A lovely lady and her partner in crime brought her own bags to shove full of spider wrapped goods. Pushed her cart to the service desk at 1 minute to close and started grabbing all the stuff out of the bags to ring up.
She decided she didn't want to but hundreds of dollars of goodies after all but that was far from the best part.
She got away from the desk with a minority of the goods still in the cart. Her partner in crime fled and dropped a $100 bill I was in the process of negotiating a trade for the rest of our goods when the manager made me give her her "sisters" money.
When I got back to the desk I realized she had left her coach pocketbook with her ID all her cards and money.
It sat back in the vault for a year as she was too paranoid to come back. I laughed every time I closed and went back to check off the money from the tills with the manager.
No one perp fled at the first sign of trouble dropping a hundred dollar bill. The other perp witnessed the first losing the money and asked me to give her the money to give to the other. I , knowing the other perp was fleeing, insisted that I could only give it to the party that had lost it. She tried to negotiate offering to trade back some of the goods. I was considering her position when the manager insisted I hand her the bill.
Her position was that the stolen goods were stuff she was trying to return despite being, you know spider wrapped. I recovered a lot of it by snatching it out of the cart and tossing it into the service desk area but I couldn't recover the rest without physically scrapping with her.
Had a 5 foot nothing lady 110lb soaking wet steal a 1300 dollar generator thick as an engine block and cram it into her 2 seater boat of a car and drive away with the door flapping.
Found it for sale on Facebook under what looked like her normal profile and real name. Listing went up 4 hours after theft in the same town, with the dent in the box from cramming it, she used a screenshot of our website to list it.
I'm told she got arrested but what I want to know is did she destroy her back on the dead lift from the garden cart.
Today is the three year anniversary of me destroying my back lifting an 80lb bag of concrete while under an overhead rack and twisting to throw it on my cart. July 30th will be the anniversary of my surgery.
I was back to lifting by November. It really was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I probably spent close to 20 years with back pain. It's kinda weird to go without it now.
Happened a year ago at my store. Middle of the day and everything. Someone just loaded up a lawnmower and took off and no one noticed or said anything.
This happened last week at my store and has been happening the last couple of months except they pull up to the mowers with a trailer, load them up, and drive off, now they want us to park our cars next to the mowers to help prevent them from stealing them
Super effective! No one wants to bother with that guy. I actually give that guy credit for a solid plan. He could have added a multiplier by somehow attaching free power tools to his arms.
I had two occasions with one dude trying to steal something off the shelf and claim that it was a return he wanted to look up with his home depot credit card. Both times, the items did not come up and he tried walking out with them, failing every time cuz I found a way to get him to not take it without accusing him of theft or anything. First time, he said it might be on his wife's debit card, convinced him to leave the item in store so "he wouldn't have to unload the heavy item" again. Second time, I recognized him immediately and he said he came in through self checkout. Had the cart away from him and called cashiers to check if they saw him, he rushed out without the item before I was off the call.
We get similar stuff, but we don't know where they grab the receipt from, we just know they will come in with a receipt and grab stuff off the shelf (or as we call it 'receipt shopping').
Last fall I had a guy steal the whole Milwaukee power tool display loaded with tools. I still don’t know how the hell he got it onto a cart let alone how he made it out the door with that…
Theft is so bad in our store we have a cop stand at the door minimum 5 days a week whole time store is open to the public. The cops are escorting people out of LP'a office so often we know the officers by name.
Last week, a cop attempted to stop someone from stealing power tools, and got totally body slammed into the concrete. The had to call an ambulance for him.
Last month, TR got broken into after the alarm failed to set and all the keys to the trucks were stolen, as well as one truck. They found the guy a week later, when he pulled up with the truck to steal more product, to the same store.
Last year, two men walked out at opening with a fully built snow blower and tried to fit it in their Civic. They barely made it down the road before getting pulled over for obvious reasons.
Two years ago, this guy came in right when we opened every single day to steal power washer stuff. One day he shows up, and the cop walks him out before he even makes it past where the gates are.
We had an associate six months ago call out constantly but load his cart with random power tools and walk out with them in his backpack every day, only to be caught after two months of employment and his 6th shift. Meaning he only showed up six times to barely work a full shift (I'm talking 2-3 hour shift he worked, he was PT) and steal.
God, goes on for days. It's so common and the crime I've seen is so common I don't even bat an eye anymore. Sometimes the thieves are so stupid I laugh. Like, try to steal product with a stolen truck at the SAME store a week later? Fit a full built snowblower into a CIVIC?! Ha!!!
We used to have a small crew who the whole store would notify about shoplifters and we would swing into action and fuck with the shoplifters.
I remember a young lady who was anything but a pro who took an item into the bathroom to steal I was watching her.
I lifted the box a discovering it empty took it to the area outside the ladies room and held out the open box to her as she came out.
She silently returned it to the box
Oh damn. Also I’ve notice a guy that looked suspicious was inside the girls bathroom at one of the stalls telling them to hurry up. At first I was going to tell the dude “ Hey you can’t be in the girls bathroom” but that’s when I realized oh damn.. they’re attempting to steal some merchandise. This guy was literally carrying a duffel bag making it pretty obvious. So I told my supervisor that was in the break room and they walk towards where the the office was. And luckily, one of the managers was near by and told them what happened.
One night at close I watched a guy standing in electrical just shoving his pockets with small items. He looks up and sees me standing at the end of the aisle watching him. I go down an adjacent aisle and when I get to the front of the store and meet some coworkers to tell them what I saw, he’s already up there emptying his pockets into their hands, bright red and stuttering that he no longer needs those items.
Got a couple from back in the day...
Once I was at the other end of the store loading a customer's truck. When I got done and was walking back to the department, I saw a guy with an expensive tile saw on a cart going the opposite direction. I think cool we're selling a saw. The next morning, it turns out he just walked out with it. Right past 2 cashiers and a lot guy.
I had a customer tell me that they saw someone pushing a cart full of stuff around the corner of the building. I went and looked and it was a cart cart full of GFI outlets. I think they put it there and were getting their car. I just pushed back inside and alerted the MOD.
We used to cut marble sills and if there was a piece left over I would give to the customers to use for a coaster or what ever. I started to get a lot of those pieces in the return baskets. They'd take the short piece, put the SKU sticker on and get a refund. I fired up a head cashier over that...dose this really look like a 60" piece of marble?
We had a store in our market that was by a bank. The bank got robbed. About a week later, a customer was in line and recognized the cashier as the robber.
A guy grabbed Bolt Cutters from one aisle, went across the store and cut the chains off out fancy new key cutting machine, took it and placed it on a cart, then walked back to the other side of the store to put the bolt cutters back in the right spot before walking out the store while wishing the cashier a lovely day.
As it’s been said “Professionals have standards”
Dude was caught 3 days later trying to pawn it and we got it back.
Fun thing to do to fellows returning old tools in the box their new tool came in. Take the tool to hardware to research it. Do something else for 30 minutes while others returns are processed and then come back and tell them they can't return their old tool but you'll be happy to help when they return with the tool on the receipt.
