.
Him.
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That “bad locations” sounds very much like a dog whistle.
Consumers’ choices in this area are CVS and Walgreens. It would be nice if there were independent, family-owned stores but those have been largely driven out by the chains and if the chains leave there will be a void for people in the area that won’t be easily filled, if it’s filled at all. Maybe this could be addressed legislatively but that’s unlikely given that the majority of Tennessee’s legislators don’t seem interested in addressing the real problem.
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That’s because it is.
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If there’s a “tendency” for guards to follow people to their cars and then shoot them, that sounds an awful lot like a bunch of rotten apples to me. Because no, your average person does not do crap like that.
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It does seem like some vigilante heroic-fantasy bullshit.
To go on and on and on about how ‘the guard doesn’t make much money,’ his emotional state; blah, blah, blah.
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The writer of this article added some things that were not in the original story. There is nothing to imply that poverty was involved or was an explanation for the shoplifting, and mentioning that the pregnancy was likely unplanned, as if that is problematic. Many pregnancies are unplanned but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s unwelcome or even a surprise.
