lost my job, was i wrong?

[wrangler_x03]

the other day i was asked to quit my job by my boss. i was a LP ( loss prevention) at a grocery store and this night i was asked to work late since the store i was at was getting hit hard in the liquor dept.. it was about
10:30 pm and i see two guys about 20 - 23 years old walk into liquor so i follow them and watch one kid that was in earlier that day and tried stealing about $150 worth of some pink vodka thats new (dont know the brand) a manager scared him off since i wasnt in yet. so im watching this kid and he grabs the same stuff and a couple other bottles and walks out of liquor leaving his friend, ifollow him to see where he goes and tell a manager he was back and he has a friend still in liquor he hears me tell her this ad walks to the register and convienatly forgot his ID and cant pay for the stuff ( B/S) so i go back to his friend and he puts a big bottle of 1800 tequila in his coat and is looking at the bacardi. he sees me and starts talking to me not knowing i work there ( im in street clothes) and tells me how great this store is. so i agreed and asked him what was good to drink and he shows me the 1800 that he had already concealed and says this stuff is good. now after talking to him i can smell liquor on his breath and tell hes drunk since he can barely stand. i left him alone and watched him from the mirrors. i notice hes tring to break open a cabinet with the expensive stuff in it so i go talk to him again and he stops i go back to the mirror and see him shoving a $50 bottle of jager down his pants and gets ready to leave. the bottle slips and falls breaking on the floor. this S.o.b. goes back and grabbs anouther bottle and heads for the doors. i stop him and get the liquor back $150 worth and walk him to our office to wait for the police. we get to the office door and he stops, telling me hes not going in there and punches me in the face. now i already told him not to do anything stupid, but he does any way. already knowing how drunk he is i dont want to hit him back and im not letting him get away for hitting me so i shoot pepper spray in his eyes and hand cuff him the police finally show up and he tells them to do inapropriate stuff to him and what not the paramidics show up to clean his eyes and he spitts in tier face. then goes to jail for retail theft, agravated battery, assault, and having tree other peoples Id's on him.

now my boss tells me after he hit me i should of let him run and suck up my pride. i say NAY NAY he steals and runs go ahead and run, but you steal then punch me and try and run, now its personal and your going down one way or another.

so i ask if i was wrong for hitting a drunk thief with pepper spray or should i have let him go?


sorry this is so long but need to get it off my chest!

 

[TerryMason]

I think you did the right thing pepper spraying him. He would have ran out, hopped in his car and driven away most likely (another drunk driver on the road).

Were you forced to quit your job? Would that prevent you from getting unemployment (since you voluntarily quit)?

Is this a chain store or a locally owned one? Perhaps you can go above the boss' head.

 

[wrangler_x03]

I think you did the right thing pepper spraying him. He would have ran out, hopped in his car and driven away most likely (another drunk driver on the road).

Were you forced to quit your job? Would that prevent you from getting unemployment (since you voluntarily quit)?

Is this a chain store or a locally owned one? Perhaps you can go above the boss' head.

well iwas first suspeded then the next day asked to quit im sure if i didnt i would of been fired since i did go above my boss and the big honcho watched the video (he want me to quit) and was scared of a law suite cuz our policy is "no touch no chase" except in self defense (which this was) this store started local and now is spreading all over ( started as LOGLI and now some stores are SCHNUCKS)they changed the policy about 4 years ago after a meat guy was stabbed to death tring to stop a theif.

my boss didnt want to fire or let me go in any way and these were his exact words "i was the best lp rep the store has ever had that only worked part time, and that i had more stops than most of the full time guys"


i figured if they were more worried about their reputaton than my well being it wasnt the place for me any way.

 

[joejeepny]

You should have followed him out side where there was now cameras and kicked the crap out of him.

 

[wrangler_x03]

You should have followed him out side where there was now cameras and kicked the crap out of him.

this was one of my options but i didnt know if his friend was still waitng outside for him

 

[TerryMason]

this was one of my options but i didnt know if his friend was still waitng outside for him

Yeah, I would not have done that. That would be asking for something to go wrong.

The company policy is understandable to a point, but once you have been physically attacked, using pepper spray to subdue him seems reasonable to me.

