What is your pet peeve of the day? -- 2021

[jollystomper]

Honestly, I can see locking up $30 wrinkle cream, but a $3 bottle of shave balm??!! I left without any.

Sadly, personal care products are among the items most frequently shoplifted. That $3 bottle of shave balm can still yield a $2-$3 "profit" for someone to who steals it and sells it elsewhere. Many shoplifters go for that smaller stuff because they think it is easier to steal and the store will not make that much fuss about a small item if they are caught.

 

[Koolau]

Kinda sad that local businesses must bear all the downside of shop lifting (losing business to Amazon due to locked merch plus the actual losses of merch). Probably a bad idea to decriminalize shoplifting.

In her store, DW had a sign professionally painted with flowered border and beautiful script: "Shoplifters will be cheerfully beaten to a pulp." I don't know if it was the sign or the relatively less-desirable-for-street-resale-potential of her merch but she had very little shoplifting.

 

[pacergal]

Two cars pull up to a light. The car on the left has to wait, but they pull up too far, all the way into the crosswalk blocking the vision of my car who is OK to turn right on red.

ugh, we have a particularly awful intersection where this happens all the time, there is no benefit for them to pull up closer, so why?

 

[Koolau]

ugh, we have a particularly awful intersection where this happens all the time, there is no benefit for them to pull up closer, so why?

Same reason when I'm lagging toward a red light (slowing because, hey, it's red, stupid) some yahoo is sure to blast around me (under power) so that he can be first at the red light. I've decided that people really believe that whoever gets to the light first gets to his final destination faster. Of course, they are probably right. They'll always be at least one car length ahead of me!

 

[Aerides]

Sadly, personal care products are among the items most frequently shoplifted. That $3 bottle of shave balm can still yield a $2-$3 "profit" for someone to who steals it and sells it elsewhere. Many shoplifters go for that smaller stuff because they think it is easier to steal and the store will not make that much fuss about a small item if they are caught.

Walgreens has already had to admit they have lost revenue with this practice. Perhaps an increase in shrinkage is overridden by the loss is sales? (penny-wise, pound-foolish, etc.)

I won't even shop in a store where I have to hunt down a salesperson to unlock the dressing room, let alone unlock a cage. There are also plenty of examples of discrimination in the types of products they decide to lock up vs. not, and it's NOT just price and size.

Either way, if you're going to treat me like a thief before I can even put something in my cart, you don't want my business. Almost all of these anti-theft measures could be counteracted with better staffing.

 

[folivier]

And sometimes they'll take turns pulling up a couple feet each time to continue blocking the other.

 

[Koolau]

Walgreens has already had to admit they have lost revenue with this practice. Perhaps an increase in shrinkage is overridden by the loss is sales? (penny-wise, pound-foolish, etc.)

I won't even shop in a store where I have to hunt down a salesperson to unlock the dressing room, let alone unlock a cage. There are also plenty of examples of discrimination in the types of products they decide to lock up vs. not, and it's NOT just price and size.

Either way, if you're going to treat me like a thief before I can even put something in my cart, you don't want my business. Almost all of these anti-theft measures could be counteracted with better staffing.

I reserve my anger for the folks who actually cause the problem - those who refuse to enforce laws/dilute the laws.

I've heard the argument that such crimes are so "petty" that they don't deserve the efforts of law enforcement. Look at the consequences. Is that NOT worth the effort?

End of rant, well, for now.

 

[folivier]

Koolau I agree. If "petty" crimes are allowed it sends the message that larger crimes are ok. Won't bring politics into this but IYKYK.

 

[razztazz]

Wasn't this kind of retail shrinkage in the news a lot about 4 or 5 yrs ago? And about a year later it came out that it was all hot air or greatly exaggerated? There really was no surge in thefts happening after all? I could swear that was a thing......?

 

[Koolau]

Wasn't this kind of retail shrinkage in the news a lot about 4 or 5 yrs ago? And about a year later it came out that it was all hot air or greatly exaggerated? There really was no surge in thefts happening after all? I could swear that was a thing......?

What I saw on the news was roving gangs of shoplifters overwhelming store security and employees and carrying out armfuls of merch. Not sure I'd refer to that as shrinkage but YMMV.

The cost to a store to put in the antitheft shielding and the cost because exasperated customers give up and walk out would not be justified by "shrinkage." Store owners do what they believe to be in their best interest and the "cure" for shoplifting is likely worth it. The other option is (wait for it) close the doors and go out of business. A lot of that has happened too.

 

[jollystomper]

Wasn't this kind of retail shrinkage in the news a lot about 4 or 5 yrs ago? And about a year later it came out that it was all hot air or greatly exaggerated? There really was no surge in thefts happening after all? I could swear that was a thing......?

Sometimes one has to look at the details. retail shrinkage inventory loss encompasses things beyond shoplifting, like spoilage and employee theft. So if overall shrinkage may be going down, that component due to shoplifting can still be going up. I have not seen anything indicating that shoplifting is going down, other than less of it being reported in cases where the owner feels reporting it will not do any good.