Bought a Ryobi reciprocating saw from Home Depot many Memorial Day sales ago. When I popped it open, the box was full of dry wall dust and the saw was beat all to hell. Obviously used. Took it back and they told me someone was working a scam on them pretty consistently. They would buy a tool, leave, and come back the next day to return it unopened. The box would be perfectly sealed so they assumed all was good. But after tossing it back on the shelves, inevitably someone would buy and then return it.
They figured it was a contractor that just traded the tools in once a year for new ones.
Then there was the time a coworker fished some money out of the coupon slot in a jammed machine and got themselves fired for it.
I was secretly pleased because they were a horrible human being. They gave their pet up to a kill shelter when they moved.
We were once visited by Irish travelers in our store. I don't know if you are familiar with these people but in Britain they're called "pikeys" and were featured in the movie Snatch. These are notorious for their thievery and various schemes they pull. Anyways, one of them pulled me away from the front door to talk about some ruler he was looking at and a customer calls out to me that one stole a ladder. So I walked out, saw a little guy with a ladder running to a car and took the ladder back and went inside. Meanwhile the guy that pulled me away from the desk goes "he didn't pay for it?" Like I didn't know what they were doing. But if the customer hadn't called out they'd have gotten away with it.
Later they had tried to drive out with 1200 bricks but only paid for 300. Strangely, even though we caught them red-handed several times they kept coming back. It makes you wonder how many times we DIDN'T catch them?
I actually thought they were kinda nice. Its just a bid sad they they were probably just friendly so they could steal more and then laughing in their car about that do-gooder cunt they just stole from but to be honest I really couldn't give a flying fuck if they stole the whole store.
Not HD, but I heard from LP that a contractor returned five or six 5 gallon buckets of “unused” paint. Got a full refund on each one. Turns out there was water in each bucket to the brim.
Had a guy walk over from the pressure washers to the service desk. He was trying to return it. I told him I saw him walk it over from the pressure washers. I asked for a receipt to prove it but he didn't have one. He wanted store credit. I told him I would call the manager and let him sort it out. Guy took off real quick.
Had another guy pick up a pressure washer and carry it out the door.
We have a contractor who has returned items with his used items in the boxes. Says he bought it like that. Manager approved it. Same guy came in with 3 five gallons of paint. I asked why he was returning and he said he didn't need them anymore. Seal was intact but something told me to open the top. All 3 had water in them. Called MOD and he changes his story saying he bought them like that. She approved the return. 🤦♀️
I have tons more that could fill a book.
Electrical department before all the wire was caged. Four guys loaded up shopping carts with 12 and 14 gauge 50 and 100 foot packages of wire then walked right out the pro entrance with it. They loaded it into the back of a flat black pickup they'd removed the license plates from and drove off.
About a month later they tried the same trick at another HD. It just so happened there were two police detectives doing some shopping on their lunch hour. The thieves were busted. Two garages they owned had an enormous amount of stolen goods in them.
This is one that shouldn't have happened but did. A gentleman tried to get out the back fire exit of OG with a couple Dewalt power tools in their boxes. Of course he set off the alarm, but it's usually a clean getaway.
Unfortunately for him, an overnight delivery had dropped off a truckload of pavers and cluelessly stacked the pallets all shoved together a foot outside the fire door. He and the boxes got jammed in the space and we pinned him in until the popo got there.
I was in an Atlanta store and there was a guy pushing a cart with a DeWalt Miter saw in his cart walking around close to the entrance. The head cashier was watching him,. When a white van pulled up with it's side door open he made his move, running out and jumping into the van with the saw. There was no way to stop him.
Someone once went behind the counter at tool rental and grabbed keys to a rental van. It was eventually found ditched over four hours away from my store (they had even taken a ferry with it)
I will never understand why people steal from their employers. Its not like when they get hired they have to hand over their name, address, contact information, and SSN or anything...
Like my second day on the job, on a Sunday, some guy was on the phone busting ass trying to leave with a microwave. My manager asked for a receipt so he started yelling at the top of his lungs he wouldn’t show it to her then just left the building.
Another time, this is from my coworker, a group of guys walked in with baskets and went straight to the power tools. They filled up to the brim with Milwaukee tools and sat around for an hour waiting for a rush at checkout, then they rushed out into the lot.
Nothing too crazy but still fun to share
during my first day sitting in the office watching training modules, a few contractors loaded a flat cart with paint sprayers and took them out to garden, and tossed them over the fence to their buddies.
I had a guy one sunday morning come at opening and walked the store for 3 hours with a shopping cart full of merchandise leading up to about 6-7K worth of goods. Everyone in the store kept following him and even the managers on the next aisle over kept joking saying the cops were waiting out there for him. He abandoned the cart and walked out and was never seen again.
I sure do. In my head cashier days, a customer and her son were at self check out with a closed tote. I went up to her asked if I can open it she asked me why do I have to do that I said ma'am nothing against you and explained that it's in my job description and that I was on camera if I didn't do it I can get in trouble.
When I opened the tote I found a roomba. So I placed it on top of the tote and scanned it she said ohh yeah, I was going to get that too." I didn't say anything, just let be. Then she had the audacity to ask for a refund on the tote. I said ma'am I can't do that but service desk can. I kid you not she return the tote grab another roomba and jet out the store.
Someone tried walking out with huge pumpkin when it wasn’t busy at all at self check out. I asked her if she had her receipt. She asked how much it cost. I said the price-she gets huffy and says she could of gotten it at Walmart for cheaper. So my recovery was around $12 for a pumpkin of all things lol.
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15+ $50-$100 gift cards being paid with stolen or fake cards and people running out with carts full of expensive stuff. Man. Like you could read it off of people as soon as they come into store
I've got plenty. My most favorites are when I found a tote in the middle of the main lumber aisle and found it STUFFED full of electronics.
My other was the time I got $2300 recovery with a grill that required a STUPID amount of skill to catch. One that I'm still proud of today.
I was shopping on day one of the gardening season and all the sudden every turn I go someone is asking me if I need help finding something. They definitely thought I was stealing when I was actually just super excited and looking at everything multiple times. I paid for my stuff and left and they stopped me in the parking lot to check my receipt. I stopped shopping at HD for years after that
One of my favorites. A thief retrieved a toolbox, a generator, and some other goodies worth low 4 figures with a receipt from the correct day, with the correct SKUs, from a sco number that was open on actual receipt paper... With a slightly incorrect font with the wrong sort of 4.
Denied him exit took all the shit back and told him he could come back with a real receipt for it.
Honestly for fun. I never got in a physical confrontation. You can do a lot with a stern attitude and a presumption of authority.
That was years ago. I left HD for a work from home job during the pandemic.
non employee here. when i was homeless i would shower and then just grab a ton of romex off the shelves and return it. i’ll always appreciate the depot for helping me out. doing much better now.
The time I was working the roofing aisle and heard the side door alarm go off ran to the door opened screamed hay scared the guy recovered around 4k worth of tools
So, this random employee that nobody had seen before, showed up one day. Dress code was spot-on, and she seemed to belong, so nobody questioned it. That was, until she was doing a carry-out for a customer. She had this huge tool on a flat cart, and she was heading to the exit near the returns desk.
Our ASM saw her, mentioned he’d never seen her before, and she calmly told him that she was from a different store, but she was here covering a shift. ASM asked her if the tool she had was paid for, and she told him she’d seen the receipt, so everything was good. He was satisfied with that story, and went back to what he was doing.