 

[Itchee96]

I worked as a LP associate for a big retail store. Our policy was the person had done nothing wrong, other than unlawful concealment, until they were outside the store. Once outside, it was larceny. We NEVER apprehended anyone in the store, for obvious reasons, one of which was customer safety. I saw one guy stealing power tools about 1 or 2 am, and I had to run from the back of the store to the front, and still caught him before he stepped off of the curb. Once I had him back in the store, and right in front of our main camera, he takes a swing at me. Luckily he missed, and he was promptly 'subdued' by myself and some of the night stockers, and placed in handcuffs. This guy had all kinds of priors, and when his court date came, he was charged with larceny and assault, and sentenced to over a year due to his priors and being on probation.

 

[wrangler_x03]

I worked as a LP associate for a big retail store. Our policy was the person had done nothing wrong, other than unlawful concealment, until they were outside the store.

that would suck you would get alot of runners that way i had to follow them on the floor and act like i was shopping since all the cameras are still and dont move so we can stop them once they pass all the registers and are at the door

my favorite was this guy steals three bottles of liquor and runs from me so i " watched were he went" since theres "no chase" and he handed on bottle off to a car that i find out is my g/f friend and saw me chasing him, she gives me the bottle back and he runs more i get in the car and follow him more police show up he gets caught and gets 2 years

and a week before the top story i had a guy push me that stole 2 box,s of condoms later runs from the police and jumps in a dumpster so the police shot him not once but twice with a tazer (i think this guy had a big date this night)

 

[jay79cj7]

Sounds like the store has that policy to balance protecting their merchandise with keeping the employees and customers safe. Thats a difficult thing to balance, and I don't think you did anything wrong. However, I guess if word gets out that the store will pepper spray and handcuff people, the next thief will be a little quicker to throw a punch, draw a knife, gun, etc. They probably feel they need to keep their security in tight control like that to keep situations from escalating. Good luck man.

 

[Itchee96]

Since I had just got out of the Army, I could run like the wind, so it wasnt that bad. Other than we were in a bad part of town.

 

[88Wrangles]

Where you holding on to him and forcing him to come with you to the office? If so that's pretty illegal in itself in most states. If he just came up and hit you, then you'd have every right to pepper spray him. But if you were holding him there, technically...he was defending himself by hitting you...

 

[Itchee96]

I believe stealing is illegal, not actually catching someone stealing. You have every right to hold onto someone who was caught stealing until the police get there.

 

[TorqueWinsRaces]

I believe stealing is illegal, not actually catching someone stealing. You have every right to hold onto someone who was caught stealing until the police get there.

What you, me, or anybody else believes to be right or wrong is irrelevant to the LAW. The law is, in my experience, generally full of crap and seemingly written by illiterates. But, I digress.

I would have beat his ass and quit my stupid job. Jobs like that are a dime-a-dozen. No offense intended.

 

[wrangler_x03]

Where you holding on to him and forcing him to come with you to the office?

no i wasnt holding him nor touching him in any way, since the stores rule is NO TOUCH. when i told him i needed to get his info for the report he said he wasnt going back there and he was going to beat my a$$ then punched me

 

[lovin life]

Your boss is a coward? This country has shed alot of blood to give us our freedom. And then you get some wanna be trying make a name for himself. Well I'm sorry for the strong opion but I think bosses and company's should support the people who got to where they are today. That's why some company struggle and some succeed.

 

[88Wrangles]

no i wasnt holding him nor touching him in any way, since the stores rule is NO TOUCH. when i told him i needed to get his info for the report he said he wasnt going back there and he was going to beat my a$$ then punched me

Ok disregard what I said then. lol.


In that case then I think that's rediculous that you got fired. I usually end up doing some stupid things but I probably would have beaten HIS a$$ after he punched you! haha.

 

[jps4jeep]

that sucks.. I would lay him out flat and tell everyone he tripped and hit his head.

 

[wrangler_x03]

thats kinda what i did when i took him to the ground, i grabbed his hair and "gently" put his head on the ground (he had just a little blood shed after that).

 

[sledd]

You did the right thing.Your boss doesn't deserve your loyalty to the job.If it ever happens again,make sure the perp is spitting out chicklets after driving his face to the ground.

 

[Sostoked]

I agree with Joe.