RANT: PCC Natural Market in West Seattle

[JoB]

waterworld

been there done that and keeping my cool kept the situation from escalating.

the clowns who stopped me outside a department store had me in an office and were ready to strip search me when i calmly pulled out my phone and dialed 911.

it’s absolutely amazing how quickly a manager is summoned once you have dialed 911 to report being accosted.

if they had actually looked at the surveillance video before rushing to the doors to pull a “woman” in a loose top into their offices they might have noticed i didn’t resemble their suspect in any way…

and if i had resisted or talked back to them in any way i might have ended up strip searched and possibly booked before they figured it out.

and yes.. to say i got an immediate apology is a huge understatement.

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[Barry2012]

Sigh…I’m getting so tired of seeing these responses in which people assume that OP could have, would have, should have handled the situation better. Caitlin, I’m sorry that happened, and for the record, if someone had come at me in that manner I wouldnt have had been able to go back inside and confront a manager. I would have been mortified and left. Then I probably would have posted it to this blog in hope of finding support from my community….I’m sorry that you didnt get that right off the bat and I’m glad that PCC handled this accordingly.

This blog is getting harder and harder to comment on without fear of people jumping to conclusions or making assumptions. Such is life…

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[ellenater]

Agree 100%, Barry2012. That is why I rarely post on this blog anymore. The more I thought about this today, the more irked I became…

I’m so sorry, Caitlin! <3

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[Libra]

job….you are either the unluckiest person in west seattle or the best story teller! strip search, really?

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[JoB]

Libra.. not much of a story teller as my family will tell you… i forget too many punch lines.

but i will agree that i have been unlucky… mine has not been an easy life … too many times i have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time..

but this incident was more a combination of what some people would consider risky behavior and bad luck.

the part of my story i left out is that I had companions that day. i was shopping for and with a couple of my friends who have a whole lot less than i do.

as it happened i was the only one of us in a loose top… and the guy watching the cameras had reported a female suspect wearing a loose top… so the security guys confronted me.

my friends.. who have been hassled by security before compounded the suspicions of the security clerks by getting as far away as they could as fast as they could once i was confronted.

it got really ugly really fast… in spite of the fact that i was carrying receipts for the purchases i had made in that store.

the good news is that in apology the store funded one heck of a shopping trip for others..

…..

there is a lesson in both my story and the story of the OP.

Everyone is all shocked that a security guard would confront one of us outside a store because they suspected them of theft…

and yet.. there are people in our community for whom this kind of accusation is a not infrequent part of their shopping experience…

and some of them have better careers and are better dressed than you and I…

when confronted by authorities it is always better to keep a cool head, answer any question they ask and if bullied, look for redress to a greater authority.

if you are physically harassed, press charges.

abusive behavior by people given authority won’t stop until we demand courteous behavior for us all.

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[TanDL]

Well I’m completely surprised to hear that PCC has security. I’ve never seen any evidence of that and always thought of them as a rather benign sort of business. Guess all businesses are suffering loss these days with our increased population. Caitlin, I apologize for doubting your post. There just seems to be so much weird posting by folks that want to get back at others or local businesses without revealing themselves, that I became suspicious. I like to think I would have demanded to see the manager right away and also that I would have demanded the security guard empty HIS pockets, accusing him of theft, but the truth is I probably would have been so shocked I’d have stood there with my mouth agape, for being confronted with any security at PCC. Nice letter from the manager, though. Thought it sounded very sincere.

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[JTB]

Waterworld and Barry 2012,

Rants and Raves are subjective and sharing them with a community invites responses. I suppose in the mind of some, the intention is for that community to simply listen and withhold comment beyond nods of understanding.

Others may simply feel good about getting something expressed and could care less about what anyone else thinks.

But in most communities, when someone voices a point of view or opinion, there are responses ranging from disbelief to complete agreement with helpful suggestions and criticism in the mix. That seems to be human nature.

What’s not generally appropriate or IMHO shouldn’t be well-received is telling the OP they aren’t entitled to their point of view.

