Shoplifting Epidemic

[merryone]

When I was younger and didn't know any better (well I did as I knew right from wrong so no excuse really) but as a teenager my morals were sadly lacking and petty pilfering was rife amongst my peer group. I'll never forget the first time I dipped my toe into the water so to speak. I was with a school friend walking past a parade of shops when she said "let's go in the chemist's it's really easy" I asked her what she meant by that and she said "stealing of course, help yourself no one will notice" Indeed the shop was a dark cavern not helped by the "lucozade wrapper" blind in the window the floor to ceiling aisles. The till was on a higher at the end of a raised plinth that didn't actually look down any of the aisles in front of it was a huge display of stuff and behind the counter a tiny window from where the dispenser handed the medicines to the cashier. We took a small bottle of apple blossom perfume each and trotted off contented! Subsequently I went in alone on Saturday morning on the way to a friend's house armed with two large denim shopping bags which I merrily filled up with goodies. I was in the store for a long time and nobody noticed what I was up to. I heard the clip clop of the assistant coming and I froze, she approached me and asked "can I be of any assistance" I said no I'm just looking for gift ideas, to which she started asking me who the recipient was etc when another customer interrupted her and asked her a question. I quickly took my leave and continued my journey to my friend's house with whom I shared the loot much to her delight and amazement. I used to steal stuff quite a lot after that and not just from there, it became a challenge if you like and earned brownie points with my peers. I stopped doing it when I realised the stress was too much - I'd like to say that my guilty conscience kicked in and a sense of wrong doing, but I can't. I never did it again but it wasn't until I thought about it as an adult that the guilt kicked in and even now it makes me feel bad.

 

[Xennial]

If you had £2.00 per hour then you have to do what you can to survive. I think I would if I was in that situation - what else could you do?

I never bought any food, but wasn't going to pass up on ralph lauren or YSL shirts or polo shirts for £10, or bottles of the top selling aftershaves such as CK One, Tommy Hilfiger, and CK Obsession to name a few for £5, or bottles of spirits for £5. This was back in the mid-90s, before the minimum wage was introduced in the late 90s, and it was the only way I could afford any of the above items back then.