 

[anethum]

Public restroom paper towel dispensers where you have to pull the end of the paper to dispense a sheet. But the cheap paper is so incredibly thin and flimsy that it doesn’t have the strength to be pulled on, especially with wet hands. It just dissolves in your fingers.

Brilliant graffiti on an electric hand dryer:

 

[livingalmostlarge]

people in parking lots sitting in their car with it on and reverse lights and then they sit there for 5 minutes on their phone when they can see people obviously waiting in a super busy parking lot. Basically stalling traffic. Just wave to people before you go sit in your car and play on your phone for 5-10 minutes before leaving.

 

[timbervest]

I got an email from Walmart a while back asking me to review my purchase of Northern Extra Strong and Soft bath tissue. Seriously? They want to know if I enjoy wiping my a$$?

I get emails from the grocery store asking me how my shopping experience was?!?

Also folks that hang out in the left-hand/fast lane of a highway with no one in front of them.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

And sometimes they'll take turns pulling up a couple feet each time to continue blocking the other.

I was once at a light watching the car ahead of me creep, creep, creep, BAM! I never laughed so hard.

 

[Koolau]

people in parking lots sitting in their car with it on and reverse lights and then they sit there for 5 minutes on their phone when they can see people obviously waiting in a super busy parking lot. Basically stalling traffic. Just wave to people before you go sit in your car and play on your phone for 5-10 minutes before leaving.

Right - and NO lights!

 

[Koolau]

I get emails from the grocery store asking me how my shopping experience was?!?

Also folks that hang out in the left-hand/fast lane of a highway with no one in front of them.

While I agree, I also understand. The left lane has not (yet) been totally destroyed like the right lane has been.

 

[ls99]

While I agree, I also understand. The left lane has not (yet) been totally destroyed like the right lane has been.

Around here I often use the laft lane, right lane is full of potholes.
When feel like precision driving, keep right wheels on the right side of the right lanes' right side line. Puts left wheel in middle of lane, ergo, miss all the potholes... Cars following me don't get the idea, they hit them all.

 

[Koolau]

Around here I often use the laft lane, right lane is full of potholes.
When feel like precision driving, keep right wheels on the right side of the right lanes' right side line. Puts left wheel in middle of lane, ergo, miss all the potholes... Cars following me don't get the idea, they hit them all.

Heh, heh, not everyone is smart - like us. Just think how few people FIRE!

 

[JoeWras]

Wasn't this kind of retail shrinkage in the news a lot about 4 or 5 yrs ago? And about a year later it came out that it was all hot air or greatly exaggerated? There really was no surge in thefts happening after all? I could swear that was a thing......?

As a witness to one of these crimes who almost got run over by the perp as he was wheeling the cart full of tools out of the Lowes, I can confirm this is not exaggerated. The Lowes employees were like: "Another one". Shortly after, they had to lock down those shelves.

Never saw anything like it. He filled the cart with tools, then went across the store and came out of the garden section of checkout, which is outside. I was coming in through the gate. He was going out, threading the needle at high speed between the two queues/lines of customers. I was trying to get through the same gap and had to jump aside to avoid being slammed back.

 

[Gumby]

Same exact thing happened to me at our Lowes. Four young people with Husqvarna chain saws. I don't think they were loggers.

 

[JoeWras]

Working with volunteers: I send them off for a fix, giving them multiple pristine boxes of different sized nails and screws. They come back with one box of all the sizes and types mixed up, then take off, leaving me to re-sort the mess they created.

Corollary: I have to clean up the mess of sawdust, wood cuttings, etc. because they "finished" the job, ya know.

 

[aja8888]

Working with volunteers: I send them off for a fix, giving them multiple pristine boxes of different sized nails and screws. They come back with one box of all the sizes and types mixed up, then take off, leaving me to re-sort the mess they created.

Corollary: I have to clean up the mess of sawdust, wood cuttings, etc. because they "finished" the job, ya know.

Unfortunately, you sometimes get what you pay for.

 

[CO-guy]

Working with volunteers: I send them off for a fix, giving them multiple pristine boxes of different sized nails and screws. They come back with one box of all the sizes and types mixed up, then take off, leaving me to re-sort the mess they created.

Corollary: I have to clean up the mess of sawdust, wood cuttings, etc. because they "finished" the job, ya know.

Ironically, when I volunteer, I sometimes spend that time sorting various fasteners into different containers, but more often I sweep and pick up garbage.

 

[Winemaker]

I quit volunteering along time ago. My neighbor and I used to work a local Special Olympics as part of a fraternal organization we belonged to. Over the course of 6 years, I have never seen such a disorganized event. Thousands of volunteers, hundreds of participants and families, and events we're all short staffed. Groups of folks getting their pics taken as hardworking volunteers.
My church asked for volunteers to help unload a tractor trailer of supplies for the Lenten Fish Fry'. Twenty men showed up, I was the only one to bring a dolly. So it was me wheeling the items on my dolly, 15 guys loading me up and 4 guys unloading and putting away. No one offered to give me a break and again, pics were taken of the group for the church bulletin, and somehow, the guy with the dolly didn't make the shots. Now I didn't volunteer to make a photo shot, or see my smiling face on the cover of the bulletin but these guys were.
So after 20 years, I quit, I have better ways to waste my time.