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What comes to your mind when you think of a family day out? Obviously, it depends on the kind of family you grew up in – or the kind of family you’ve created for yourself now. Maybe it means a trip to a theme park, or a day out at the seaside. Perhaps if means visiting family and having a nice meal, or just taking a long stroll through a park or by a riverside.

But the kind of family day out that the tech store worker in this story bore witness to was something quite different. Because these weren’t your average kind of family. And for sure, this was not his average day at work.

Read on to find out what happened here.

Larceny: a day out for the whole family

So this happened quite a number of years ago at the retail computer shop I worked at. We specialised in built-to-order notebooks and desktops.

We had three display pillars around the showroom floor. Each pillar had a stand surrounding it, and on that stand were notebooks. Each notebook was locked to the desk using notebook locks.

At the entrance to the store was a pillar so when you walked in you were faced with new and exciting notebooks – the main one being a huge 17″ gaming one.

Around the edges of the showroom (back wall, sidewalls) are sales persons’ desks, so customers can sit down and get a quote. My desk was diagonal from the front door. I could see people enter, but if they were standing against the pillar looking at notebooks, I couldn’t see them, and neither could anyone else.

Let’s see where the drama in this story started.

So in come The Family: a mum, dad, daughter, and two sons.

Now, nothing like this had ever happened to me before. I have a good level of intuition, however, which is why I clicked on what was happening so quickly.

So when this family walks in, and the dad and one son go to one sales person to get a quote for a PC, and the mum comes to me to get another quote, whilst the other son and daughter wander around the showroom looking at notebooks.

A little bit of me thinks… this is strange. Why would they split up and occupy two sales tables?

So he kept an eye on what was going on in the shop, even while he was working on a quote.

So as I am doing up a quote for the mum and son, I am surreptitiously keeping an eye on what the kids on the showroom floor are doing.

Eventually they make their way to the pillar at the front of the shop. They go to the entrance side of it and stay there for a good few mins. Then suddenly I see them turn around and walk out the front door.

At that point I knew exactly what was going on.

I stood up and said “excuse me” and went straight to the front and saw the empty space where the computer used to be. I quickly turned and pointed to the manager who was in his office and yelled his name – loud enough for everyone to stop what they were doing.

Read on to find out what happened next.

I told him to call the police and detain everyone, and then went out the front and saw the son and daughter walking down the walkway in front of all the shops (from the minute they walked out the door to me following them out the door would have only been about ten seconds), so I went after them and yelled for them to stop.

When they kept walking, I let the son know that I will chase him and I will take him down, so he stopped and turned around.

There he was with the huge rectangle shape of a 17″ notebook under his jumper.

I told him to give it back or I’ll be happy to make a citizens arrest by force. So he took it out of his jumper and gave it back to me and then turned and bolted.

And sadly, this story didn’t have the satisfying ending the worker hoped for.

As I turned back to walk to the shop I saw the door slam open, and out walked the rest of the family. The father was yelling some unintelligable profanity at someone inside and they just wandered off in all different directions.

I went inside and there was stuff thrown all over the floor and chairs knocked over. So I had guessed they threatened violence if they were detained, so I cant blame anyone for letting them go…

They left the car behind that they had come in, which turned out to be stolen.

The cops never found them. They said it’s a very common thing, and it’s unlikely they’ll be caught.

The organisation of this was kind of smart – but the family hadn’t counted on this worker clocking onto how unusual it was for them to get quotes from two staff members.

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If he hadn’t been so switched on, the company would have been down one expensive laptop – which makes you wonder why they kept them so close to the store entrance.

But credit to this guy for being so brave in quite a scary situation.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.

This person thought the family’s scheme sounded like it worked like clockwork.

While others pointed out what horrible parenting this was.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who gets problematic overtime changes reversed by pointing out how it will harm the company’s bottom line.

Meanwhile, this Redditor had heard of similar experiences in other stores.

Crazy that these parents got their kids caught up in crime so young. What kind of lives are these kids going to go on to have if this is the kind of example they’re set from a young age, and the kind of behaviour they’re taught is acceptable. It’s disgusting, and it really sucks that they didn’t get caught. Honestly, the fact that they turned up in a stolen car says everything. So does the fact that the police had little hope for catching them.

But credit to this employee for going the extra mile and even putting himself in a potentially dangerous situation – because this is what he thought was right. It’s not a situation that anyone should have to be put in, but the way that he handled this high pressure situation in the spur of the moment shows some really good critical thinking skills. He’s definitely the kind of person you’d want around in an emergency. Hopefully he got rewarded for this!

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Author

Kyra Piperides

Kyra Piperides, PhD | Contributing Science Writer

Dr. Kyra Piperides is a contributing writer for TwistedSifter, specializing in Science & Discovery. Holding a PhD in English with a dedicated focus on the intersections of science, politics, and literature, she brings over 12 years of professional writing and editorial expertise to her reporting.

Kyra possesses a highly authoritative background in academic publishing, having served as the editor of an academic journal for three years. She is also the published author of two books and numerous research-driven articles. At TwistedSifter, she leverages her rigorous academic background to translate complex scientific concepts, global tech innovations, and environmental breakthroughs into highly engaging, accessible narratives for a mainstream audience.

Based in the UK, Kyra is an avid backpacker who spends her free time immersing herself in different cultures across distant shores—a passion that brings a rich, global perspective to her writing about Earth and nature.

Connect with Kyra on Twitter/X and Instagram.