Jewelry heist

See...I like days like today. The store was not crowded and it's so easy to pick off the thieves when it's not crowded.

Around 11:30 I noticed a woman trying on earrings. Literally trying them on. Taking off her earrings and sticking new ones in. Personally I think that's disgusting. But I know people do it. I see them do it all the time. Whenever I buy earrings, I always take them home and sterilize them in alcohol before I wear them. I also never buy anything from the front of the shelf or rack. Chances are, somebody has tried it on or done god knows what to it.

Anyway, I watched her trying on earrings for awhile and sure enough she slipped a couple pair in her jacket pocket. She walked around for a few minutes with her hand in her pocket, trying to remove the earrings from the cardboard backing. She succeeded with a couple of them and would then take the backing out and lay it on the counter.

My Security officer doesn't come in until 12:30, so I was on my own for this one. That always sucks and usually is so disorganized. I paged store management and told them what was going on. 3 department managers went over to the jewelry department. The woman noticed them, even went so far as to give them dirty looks, but kept on stuffing her pockets with goodies. She took her time about it, spending about 35 minutes with her hands going in and out of her pockets, in her purse, crossing her arms. One of the store managers even said she saw her zipping up her pants. I don't know what that was all about and I'm not sure I want to. This woman was quite the magician and was very good at concealing things. But I am also good at my job and got it all recorded. All together, I am thinking she stuffed about 7 things and dumped 2 things. So that's 5.

She left the store and one of the managers went after her. They brought her inside, but did not want to search her pockets or her purse. I told them I would call the police and let them handle it. When they had the woman in the office she finally copped to 2 pairs of earrings. But I knew there was more. When the cop arrived I called back there and told him to look in her purse for a silver ring. I saw her put it in there, so I knew it was there. Sure enough, the cop dumped her purse out on the desk and there it was.

But that still leaves at least 2 things missing. She was in the store for about 35 minutes before I ever saw her. (I went back and found footage of her entering the store) The cop said when he got her down to the station a female officer would search her thoroughly. I am anxious to see what else they find.

This woman was not a strung out junkie either. She was a nice looking 44 year old housewife driving a nice VW Cabrio convertible. Those are the types that steal us blind because nobody ever suspects them.

She stole less than $100 worth of stuff (if they don't find anything else on her), but she still needed to be caught.

So that was that for today. I got to work with Tackleberry which is always fun. He told me that one of the officers that works at another store and was supposed to come to ours after the change over, may not get to come. The other store doesn't want to release him. I am hoping that will delay the change over for awhile. Anything to stay on longer. I do love my job. And I'm good at it.

I am on phones at the real estate office again. Nothing happening so far.

I have decided to start back on Weight Watchers today. I would like to lose about 15 pounds before May. I think it's do-able if I stick with it. But I am already hungry. I am used to eating more lately, but I will need to cut back if I want to reach that goal.

T minus 7 days and counting

At least that was the latest word from the front. According to unreliable sources, the security company is taking over operations on March 6. My days are numbered. More bad news - they don't need anybody in the hair salon or customer service. So that leaves only sales positions open. I don't want to do that.

Here is my dilemma. I am going on a dive trip to Honduras in May. I use my paychecks to pay for such trips. I still owe $1300 on that trip, plus a $250 bill I just got for new clothes. So, I need $1550 by the end of April. I can't take the Security Company test again until mid-May. Should I just be unemployed for about 2 months? I really don't like working anyway and there are plenty of things I could do. (take care of my mother, clean up my grandma's house etc) But I need the money. Should I be miserable in a job I will hate just to make a few dineros for a trip? Or should I put the balance of the trip on a credit card and pay it off after I start working for the security company?

And about that.....what if, come May, the security company doesn't need me? SCM told me they ALWAYS need part-time camera operators. But what if something changes? What if they don't?

Not to mention the fact that we are trying to pay off the debt from selling our house in Georgia. I don't want to add more debt to the pile.

I may compromise. Instead of working 25 hours per week, I might cut it down to working 15-20 hours. 15 preferably. I could handle three 5 hour days of working on the sales floor. Couldn't I? If I don't work at least 20 hours per week, I will lose my 25% store discount. But all that does is cause me to receive $250 bills in the mail so what's the point? SO - if I cut my hours down, I will not make as much money. But $100 a week towards the trip is better than $0 a week. Right?

