The Shoplifter (ONE-SHOT) (M/F)

[TamatoaShiny123]

It hadn’t been long since I started as a sales associate at a small clothing boutique. I had been warned there’d be shoplifters and not to confront them directly. I wasn’t expected to dole consequences to them or call the police or detain them or whatever. I should contact management to let them handle it. But that all changed one Thursday night.

I was part of the evening shift. In fact, I was the only worker on the sales floor, as the girl who usually works with me called out sick. My manager had to handle something outside the store, so she trusted me to watch the boutique for about an hour until she returned. It was my first time being handed that level of responsibility, so I agreed and promised to keep a watchful eye on the place.

There weren’t any customers in the store at the start, so I watched the empty store for a few minutes behind the cash register. That was until a small bell sounded as the door to the boutique opened, and a girl walked into the store. She was wearing a pink sweater, black jeans, and white sneakers. She had a white bandana kerchief tied in her straight brown hair that went down to her shoulders, a black COVID-19 face mask placed over her mouth and nose, and a small black purse slung over her left shoulder. From what I could see of the few exposed parts of her face, she couldn't have been older than twenty-five. She didn’t acknowledge me as she browsed around the shirt display, so I let her be.

As she moved away from the display, I noticed she had knocked two shirts onto the floor. As I stepped outside the register to pick them up off the floor and unwrinkle them, she headed toward the register. On that desk was a necklace display with a few necklaces hanging from small plastic mannequin bodies. She was facing to the side with her left shoulder pointed at the display. She subtly took the necklaces and started stuffing them inside her purse. I probably wouldn’t have even noticed if the light from the necklace didn’t catch the corner of my eye.

I know I wasn’t supposed to confront shoplifters as a sales associate. But I was the only one in the store. I had to do something to prevent the loss of merchandise.

“Hey! You!” I shouted. Her head snapped up toward me. Realizing she’d been caught, she tried to make a beeline for the exit. With surprising speed, I caught up to her before she could reach the door and grabbed her right wrist. “I saw you try and shoplift! Thief!”

“I didn’t steal shit! Let go of me, you creep!” she spat. She tried to use her free hand to dig her fingernails into my arm, but my grip remained firm, mainly from the adrenaline I was under, blocking out the pain.

“You’re not going anywhere!” I firmly told her. “I saw you steal those necklaces!”

Realizing she had been caught, she reached into her purse and threw the necklaces onto the floor. “There! I returned the stupid necklaces! Now let me go!”

I had considered letting her go for a second since she had returned the necklaces. But each necklace was $30, and she had taken four. I wasn’t sure if I could just let her leave since the amount she tried to steal wasn’t exactly trivial. “No, you’re staying here until my manager gets back to decide how we should handle this.”

Using both hands, I pulled her through the doorway leading to the store's back, where the changing rooms and the manager’s office were. I had intended to lock her inside the office until my manager returned so she could deal with the shoplifter. As I dragged her further down the hallway, she dug one of her fingernails into the funny bone on my wrist. She was able to break my grip for a split second. As she tried to dash away, in an act of desperation, I grabbed the back of her sweater and pushed her into one of the dressing rooms (the one closest to the manager’s room), causing her to land in a seated position on the bench in the room. “Ow! You prick!” she cursed.

Thinking quickly, I spotted a nearby rack with several silk scarves on hangers that needed to be returned to the sales floor. I grabbed the hangers with the scarves, ran into the dressing room where the shoplifter was still seated, and closed the door behind me. She tried to run past me and open the door. I took one of the scarves off the hangar (a navy blue one) and tossed the other scarves onto the bench. I pushed her against the mirror hanging on the back of the door, forced her wrists behind her back, and tied her wrists up. “What the hell are you doing?!” she exclaimed.

“Making sure you don’t leave before my manager gets back,” I grunted as I reached for another scarf (a purple one) and tied them around her waist to pin her wrists down to her back.

“You’re insane!” she shouted as I pushed her onto the bench so that she was sitting. I forced her ankles together and tied them with a yellow scarf.

“And you’re a thief who tried to get something for nothing,” I fired back as I dodged her kicking feet. I took an orange scarf and tied her knees together.

I stepped back for a second as she cursed and squirmed in her bondage. I was considering what to do or say next when we heard the bell sound from the door. “Hello? Is anyone here?” a female voice asked.

Our eyes darted toward the voice as we realized what a compromising position we were both in. Before she could scream, I pulled her face mask down and clamped one hand over her mouth. She shouted into my hand and sank her teeth into my palm. Knowing I couldn’t hold my hand there to quiet her for very long, I used my free hand to rip the bandana from her hair. Before she could close her mouth, I stuffed the bandana inside her mouth, making her cheeks bulge.

“I’ll be with you in a second, Miss!” I shouted as I swiftly grabbed a black scarf and tied it over her mouth to hold the bandana in, securing it as tight as possible.

“MMMM!” she screamed into her gag as I closed the changing room door. With the key in my pocket, I locked the door and quickly ran back to the front of the store. Standing there was a young Asian woman holding a pair of jeans on a hanger. “Excuse me, can I try this on?” she asked.

Unable to think of an excuse for why she couldn’t on the fly, I guided her into the back, walking her to the changing room furthest away from the one the shoplifter was trapped inside. “Let me know if you need anything, Miss,” I told her. She nodded, thanked me, and closed the door.

I strode over to the other occupied changing room. As I unlocked it, I could feel the vibrations of the door as she kicked her feet against the door and heard her muffled shouts from behind it.

“I wouldn’t draw too much attention to myself,” I whisper-hissed, “my manager is already gonna see you like that. Do you want more people seeing you in that demeaning state?”

She let out a low grumble into her gag, realizing I had a point.

“Now, be a good little thief, and just look at yourself in the mirror to see what shoplifting gets you,” I said as I closed the door and locked it again.

As I walked back toward the front of the store, the other lady opened the door, wearing the jeans she had picked out. “I’ll take these.”

“Great, I’ll ring you up at the register.” I began walking away but stopped and turned back around to face her. “You do intend to pay for those jeans, right?” I asked.

The lady looked confused that I’d even ask that. “Of course.”
“Alright. I just have to ask. You know how many shoplifters there are in the world…”

As she returned to the changing room to remove the jeans, I walked back behind the register to think about everything that just went down: I had detained a shoplifter by leaving her bound and gagged inside a locked dressing room. As that fact sank in, I had only one thought:

“…I’m so fired, aren’t I?”

[some_wanderer]

Employee of the month that's for sure, and a good citizen's award for stopping a thief.

A good story overall. Would've been great if there is an epilogue where the manager returns.

[Beaumains]

Nice little story! I doubt that tying up a shoplifter is legal, but who cares about that? Two impulsive young girls having (not so much) fun. What else do I need?

[TamatoaShiny123]

[mention]Beaumains[/mention] Thank you very much! As one of my most fave writers on this site, that means a lot to me!

[mention]some_wanderer[/mention] I have been mulling over adding a second part to this story; something of an epilogue. Stay tuned

[Smythdean]

Where is this shop? I may need to have a look round.

Great story

[Fandango]

I have been mulling over adding a second part to this story; something of an epilogue. Stay tuned

This was a fun story. I certainly wasn't expecting a second part, but I'm all for it. I really enjoyed it.

[charliesmith]

This was a fun story to read. I liked it!