Cashier Lets Child 'Shoplift' A Candy Bar Because The Company 'Can Afford It'
He feels that corporate doesn't treat them well enough to care.
Polina Tankilevitch | Pexels Shoplifting is an illegal activity — true. As such, when caught, it should be called out — also true?
Not according to an overworked and underpaid supermarket cashier.
In a recent Reddit post, he confessed that when a toddler took a candy bar when his mom wasn't watching, he let him get away with it. He felt that with the way that corporate treats them, they could afford a missing candy car.
A cashier looked the other way after a child stole a candy bar because the company 'can afford it.'
A mother of four children came through his line, and she told her youngest, a toddler of two years, that he could grab a candy bar and put it on the checkout belt.
After he rang everything up, the two-year-old grabbed another candy bar (you know, since he's two), and the mom, who hadn't seen anything, thought nothing of it, probably assuming one of her other children had given the toddler the original bar she had bought.
The toddler waved goodbye, and the cashier waved back. Since he was on the job for another four hours, he knew for a fact that nobody came back to return the bar or pay for it.
He justified his actions by saying that corporate treats them rather poorly and that they'll be okay without one candy bar.
Safwan C K | Pexels
The modern workplace does not prioritize job satisfaction leaving employees feeling undervalued.
Those who commented recounted similar experiences of their own and saw no issue with how the cashier responded to the situation.
"They pay you (poorly) to run the register. Acting as security requires better pay," one commenter replied to the situation.
This missing candy bar wasn't causing any serious damage, so most people didn't see the harm.
According to a recent survey by the American Psychological Association, 67% of workers have suffered symptoms of burnout in the last month, and 48% of employees aged 18–25 and 51% aged 26–43 feel "tense or stressed" during the workday.
Is some of this normal? Yes. Work is still work, after all, but the fact that most Americans cannot survive on an income from one job doesn't do corporate culture any favors. Grocery workers have been suffering for quite some time, whether it's the stigma attached to the job or the fact that these roles are underpaid and underappreciated. Working in retail and customer service is certainly not easy.
One grocer in China is so aware of the difficult nature of the job they have instituted “unhappiness leave” for employees, which, simply put, is 10 days they can use when they just can't bring themselves to put on a happy face and get the job done. Yu Donglai, the founder of the grocery chain, revealed at an industry event, “I want every staff member to have freedom. Everyone has times when they’re not happy, so if you’re not happy, do not come to work.”
In theory, taking PTO, unhappiness days, wellness days, or whatever you want to call them, sounds like a great solution; the fact is, 46% of U.S. employees simply don't take time off.
In a nutshell, employees are unhappy, and that translates to a lack of care.
No, this doesn't mean you should just let people steal.
Stealing isn't allowed by law, and you could go to jail if caught. So it's important to be careful about what you admit to online, even if you're not the one doing the stealing.
More worrisome than getting in trouble legally for letting a child pocket some chocolate is the fact that your job could be on the line. If corporations aren't prioritizing employee well-being, they certainly aren't prioritizing retention.
Of course, a huge corporation isn't going to have any substantial loss because of that one candy bar, and it's not as if the mom or toddler purposely shoplifted it. So, all in all, minimal harm was done.
Sahlah Syeda is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.