Best Buy Employees Fired For Attempting To Stop Knife-Wielding Shoplifters
If you work at Best Buy, don't tackle any knife-wielding shoplifters or you'll be fired. That's what happened to two Best Buy employees who chased a couple shoplifters who were fleeing with armloads of merchandise towards a waiting car.
From the Bloomfield Enterprise:
Bergstreser tackled and attempted to pin one of the men to the ground. Trapp came to Bergstreser's aid before the suspect drew a knife, the fired employees and the Broomfield police report said.
A manager also was involved in the fracas and was cut by the suspect. She was not fired.
The suspect broke free, and both men fled from the FlatIron Marketplace parking lot in an old light-green Pontiac sedan driven by a woman.
One of the fired employees says he knew that he wasn't supposed to touch customers (a policy that is designed to prevent the company from being sued) — even ones who were running away with armloads of hard drives. The other says he was never given the relevant training.
"They would tell us how to do the everyday routine stuff. As for actually ever handling a situation (with a fleeing shoplifter), there was never any role-playing, never any instructions," Trapp said. "They kind of left us in a gray area, and I think they did it intentionally,"
We understand why this happens, but we think its really sad.
Employees involved in shoplifting fracas fired from Best Buy [Bloomfield Enterprise]
(Photo:frankieleon)
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Comments:
Its very, very simple. If a employee were to chase a shoplifted and, God forbid, the guy turns and fires three shots into the employee, guess who will be on the receiving end of a lawsuit?
Sad, but I wholeheartedly understand Best Buy's position. They'd rather just take the shrinkage loss than face a possible lawsuit.
Oh the days of retail....
Yeah I remember at pretty much every job I had, they would lecture us on how you're not allowed to chase people. Particularly once a person exited the doors of the store, all bets were off. LP and managers were allowed but discouraged.
Someone help me out - it was insurance, right? Or was it litigious?
A children's treasury of comments, counter comments, and some irrelevant comments about it being OP's fault for shoplifting at BestBuy:
so basically, the five-finger discount is soon to be all the rage in Best Buy, now that we all know they can't stop thieves. And if they do stop a thief, he can just turn around and sue Best Buy for assault?
Seriously, someone tell me how to get off this ride. I don't like it anymore.
@bornonbord: What you say is true: Cynically, I would say yes. But my boss at 7-11 told us that if we were robbed, to do whatever they wanted short of getting in the car. They wanted you to take the register out to their car? Do it. There's no amount of money in a register or merch at Best Buy that is worth a human life. Well, maybe Perez Hilton's life..... ;)
What if the BB managers were committing insurance fraud with the shoplifting? Dun dun dun.
Man, god forbid if you should stop somebody from shoplifting.
WAIT A MINUTE!!! Best buy will stop me leaving when I PAID for the items. But a guy leaving with stolen items they are supposed to let go by??????
@EdnaLegume: Best Buy CLERKS can't stop thieves. The Police and trained LP officers can. And you don't want to bring a knife to a tazer fight. They can also probably take down license plate numbers, which ensure that 5-O will come knocking on your door. Ask the NJ Hat bandit.
@GitEmSteveDave_PorchMonkey4Life: My managers never mentioned my life being worth anything. Particularly around the holidays.
Why is this even news?
It's happened many times before, and the employees should know this policy.
It's not just Best Buy, Home Depot has the same policy, as well as many other retailers.
When I worked in a department store 30 years ago we had the same policy.
@GitEmSteveDave_PorchMonkey4Life: I'm waiting for that ironic twist when a clerk does nothing to stop a thief, and is then accused of being an accomplice.
@Tux the Penguin: It's not just a lawsuit. What if that shoplifter that fires three shots decides that he doesn't want to stop with the employee chasing him? Now you have other employees and customers injured or killed.
@EdnaLegume: You would have heard it already. Shoplifting happens a LOT, and most employees do what they are instructed to do. Of course, most shrinkage comes from employees as it is.
If only they had a receipt-checker...
octogenarian w/ highlighter > maniac with knife
If I were a Best Buy customer and I got shot by a shoplifter who was being chased around the store by an employee you bet your ass there would be hell to pay! My life and safety is worth more than any item best buy sells even if the shoplifter is rolling a pallet load of goods toward the front door.
@Horrid DCD: And are stabbed, like in this scenario, or the we heard about last time where a meat dept guy got stabbed and died trying to stop someone stealing some steaks.
@EdnaLegume: It's not the thief they're worried about, I'm sure. It's the other people that could be injured, including the employee that chases down the thief. The pursuer and the pursued are not in some tight little bubble where nobody else can get hurt. A $10 DVD is worth a lot less than an injured or dead body.
I don't know why you'd ever try to do this for a job you work at.
I would never be caught risking my life to protect a few hp computers or ipods
@SonicMan: "May I see your receipt, sir?"