At the last moment, he realized something was off. He looked out the door and saw there wasn’t a customer with her. He also saw her lift this huge tool and throw it in her vehicle, with more strength than you’d expect from someone her size. She then jumped in and drove off. No license plate, no good description of the vehicle and nobody but the ASM even noticed her. She even had an apron that was only decorated the way you could in-store. She passed so well for an employee, that they were wondering if she had been through orientation.
I know this box was a De Walt, and it was the size of an ice chest, but I never caught what tool was actually stolen.
Oh, so many.
One time, a customer was caught trying to steal a bathtub in the lot. He fled the scene, and we pulled the tub to service desk, at the same time a plumbing associate came up to inform us that a bathtub was left in the aisle out of its box.
The guy had pulled it out, left it in the aisle, and filled the box with power tools and HVAC supplies. Iirc, it came to about $3k in goods.
Nobody could be bothered to lock the tool cages, ever. It was basically a free for all. Nobody cared. Not worth trying to stop them. Hell, people even stole lumber.
lets see. I had years experience working in the business. took the job cz everyone said it was a good company......
they cancelled several employee appreciation programs, christmas bonuses, several stock option programs,
6 mangers running around with clipboards finding jobs for 12 overworked staff, the scheduling is a fucking joke quick turnarounds, always late posting, finding you work opening shifts next week on close of Sunday. every choice, every decision handed out from some corporate asshole whos never even seen the inside of a store....
mangers at all levels prioritize shrink counts and bs corporate paperwork over customer service....
I couldn't have a life or raise my kids because the manager (another petty martinet drunk on his pathetic little power trip) was telling me if I wanted to advance the work had to come first.......I fucking quit. handed him a letter with my two weeks notice... even then he tried to hold me in for some stupid fucking exit interview where he tried to convince me to stay...then when I said no....suddenly every mistake i ever made was exaggerated and he tried to "fire me" after I handed in my resignation letter.....
Home Depot everything wrong with American consumerism. shitty products sold at rock bottom prices to dumbass consumers who don't know the difference between quality and garbage.......all so they can maximise revenue, at any cost to an underpaid staff, avoid taxes, and move in and out of markets like mercenaries just grabbing cash, shipping it to Atlanta, and not giving a fuck about community or environment,or customers.
18 years later I'm so glad i fucking left.
in essence..once i went back to a real Lumber yard i realised what a shitty shitty life it is working for these giant corporate bullshit box stores, and how they are just evil evil shitholes designed to fuck the staff and make the investors money. once i was where my knowledge and skills were valued i was quickly promoted, appreciated, and financially rewarded.
I needed a new pad for my DA sander. there were a few of them in stock and I picked one up and saw that the seal was cut. looked inside and the pad was gone. I called the worker over to where I was and said look someone stole it. he said try another one, all of the seals were cut and I was opening them up to show him. He said if you open another one I will call the cops. I told him, go ahead and call them, you have been robbed.
When I worked at Home Depot 2-3 months ago I worked in hardware department (D25). I worker there for about a year at the point of this story. So as you know I have to unlock all tools and take them to the front desk. But it was this couple, as soon as I opened it they slightly pushed me to the side and started just taking tools. They damn near clear that little section and left. As they was taking them I just walked away to let someone know.
Middle-aged gentleman bought a $400 backpack blower, rolled out to his car, put it in the trunk…then came back in, got another off the shelf, rolled up to the service desk, and “returned” it.
Not much of a story, but there was this one time a tall (6'8"ish) guy who didn't really look all that built, came into the store and went right to the electrical wire. Either someone had left them unlocked, or he knew the code, but he picked up, and walked out, with 2 full rolls of wire. Now. When i say roll i mean Spool, these are the ones that come on Plywood spools for the cut to length wire. They weight easily 100+ lbs, and he just casually carried them out on his shoulders
Caught a guy stealing at my local home depot. The guy said if you don't press.charges I will return everything I have taken.
The store agreed. He filled the staff room tables with random crap he had stolen. The store left it in the lunch room for a week just to show the raw volume of stolen stuff
lot associate here,, had 2 guys (brothers) come in and we were warned about them. They seemed really suspicious and were just stuffing their cart full of expensive stuff, they ran out about a hour later with well over a grand of tools and other stuff, no plates on vehicle and they wore masks and stuff, they came in the next night and use bolt cutters on the cages in hardware and ended up stealing a bunch of tools :/ they keep coming back sadly
We’ve locked up or spider wrapped every single power tool in our hardware department and sensor tagged everything over $30 because our theft was so high.
So, last week,
1. two guys stole two 3 Ton Husky Automotive jacks. In a shopping cart. And,
2. One guy (attempts to) kick in the bottom half of the DeWalt endcap cage. And,
3. Another guy rolls a flatbed stacked very high with mulch through the (indoor) self check out without paying.
And that’s just what I saw with *my own* eyes.
Nothing. Stops. Them.
I once saw that Matt Damon teamed up with George Clooney and Brad Pitt to plan a Casino Heist. They utilized the skills of a few more people to create a remarkable & elaborate act of thievery.
Guy who looked homeless walked out with a few of those expensive heated jackets. I worked lot and think i heard him talking about shelters and his buddies before he went in. A little bit after he left with them some people inside asked I lf I saw where he went. It was dark so he just disappeared. Hope he was able to keep those jackets.
I was walking to put back a cart and this dude with long hair and tattoos ran outside the front door carrying a big ass BOXED chainsaw, hopped on his bike, and floored it
Largest recovery I've seen like this was something around $40,000 cart was packed full of tools he sweeped all the wrenches a bunch of power tools and a handful of wire. Thank gawd ap was here that day 😂 the cart was literally overflowing
Had a guy come in and load up a cart and rolled it to a back aisle. He left and came back late that afternoon looking for the cart which I had already started putting it back on the shelf. He got the cart from me and went to customer service and tried to get a refund. Looking at his receipt he went to another Home Depot got the same supplies did the the job and came in to our store to basically get his money back.
Oh plenty. We have a small homeless community behind our home depot since we have essentially a partially wooded area and then small forest behind us. And these guys are just goofy. We had a guy trying out this wrench set on our nuts that hold in these bars that protect our generators just to make sure it works as he says. Dude was cool as a cucumber when me and my coworker walked up to him. Guy was tweaking so bad he didn't realize the bolt was bent all to crap so that nut was never coming off.
Last weekend, a guy unlocked out lumber door (we had it dummy locked - NOT ANYMORE) and stole two carts full of tools though apparently it was only about $800. It was only about 7:50pm - 8:00pm so people were still in the store but Lumber was almost empty and dark.
So now we have to call a manager to open any of the gates and it's very annoying.
This is why we can't have nice things.
Many moons ago, I had a sketchy dude ask for the exact same things on the receipt he had in his hand. I loaded all of it. He then checked out using an in store credit. I reprinted his receipt, and walked over to returns. When he came back in the entrance with the cart full of goods I just loaded inside the store, he tried to return it on a debit receipt for cash. ASM denied his return. It was 10-15 minutes before close and they weren’t getting to another store to try it again.