I think the presence of trolls in online forums has added a wrinkle which makes some individuals quick to judge about the truthfulness of an issue and just as quick to call our the imagined troll. So something that might ordinarily evoke an expression of dismay like “Wow, that’s really incredible, that’s hard to believe” becomes “I think you’re making this up, don’t try to fool me you troll.” In my experience, it’s usually possible to determine if someone is being genuine without resorting to insults or demeaning them. That also avoids having to engage in the discomforting process known as “eating one’s words.”

I think we’re all delighted that this unpleasant experience for Caitlin turned out on a positive note. I also hope at least a few folks found something worthwhile in my observations and suggestions about dealing with a situation like this.

Finally, a point about allowing time for things to get worked out. It seems to me the OP was made about a day and a half or two days after the incident at PCC. Every business has their own communication process. For most, those are at least somewhat slower on weekends. When it involves another business as well (such as the company providing the outsourced security service to PCC) that can add another layer of communication to sort through the issue and provide a response. Being someone who prefers certainty to uncertainty, I’ve noticed over the years that can lead me to push things to a close or point of confrontation much quicker than is necessary or even helpful. So I’ve tried to learn to allow enough time for things to settle into place before I jump to conclusions. So if I’d been in Caitlin’s place, I’d waited until after the weekend to see how PCC was going to respond before posting my Rant. But as I’ve already noted, that’s just one voice from the community offered in the spirit of adding something worthwhile to the discussion.

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[KatieH]

I had a retail storefront for 11 years. Dealing with shoplifters got progressively more complicated over the years for two reasons. First, more and more people started using electronic devices, which they whipped in and out of their bags or pockets constantly. Much more to watch. Second, people started bringing their own bags. The shoplifting increased exponentially.

For some shoplifters, it’s a sport. For others, it’s an occupation. You can go on-line and read all about perfecting your shoplifter technique, written by the best of them.

Shoplifters come in all shapes and sizes; graduate students, kids, old ladies…and those parents with handy strollers.. Two of my worst offenders were (I kid you not) a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Med School and a highly regarded scholar of Haitian literature.

No matter what the cause of shoplifters’ stunning sense of entitlement, it’s really debilitating for retailers. The margins are so small; one day’s revenues can make or break you. Monitoring for theft can turn the best retailer into a crank. Let it pass, however, and it increases really, really fast. No matter how much retailers try to err on the side of letting it go, it’s inevitable that a retailer will make a wrong call.

Ultimately, it became too depressing to continue.

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[Ken]

I supervised convenience stores in the 80’s during the first crack epidemic. I had to spend every Wednesday in the courthouse with a box of video tapes and notebooks. I finally installed classical music just a little too loud in each store which cut my police reports in half until they drove a few nearby stores out of business and they returned to mine.

The PCC is across from the high school and kids not only think they are immortal, they think adults are not very bright.

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[wakeflood]

On a semi-related note, I’ve heard from several folks involved in the liquor industry that many, maybe MOST of the retailers who picked up new licenses for hard liquor aren’t making $ on them due to shrinkage. It’s just relentless and the wholesale product cost is so significant that any shrinkage can be devastating.

To wit: I just noticed that the QFC in Westwood literally rebuilt the front of their store to make the liquor accessible via one small entry/exit space and the aisles can be observed completely from the counter. One assumes this is one of the results of the phenomenon…

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[I Wonder]

You might be surprised at the % in shrinkage losses a retailer suffers. 4% is close to the norm which includes breakage, theft, packaging issues, cash over/short, etc. Most surprising might be (in major retailers) the majority of theft is….employees.

The laws for security personnel are strict. You must kept eye contact, you must know exactly what was taken, where it was placed and cannot confront until past the last point of payment (the cash register), even if its concealed. You must assume they will pull it out and pay for it. I’ve busted shoplifters in the dressing rooms with 10’s and 10’s of garments stuffed under loose clothing (fake pregnancies) but couldn’t apprehend because they hadn’t passed the cash registers yet. However, in most cases, there were outstanding warrants that clipped them.

Both sides of this equation are challenging, and unfortunately, the losses are real and hit retailers and shop owners hard. No one wants to think their customers/employees would steal from them. But if you don’t, you will get rolled.

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