And then there is real estate. I got a call the other day from a place called House Values. Sounds like a scam. One of those "pay for leads" type places. But think about it. Right now I am making $0 in real estate. If I have to pay them 20% of a $3,000 commission, it's still $2400 I didn't have before. Right? And I am certainly not drumming up business any other way. Something to think about anyway.

Nothing new happened at work last week. Didn't bust any shoplifters. Always so boring when nothing is going on. We had that huge 50% off sale and that put a big dent in my shoplifter deterring. The store was so crowded. I don't see how people work in loss prevention in places like Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is like that every day! What a mess. The sale ended yesterday so hopefully things will be back to normal.

I work tomorrow and Tuesday with Tackleberry and that is always fun. He makes it interesting even with nothing going on. He thinks everybody is a thief.

Mateo is at his nephew's music recital this afternoon and I am answering phones at the real estate office. Actually I am sitting here listening to them not ring. What a waste of time. Only another hour to go though. Tonight we HAVE to get our taxes together. Have to have to have to. Must get it done. And hope we get a decent refund. We have to pay a chunk of the Georgia House Debt. That entire thing has to be gone by the end of the year. Hopefully sooner.

In the Penalty Box

Tuesday morning I decided to bite the bullet and call the Security Company. The manager was not in so I spoke with the HR dude I interviewed with last week. He told me the manager was meeting with MY manager at the department store to talk about the change over and my status. Yikes.

But I felt a bit better knowing it was in my manager's hands and not someone at the corporate office who does not know me.

I got my haircut at the store that afternoon and afterwards I went in to talk to my manager. She said she didn't think I was going to get the job, but because of privacy standards, the Security Company guy couldn't tell her much. Only that I bombed that stupid test. She said he never told her it was up to her or asked her to sign any waiver. So she started asking me what department in the store I wanted to work in. I don't really want to work in the store! But I was talking to my stylist about working the reception desk in the hair salon. At least I don't have to sell anything doing that. Just make appointments and check people in. So my manager told me she would check on that and see if they need anybody in the hair salon.

I go back to our Bat Cave to talk to my co-workers. I told them what our manager said and .... BTW I hate not using people's names. I am trying to keep this anonymous, but my writing doesn't flow when I have to keep saying "he said" , "she said". So annoying. I guess I could use fake names, but then I would have a whole cast of characters to keep up with. Ugh! Anyway - I will use one fake name - Tackleberry. Tackleberry is one of the Security Company guards who works with us now. He is very gung-ho and just reminds me of the guy from the Police Academy movies. Anyway, Tackleberry was very disappointed that I was not switching over. He and I make a great team. Really.

The Security Company Manager (SCM) talked to Tackleberry earlier in the day while he was there. He also brought along a New Dude who will be working in MY camera room. SCM told Tackleberry that there will be 4 people working 38-40 hours a week. 4 people meaning the 2 we have now, New Dude and the guy from a different store that wants to come back to our store. That means no room for me.

At that point I decided to call SCM myself and get the final word. He was very nice when he told me how badly I bombed the test. Their minimum requirement is a 25 - I got a 3!!!!! Can you believe that?!?!? I told him that does not necessarily make me a bad person. He said "I know that and I have heard nothing but good things about you and what a good job you do. I would love to have you on my team. And your manager would love to keep you in security. But with a score that bad, I can't ask for a waiver." Great! Let me take the test again! He said "Sure, but company policy is you have to wait 90 days."

So it ended up not being all bad. I just have to spend 90 days in the penalty box, hopefully making appointments in the hair salon. The upside of that is I can get additional discounts on haircuts, waxes, manicures. There are perks to working in a salon. :)

I felt such a tremendous weight lifted off of me after that. It didn't turn out the way I had hoped , but at least now I know what is going on.

I ended up working Tuesday night even though I was off because the girl that normally works Tuesday nights called in sick. For like the 3rd Tuesday in a row. She ONLY works on Tuesday nights and she can't even manage to do that. She is a waste. Nothing exciting happened Tuesday night. I am not too crazy about the job when it is boring.