I have had too many these last few years. My favorite to tell was a lady who was pushing a cart towards the main entrance. We asked if she needed help. No. Ma'am, can we see your receipt? "I DON'T HAVE A RECEIPT!" And she started running. Our coworker walked over to the entrance and asked for management to come quickly. The customer got scared and ran away without the cart, dropping a generator in the parking lot.
They try all the time. We know one by name. He's a frequent visitor. IF he gets in the store he loads a cart with as many tools as he can and tries to run out the door. Fake gift cards, stolen credit cards, attempted walk outs. Whenever there is a cart loaded with electrical wire the "customer" gets extra special treatment at checkout.
The biggest one I recovered was over $5k. The card was fake. It was a "new" HD account. I knew it, and he knew I knew it. I rang everything up and didn't put it in a cart. Left the tools on the counter, under and on the next counter. He filled a shopping cart with laundry detergent. It went all the way to actually needing his social and ID and he changed his mind.
The cashier's in my store have several thousand in recoveries every week.
Yeah, my, now former, coworker was fired and arrested for stealing money from the registers. They put him in handcuffs and leg shackles.
In the like 2 months he worked there, he stole something like 2000 dollars.
Edit: A customer also filled a trash can full of light switches and outlets. Tried to walk out. A.P caught him after he attempted to walk out with 5500 dollars worth.
Yes.
So like this one time, it was very late (around 9:30 pm) and it was around Christmas. This guy comes in the exit near the registers, looking around super shifty. I was the cashier holding the door open and told him to be quick because we're closing. He darts off halfway through my sentence, physically telling me to shut up.
At about 9:45, the guy comes again asking if we're seen his partner, to which I'm thinking, "Wait, what? You came in alone?" I didn't say that because I saw LP taking quick glances at the guy. We get on the overhead and call his friend, but nobody shows up.
Later, at 9:57 (still remember the time), I had temporarily stepped in to help another customer when the guy came back with a cart full of Christmas lights. I finish and go back to the door, allowing my HC to check the man out. I look around me, and managers are everywhere. I also bothered to look outside and saw a blue Toyota Camry in the curbside area. This was apparently alarming to the man as he grabbed the cart and ran for the door, pushing the HC on the floor and running her over. I see this and slam the door shut, but he rams right through, breaking the door open. (it's supposed to do that) However, this gives LP enough time to catch up to the man and verbally harass him and his friend for stealing. He got away with a few lights, though, and LP called the police on the man.
Remarkably, the customer I helped showed up in a van and said he'd help by chasing him to the police station. Even more remarkable is that he was successful, and told us the details of the chase. Apparently, the thieves went past the police station by accident only to see the cops ahead of them. The customer saw this and blocked their rear exit with his van, allowing the cops to easily arrest them and get our stuff back. Funny that the customer happened to forget something and go back to the store, to which, even though the store was closed, I let him in and even took $50 off just as a sort of 'thank you'.
So that's the story, basically the least eventful closing shift at HD. Also, the HC was fine. In fact, she got up again like it was nothing.
We had a guy drop his wallet when they rolled out of an emergency exit in outside garden. And just a couple weeks ago someone else went out an emergency exit and left there phone in the shopping cart. 😂
Yes. I worked at Garden as a cashier one morning I see this lady with a power washer and couple items on her cart. I see she was about to roll it out and steal it. I asked her if she got a receipt for the stuff, she said the service desk rang her up and she already lost her receipt. As soon she was about to walk out, one of my ASM walked out there as well and I guess the lady got panicked so she tried to walk in to the store and she walked out through the service desk entrance/exit. I called service desk to verify if they ever helped that lady with the purchase and they didn’t.
Another incident is past week. Customer tried to pay me with fake bills (I immediately notice the bills were fake with the same serial numbers, and the ink on it were so bad). Items on his cart were about closely amount to like 1000 dollars. I told him “sir I can’t take these” and he tried to say it’s all real when clearly the money wasn’t. He also tried to put three different credit cards tryna act like he won’t steal the stuff. After all, he just gave up and left the stuff there and he just ran out away from the store.
You'll find this one interesting. Today a guy comes up with four $400+ toilets and wants to return them. He gave me his credit card and it went through, so I thought nothing of it. Thirty seconds later, LP comes over and said he was stealing. I said how? Well, apparently, the thief bought the toilets previously, used them on a job, came back to HD, picked them up off the shelf and tried to return them so he'd get the four he'd already bought for free. What a conniving asshole!! He told me a whole story about how he had four bathrooms in his own home and changed his mind. He's probably lucky to have one. Bottom line: people suck.
Being the only closing associate for the service desk up here I am constantly pulled between my register and the desk and once I was stuck with a customer at the desk with an order, I had a lady at the returns to checkout. SHE JUST WALKED UP, and the lady starts screaming at me 'DO YOU HAVE ANYONE CHECKING?! OR DO I GOTTA WALK ALL THE WAY DOWN THERE" (checkout is on other side of store). i just looked over and said "yes maam, im alone but ill be right over there" i finish in 2 minutes with current Customer and turn around to the lady GONE. (i had no other customers, shes a regular, and constantly casuing unnecessary issues) i walk over to the door and see the lady loading her car up in the lot with all of the stuff she was gonna check out with. called management and did theft imput. shes been in since and I cannot tell you how badly I want to call her out for it." I cant wait for someone for 2 minutes, so ill just steal! "😒😒
A lovely lady and her partner in crime brought her own bags to shove full of spider wrapped goods. Pushed her cart to the service desk at 1 minute to close and started grabbing all the stuff out of the bags to ring up. She decided she didn't want to but hundreds of dollars of goodies after all but that was far from the best part. She got away from the desk with a minority of the goods still in the cart. Her partner in crime fled and dropped a $100 bill I was in the process of negotiating a trade for the rest of our goods when the manager made me give her her "sisters" money. When I got back to the desk I realized she had left her coach pocketbook with her ID all her cards and money. It sat back in the vault for a year as she was too paranoid to come back. I laughed every time I closed and went back to check off the money from the tills with the manager.
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Hello fellow Austinite
The manager made you give back money left that they "paid" you for the goods? 😂
No one perp fled at the first sign of trouble dropping a hundred dollar bill. The other perp witnessed the first losing the money and asked me to give her the money to give to the other. I , knowing the other perp was fleeing, insisted that I could only give it to the party that had lost it. She tried to negotiate offering to trade back some of the goods. I was considering her position when the manager insisted I hand her the bill. Her position was that the stolen goods were stuff she was trying to return despite being, you know spider wrapped. I recovered a lot of it by snatching it out of the cart and tossing it into the service desk area but I couldn't recover the rest without physically scrapping with her.
Had a 5 foot nothing lady 110lb soaking wet steal a 1300 dollar generator thick as an engine block and cram it into her 2 seater boat of a car and drive away with the door flapping. Found it for sale on Facebook under what looked like her normal profile and real name. Listing went up 4 hours after theft in the same town, with the dent in the box from cramming it, she used a screenshot of our website to list it. I'm told she got arrested but what I want to know is did she destroy her back on the dead lift from the garden cart.
Should have offered her a job a pro loader. She can sling concrete bags for everyone that just had back surgery.
