'Me? I just enjoyed the show': Cashier catches a thief, alerting their store manager when a shopper tries to return a $50 stolen board game; shoplifted gets banned for life

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Dec 14, 2025 1:00 PM EST

When a retail employee catches a thief in the store, suddenly, all of their wildest work fantasies come true. They no longer need to remain quiet and polite in the face of an angry customer, unleashing the pent-up retail rage of the last few years in one fell swoop. After this cashier noticed something fishy about a repeat customer's return, and they realized that they had been stealing, returning, and re-stealing the same $50 board game for months. 

Caught red-handed, this thief wasn't going to be getting freebies anymore from the local game store, and a retail employee finally got to see some justice. 

Stealing from a small, family-run store is not just petty crime, but it says a lot about who you are as a person. Any adult living in our modern society knows how tough it is out there for small businesses, and with a dwindling interest in pricey board games, their sales margins are not great to begin with. Come on, we've all seen the Hallmark movies where the big city corporate girl goes back home and falls in love with the local shop boy. It's not pretty out there for the mom and pop shops! 

That's why, when this cashier turned into a SKU detective, they simultaneously became the best vigilante in town. 

Via u/Creatas

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  • "You can't return stolen merchandise"

    I worked in a games store (board games, D&D, etc.) in the 90s. Most fun job I've ever had! Too bad retail pays squat. Anyway, one day a woman comes in wanting to do a return/refund with no receipt. We were pretty
    via revchewie
  • liberal about such things so no big deal. And she hands me a US$50 item. Pretty expensive in those days. It was something we carried and had our price tag on it, so I looked it up in our computer (Wyse dumb terminal, with a server in the office).
    via revchewie
  • I instantly noticed the inventory history for that SKU looked weird. We had only ever gotten one item into stock. A few months prior it had been removed from inventory, then a couple months
    via revchewie
  • prior it had been added back in, then the previous month it had been removed again. It didn't show that it had sold, which would have looked different, but that it had been removed from
    via revchewie
  • inventory. The only way this made sense is if it had been stolen, and removed from the system when we found it missing, then returned then stolen again.
    via revchewie
  • Fortunately the store manager was in the back so I could pass the buck. I told her I needed to get my manager to approve the return, then I went back and told him what I had found. When he
    via revchewie
  • told her the return wasn't allowed and she was banned from the store, let's just say she was less than happy. Me, I just enjoyed the show.
    via revchewie
  • Board game pieces on a playing area.
    via baehakqinugroho
  • Electrical-Ad-180 we have customers that find recipts on the ground and then collect the items in the store and try and get a refund.
    via Electrical-Ad-180
  • tachycardiclVu Husband worked at a grocery store where stuff like this happened but more immediately....they'd grab hams and high-ticket items from the meat section and try to return it
    via tachycardiclVu
  • Best friends playing board games together and having fun
    via DragonImages
  • LabCat62 You're lucky that it was an item someone would actually want. Usually at my store, people would dumpster dive in the charity bin at the end of the store parking lot, come in and demand a return for whatever clothing or electronics item they'd found. Good on your manager for banning her, too. I had a customer try to jump the customer service counter at me because I wouldn't approve a return on an item we didn't sell.
    via LabCat62
  • markbrev Had something similar when I worked selling mobile phones (cellphones) back in the early 90's. At the time the first digital networks had just come on stream (3G/4G/5G hadn't been invented. Hell, WiFi hadn't been invented), so SIM cards where brand new and handsets without contracts where megabucks, the equivalent of about $3500 today, so much so that we don't have any actual phones on display, just dummy ones with green LED to make them resemble the actual thing. Don't stop people from
    via markbrev
  • JacintaFornax-99 At my one job, the girl who worked customer service would hang onto any returns made with cash. She would then give them to friends and family. They would go to go in the store, find the item and "return" it to the store... for cash
    via JacintaFornax-99
  • theloniousmick A handful of girls I know I'm college worked at a shop that would accept a return if it had their branded label in. Apparently it was really common for people to steal something and return it for cash. Her manager didnt care so she stopped caring.
    via theloniousmick
  • WhoHayes I remember back in the 90's, when Mal*Wart still had a way more lax return policy, seeing DcMonald's Happy Meal toys in the return cart.
    via WhoHayes
  • Leading Vacation_510 I saw an older gentleman at the grocery store use the self checkout, get to the pay screen and just grab his stuff and walked out like he did pay. I was like? They didnt bat an eye
    via Leading Vacation_510
  • sagel3af SMH people really out here trying to hustle free stuff like nobody notices, wild fr
    via sagel3af
  • astro143 I had some lady come in, buy a model kit, then come back a week later with a different model kit, opened and clearly used, and wanted to return it. I have no idea why my boss approved it, she was obnoxious.
    via astro143

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