I witnessed something today & it's REALLY REALLY bugging me! 🤬I was having a mooch around a charity shop in Brighouse when I noticed a very well-dressed woman standing next to me, looking at a shelf neatly filled with handbags etc. She'd picked up a few rucksack-type bags - 2 in each hand - & then casually strolled around the shop. She came back to the shelves with all the bags on, very quickly picked up another rucksack & hurriedly left the shop without paying for any of them!. She nicked at LEAST 5 bags - she certainly didn't look as though she needed the money, so without even thinking about it I quickly grassed her up to one of the staff. The shop assistant ran to the door, but the woman was well away. We could see her in the distance - not exactly running, but she was legging it down the road like she'd been at the marching powder. Bet these bags are all priced up & on Ebay or Vinted by now! If it had been a little old lady looking as though she didn't have 2 pennies to rub together I might have looked the other way, but this woman certainly didn't look poor by any means!

How can anyone stoop so low as to steal from charity? Lowest of the low in my opinion!

Sorry about the rant but I just HAD to let off some steam!😠

26 minutes ago, Kathryn Magson said:

can anyone stoop so low as to steal from charity? Lowest

I know a few people who work in charity shops, happens all the time. Almost as bad are the hagglers,I know prices have gone up in charity shops like everything else but those who go to the counter and ask what's the best you can do on this really annoy me. You don't go to the till in M&S and ask for a reduction so why do it in a charity shop . Worse still and I've seen it many times are the ones who won't take no for an answer and continue trying to get a reduction.

I know these things happen - even in charity shops, but this was the first time I've actually seen it & she was so bloody blatant about it! Staff didn't spot her but I did cos she was next to me. It wasn't as though she looked poor - tarty but expensive clothes - caked in orange make-up & slug eyebrows.....you get the picture......

5 minutes ago, Twoshoes said:

I know a few people who work in charity shops, happens all the time. Almost as bad are the hagglers,I know prices have gone up in charity shops like everything else but those who go to the counter and ask what's the best you can do on this really annoy me. You don't go to the till in M&S and ask for a reduction so why do it in a charity shop . Worse still and I've seen it many times are the ones who won't take no for an answer and continue trying to get a reduction.I

Edited Tuesday at 16:521 day by Kathryn Magson

I used to volunteer in a charity shop raising money for Rwanda and it happened all the time. The one I worked in had two floors, bric-a-brac downstairs, clothes upstairs, so it was impossible to be on two floors at once. I couldn't begin to count the number of times people went up like rakes and came down 9 months pregnant.

Lower than a Lizards belly, totally shameless, if there are any Stocks left in any town centres stick them in there and send for the rotten fruit

ML

2 hours ago, Hooker1951 said:

Lower than a Lizards belly, totally shameless, if there are any Stocks left in any town centres stick them in there and send for the rotten fruit

ML

I would be first in the queue with my bag of squashed tomatoes at the ready! It was in The heart Foundation charity shop - it would have served her right if she'd had a heart attack as she legged it down the road - instant karma!

Scum of the earth

Why they would risk getting caught and ending up in a local paper with her mug shot and heading"local girl steals from charity shop" is absolutely beyond me!

'Well done you' I say for speaking out.

The issue for me is that many see these as 'victimless crimes' but having worked in retail when I left school, I know that isn't the case.

If it's a chain/franchise then the manager and staff get it in the neck -often resulting in disciplinary action or at the very least the staff member r store being marked down for performance.

If it's a small shop then it can make it simply unable to carry on trading.

Even huge supermarket chains add missing stock costs onto prices of the rest of the goods we buy, so we're all paying for someone else's sticky fingered habits.

Stealing from a charity shop is about as low as it gets though.

1 hour ago, Timbo58 said:

Stealing from a charity shop is about as low as it gets though.

I just couldn't believe what I was seeing - even one bag would have been bad enough - especially from a charity shop - but she had at least 5! She seemed very practised & professional about it too so probably made a good living out of it. I was so angry!😠

It is possible her “well to do” appearance was a cover. And maybe she was “on the bones of her arse”. No excuse…but maybe an explanation. Sometimes there’s another story?

2 minutes ago, Kenb said:

It is possible her “well to do” appearance was a cover. And maybe she was “on the bones of her arse”. No excuse…but maybe an explanation. Sometimes there’s another story?

I've been poor - I was divorced & a single Mum in the 1970s & at times I felt as though I was on the bones of my arse - but I would never have stooped so low as to steal from charity. Lowest of the low in my opinion.

A few years ago my Mother in law used to work for a well known cut price chain in Coventry. She witnessed a youth casually walking around the ailes filling his bag with goods , he had no intention of paying for, and then he casually walked out , pass the security officer & legged it . Gobsmacked she took off after him telling the Security what had happened , The thief/ shoplifter got away & on returning to the store was taken to the office & reprimanded by the manager , for her actions deemed by the company as putting herself in danger ie. the youth could have been carrying a weapon & it wasn't her job to chase after the thief / shoplifter .

After that her attitude was help yourself, and she carried on shelf filling until she retired .

I USED TO DO THE PAT TESTING IN CHARITY SHOPS AND THE MANAGER SAYS THE WORST BIT IS SHOPLIFTERS THEY COME IN ALL LARDY DA THEN NEXT THING A SHELF HAS BASICALLY DISAPPEARED OF ITEMS ,THE THING IS LIKE SHE SAID THEY ARE HABITUAL NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU BAR THEM THEY COME BACK WHEN A NEW MEMBER OF STAFF IS ON ,CALLING THE POLICE IS A WASTE OF SPACE !!!!!AND IF YOU THINK THAT'S BAD MY SHOP HAD THE POPPY BOX NICKED !!!!!!!!!!!

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by Steviehay

10 minutes ago, Steviehay said:

I USED TO DO THE PAT TESTING IN CHARITY SHOPS AND THE MANAGER SAYS THE WORST BIT IS SHOPLIFTERS THEY COME IN ALL LARDY DA THEN NEXT THING A SHELF HAS BASICALLY DISAPPEARED OF ITEMS ,THE THING IS LIKE SHE SAID THEY ARE HABITUAL NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU BAR THEM THEY COME BACK WHEN A NEW MEMBER OF STAFF IS ON ,CALLING THE POLICE IS A WASTE OF SPACE !!!!!AND IF YOU THINK THAT'S BAD MY SHOP HAD THE POPPY BOX NICKED !!!!!!!!!!!

I believe the police are only there to nick kids coming out the wigan casino😂

2 minutes ago, Kathryn Magson said:

I just couldn't believe what I was seeing - even one bag would have been bad enough - especially from a charity shop - but she had at least 5! She seemed very practised & professional about it too so probably made a good living out of it. I was so angry!😠

My sister is a volunteer in a large British Heart Foundation shop, she tells me that theft is an almost daily occurrence. Shoplifting is nothing new, but theft from charity shops shows how far we have sunk.