Who would have thought people could get so comfortable with stealing?

Imagine having a customer be so bold that they try to steal right in front of you. Would you call them on it, or would you let them get away with it?

This person shares how a customer at their store tried to get away without paying! She was pretty tricky too!

Check out the full story.

Always watch when a customer is paying.

Maybe look away when they punch in their pin, but always pay attention.

A little while ago I was cashing a customer (C) out. She was acting really shifty and it was raising alarms in my head.

This is where it gets bad!

At my store we have to punch in the amount and press OK before we pass the terminal to the customer to activate the sale. If it is cancelled a receipt will print with the reason for cancellation (transaction not completed etc).

Her total was somewhere around 250 dollars.

Me: OK your total comes to xxx.xx, how are you paying?

She flashes a card at me.

I punch in the total, double check it on the register screen and pass her the terminal.

UH OH…

She fiddles with it for a sec, looking up at me from under her bangs trying not to be obvious. Then she pushes a button and a receipt prints.

It beeps funny when a transaction is bad.

Me: Oops! Looks like you pushed the cancel button by accident. No problem I’ll just start it over!

I reach for the machine but she twists her body a bit so I can’t grab it over the counter.

C: It’s ok I can put it in, I have the same one at work..

She wanted to get out of it!

Then she starts punching in numbers and quickly puts her card in!

I reach further and snatch from her hand because that’s an obvious no-no.

C: Hey!

She reaches to grab it back from me, but I’m just out of reach. I look at the screen and she has typed in 0.75. Sneaky bugger.

Me: Please don’t touch the terminals like that. Your total is xxx.xx not 75 cents.

She was being so sneaky!

C: I must have mistyped it!

Me: You shouldn’t have typed it in at all. We can try again.

I pull her card out and type in the correct total. I’ve moved the bags towards me casually so she can’t grab them as easily.

Me: Here you go, xxx.xx.

This time she steps a little further away, inserts her card, clicks some random buttons and when it prints she quickly rips off both the receipts (so I cant see it failed) and goes to grab her bags.

That’s INSANE!

When the printer prints a receipt with the big black letters of transaction failed it makes a grinding kind of noise because of all the extra ink.

I’ve had enough.

I grab the bags and put them behind the counter.

Me: I’m sorry but I can’t let you leave with these until you actually pay for them. I’ve had enough of whatever you’re doing. Are you paying or not?

Finally she got caught!

C: I did pay see I have the receipts.

She waves both the receipts at me (including the merchant copy I’m supposed to keep).

I narrow my eyes and thrust the terminal towards her pointing at the screen that is flashing “TRANSACTION CANCELLED PRESS OK TO CONTINUE”.

Me: Are you going to pay or not.

C: Yes I am, this card must be having a problem let me go get my other one from my car..

Sounds so shady!

She said that as she was backing towards the door and leaving.

She floored it out of the parking lot and never came back.

Some people have nerves I’ll give them that.

Now she has a lovely framed security camera picture hanging in the break room.

YIKES! That sounds so weird!

How can people assume that it is okay to steal like that?

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think about this one.

This user knows this lady must be a pro at stealing!

This user is surprised how things work in other countries.

This user is surprised at this system!

This user is wondering how many more things that woman must have stolen.

This user thinks this store’s payment system is flawed.

At least she didn’t get away with it!

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.