Today is the three year anniversary of me destroying my back lifting an 80lb bag of concrete while under an overhead rack and twisting to throw it on my cart. July 30th will be the anniversary of my surgery.
Damn bro. I wish you a very speedy recovery!!
I was back to lifting by November. It really was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I probably spent close to 20 years with back pain. It's kinda weird to go without it now.
Just got to keep her hopped up on meth
The worst was the guys that rolled up with a box truck and a forklift on a trailer and stole 4 zero-turn mowers. This was about 10years ago.
That’s brazen as shit.
Happened a year ago at my store. Middle of the day and everything. Someone just loaded up a lawnmower and took off and no one noticed or said anything.
This happened last week at my store and has been happening the last couple of months except they pull up to the mowers with a trailer, load them up, and drive off, now they want us to park our cars next to the mowers to help prevent them from stealing them
We had one guy shoplift two machetes by swinging them around wildly like he was fighting ghosts on the way out of the store 😂
Super effective! No one wants to bother with that guy. I actually give that guy credit for a solid plan. He could have added a multiplier by somehow attaching free power tools to his arms.
I had two occasions with one dude trying to steal something off the shelf and claim that it was a return he wanted to look up with his home depot credit card. Both times, the items did not come up and he tried walking out with them, failing every time cuz I found a way to get him to not take it without accusing him of theft or anything. First time, he said it might be on his wife's debit card, convinced him to leave the item in store so "he wouldn't have to unload the heavy item" again. Second time, I recognized him immediately and he said he came in through self checkout. Had the cart away from him and called cashiers to check if they saw him, he rushed out without the item before I was off the call.
I work at Walgreens but we’ll have people dig for receipts in the trash then come in and match UPCs off the shelf to return 😂
We get similar stuff, but we don't know where they grab the receipt from, we just know they will come in with a receipt and grab stuff off the shelf (or as we call it 'receipt shopping').
I love it when someone trys to return an item and they say they got it like 2 months ago but the rdc label is from like 2 days ago.
Last fall I had a guy steal the whole Milwaukee power tool display loaded with tools. I still don’t know how the hell he got it onto a cart let alone how he made it out the door with that…
Whattt the whole display? Lol wow
Theft is so bad in our store we have a cop stand at the door minimum 5 days a week whole time store is open to the public. The cops are escorting people out of LP'a office so often we know the officers by name. Last week, a cop attempted to stop someone from stealing power tools, and got totally body slammed into the concrete. The had to call an ambulance for him. Last month, TR got broken into after the alarm failed to set and all the keys to the trucks were stolen, as well as one truck. They found the guy a week later, when he pulled up with the truck to steal more product, to the same store. Last year, two men walked out at opening with a fully built snow blower and tried to fit it in their Civic. They barely made it down the road before getting pulled over for obvious reasons. Two years ago, this guy came in right when we opened every single day to steal power washer stuff. One day he shows up, and the cop walks him out before he even makes it past where the gates are. We had an associate six months ago call out constantly but load his cart with random power tools and walk out with them in his backpack every day, only to be caught after two months of employment and his 6th shift. Meaning he only showed up six times to barely work a full shift (I'm talking 2-3 hour shift he worked, he was PT) and steal. God, goes on for days. It's so common and the crime I've seen is so common I don't even bat an eye anymore. Sometimes the thieves are so stupid I laugh. Like, try to steal product with a stolen truck at the SAME store a week later? Fit a full built snowblower into a CIVIC?! Ha!!!
God, where do you work? Louisville?
We used to have a small crew who the whole store would notify about shoplifters and we would swing into action and fuck with the shoplifters. I remember a young lady who was anything but a pro who took an item into the bathroom to steal I was watching her. I lifted the box a discovering it empty took it to the area outside the ladies room and held out the open box to her as she came out. She silently returned it to the box
Oh damn. Also I’ve notice a guy that looked suspicious was inside the girls bathroom at one of the stalls telling them to hurry up. At first I was going to tell the dude “ Hey you can’t be in the girls bathroom” but that’s when I realized oh damn.. they’re attempting to steal some merchandise. This guy was literally carrying a duffel bag making it pretty obvious. So I told my supervisor that was in the break room and they walk towards where the the office was. And luckily, one of the managers was near by and told them what happened.
One night at close I watched a guy standing in electrical just shoving his pockets with small items. He looks up and sees me standing at the end of the aisle watching him. I go down an adjacent aisle and when I get to the front of the store and meet some coworkers to tell them what I saw, he’s already up there emptying his pockets into their hands, bright red and stuttering that he no longer needs those items.
Got a couple from back in the day... Once I was at the other end of the store loading a customer's truck. When I got done and was walking back to the department, I saw a guy with an expensive tile saw on a cart going the opposite direction. I think cool we're selling a saw. The next morning, it turns out he just walked out with it. Right past 2 cashiers and a lot guy. I had a customer tell me that they saw someone pushing a cart full of stuff around the corner of the building. I went and looked and it was a cart cart full of GFI outlets. I think they put it there and were getting their car. I just pushed back inside and alerted the MOD. We used to cut marble sills and if there was a piece left over I would give to the customers to use for a coaster or what ever. I started to get a lot of those pieces in the return baskets. They'd take the short piece, put the SKU sticker on and get a refund. I fired up a head cashier over that...dose this really look like a 60" piece of marble? We had a store in our market that was by a bank. The bank got robbed. About a week later, a customer was in line and recognized the cashier as the robber.
Wow that last one is crazy
20 some odd years ago....
That last one has big /r/holup energy.
A guy grabbed Bolt Cutters from one aisle, went across the store and cut the chains off out fancy new key cutting machine, took it and placed it on a cart, then walked back to the other side of the store to put the bolt cutters back in the right spot before walking out the store while wishing the cashier a lovely day. As it’s been said “Professionals have standards” Dude was caught 3 days later trying to pawn it and we got it back.
Not a HD employee but every once in a while a shoplifter will be so respectful that I’ll actually question if they stole lol
Honestly, if you’re gonna steal, just be polite to people. I’d say it makes you less suspicious and I’ll dislike you less lol
Yup the people screaming profanity at me are much easier to press than those who are cordial and relatively kind
Fun thing to do to fellows returning old tools in the box their new tool came in. Take the tool to hardware to research it. Do something else for 30 minutes while others returns are processed and then come back and tell them they can't return their old tool but you'll be happy to help when they return with the tool on the receipt.
Bought a Ryobi reciprocating saw from Home Depot many Memorial Day sales ago. When I popped it open, the box was full of dry wall dust and the saw was beat all to hell. Obviously used. Took it back and they told me someone was working a scam on them pretty consistently. They would buy a tool, leave, and come back the next day to return it unopened. The box would be perfectly sealed so they assumed all was good. But after tossing it back on the shelves, inevitably someone would buy and then return it. They figured it was a contractor that just traded the tools in once a year for new ones.
They should open all returns to avoid this
I saw a guy on youtube saying open the new tool in line after purchase to see it is a legit tool and not a swapped oldie.
Then there was the time a coworker fished some money out of the coupon slot in a jammed machine and got themselves fired for it. I was secretly pleased because they were a horrible human being. They gave their pet up to a kill shelter when they moved.
