A small theft is still theft.

The other day, I confronted a man about leaving the store without paying for a magazine.  Now, that magazine is a local publication and costs probably $3.95-4.95.  I saw that he had it.  I saw that it had no receipt.  He had the front cover towards him, so when the cover tipped slightly, I looked to see if the price had been removed.

It hadn't.

(We always remove the price tags from everything we sell.)

He and another woman were leaving.

"Sir, would you like me to write that up for you?"

He looks at me.

"Your magazine, would you like me to write that up for you?"

He looked down, then back up at me and said, "No.  I already paid for it."

"Oh my gosh.  I'm so very sorry.  Would you like a bag for that?"

:nervously:  "No."

He left and my coworker looked at me.  I told her that he didn't buy it.  I called next door and confirmed.  He hadn't.  It walked out the door.  I could have gone out.  I could have followed after him.  When telling our bookkeeper about the issue I said that, "It wasn't worth getting shot over $4-5.00."

You know what?  That sucks.  He knew that he stole it.  I politely confronted him about it.  He lied and then he walked out with it in hand.

Probably 4-5 years ago, I saw a woman loading her purse up with shampoo and whatnot.  I went to the cashier and was talking to her about it.  The woman came up behind me with her cart so that she could quietly leave.

"That's her.  She has stolen things in her bag."  I blocked her cart from leaving.  The woman asked me to please move.

"You've stolen things.  You know you have.  You have them in your bag and I can even tell you what is in there that you haven't paid for."  She moved on past me and left.  What did the cashier do?  Nothing.  They did nothing because they didn't see her do it and since they didn't see her do it, it must not have happened.

People stealing things.  That's twice now that I've tried to stop someone and it was unsuccessful.

What's your thoughts?