"Gregory Morrow" > wrote in message
...
>
> [the most "interesting" part of this particular drama is that the dude
> stashed away almost ___$350.00___ worth of vittles in a shopping bag...but
> it IS Whole Paycheck, after all...]
>
>
> http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/...for_stopp.html
>
> Grocery worker fired for stopping shoplifter
>
> by Dave Gershman | The Ann Arbor News
> Thursday December 27, 2007, 8:15 AM
>
> BY DAVE GERSHMAN
> The Ann Arbor News
>
> "John Schultz says he lost his job at Whole Foods Market in Ann Arbor
> after
> he tried to stop a shoplifter from making a getaway. But the company says
> he
> went too far and violated a policy that prohibits employees from
> physically
> touching a customer - even if that person is carrying a bag of stolen
> goods.
>
> Schultz says he had just punched out for a break at 7 p.m. on Sunday when
> he
> heard a commotion at the front door of the store, 3135 Washtenaw Ave. He
> said he came to the aid of the manager who yelled for help in stopping a
> shoplifter. Schultz, the manager and another employee cornered the
> shoplifter between two cars in the parking lot.
>
> Schultz said he told the shoplifter he was making a citizens arrest and to
> wait for the police to arrive, but the shoplifter broke away from the
> group
> and ran across Washtenaw Avenue and toward a gas station at the corner of
> Huron Parkway.
>
> Before the man could cross Huron Parkway, Schultz caught up and grabbed
> the
> man's jacket and put his leg behind the man's legs. When the manager
> arrived
> at the intersection, Schultz said, the manager told him to release the
> shoplifter, and he complied, and the shoplifter got away.
>
> Schultz said he was called to the store's office the next day, on
> Christmas
> Eve, and was fired because he violated a company policy prohibiting
> employees from having any physical contact with a customer.
>
> Kate Klotz, a company spokesperson, said the policy is clear and listed in
> a
> booklet that all employees have to acknowledge that they received before
> they can start work.
>
> "The fact that he touched him, period, is means for termination," said
> Klotz.
>
> Schultz said he acted as a private citizen on property that isn't owned by
> Whole Foods, but Klotz said where the incident happened doesn't change the
> policy.
>
> "He is still considered an employee of Whole Foods Market regardless of
> where he was and what was happening," she said.
>
> The police report of the incident doesn't mention Schultz's
> involvement. It says police responded to the call of retail fraud at7:09
> p.m. and could not locate the shoplifter.
>
> The thief was described as a thin white male, 5-foot-10, in his mid-20s,
> wearing a black jacket, tan pants and carrying a backpack.
>
> The report says store employees were suspicious when the man walked into
> the
> store and they watched as he filled up a basket and then took it into a
> bathroom. When he came out, his basket was empty, but his backpack looked
> full. Then he filled up a canvas store tote bag with
> groceries, and walked out the door.
>
> The manager and the other employee told police they caught up to the
> shoplifter at the corner of Washtenaw and Huron Parkway. It says one of
> them
> grabbed the tote bag away from the shoplifter, and the suspect walked
> away.
> The bag contained $346 worth of food and other products.
>
> Schultz, 35, of Ypsilanti Township, had worked at the store for five
> years,
> most recently as a fishmonger. He wants his job back.
>
> "The fact that I worked at the store at (the time of the robbery) is
> coincidental," he said. "If I had went over to the book store on my break
> and they were being ripped off, I would have helped them."
>
> </>
>
>

When I worked for Walmart as a Customer Service Manager (mid level
management) I was told that we could physically 'observe' someone stuff
goods into a bag and walk out with it but could do nothing. Corporate
policy was that an "Assistant Manager" or higher had to see them steal
before they could be stopped. Find an assistant manager on the floor at any
time.....Good luck. So it got to a point that in the break room the
cashiers and the floor associates kept a tally of who saw how many people
steal. But come bonus time, there wasn't one because 'we allowed
shrink'.......go figure. Oh, and the biggest heist from the store I worked
at ....an Assistant Manager found the lapse in the security tape in the cash
room (7 minutes at midnight to reset all the registers in the store) and
made off with over $30k in small incriments during those lapses.
-ginny