Fabulous but Forgettable

If you have 3 of these min :

-are under 18

-still live with family

-had a super fucked up childhood

-started out at 130+

-GW of under 100lbs

-wants mutuals/friends etc

-IS FRIENDLY !!

This is my shoplifting story, this isn’t to scare you or to command you to stop; I just want to share with you my experience.

My name is Allyson and I am sixteen years old and I live in Texas. I happened upon the shoplifting side of tumblr earlier this day and it inspired me to share with you this.

Around this time last year, even more towards November, I shoplifted as much as all of the hauls I’ve scrolled through. I would go to Forever 21, Sephora, Ulta, Pacsun, HM, and basically stores of the kind. My hauls were anywhere from $10-$600. I was stealing makeup, clothes, accessories, and everything in between. The thought of getting caught always lingered in my mind. I can’t describe why I wasn’t as scared of it. Don’t get me wrong, the sight of a security officer scared the shit out of me, but the idea of getting caught was almost a fantasy. I was getting all this cool shit, so it didn’t really take effect on me. Even if it did, I wasn’t going to stop. I had a bigger wardrobe, a bigger makeup collection. For the first time I had many expensive things. Getting caught was scary, but my savings definitely were not.

Around March 2013, I was at the mall with my friends. We went almost every weekend at this point. Never even getting noticed for our sneaky fingers. We went to JCP, Sephora, Old Navy, Claires, etc. We were about to leave when we decided to go back to JCP. Now let me tell you, we were sneaky. very sneaky. We were not blatant. We read hundreds of articles, found a million different snippets of information to help us out. It only takes one guy to notice you. One. To go “hey they might steal something”. This is the part most do not like to hear. I’m very sorry about this, but I really want to share this with you all. A bored guy in a monitor-filled room notices you, and it could all be over.

I was caught. We left the store and a very large man walks out the door and bellowed, “come with me”. He even smiled, that sly bastard.

I remember thinking, “I can’t believe this is happening.” “Is this real?”

That walk was the longest walk of my life. The walk to the back room. Time literally slowed around me. We walked into the back. We had already given him most of the things at one of the cash registers.  

“If you lie, we have to fill it out in the report”. Of course we did. We had over $400 of merchandise between the three of us.

He eventually checked our bags. He found things, obviously. This part is a bit blurry, but I will try my best to tell you everything that happened.

He separated the merchandise by store. Then we called our parents. That was literally the worst thing I ever had to do in my entire life. They sounded extremely disappointed. It was the definition of terrible. From that back room, we entered another room (this one filled with the monitors), while the man called the police. I still have scars from sitting in that chair and digging my nails into my skin from fright. Our parents came and sat with us until the police arrived. The whole time the large man telling us we’ll have to spend the night in Juvy, obviously scaring the shit out of me even more. I’m going to get through this part a bit faster. The police showed up and we were charged with a Class B Misdemeanor Theft. In Texas that basically meant we stole more than $50 but less than $500. If you are not a minor, that is a sentence of confinement in jail for a term of not more than 180 days a fine of not more than $2,000, or both. Though, we were minors. We ended up not going to juvy, but were let go to our parents.

Literally worst car ride of my life. No yelling, just complete silence from my parents.

My parents received a bill from JCP of $339 in the mail around 2 weeks letter and I was scheduled to see an officer about my misdemeanor. I was given three months of classes to clear it from my record, and three months of probation.

So I’ll leave you with this.

I desperately wished somebody had told me this, and more importantly, that I would have listened.

It feels like it will never happen to you, but why potentially ruin your life by trying? Sorry for that spiel. I remember hating reading that kind of stuff, but it’s so entirely true; its scary. Some instances, you could potentially ruin your chances of a job and college.

I relate to all of you, I truly do. I am the same teenage girl, going through the same things. 

While writing this, I had to take multiple breaks because recalling this is truly an extremely hard thing to do. I’ve had nightmares about this. It’s truly awful and I will never think of shoplifting the same way I did. As something fun.