"No, ma'am, I'm shoplifting this."
"Oh, okay. Have a nice day!"
The employees should be proud of themselves. If I were in their place I'd say, "Yes, we broke policy, but people's lives were in danger, and Best Buy's policies can bite me. They can take their minimum wage job and shove it."
Cost of stolen goods < lawsuit by dead employees family.
@EBounding: I'm pretty sure LP are given consent to stop you - and as Gitemstevedave said, will most likely be taking down a description of you, your vehicle, and a security tape to the police.
If you're just a peon working at a large retail store, who cares if customers steal stuff. It's not your job to chase after criminals. It's not your problem, it's the store's problem. They probably don't even pay you that much. Is $9/hr worth getting knifed?
Best Buy Sucks. Go to MicroCenter. They have guys that really know what they are talking about, at least where I live anyways. Best Buy employees probably won't know what "Batch B, D-zero Stepping" means.
@henrygates: careful, you are about to hear a thousand "what if scenarios" as to why the employees shouldn't stop the thieves....
@henrygates: Lives were not in danger until the guy pulled a knife, and still, lives were not in danger unless he decided to charge at someone with the knife. They tackled the guy because he was stealing, not because he had a knife. It wasn't until the guy was tackled that he took out a knife.
Wait a sec--all this liability stuff is all well and good, but how about some cionsistent application? The manager (who, presumably has, or should have had, more training) was "involved" in the fracas. Why isn't the manager fired, too. It seems to me the fair thing to do if only one person is to be fired is to fire the manager, not the hapless drone.
No good deed shall go unpunished.
So how would such an incident be interpreted in your next job interview?
"So Mr. Smith, can you explain why you were fired from your last job."
"Well, I tried to stop a shoplifter."
Do they think you are dependable? Or do they assume you can't follow rules and are a liability?
@pecan 3.14159265 (now with star power): and it sounds like he got tackled outside in the parking lot, and then pulled the knife.
Usually I'm with you, but... nobody's life was in danger at the relevant time; the thieves were not just leaving, they were FLEEING.
"It wasn't recognized, it wasn't viewed as heroic, it wasn't viewed as loyal," Tripp said. "I feel like I was wronged when I tried to protect the company."
I don't know whether I side with Best Buy entirely, but I think this guy tips the scales toward Best Buy's favor because he just comes off as kind of annoying. I don't know, something about this comment just makes me feel a little aggravated. He comes off as extremely bitter, which I can understand because he says he never got the proper training - but he also seems to want to be a hero and is pouting because he was canned instead.
I don't see why some employees believe it's worth their safety, or even their lives, to chase down a shoplifter. They're not stealing from you personally, so don't take it that way. I admit, I would be pissed if someone stole something on my watch, but not mad enough to risk life and limb to get it back.
Do I think it's right that they got fired for it? No. But Best Buy needs to set an example that they'd rather have their untrained, non-LP employees stay out of these dangerous situations. It's a huge liability for them and obviously their "don't stop shoplifters" training isn't working.
I do find the quote about being in a grey area re: what to do about shoplifters a little hard to believe. Every retail job I had, that was one of the first things drilled into our heads: do not stop shoplifters or you will be fired.
I am so sick of seeing this story again and again on the Consumerist.
If you are an employee, you can and should be fired for breaking the rules. Human life is more important than defending Best Buy's cash. Just let the robber go. Attempting to be a hero puts yourself, other employees, and customers at risk or injury or DEATH. It's a dumb idea, just don't freaking do it.
@henrygates: Yes, they should. Because of their "heroic" actions, someone WAS injured. Something that WOULD NOT have happened had they not injected themselves into the situation.
Oh wait, perhaps that's why they shouldn't have broken protocol.
This happened in BRoomfield, not BLoomfield.
@treimel: Perhaps the Manager actually HAS training in dealing with shoplifters? And if she was involved in the "fracas" because she was trying to stop the employees, she was performing her duties as a manager.
@bornonbord: What you say is true: Nope. LP people can't even stop you. The most they can do is try to call you out on it and hope the fear prevents the theft and/or take down your plates.
@squinko: I think it is right they got fired. Their actions led to the injury of another party that would NEVER had occurred otherwise. A cornered criminal is DANGEROUS. A fleeing one is usually not.
@squinko: Reading the article again...these two were in asset protection, which I assume is BB's version of LP? If they didn't have the proper training on what to do when someone shoplifts, then BB needs to fix their LP division fast. But if their policy is not to touch shoplifters, and it was proven that they did get that training but ignored it anyway, then their firing is fair.
Never any role-playing? How do you role play not doing anything?
"OK, now in this scenario, you stand there, and I'll mime running away with stuff. And.....Scene!"
I am going to bet there is some paper work signed by Employee 2 that says he WAS told not to tackle shoplifters, and was not paying attention during the orientation.