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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

I Was Blindsided By Her Remorse

Ann Landers Creators Syndicate

Dear Ann Landers: I read the letter from “Sorry and Ashamed” with great interest. She was caught switching tags on merchandise and the store manager told her she could never come into his store again.

I was a retail store manager for 40 years. My mission was to keep our company in business and serve the 15,000 honest customers who shopped with us each week. Shoplifting and tag-switching incidents took from two to four hours to handle. If an incident went to court, it took another 20 to 30 hours. I could have used that time to serve our honest customers.

Shoplifters and tag switchers cost my company an amount equal to 1 percent of our total sales. Our prices had to include this loss factor. The dishonesty of a few ends up costing everyone a lot of money.

Too often, I had to give a problem customer a “life sentence” and banish him or her permanently because I couldn’t take the loss of time or money. I would hope, Ann, that your sympathy would be with the store manager. - Ronald Ziff, Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Dear Ronald Ziff: Keep reading for more:

Dear Ann: Your response to the person who “switched a couple of price tags in a shop and got caught” cannot go unchallenged. The writer, despite protestations, does indeed whine when bemoaning the harshness of her fate - being forbidden to enter the store again. She said the sentence was too severe since this was her “first offense.” Sounds to me like the writer was only sorry she was caught.

Why is anyone entitled to a pass on the first offense? That woman broke the law. Not being allowed back in a store is not an unbearable hardship. It is merely an embarrassment and an inconvenience. The woman who wrote should be grateful she wasn’t sent to jail. - Karen Johnson, Maryland

Dear Karen: You’re not alone. Read on:

Dear Ann: I am writing about “Sorry and Ashamed,” who switched a couple of price tags and got caught. I have a sister who not only switches price tags but returns used merchandise and asks for credit. This is costing the consumer - that’s you and me - money. I consider it stealing. I agree with the store manager and you should have, too. - Reston, Va.

To Reston and All Who Wrote: You are right, but I was blindsided by the woman’s obvious remorse and desire for forgiveness.

I cannot end this discussion without being reminded of a letter I received from a woman several years ago. She had to confess to someone, she said, and I was the one she chose.

It seems Mrs. X was having her husband’s boss and his wife over for drinks before dinner and she wanted to make a big impression. She made canapes of smoked salmon and decided at the last moment that it would be even more elegant to serve caviar, also. She ran to the store and was amazed to discover that the smallest can of caviar was $40. She slipped it into her bra, bought a can of soup and walked out.

It turned out that both the boss and his wife were on salt-free diets and could not eat caviar. She considered this “a message from God,” dropped $40 extra in the church offering basket the following Sunday and never again took anything that did not rightfully belong to her.

Tomorrow, I’m going to tell you about my personal experience as a “shoplifter.”