Exciting week!

This week has been a bit exciting.. let me explain

Some background, about a month ago there was an open orientation for the position of Telecommunicator for my county, so I attended that along with 61 other people. A computer test and written test cut the group down to 8 people and I was invited for an interview this past Tuesday which I attended.

Now.. about a month and a half ago there was a person who attempted to boost about $300 worth of DVD box sets out of the store I work at, he got spooked when I was walking into an office with our security guard.. we got his picture off the cameras and have been on the lookout for him since.

Now, back to this week. I had my interview, I thought it went great, took about an hour and I was done.. I was told I would be getting something in the mail early next week.. The wait is going to kill me!

I head into work for my 2:30pm shift, I go about my day in the Electronics boat, which is where I have to stay until 9pm (due to high-theft, we need to be visible and walk around the general area and stay near the electronics dept.). So, I am stuck there all night, and it's extremely quiet, which causes me to be bored out of my mind! I have nothing to do, even though I shouldn't have, I already zone my department and have all of my reshop (stray items) taken care of, so I am absolutely bored. Around 8 pm someone brings me a stray DVD, I go to put it back and it's full, so I am on my way to the lockup in the back to put it away and I pass by a shopping cart and notice that it is full of DVDs, which is odd since there is no way it's a pull from the stock room, I notice a guy with his back to me looking at more DVDs, and notice that he had the same coat and hair as the attempted boosting from the month prior.
I walk on into the stock room as nothing happened, and as I go back out to the boat he looks at me, it's him! The exact same guy and he has a cart full of DVD box sets ready to go! My heart is racing now.. I get on the radio and give a shout for my manager and give her the call for shoplifter, I give her the details and inform her that she needs to get to the camera room and get some video of him.. She informs me that she does not know how to operate the cameras.. Great! And to top it off, our AP (security) team isn't working tonight..
I tell her to go up front with our hardlines team leader and receipt check the guest, because from the last incident I knew he would probably try stuffing them in our Target bags and acting like he paid for them.

After calling her I proceed to head over to the DVD section to kinda let the guy know I am there, so I wander around him and ask him if he needed help, he replied no (of course!) and I get a call button I have to clear, great. I run off and tell another team member to head over and see if he needs help with anything. Moments later the other team member comes back and I head over to find that the guy is gone... Now I am thinking he is on the way out of the store, but I am standing still and hear the rustling of plastic from around the corner behind this wall. So, I turn the corner and walk down the isle to see him with his back to the isle taking bags out of his coat and putting DVDs in them.

My adrenaline is kicking in now.. I don't know what to do.. so, I walk down the isle nice and quietly and get behind him and, really loudly, as him if he "needs any help". It works, it scared the death out of him and he shoves the cart away while shouting "Uhhh no". I get on the walkie and shout out to my managers to switch channels, and (adrenaline in full swing) start to shout over that I have him concealing back in the mens clothing dept... this gets him going, he leaves everything and proceeds to walk quite hastily towards the front with me tailing him a few feet away. I pass a few bewildered guests and team members wondering why I am yelling where we are walking through into my radio..

I see that my two managers are running to the front doors to block him off, so I let them know he abandoned his merch and that I was going to try and get his plates.. Well the guy goes out the doors and heads down the parking lot to another store, and then he heads out towards a fast food restaurant and over the busy highway to another big-box retailer. So I head in and give them a call letting them know a booster may have entered their store.

The other manager was waiting outside and thought he saw him head to this restaurant and thinks he may have gone inside, and during that my manager called our security boss and asked what to do, she said we could call the police dept and have them see if they can get an ID on the guy, but we don't have anything to arrest him on (per Targets policy, he already selected and concealed so the PD would arrest him for retail theft anyhow) so I head out with my manager just as a police officer was driving by.. We're both waving at him to come to us, and to our surprise he waves a "hello" back and drives off! So I go running after him and flag him down at the other end of the shopping mall (that was a good long jog.. jeeze!) and he heads over to check the restaurant but doesn't find anyone.. So we figure he must have parked there and bailed fast.

We get back in and recover his cart, and make a receipt of everything.. Total: $770.65 worth of box-set DVDs, new release DVDs, collectors edition DVDs, electric razors, and aftershave.. Our AP leader wasn't happy that she was not there to bust this guy!

So, with having a "good job" and a pat on the back (Jeeze, over the top right?) I am back to work.. Thursday now I notice 2 young females enter the restroom with 5 (yes, 5) big purses, the tote-sized purses, each stuffed full of something, moments later they exited the store, so I dropped a note into AP's mail box and I go to work Friday and find out that, yes they sure did steal.. a ton of clothes (so much the security guard doesn't have a good estimate and was still checking all of the cameras tapes when I left).

So, I get home Friday night at around 11pm, open up my email box and find an email that just made my month.. "Congratulations Mr. Doe, you have ranked number 2 out of 7 on our eligibility list, and as you know we will be hiring 4 within the next few weeks". All that is between me and my new job is a drug screen (Will pass with flying colors, of course) and a psychological evaluation (I assume to make sure I am either A: Not insane, or B: Able to handle the stress)

I am so excited, this week has been full of adventure!



So, hopefully I will be hearing more information about this job within the next few days and get everything set in motion within the next month for this job!
With that being said, I know that I will probably have a plethora of stories from the new job to post about, otherwise I will have to bore you with a couple more of my retail antics!