[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

My wife and I were sitting at one of the table at the front of the Winn Dixie store in La Plaza Grande. I didn't see him come in nut my wife suddenly got all excited seeing something that was behind me. I turned to see a guy running out of the store with two bottles of carpet cleaning solution that he had taken from the display near the exit.

It happened very fast and I really didn't get a good look at the guy but he was driving white Yamaha four seat cart. It looked like one of the rentals with all four seats facing forward.

We informed the person at the customer service counter and she didn't seem interested. My wife asked if she was going to call the manager which she did. One of the other cashiers came over and asked what happened as did the store manager and assistant manager. I found it very odd that they didn't seem to care about the incident at all. We began giving them descriptions of what happened and the guy and the golf cart and they just sort of smiled and said, "Oh, that's too bad."

I would think that at the very least they would report it to the police.

[buggyone]

Since you did not see him go into the store, it is very possible that he had paid for the shampoo inside the store and was told to take it from the display. Who knows?


Maybe you could have jumped in your golf cart and had a high speed chase (at 16 mph) through The Villages. It would have gone viral on YouTube!

[OBXNana]

If Winn Dixie rents carpet cleaners and they are normally at the front of stores in other chains, he may have forgotten the solution that comes with the machine, and was returning to get what he forgot. I have no idea why her was running. I'm sure someone far more creative than I am will begin that discussion!

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by buggyone

Maybe you could have jumped in your golf cart and had a high speed chase (at 16 mph) through The Villages for $20 worth of carpet shampoo. It would have gone viral on YouTube!

I think it is wrong to steal. I am glad I believe that way.

[buggyone]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

I think it is wrong to steal. I am glad I believe that way.

Of course it is wrong to steal. However, are we sure beyond just presuming that this was a theft?

I also was trying to get a smile with the high speed golf cart chase scenario.

Too windy to go into the ocean today. Guess that Christobal is kicking up the waves.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

My back was to the door. My wife saw him come in through the exit door, grab the two bottles, look straight at her and run like hell to his golf cart.

I turned around just in time to see him running toward the cart which he then jumped on and took off very quickly.

Is there a chance that it wasn't a theft? Sure, but based on what we saw, I highly doubt it.

[RErmer]

At least the perp will have clean carpets.

Just kidding, sure seems management would have shown more interest. Then again, that's why I shop at Publix & not W-D.

[redwitch]

Publix would have pretty much had the same reaction. The reality is that since no store personnel saw the incident and the guy was long gone, there's not much any store can do about something like this.

Who knows, it could have been totally innocent and authorized. Nothing like an angry wife at home waiting for the product so the carpets can be cleaned to get you to move quickly. Here's hoping that was the case rather than a shoplifting incident.

[John_W]

I had something similar happen to me on July 30, 1998. I remember the date because we had just sold our townhouse and had closing and we were moving to a new home 13 miles away in a different suburb of Baltimore.

We stopped one last time at our neighborhood liquor store. I waited in the car out in front with the engine running while my wife went inside. As I sat there sort of day dreaming about our new home, a very tall, maybe 6'6" black fellow wearing all black clothing carrying a bag ran right in front of me and hopped into a car idling on the side of the liquor store. I had a strange feeling about the situation, an M&T Bank branch was about 100' to my left out in the parking lot. After my wife got back in the car, I pulled over to the bank and walked up to the front door. I found out they had just been robbed and I told them I was a witness. The detectives were there in minutes and I gave a description of the person and the car.

[2BNTV]

Running from a store doesn't sound right to me. No chemicals could have been that important, to need being transported ASAP. IMHO

I mean we are not talking about making bombs.......

[sunnyatlast]

Stealing is one thing, but management shutting down a person reporting an apparent lawbreaker shows a spreading malignancy in this country: shooting the messenger, and then giving approval and facilitating more crime to be committed.

All management had to do at WD was reply to the Boogies: "Thank you for reporting this to us. Price increases are directly related to theft loss of inventory. We will look at the security monitoring videos date/time stamped for right now at _:00pm today, and hopefully we can see who it was and whether he'd paid for it before you saw him."

But that would take effort, and a lack of resentment for responsible people who want lawbreakers stopped instead of being enabled.

I think there is too much pooh poohing of crime in the media lately, enabling more of it. People are purposely misinterpreting "do not judge" to mean "do not report and do not identify".

[rubicon]

Unless there was some environmental issue heavy rain, etc running from a store with two bottles of cleaner in hands does look peculiar. Could be he also had items stuffed in his pockets? Responsible businesses invest in video equipment to protect their inventory and their customers and they actively use it The lack of concern/interest if aptly described by the OP by winn dixie staff/mgt speaks volumes. Perhaps their response was for the benefit of the OP so as not to alarm him nor to reveal what perhaps is a very active program to ID and stop offenders?????

[e-flyer]

Perhaps he ran out of cleaning fluid, paid for it and was in a hurry to get his floor finished, maybe he had a tee time in an hour? Maybe he stole it, who knows? I'm sure the stores have cameras pointed at the doors and parking lots, so if they want to pursue it they will. If he did indeed steal it, the managers should have reported it to the police.