Shoplifting is becoming a serious threat to stores.

If a customer asked you if she could take her cart full of unpaid groceries into the parking lot, would you say yes or look at her like she’s crazy?

In this story, an employee was in this exact situation, and she refused to let the customer take the cart in the parking lot until she paid.

Now, she’s not sure if she handled that situation correctly or not since there were special circumstances.

Read the full story below for all the details.

Um, no, you can’t take your groceries out into the parking lot before paying for them…

It was at the start of the spring gardening season.

My everything store had just started up with the plants, soil, and all the things that you need to hopefully make your own food.

The garden center is kind of weird.

You can get some things in a large, covered greenhouse area, and the rest is in the parking lot.

It sounds kind of confusing.

Now, there are a lot of people buying dirt, but they usually just buy that at register.

I’m not in garden, so I have less of an idea exactly what the breakdown is.

Some trees and plants are in the parking lot, and I’m assuming the more expensive stuff is in the garden center.

A customer asked this employee if she can walk through the parking lot with her unpaid groceries.

Well, I was walking to break when a customer with a half full cart of groceries asked something.

They said would it be okay to just go through the parking lot to go look at the things outside because the garden center was apparently closed.

This kind of threw me off for a second.

How would anyone think it would be okay to go outside with their groceries unpaid for?

The customer gave her a funny look when she said no.

Sure, she was probably telling the truth, but she would likely get stopped by security.

After all, a grocery cart going out unpaid for looks just the same as our usual shoplifters.

I told her she could leave her cart to go out and look, or she could pay for what she had and then return with any outside items and finish shopping.

The look I got for that idea! It was like she just couldn’t see what the problem was.

She didn’t want to take a chance and give shoplifters the wrong idea.

I’m not sure maybe the locked door was preventing her from getting into the garden center, or maybe it was stopping her from exiting the garden center into the parking lot.

I suspect the latter.

Shoplifters have it easy enough as it is. I definitely don’t want to start giving people permission to run around the parking lot with full carts of merchandise.

I just don’t get some people.

That was not a reasonable request.

Let’s see what others have to say about this on Reddit.

Here’s a valid point from this user.

This person shares a similar experience.

Short and simple.

Here’s a hilarious comment. Lol.

And lastly, this user shares their personal thoughts.

You wouldn’t want to make it any easier for shoplifters.

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.