Revenge of the Counter Elves

In lieu of Santa and Mrs. Claus going wildly into debt this year by purchasing multiple pricey items, family of four drew names and limited themselves to $75 for each person. Now that it is the day after Christmas, Mrs. Claus declares the effort a success. Everyone was quite pleased at both the giving and receiving ends.

By luck of the draw, Santa and I drew our two daughter’s names. Last Saturday, we forged to the mall, leveraging every coupon and sale at our disposal to optimize our purchasing power. A 20% off coupon at a certain cosmetic’s emporium, which we had pinpointed as our most important stop, enabled us to buy more than we would have thought possible.While driving home, I bravely perused the details of the receipt with glee at how much we had been able to “save” while spending. I rarely study receipts because they scare me. I will ask my therapist about this.

Turns out we did better than we thought. When we got to the register, I had handed the friendly cashier an unmarked set of mini nail polishes for Daughter 1, and asked if she could please scan the price before adding it to our haul. I said the $12.99 price (minus the 20%!) would be fine as we continued to chat while my husband stepped aside and played solitare on his cell phone.

“Oh, they are so cute, your daughter is going to love that!” she exclaimed, as if mini nail polishes were the most momentous purchase I could have possibly made. Then came a giddy, “That is my favorite scent in the whole store!” about a fragrance chosen for Daughter 2 (Burberry Weekend). Mrs. Claus was ready to ask this woman to join me us for lunch, but Santa had a football game next on the agenda. So we left, and I waved to my new BFF whom I will probably never see again.

When an alarm indicated upon our exit that I had shoplifted something, I twisted around towards the counter and looked inquiringly at my new friend. Perhaps she hadn’t scanned our products properly or had neglected to demagnetize one of the security tags. I’m sure this happens all of the time. But she waved me off, as if I was just being silly polite to even ask among friends – after all, everyone knows those machines go off all the time.

Our next and final stop was a favorite bath product store. Apparently, it was everybody in three counties’ next stop too. The lines were so long that I did an immediate U-turn and went to retrieve Santa whom I had left happily sampling the Hickory Farm spread in the middle of the mall. When the alarm at this store went off as I passed through the detectors, I didn’t think much of it. I turned around just as I had a few minutes earlier, but none of the shopping masses, or the employees behind the registers located at the far end of the store seemed to notice the high pitched wail that either I, or some thief had started. So I left.

Back in the car, the set of mini nail polishes were no where to be found on the receipt. I checked twice, maybe even three times. I assumed then that they weren’t going to be with us in reality either, but there they were, all perky and pink, at the bottom of the bag, apparently still with a security tag working just as it should. Clearly, shopping this season was a buyer’s market, but this happening as a result of the oversight of not one, but two stores, is a little ridiculous.

Santa and I briefly thought about going back to pay for them until we realized that the football game had already started. We agreed to deal after Christmas. After thinking about it, this is exactly what we would have decided if the mistake had been in the store’s favor. But I’ll admit that I’m not as enthusiastic about this chore as I would be if they owed me $12.99 minus 20%; I don’t want to go back, and I resent it a little.

So here are the questions I’m am left pondering:

What’s with retail businesses having all this fancy and expensive security equipment that appears to be doing it’s job, but none of the employees believes in?

I know good help is hard to find, but shouldn’t employees be trained to be more than just nice- and perhaps a thing or two about how to recognize and confront a potential shoplifter?

Are many companies’ own employees among those who figure all those business big wigs have enough money anyway, so what’s some free nail polish? Or perhaps they don’t really care? Or maybe they are just too busy?

Here at the end of 2008, can’t retail businesses figure out a way to avoid having well intended people from running out the door with free stuff?

In other words, can’t they be like me and Santa (like we were this year, anyway) and check things twice? Honestly, I would have been momentarily horrified if a store employee confronted me, particularly at the second store where I hadn’t been there long enough to make a best friend, and had to explain the “free” nail polish from a fellow retailer that I didn’t know I had acquired. Perhaps I would be telling a different story then. But I would have gotten through it, and wouldn’t be thinking about how I don’t want to go to the mall today, or even tomorrow.

What would you do? Have you had anything like this happen to you?

Somewhat Relevant Article: Retail Sales Plummet, WSJ, Dec. 26, 2008 ‘”It’s all about restoring confidence in the buying climate and declining prices help to bring us there, but we’re not there yet,” said Michael Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers.’

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