"You! Stop right there." : 2 Karens throw fit of rage after failed attempt to leave store without paying on account of watchful employee

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Mar 27, 2023 7:00 PM EDT

To work in retail, you've got to have thick elephant skin because boy are you gonna meet some pretty tough customers. Your patience will be continuously tested, and the levels of dumb you'll encounter in a day will surpass anything you could have possibly imagined. These two Karens thought they could outsmart a quick-witted employee who caught on quickly to what they were doing. Using the self-checkout counter, they attempted to walk out with half of the things they had in their cart before actually paying.

The employee waltzed right up and confronted them. She swiftly found that they were trying to steal $200 worth of items. The customers refused to own up to what they were doing, using a variety of excuses instead, some of which included 'WIC' (without a card). The employee wouldn't budge, and the customers ironically began losing 'patience'.

Scroll down for the full detailed account. For more, here are some tone-deaf LinkedIn lunatics who took to the platform to spread their lunacy.

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  • 01
    Product - "Nobody leaves until it's all paid."
    via u/Bluellan
  • 02
    Font - Posted by u/Bluellan 9 hours ago "ThEy DiD It BeFoRe!!!!!" Karen I honestly don't know why customers say this because 99% of the time, it's a lie and rarely works. We do talk to each other. Especially we out of ordinary things happen. We also know who works what shifts. Something crazy happens at 8pm? All of morning shift now 2 hours after we open. We do talk. Which brings me to this.
    via u/Bluellan
  • 03
    Font - 2 ladies came to self checkout and rang up their order. A $200 order. Then one of the ladies tried walking out with half while the other stayed to pay. She didn't get very far with her attempt and they were told that nothing leaves until it's paid. They then admitted that they were using WIC..... but forgot the card. My coworker told them they can either pay with alternate tender or we could cancel the order. Then they came back this gem.
    via u/Bluellan
  • 04
    Font - "Well, can we just tell you the numbers on the card and you type it in?" Note. We can type in numbers from cards. It's whole process but it can be done. However, it can only be done at a manned register AND WE NEED TO SEE THE CARD. My coworker tells them that it's not possible and that a physically card has to be seen. And they kicked off.
    via u/Bluellan
  • 05
    Font - "THEY DID IT BEFORE!! They did it just last week!" My coworker asks them who did it. They stumble around for an answer because they have none and my coworker tells them at it's impossible to to something like that from self checkout.
    via u/Bluellan
  • 06
    Font - They get pi ed. They both leave to search their car for a card while my coworker watches their order. A few minutes later, one lady came back stomping mad because they of course didn't have the card or any money. My coworker said that unless they order was paid for they couldn't have it. The lady screamed out "THEN YOU CAN PUT IT ALL AWAY!" And almost ran out, still mad.
    via u/Bluellan
  • 07
    Font - And I know I'm going to get some "But have sympathy poor single mothers and why didn't you do more?" It's because THERE WAS LITERALLY NOTHING WE COULD DO. If we allowed them to pay without seeing the card, we could be held liable for fraud and theft. And I'm not about to risk my job and life to defraud the government. WIC and EBT have a lot of rules and we don't break them for you.
    via u/Bluellan
  • 08
    Font - sneezhousing 9 hr. ago Having worked retail for years I don't believe they were mothers or at least not trying to use their card. It was a scam.start to finish and just mad they were caught 454 Reply Share
    via u/sneezhousing
  • 09
    Font - Bluellan OP 9 hr. ago I know, but everytime I post stories like this, I get people mad because I was so mean to poor struggling mothers. Screw it if I get in trouble and fired. 253 Reply Share
    via u/Bluellan
  • 10
    Font - cfw57939 hr. ago I ran retail stores for years. I would always ask who did it before, and they would give me some name of someone who worked there. And then I asked them if they would be willing to sign a document stating that the employee violated policy and law for them. The
    via u/cfw5793
  • 11
    Font - customer would ask why. I would explain it's grounds for termination, and if they aren't 100% honest in the document, it becomes a legal issue, lawsuits, etc. Need copies of receipts, cctv footage, etc. Changes their tune real quick when they get put on the hook. 147 Reply Share
    via u/cfw5793
  • 12
    Font - Hate_This_Part. 3 hr. ago Wow I love that. I always ask if they can describe the person "who did it last time" and then go on to say what a shame, I thought he was so good at his job but now I have to report it because it's not authorized.
    via u/Hate_This_Part
  • 13
    Font - When I'm pretty sure they're lying I offer up a name that isn't in our department to see if they take the bait. If they do I go on about how they're going to get in trouble for this while casually mentioning to a coworker "god, how could she be so careless... She has children to feed. How terrible” 13 Reply Share
    via u/Hate_This_Part
  • 14
    Font - CharlemgneBrian - 3 hr. ago I like this one. Totally passive and harmless but drives them nuts 47♡ Reply Share
    via u/CharlemgneBrian
  • 15
    Font - b_gumiho 8 hr. ago When I worked at a bookstore there was a woman who was pathologically obsessed with doing illegal returns. She would buy books from discount stores then try to come in and get full price refunds without a receipt.
    via u/b_gumiho
  • 16
    Font - It worked for a while because we had a policy of accepting returns without receipts in exchange for store credit. One day she came in and was trying to bully this new, young employee into accepting a $200+ return (only managers can accept non-receipt returns)
    via u/b_gumiho
  • 17
    Font - I had had ENOUGH of this lady coming in every week and harassing young kids into giving her store credit so she could saunter over to the cafe and buy her lunch. I took over the transaction and began painstakingly looking up on the intranet each and every single book. Nine out of ten were not even books our store sold!!!
    via u/b_gumiho
  • 18
    Font - So I denied her return except for the two books we could accept and gave her a $10 store credit. She was mad but couldn't escalate past me. (I was a manager)
    via u/b_gumiho
  • 19
    Font - From that day on I hunted. her. down. Every time I saw her enter the store (we had three entrances and she would try to sneak in different ones at different times of day) She would try to find a baby cashier and I would power walk over to interrupt her, take over the transaction, and deny her return.
    via u/b_gumiho
  • 20
    Font - I also pulled her description and sent it to every other store in the city to make sure other places knew about her scam. She got so frustrated that she would walk in, see me, and walk right back out.
    via u/b_gumiho
  • 21
    Font - Eventually she stopped showing up altogether, then one day, almost six months later, I saw her try to sneak in and return the books to the cafe!!! OMG the look on her face as I practically RAN to her, excused the cashier, and took over the transaction was priceless.
    via u/b_gumiho
  • 22
    Font - The kicker was this lady was rich. Had a very wealthy husband. (Story for a different day) She was just a bored house wife who got off on scamming poor kids. Bi' ' . Reply Share 118
    via u/b_gumiho

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customer service company policy employment job credit card FAILS store retail work stories work life terrible customers retail-job karen-customer toxic-workplace-stories toxic-workplace-environment
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