If you have ANY questions, message me. Seriously, as long as it’s nothing rude, I will answer you. I promise.

. (Your choice) I do this so many of you all can see this. I am not sponsored by anyone to share my story; this is because I care about you all and I don’t want to see you go through what I went through.

Thank you very much if you got this far with me!

I’ve decided to give back to the community with some information I’ve gathered on Macy’s LP’s protocol. Before I even begin, whenever lifting from Macy’s. exercise extreme caution at all times. My best friend was caught there back in the day, and I know plenty of other lifters here in the community suffered a similar fate. Macy’s has really good LP. Additionally, this is more than likely also Bloomingdale’s protocol.

Macy’s operates using a 5 step system. If they do not have all 5 steps, they will not apprehend you.

Entry: to the store or the department, so they can see what you are wearing and carrying.

Selection: they must observe you selecting the merchandise off the sales floor.

Concealment: they must observe you conceal the merchandise (see below for special situations)

Constant Observation: once they have the previous 4 steps, they must not lose sight of you, in case you dump the merchandise. 

They do not want an NPD (non-productive detainment)

Exit: exit the building + all four steps to make sure you still have the concealed merchandise.Special cases: Fitting room.

Macy’s uses the “color and count” method in combination with the “two item rule.” That means they count how many items you walk into the fitting room with, and what color it is. When you exit (assuming you’re even being followed), they check your fitting room stall to see what items are left behind. If there are missing items (i.e. you walk in carrying a pink shirt, red shirt, and blue shirt. You walk out just carrying the pink and the blue shirt and red shirt are not in the stall or the dump rack) then they will have assumed you concealed and that will work for step 3.

Note: Macy’s cannot apprehend you if you layer the items such that it cannot be seen. That is to say, if you walk in carrying a t-shirt wearing your jacket zipped all the way up, put the t-shirt on, layer the jacket and zip it all the way up so the shirt cannot be seen, then they cannot apprehend you IF YOU DO NOT HAVE MEANS (bags). They especially won’t apprehend you if you’re suspected of layering underwear or bras, but only if you don’t have means.

Two item rule: You must be suspected of concealing 2 or more items in the fitting room for it to count as step 3.

Special cases: Small items

If you bring a small item into a fitting room, they count it as lost. They will not apprehend you if you take jewelry, ties, panties, certain wallets, sunglasses, etc. into a fitting room. Concealing small items on the floor goes by the two item rule, more or less. In this case, they need two separate acts of concealment. Of course, this is according to policy. If you’re incredibly obvious, they might bend the rules and take you anyways.

If you are working alone (not ORC, don’t need huge volume to sell, shoplifting for personal use), then the best way would be to:

NOT carry a bag

Take one item into a fitting room at a time to conceal

and layer all the items you want to take under a big jacket and loose pants. Make sure NO merchandise can be seen when you put your clothes back on. Tuck it in if you have to.

They will not apprehend you.

This is the safest way, but obviously not the only way. Bags are useful for taking larger amounts of merchandise, but obviously run the risk of being caught. Using a bag is a gamble–are they watching or or are they not?

Final thoughts: They are not allowed to step off the curb to pursue you. Managers have been fired for doing so before.

Elevators do not have cameras in them, period. Any you think you see are just dummy domes. This is useful for avoiding constant observation. If someone gets into an elevator after you, waits for you to select the floor, then waits for you to exit the elevator first, be wary. If there is anyone in the elevator with you, just stay in and wait til they awkwardly get out first, and select another floor (or even stay in the elevator a while for good measure before getting out). Again, this is not a guarantee for not being apprehended if you’re carrying a bag. While they’re technically supposed to check the elevator to see if you discarded merchandise after you get out, they probably won’t and just apprehend you anyways if they have all the other steps on you.

Macy’s is a pretty easy store to steal from. AP is usually understaffed and under equipped to handle shoplifters with one iota of sense. Don’t conceal on the floor. They have fitting rooms, do it there.