Wal-Mart, Thieves And Rotten Tomatoes
“I AM A THIEF I STOLE FROM WALMART.”
On reading that, readers half expect to hear another voice pop up to declare: “No. I am a thief I stole from Walmart”. Like a version of TV’s Tell The Truth, Walmart store detectives will be invited to spot the genuine shoplifter from the bevy of contestants.
But today there is only one agonist.
As the Express reports, her name is Lisa King Fithian. She’s 46. And she is spending four hours of two successive Saturdays standing outside the Wal-Mart Supercenter, Attalla City, Alabama, wearing a sign proclaiming her guilt.
It was Fithian’s lot to steal an item worth less than £5, says the Express. The paper fails to tell us what this item is. And in searching for an answer, we note that over at CNN, the item is priced at $7.
British shoplifters looking to head to the US for bargains, and take advantage of the $2 to £1 exchange rate, may reconsider in the light of the Express’s calculations.
And then there is the chance of capture. You might come before Judge Kenneth Robertson Jr,, who will offer you a 60-day jail sentence or the chance to wear the sandwich board of shame.
You will then meet with store manger Neil Hawkins. He tells us: “The only comments we’ve heard so far have been positive. Mot of them thought this was a good thing… Maybe they’ll think twice about doing it.”
Mr Hawkins is over-analysing the matter. He assumes shoplifters think at all. In our experience the theft of small items is a spur of the moment decision, triggered by hunger, desperation, whimsy or dare.
It would be interesting to see if treating thieves to a dose of public humiliation works. Or if the practice remains unchecked, the theft continue and Ms Fithian makes off with two pieces of white card ($10) and more rotten tomatoes than you can stuff into your bra…
Posted: 8th, May 2007 | In: Tabloids Comments (4) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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May 9th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Midieval…maybe but effective…I’m sure. Some thieves might see this as an “easy out” as opposed to jail time and a big source of humor to them…right up until their friends and family found photos of them wearing these signs on the internet. You can be sure that If I saw a convicted theif wearing one of these signs outside my store, I’d be snapping away like crazy! And right after my shift was done, I’d be at home sending these photos the world over! ESPECIALLY to my local newspaper and television stations.
They wouldn’t be able to show their faces without being ridiculed and embarrassed over and over again for months! This in turn would give EVERYONE a chance to see what these people really are…common thieves. DO you think potential employers would hire anyone who was the subject of such public redicule as well as being convicted of theft? I think not. Would it all really be worth the price of what they stole? I really don’t think so.
To which I say…tough beans, buddy..you rightfully deserve EVERYTHING you get.
May 9th, 2007 at 10:12 am
I’m not sure what to think about this… it’s certainly an interesting method, if a little medieval.
When thinking of people I know, this punishment would deter some of them. On the other hand, I know many more who would just see this as a joke and would chose this sentance over prison as an “easy way out”. It would mean nothing to them.
Personally, if I saw somebody dressed like this outside a store, I would probably go and shop somewhere else. It’s just embarrassing to look at.
Like Shoeman, I work in a large department store and, although I understand that people often steal out of desparation, it’s not fair to rip off employees like us who actually work for a living. Obviously, shoplifters should be punished and potential thieves deterred, but why not make them do something useful like community service? If you make them pick up dog poo for eight hours as opposed to standing around wearing a sign, it’s both humiliating for the criminal and beneficial to the community.
May 9th, 2007 at 12:20 am
I work in the shoe department of a Wal-Mart here in Canada and I have to say…this is the most ingenious method of theft deterrent I have ever heard of.
On a daily basis I have found boxes and boxes of shoes that when checked, contain the old, smell, discarded shoes the customer walked in with while they walk out wearing the new ones. STore policy dictates that the new shoes are not to be worn until; paid for but what the “customers” will do is take the shoes (in the box) to another department in the store and switch them with their old ones.
What these idiots don’t realize is that our annual bonuses come out of the yearly sales. And that the costs of items stolen are absorbed by our bonuses! SO in essense, when theses morons steal from Wal-Mart, they are stealing from the employees. These folks are lucky they didn’t get the snot kicked out of them by the employees at the Alabama store.
Shame them…embarass them…hell yeah! That’s the LEAST of what should happen to them. We bust our butts each and every day for the money we make and if $20.00 for a pair of shoes is too much for them they should go to the salvation army. Wal-Mart contributes to them, too.
May 8th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
I can remember, many years ago, a big out of town shopping centre in Cornwall, where the store owner decided to punish shoplifters by putting them in stocks and displaying the stolen items at their feet.
The idea never got off the ground.
…Someone nicked the stocks!!!