I always check to see who is dropping by my blogs and today I found an interesting drop in from San Antonio, Texas. John visited twice, once for 13 minutes.
So in looking a bit further I saw that he came to my site from having 'googled': "how to cheat target stores" and he later went on to look at the below Fox site. I will reprint them here, although I did already post it 2 months ago from the http://consumerist.com site.
Here is the into blurb from My Fox Milwaukee, however, it was too old to pull up direct from their site, but below this is a longish AP story with the details:
Target Security Guard Fired After Stopping Shoplifter
Last Edited: Wednesday, 26 Mar 2008, 6:03 PM CDT Created: Wednesday, 26 Mar 2008, 5:23 PM CDT
WITI-TV, MILWAUKEE -- Is Target on Target? That's what one of its former security guards wonders. The guard, who is a retired cop, thought he was doing the right thing when he stopped a teenager from stealing a bottle of booze. Instead, Target gave him the axe. FOX 6'sMyra Sanchick brings you the details.
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Security guard says Target Corp. fired him for stopping shoplifter
By The Associated Press
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. — A security guard at Target Corp. says he was fired after he stopped a teenager from stealing alcohol, an apparent violation of corporate policy that allows only designated supervisors to confront suspected shoplifters.Dean Babcock, whose age and hometown weren’t immediately available, said he just wanted to do the right thing.
On March 1 a 16-year-old customer slipped a bottle of rum in her bag, according to Babcock, who added that he verified the incident on store security cameras.Six days later the same girl put a bottle of tequila in her shopping basket, which Babcock said he again verified on the cameras.
This time Babcock approached the girl and asked if she had taken a bottle of rum the previous week. She said yes, according to Babcock. He asked whether she had taken a bottle of liquor that day too and she said yes, Babcock said.He saw the bottle was no longer in her shopping basket.
He asked whether it was in her bag, and she opened the bag to reveal the bottle there, Babcock said.He took down her information, called her father and let her go."I couldn’t call the police, and I thought I could handle it low-key, without the bosses finding out," Babcock told The Janesville Gazette.Two weeks later, the store manager called Babcock into her office and asked him to explain his version of the events, which he did."(She) said, ’You weren’t supposed to do that,"’ he said.The manager told him he should have approached the girl and asked if he could help her find something, Babcock said.
Only certain supervisors can stop suspected shoplifters, a step that security guards aren’t empowered to take."I could not ask her to put the alcohol back," Babcock said. "I could not accuse a guest of stealing."The store had no one on duty that day who had the authority to stop a suspected shoplifter, he said.Babcock was briefly suspended, and was then fired on March 25.
"I figured they were going to chew me out, but I didn’t think I’d get fired," he said.A message left with Target’s headquarters on Saturday evening by The Associated Press was not immediately returned. A phone listing for Babcock could not be found.Babcock said he doesn’t regret the actions that cost him his position."My job was not to stop her.
I knew that when I was hired," he said. "But I think any reasonable adult who sees a kid take a bottle of alcohol would do something about it."
