Bizarre Experience At AAP

[JoeDirt41]

Probably because of shoplifters known on the street as a booster. A buyer will sometimes take a pic of something he wants boosted, text the pic and the booster will attempt to steal it for him.

The store I work at is the highest theft store in my district. It's primarily due to our location. Batteries are the most expensive item on the sales floor, which is why they are typically on the opposite wall from the door. I haven't seen a battery stolen in my time here, but I'm sure it has happened.

We have a lot of dummy boxes, we keep R1234yf refrigerant behind the counter, our light bulbs have magnalocks on the peg hooks, and we have more cameras than any other store. Theft still happens. We tried putting some of the tools behind the counter with tickets on the pegs in the aisle, but the district manager didn't like that.

Autozone and walmart ocasionally have some. I assume they are returns from peopie that bought a battery instead of an alternator.

Sometimes this, but mostly they are batteries that sat on the shelf too long to be sold as new. We usually sell them in bulk to a local used car lot. Honestly, I'd avoid them. A lot of them wind up being bad and they are sold as-is.

 

[macarose]

The store I work at is the highest theft store in my district. It's primarily due to our location. Batteries are the most expensive item on the sales floor, which is why they are typically on the opposite wall from the door. I haven't seen a battery stolen in my time here, but I'm sure it has happened.

We have a lot of dummy boxes, we keep R1234yf refrigerant behind the counter, our light bulbs have magnalocks on the peg hooks, and we have more cameras than any other store. Theft still happens. We tried putting some of the tools behind the counter with tickets on the pegs in the aisle, but the district manager didn't like that.

Sometimes this, but mostly they are batteries that sat on the shelf too long to be sold as new. We usually sell them in bulk to a local used car lot. Honestly, I'd avoid them. A lot of them wind up being bad and they are sold as-is.

This is definitely a low to no theft area. The guy is just a weirdo. That's all. When you deal with mentally imbalanced people the best thing to do is walk away.

 

[zzyzzx]

We have a lot of dummy boxes, we keep R1234yf refrigerant behind the counter, our light bulbs have magnalocks on the peg hooks, and we have more cameras than any other store. Theft still happens.

Walmart near me locks up automotive light bulbs. Even the cheap ones, like a 168 two pack for $5 is locked up.

 

[Pablo]

In HI they lock up the Spam in stores. Not kidding.

 

[tmorris1]

This.

The most they can do is ask you to leave and call law enforcement to claim you are trespassing. It is private property but I find it dubious that corporate would be excited about police cars showing up for a guy taking pictures.

I would like to see AAP's official written policy prohibiting pics.

Workers were probably up to some shady stuff. The local O'Reilly's here goes through employees pretty fast. I have seen many of them in the paper shortly after for some pretty serious crimes.

 

[Strommen95]

Anybody with customer service experience knows customers rarely tell the entire story. I'm skeptical, especially given OPs need to insult the employee.

 

[dadto2]

I would have a problem there... I nearly always forget to bring my reading glasses to the store, and often use my phone as a magnifying glass.

 

[zzyzzx]

I would have a problem there... I nearly always forget to bring my reading glasses to the store, and often use my phone as a magnifying glass.

Magnifying glass app, or do you take a picture then enlarge the picture?

 

[macarose]

Anybody with customer service experience knows customers rarely tell the entire story. I'm skeptical, especially given OPs need to insult the employee.

It wasn't a need. It was a factual description of the guy based on his conduct and behavior.

Would you rather have me call him a heavily confused and tortured soul who apparently has an undying love for the personal privacy of inanimate objects?

 

[dadto2]

Magnifying glass app, or do you take a picture then enlarge the picture?

I open my phone and zoom in as if I were taking a picture, but don't usually capture the image.

 

[D60]

It wasn't a need. It was a factual description of the guy based on his conduct and behavior.

Would you rather have me call him a heavily confused and tortured soul who apparently has an undying love for the personal privacy of inanimate objects?

This. I'm very respectful to employees. I've worked plenty of retail and there's no reason to be a jerk.

But once you announce you're a moron and on a power trip, it's open season.