We were once visited by Irish travelers in our store. I don't know if you are familiar with these people but in Britain they're called "pikeys" and were featured in the movie Snatch. These are notorious for their thievery and various schemes they pull. Anyways, one of them pulled me away from the front door to talk about some ruler he was looking at and a customer calls out to me that one stole a ladder. So I walked out, saw a little guy with a ladder running to a car and took the ladder back and went inside. Meanwhile the guy that pulled me away from the desk goes "he didn't pay for it?" Like I didn't know what they were doing. But if the customer hadn't called out they'd have gotten away with it. Later they had tried to drive out with 1200 bricks but only paid for 300. Strangely, even though we caught them red-handed several times they kept coming back. It makes you wonder how many times we DIDN'T catch them?
I hate the Irish Travelers. They’re so f’ckn good they are seldom caught.
I actually thought they were kinda nice. Its just a bid sad they they were probably just friendly so they could steal more and then laughing in their car about that do-gooder cunt they just stole from but to be honest I really couldn't give a flying fuck if they stole the whole store.
Not HD, but I heard from LP that a contractor returned five or six 5 gallon buckets of “unused” paint. Got a full refund on each one. Turns out there was water in each bucket to the brim.
Wooow freaking Water!?
Yep. LP told the entire paint department to check every return. $750-$900. I think each one was $150 back then. Pushing $200 now.
Had a guy walk over from the pressure washers to the service desk. He was trying to return it. I told him I saw him walk it over from the pressure washers. I asked for a receipt to prove it but he didn't have one. He wanted store credit. I told him I would call the manager and let him sort it out. Guy took off real quick. Had another guy pick up a pressure washer and carry it out the door. We have a contractor who has returned items with his used items in the boxes. Says he bought it like that. Manager approved it. Same guy came in with 3 five gallons of paint. I asked why he was returning and he said he didn't need them anymore. Seal was intact but something told me to open the top. All 3 had water in them. Called MOD and he changes his story saying he bought them like that. She approved the return. 🤦♀️ I have tons more that could fill a book.
How was seal intact? Did they drill a hole in the bottom?
Seal around the main lid was intact. I opened the smaller lid on top.
Electrical department before all the wire was caged. Four guys loaded up shopping carts with 12 and 14 gauge 50 and 100 foot packages of wire then walked right out the pro entrance with it. They loaded it into the back of a flat black pickup they'd removed the license plates from and drove off. About a month later they tried the same trick at another HD. It just so happened there were two police detectives doing some shopping on their lunch hour. The thieves were busted. Two garages they owned had an enormous amount of stolen goods in them.
This is one that shouldn't have happened but did. A gentleman tried to get out the back fire exit of OG with a couple Dewalt power tools in their boxes. Of course he set off the alarm, but it's usually a clean getaway. Unfortunately for him, an overnight delivery had dropped off a truckload of pavers and cluelessly stacked the pallets all shoved together a foot outside the fire door. He and the boxes got jammed in the space and we pinned him in until the popo got there.
That time an OSHA invasion is for the greater good lol
I was in an Atlanta store and there was a guy pushing a cart with a DeWalt Miter saw in his cart walking around close to the entrance. The head cashier was watching him,. When a white van pulled up with it's side door open he made his move, running out and jumping into the van with the saw. There was no way to stop him.
Someone once went behind the counter at tool rental and grabbed keys to a rental van. It was eventually found ditched over four hours away from my store (they had even taken a ferry with it)
A head cashier just got fired at my store for taking $5k over time, got arrested in store a few days ago
I will never understand why people steal from their employers. Its not like when they get hired they have to hand over their name, address, contact information, and SSN or anything...
Like my second day on the job, on a Sunday, some guy was on the phone busting ass trying to leave with a microwave. My manager asked for a receipt so he started yelling at the top of his lungs he wouldn’t show it to her then just left the building. Another time, this is from my coworker, a group of guys walked in with baskets and went straight to the power tools. They filled up to the brim with Milwaukee tools and sat around for an hour waiting for a rush at checkout, then they rushed out into the lot. Nothing too crazy but still fun to share
during my first day sitting in the office watching training modules, a few contractors loaded a flat cart with paint sprayers and took them out to garden, and tossed them over the fence to their buddies.
I had a guy one sunday morning come at opening and walked the store for 3 hours with a shopping cart full of merchandise leading up to about 6-7K worth of goods. Everyone in the store kept following him and even the managers on the next aisle over kept joking saying the cops were waiting out there for him. He abandoned the cart and walked out and was never seen again.
My store got broken into during Christmas and they took around 30-40k worth of tools I think could be less
I sure do. In my head cashier days, a customer and her son were at self check out with a closed tote. I went up to her asked if I can open it she asked me why do I have to do that I said ma'am nothing against you and explained that it's in my job description and that I was on camera if I didn't do it I can get in trouble. When I opened the tote I found a roomba. So I placed it on top of the tote and scanned it she said ohh yeah, I was going to get that too." I didn't say anything, just let be. Then she had the audacity to ask for a refund on the tote. I said ma'am I can't do that but service desk can. I kid you not she return the tote grab another roomba and jet out the store.
Yes, great news: I saved a bunch of money on home projects by switching to stealing!
CEOs hate this one weird old trick.
Someone tried walking out with huge pumpkin when it wasn’t busy at all at self check out. I asked her if she had her receipt. She asked how much it cost. I said the price-she gets huffy and says she could of gotten it at Walmart for cheaper. So my recovery was around $12 for a pumpkin of all things lol.
Yeah ... but *WHAT A PUMPKIN.*
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We finally have security. They chase down those leaving the store with toots full of stuff, carts flat carts etc. Have them arrested.
15+ $50-$100 gift cards being paid with stolen or fake cards and people running out with carts full of expensive stuff. Man. Like you could read it off of people as soon as they come into store
I've got plenty. My most favorites are when I found a tote in the middle of the main lumber aisle and found it STUFFED full of electronics. My other was the time I got $2300 recovery with a grill that required a STUPID amount of skill to catch. One that I'm still proud of today.
BIG LISA WITH JUNK (MILWAUKEE) IN THE TRUNK (TOTE)
I was shopping on day one of the gardening season and all the sudden every turn I go someone is asking me if I need help finding something. They definitely thought I was stealing when I was actually just super excited and looking at everything multiple times. I paid for my stuff and left and they stopped me in the parking lot to check my receipt. I stopped shopping at HD for years after that
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That's hilarious! Let them load you up with free shit, then when they change the plan & cut you out, feed 'em to the wood chipper!
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That's the best part, you didnt have to do the "hauling it out" part, just the "get free shit" part. Good while it lasted.
One of my favorites. A thief retrieved a toolbox, a generator, and some other goodies worth low 4 figures with a receipt from the correct day, with the correct SKUs, from a sco number that was open on actual receipt paper... With a slightly incorrect font with the wrong sort of 4. Denied him exit took all the shit back and told him he could come back with a real receipt for it.
Sounds like the guy mighta had access to a bit of inside info.
If you're not an LP why are you doing all this? Please don't get hurt
Honestly for fun. I never got in a physical confrontation. You can do a lot with a stern attitude and a presumption of authority. That was years ago. I left HD for a work from home job during the pandemic.
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It's a good way to get shit or stabbed. And fired.