For some reason I did not sleep well Tuesday night. Even though the weight was gone. I woke up around 2 am and didn't go back to sleep until about 5. Then I had to wake up at 7 to go to meeting and tour on Wednesday morning.

Yesterday was an additional 50% off at my store on all markdown items. I didn't really buy that much though. Just couldn't find anything. Plus I was dog ass tired. I bought a cute little halter top with beads that was originally about $60 but after all my discounts I paid like $12 for it. Not bad.

I like being thin. Thinner, I should say. I'm not what most would consider "thin". Not sure if I mentioned this in earlier posts from last year or whenever I was last posting in here - BUT in February of 2005 I joined Weight Watchers and have lost 45 pounds. I haven't really followed the program since August, but my weight has not changed. I have been able to maintain without really trying. I think because I totally changed the way I eat and it's easy to keep up. I would like to lose a bit more before May. Maybe 10-15 pounds. That will be about it. I am in a size 10 now and an 8 would be perfect for me. I am 5'9 and relatively big boned so there is only so much I can lose.

Worry instead of sleep

Oh God. It's 2 am. I can't sleep. I think I fell asleep around 10pm, watching the Olympics.

I have been stressed out for 5 days now. Worrying about this damn job. Why do things like this always happen to me? And more importantly, why am I so damn stupid? What was I thinking? That I was taking some stupid online quiz?

In case I am reading this when I'm 90, I better fill in some blanks. I work in Loss Prevention at a major department store. I am currently employed by the department store, but the security operations are being taken over by a Security Company. My options are to continue to work for the store in a sales position, or apply to work for the security company. I loathe sales and anything to do with it (so why do I have a real estate license? that's a story for another time) and I LOVE my job, so Thursday I went to the security company and filled out an application. Part of the application was the Stanton Survey. An "integrity test". Most of the questions were obvious "Do you take inexpensive things from your job?" "If a cashier gives you too much change, do you give it back?" "Have you ever purchased stolen merchandise?" Others were not so obvious - "What percentage of the population do you feel is dishonest? 25%, 50% or 75%" How the hell do I know?

I have never taken a test like this before (that I can remember) and some of the questions seemed a bit odd. But I answered them honestly. Well apparently, "Honestly" is not the best policy. The HR person at the Security Company told me I did not score well enough on the test to be employed by them. But, he said "It's not over, we can get a waiver from the Department Store." He then continued the interview in the normal fashion, asking about scheduling needs and previous jobs.

I am just so worried about this. Normally I would not care. It is not necessary for me to work. My husband has a good job and we live well. I mainly work for money for clothes and trips. So yeah....fun money is important. But more important is the fact that I LOVE MY JOB. And I seem to have a knack for it.

I have only been doing this since September. But in that short time, I have turned that store around, theft-wise. We have a totally new crew in there and we kick ass. ("new crew" meaning I have been there since September and I have been there the longest) We have gotten compliments from store management, employees and the local police department. We have had more arrests and recovered merchandise in the past 3 months than the "old crew" had all year.

I am good at my job! I am an asset to the company. I deserve to stay! But now some arbitrary test is going to take this away from me? (this is all neurotic assumption on my part, I have not heard anything official from anybody) The test is ridiculous. People just put down what the company wants to hear. How is that a measure of a person's integrity? Yeah I screwed up. But I am not a bad person or a bad employee. I do not have attendance problems or disciplinary problems. It's just ridiculous.

And just when I thought of a good idea for a blog. Writing stories about the funny things that happen to a Loss Prevention officer in a suburban department store. Some of it is funny, some is just sad. I may write a few entries about recent events and hopefully write more in the future. I really want to keep my job. The universe can't keep shitting on me.

I am off the next 3 days. Hopefully I will know something about the job this week. Our schedule runs out on Saturday and the boss did not make a new one because she thought the "take over" was going to happen next week. But when I talked to the security company last week, he told me he still had not received official word from Department Store corporate office. So who knows. They have been threatening this takeover for months and it has not happened. It may still not happen. And that would be great! :)

Almost back

Matthew and Laura

Ok wow. I was just trying to figure out how to add a picture to my profile. I still have not figured that out. But there for your viewing pleasure is Matthew and I on New Years Eve. I am going to get back into blogging soon. I have so much to say.