The Sting! (Or how I witnessed a planned shoplifting incident.)

On Saturday afternoon I witnessed a rather brazen incident of shoplifting at one of our local grocery stores. I will say from the outset I did not get involved. In this country there are repercussions for every act and you have to choose your battles.

(pixabay)

What struck me was the planning and effortless execution of the scheme, and what disturbed me greatly was the fact that a child of around ten years was involved. I was standing behind a man with a large trolley at the checkout. He did not have a lot of groceries, and could easily have fitted them into the smaller basket trolley. This was why I chose that queue in the first place!

As we were waiting our turn to pay, his daughter (I presume) came prancing up to him and showed him a boxed toy she had in her hand. He nodded quickly once and looked away. This caught my attention as most often parents examine the toy their child wants carefully before deciding for or against the purchase. The father then became completely engrossed in his phone, and didn't stop texting (pretending to text?) right throughout his checkout and payment. His daughter had stopped jumping around and held the toy in front of her, while simultaneously holding on to the front of the trolley handle. Then she simply pushed the trolley through the checkout with the toy in her hand, and they left the supermarket.

Another layer was added on to this experience. A security guard was standing directly opposite this particular till while the incident occurred. As soon as the child left the till area, I saw him quickly glance at me, to see if I had witnessed the incident. Something about me must have reassured him, and he relaxed.

The cover story, if they were caught, is obvious too. The father would have claimed not to notice what his child did as he was too distracted by his phone. The child was also young enough not be held responsible for her actions, though she clearly knew what she was doing. I found the whole incident sad, and emotionally tiring. We live in a world where dishonesty is the norm.

@onetree