OP is more forgiving than I. I would 100% contact the DM and request clarification. And I would have obtained the name of the employee.

 

[JoeDirt41]

This is definitely a low to no theft area. The guy is just a weirdo. That's all. When you deal with mentally imbalanced people the best thing to do is walk away.

AAP is super desperate for employees right now. They'll hire anyone with a pulse to man the retail counter and I'm not exaggerating. We've had some very odd ones at our store. Most didn't last more than a month or two.

I'd probably chalk it up to that and ignore it. Try to figure out who the main store manager or commercial manager is and work with them when you shop there.

 

[PF52]

I would have posed for a selfie with the employee.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

In HI they lock up the Spam in stores. Not kidding.

It is hilarious here. Walmart has their colognes under lock and key. Then , one can drive from here , maybe 20 minutes to another Walmart and it is all on full display right out on shelves. NOT locked up? I have heard there are big differences in how each store is run and even stocked at times?

 

[D60]

In thinking on this further, I regularly take photos of products in stores. Sometimes it's to show a buddy a good price or that a store does indeed stock a particular product, or to record a SKU/item # when their website search sucks (looking at you, Home Depot).

Sometimes it's to illustrate to a friend or my wife where a particular product is in the store or on the shelf.

For awhile I did it every time in WM when the canned green beans would ring up wrong. I'd show the cashier the photo of the price tag on the shelf with SKU clearly displayed.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

It's truly a tool and normal shopping behavior. Nothing insidious or criminal happening here.

 

[Pablo]

It is hilarious here. Walmart has their colognes under lock and key. Then , one can drive from here , maybe 20 minutes to another Walmart and it is all on full display right out on shelves. NOT locked up? I have heard there are big differences in how each store is run and even stocked at times?

I've seen that too. I get that cologne can be expensive and relatively small.

My wife was busting up about the Spam. In some WM's it's in 12" acrylic antitheft cases. That case has to be worth more than the spam.

Here we have proximity disabled shopping carts. Special!

 

[D60]

I've seen that too. I get that cologne can be expensive and relatively small.

My wife was busting up about the Spam. In some WM's it's in 12" acrylic antitheft cases. That case has to be worth more than the spam.

Here we have proximity disabled shopping carts. Special!

They tried those carts in our supermarkets for all of about three weeks. They were a nightmare and suddenly vanished. Seems like such a waste of $ as I'm sure it wasn't cheap to switch and switch back

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

I've seen that too. I get that cologne can be expensive and relatively small.

My wife was busting up about the Spam. In some WM's it's in 12" acrylic antitheft cases. That case has to be worth more than the spam.

Here we have proximity disabled shopping carts. Special!

She would really bust up on this one. We have lots of seafood (fresh) for sale all around. One of the biggest sellers in the stores is the peeled packages of crawfish tails. My least favorite seafood. So , seafood processors often peel , shell and package the crawfish in neat one pound freezer tough bags. Here is the kicker....

Apparently these one pound bags of frozen seafood are so popular with shoplifters , some of the private owned , chain grocery stores had to take them behind the customer service counter near the expensive hard liquor.

One may ask : What the ____? Why on earth______? What is the need to place frozen seafood bags under almost armed guards ?

Because there seems to be such a need by shoplifters for frozen seafood , they were being caught sticking ..... yeah, hard to imagine but yes, yes.... thieves were being caught with these frozen packages of seafood shoved down the front of their pants! OMG. How appetizing a thought!? "Yeah, sweetie, .... I am making you some crawfish for supper tonight. I went to great lengths to get some fresh crawfish for you!" YIKES.....

 

[Pew]

Because there seems to be such a need by shoplifters for frozen seafood , they were being caught sticking ..... yeah, hard to imagine but yes, yes.... thieves were being caught with these frozen packages of seafood shoved down the front of their pants! OMG. How appetizing a thought!? "Yeah, sweetie, .... I am making you some crawfish for supper tonight. I went to great lengths to get some fresh crawfish for you!" YIKES.....

I bet the fish smell right at home in their pants!

 

[ATex7239]

How do you steal a car battery? Under your shirt?