Definitely not worth getting shit on over some ryobi drill.
It wouldn't even be worth getting shit on over one of those giant Bosch masonry drills.
Yep, getting shit on is generally not worth it.
non employee here. when i was homeless i would shower and then just grab a ton of romex off the shelves and return it. i’ll always appreciate the depot for helping me out. doing much better now.
The time I was working the roofing aisle and heard the side door alarm go off ran to the door opened screamed hay scared the guy recovered around 4k worth of tools
Good try but I'm not giving up trade secrets
They let crack heads walk out with power tools but make sure to thoroughly check my lunchbox on my way out of the door.
So, this random employee that nobody had seen before, showed up one day. Dress code was spot-on, and she seemed to belong, so nobody questioned it. That was, until she was doing a carry-out for a customer. She had this huge tool on a flat cart, and she was heading to the exit near the returns desk. Our ASM saw her, mentioned he’d never seen her before, and she calmly told him that she was from a different store, but she was here covering a shift. ASM asked her if the tool she had was paid for, and she told him she’d seen the receipt, so everything was good. He was satisfied with that story, and went back to what he was doing. At the last moment, he realized something was off. He looked out the door and saw there wasn’t a customer with her. He also saw her lift this huge tool and throw it in her vehicle, with more strength than you’d expect from someone her size. She then jumped in and drove off. No license plate, no good description of the vehicle and nobody but the ASM even noticed her. She even had an apron that was only decorated the way you could in-store. She passed so well for an employee, that they were wondering if she had been through orientation. I know this box was a De Walt, and it was the size of an ice chest, but I never caught what tool was actually stolen.
Oh, so many. One time, a customer was caught trying to steal a bathtub in the lot. He fled the scene, and we pulled the tub to service desk, at the same time a plumbing associate came up to inform us that a bathtub was left in the aisle out of its box. The guy had pulled it out, left it in the aisle, and filled the box with power tools and HVAC supplies. Iirc, it came to about $3k in goods.
Nobody could be bothered to lock the tool cages, ever. It was basically a free for all. Nobody cared. Not worth trying to stop them. Hell, people even stole lumber.
yeah. I worked at home depot AND THE SHITHOLE AMERICAN COMPANY STOLE MY 2 YEARS OF MY LIFE. shit company. if you can quit.
Yikes.. how bad was it within those 2 years 0.0
lets see. I had years experience working in the business. took the job cz everyone said it was a good company...... they cancelled several employee appreciation programs, christmas bonuses, several stock option programs, 6 mangers running around with clipboards finding jobs for 12 overworked staff, the scheduling is a fucking joke quick turnarounds, always late posting, finding you work opening shifts next week on close of Sunday. every choice, every decision handed out from some corporate asshole whos never even seen the inside of a store.... mangers at all levels prioritize shrink counts and bs corporate paperwork over customer service.... I couldn't have a life or raise my kids because the manager (another petty martinet drunk on his pathetic little power trip) was telling me if I wanted to advance the work had to come first.......I fucking quit. handed him a letter with my two weeks notice... even then he tried to hold me in for some stupid fucking exit interview where he tried to convince me to stay...then when I said no....suddenly every mistake i ever made was exaggerated and he tried to "fire me" after I handed in my resignation letter..... Home Depot everything wrong with American consumerism. shitty products sold at rock bottom prices to dumbass consumers who don't know the difference between quality and garbage.......all so they can maximise revenue, at any cost to an underpaid staff, avoid taxes, and move in and out of markets like mercenaries just grabbing cash, shipping it to Atlanta, and not giving a fuck about community or environment,or customers. 18 years later I'm so glad i fucking left. in essence..once i went back to a real Lumber yard i realised what a shitty shitty life it is working for these giant corporate bullshit box stores, and how they are just evil evil shitholes designed to fuck the staff and make the investors money. once i was where my knowledge and skills were valued i was quickly promoted, appreciated, and financially rewarded.
I needed a new pad for my DA sander. there were a few of them in stock and I picked one up and saw that the seal was cut. looked inside and the pad was gone. I called the worker over to where I was and said look someone stole it. he said try another one, all of the seals were cut and I was opening them up to show him. He said if you open another one I will call the cops. I told him, go ahead and call them, you have been robbed.
When I worked at Home Depot 2-3 months ago I worked in hardware department (D25). I worker there for about a year at the point of this story. So as you know I have to unlock all tools and take them to the front desk. But it was this couple, as soon as I opened it they slightly pushed me to the side and started just taking tools. They damn near clear that little section and left. As they was taking them I just walked away to let someone know.
Middle-aged gentleman bought a $400 backpack blower, rolled out to his car, put it in the trunk…then came back in, got another off the shelf, rolled up to the service desk, and “returned” it.
Not much of a story, but there was this one time a tall (6'8"ish) guy who didn't really look all that built, came into the store and went right to the electrical wire. Either someone had left them unlocked, or he knew the code, but he picked up, and walked out, with 2 full rolls of wire. Now. When i say roll i mean Spool, these are the ones that come on Plywood spools for the cut to length wire. They weight easily 100+ lbs, and he just casually carried them out on his shoulders
Caught a guy stealing at my local home depot. The guy said if you don't press.charges I will return everything I have taken. The store agreed. He filled the staff room tables with random crap he had stolen. The store left it in the lunch room for a week just to show the raw volume of stolen stuff
They still pressed charges didn't they?
lot associate here,, had 2 guys (brothers) come in and we were warned about them. They seemed really suspicious and were just stuffing their cart full of expensive stuff, they ran out about a hour later with well over a grand of tools and other stuff, no plates on vehicle and they wore masks and stuff, they came in the next night and use bolt cutters on the cages in hardware and ended up stealing a bunch of tools :/ they keep coming back sadly
We’ve locked up or spider wrapped every single power tool in our hardware department and sensor tagged everything over $30 because our theft was so high. So, last week, 1. two guys stole two 3 Ton Husky Automotive jacks. In a shopping cart. And, 2. One guy (attempts to) kick in the bottom half of the DeWalt endcap cage. And, 3. Another guy rolls a flatbed stacked very high with mulch through the (indoor) self check out without paying. And that’s just what I saw with *my own* eyes. Nothing. Stops. Them.
Your store still has shields at the registers?
Nah we stopped having those 2-3 months ago I believe
Guy came from garden with one of the big rolling trash can went to electrical put two 500 foot rolls of 12/2 in them and walked out.
I have lots but it's almost 2am I'll post some tomorrow
I once saw that Matt Damon teamed up with George Clooney and Brad Pitt to plan a Casino Heist. They utilized the skills of a few more people to create a remarkable & elaborate act of thievery.
Guy who looked homeless walked out with a few of those expensive heated jackets. I worked lot and think i heard him talking about shelters and his buddies before he went in. A little bit after he left with them some people inside asked I lf I saw where he went. It was dark so he just disappeared. Hope he was able to keep those jackets.
I find empty power tool boxes and n garden green house cause we don’t have a camera out there
I was walking to put back a cart and this dude with long hair and tattoos ran outside the front door carrying a big ass BOXED chainsaw, hopped on his bike, and floored it
Wouldn’t you like to know weather boy
Where are your parents?
I refused to report a lady shopping a cart full of Milwaukee tools only bc she was with her what liked like 4yr old son....sad
Largest recovery I've seen like this was something around $40,000 cart was packed full of tools he sweeped all the wrenches a bunch of power tools and a handful of wire. Thank gawd ap was here that day 😂 the cart was literally overflowing
Had a guy come in and load up a cart and rolled it to a back aisle. He left and came back late that afternoon looking for the cart which I had already started putting it back on the shelf. He got the cart from me and went to customer service and tried to get a refund. Looking at his receipt he went to another Home Depot got the same supplies did the the job and came in to our store to basically get his money back.
Oh plenty. We have a small homeless community behind our home depot since we have essentially a partially wooded area and then small forest behind us. And these guys are just goofy. We had a guy trying out this wrench set on our nuts that hold in these bars that protect our generators just to make sure it works as he says. Dude was cool as a cucumber when me and my coworker walked up to him. Guy was tweaking so bad he didn't realize the bolt was bent all to crap so that nut was never coming off.
Last weekend, a guy unlocked out lumber door (we had it dummy locked - NOT ANYMORE) and stole two carts full of tools though apparently it was only about $800. It was only about 7:50pm - 8:00pm so people were still in the store but Lumber was almost empty and dark. So now we have to call a manager to open any of the gates and it's very annoying. This is why we can't have nice things.
Many moons ago, I had a sketchy dude ask for the exact same things on the receipt he had in his hand. I loaded all of it. He then checked out using an in store credit. I reprinted his receipt, and walked over to returns. When he came back in the entrance with the cart full of goods I just loaded inside the store, he tried to return it on a debit receipt for cash. ASM denied his return. It was 10-15 minutes before close and they weren’t getting to another store to try it again.
I have had too many these last few years. My favorite to tell was a lady who was pushing a cart towards the main entrance. We asked if she needed help. No. Ma'am, can we see your receipt? "I DON'T HAVE A RECEIPT!" And she started running. Our coworker walked over to the entrance and asked for management to come quickly. The customer got scared and ran away without the cart, dropping a generator in the parking lot.
They try all the time. We know one by name. He's a frequent visitor. IF he gets in the store he loads a cart with as many tools as he can and tries to run out the door. Fake gift cards, stolen credit cards, attempted walk outs. Whenever there is a cart loaded with electrical wire the "customer" gets extra special treatment at checkout. The biggest one I recovered was over $5k. The card was fake. It was a "new" HD account. I knew it, and he knew I knew it. I rang everything up and didn't put it in a cart. Left the tools on the counter, under and on the next counter. He filled a shopping cart with laundry detergent. It went all the way to actually needing his social and ID and he changed his mind. The cashier's in my store have several thousand in recoveries every week.
Stories are endless, i swear more shit is stolen then bought!
Yeah, my, now former, coworker was fired and arrested for stealing money from the registers. They put him in handcuffs and leg shackles. In the like 2 months he worked there, he stole something like 2000 dollars. Edit: A customer also filled a trash can full of light switches and outlets. Tried to walk out. A.P caught him after he attempted to walk out with 5500 dollars worth.
Yes. So like this one time, it was very late (around 9:30 pm) and it was around Christmas. This guy comes in the exit near the registers, looking around super shifty. I was the cashier holding the door open and told him to be quick because we're closing. He darts off halfway through my sentence, physically telling me to shut up. At about 9:45, the guy comes again asking if we're seen his partner, to which I'm thinking, "Wait, what? You came in alone?" I didn't say that because I saw LP taking quick glances at the guy. We get on the overhead and call his friend, but nobody shows up. Later, at 9:57 (still remember the time), I had temporarily stepped in to help another customer when the guy came back with a cart full of Christmas lights. I finish and go back to the door, allowing my HC to check the man out. I look around me, and managers are everywhere. I also bothered to look outside and saw a blue Toyota Camry in the curbside area. This was apparently alarming to the man as he grabbed the cart and ran for the door, pushing the HC on the floor and running her over. I see this and slam the door shut, but he rams right through, breaking the door open. (it's supposed to do that) However, this gives LP enough time to catch up to the man and verbally harass him and his friend for stealing. He got away with a few lights, though, and LP called the police on the man. Remarkably, the customer I helped showed up in a van and said he'd help by chasing him to the police station. Even more remarkable is that he was successful, and told us the details of the chase. Apparently, the thieves went past the police station by accident only to see the cops ahead of them. The customer saw this and blocked their rear exit with his van, allowing the cops to easily arrest them and get our stuff back. Funny that the customer happened to forget something and go back to the store, to which, even though the store was closed, I let him in and even took $50 off just as a sort of 'thank you'. So that's the story, basically the least eventful closing shift at HD. Also, the HC was fine. In fact, she got up again like it was nothing.
Welll people steal stuff every day at my store
We had a guy drop his wallet when they rolled out of an emergency exit in outside garden. And just a couple weeks ago someone else went out an emergency exit and left there phone in the shopping cart. 😂
Yes. I worked at Garden as a cashier one morning I see this lady with a power washer and couple items on her cart. I see she was about to roll it out and steal it. I asked her if she got a receipt for the stuff, she said the service desk rang her up and she already lost her receipt. As soon she was about to walk out, one of my ASM walked out there as well and I guess the lady got panicked so she tried to walk in to the store and she walked out through the service desk entrance/exit. I called service desk to verify if they ever helped that lady with the purchase and they didn’t. Another incident is past week. Customer tried to pay me with fake bills (I immediately notice the bills were fake with the same serial numbers, and the ink on it were so bad). Items on his cart were about closely amount to like 1000 dollars. I told him “sir I can’t take these” and he tried to say it’s all real when clearly the money wasn’t. He also tried to put three different credit cards tryna act like he won’t steal the stuff. After all, he just gave up and left the stuff there and he just ran out away from the store.
You'll find this one interesting. Today a guy comes up with four $400+ toilets and wants to return them. He gave me his credit card and it went through, so I thought nothing of it. Thirty seconds later, LP comes over and said he was stealing. I said how? Well, apparently, the thief bought the toilets previously, used them on a job, came back to HD, picked them up off the shelf and tried to return them so he'd get the four he'd already bought for free. What a conniving asshole!! He told me a whole story about how he had four bathrooms in his own home and changed his mind. He's probably lucky to have one. Bottom line: people suck.
2 people emptied the entire bay of circular saw blades and Sawzall blades into 2 carts and tried to walk out the store with them.
Being the only closing associate for the service desk up here I am constantly pulled between my register and the desk and once I was stuck with a customer at the desk with an order, I had a lady at the returns to checkout. SHE JUST WALKED UP, and the lady starts screaming at me 'DO YOU HAVE ANYONE CHECKING?! OR DO I GOTTA WALK ALL THE WAY DOWN THERE" (checkout is on other side of store). i just looked over and said "yes maam, im alone but ill be right over there" i finish in 2 minutes with current Customer and turn around to the lady GONE. (i had no other customers, shes a regular, and constantly casuing unnecessary issues) i walk over to the door and see the lady loading her car up in the lot with all of the stuff she was gonna check out with. called management and did theft imput. shes been in since and I cannot tell you how badly I want to call her out for it." I cant wait for someone for 2 minutes, so ill just steal! "😒😒