Video Blog - Shoplifting

This is my video blog for Opinion Writing class. It is not comical, just me talking about how much shoplifting bothers me.

I can't run, I can't hide, even if I wear different clothes, they find me

How do they always find me? Even if I am not working that day, and I am following three of my co-workers around the store, customers will let them go by then ask me to find them a shoe. Is there some sign stapled to my forehead that others can read and I can't see? I guess it's because although I sound like an asshole in these blogs, I look like a nice, knowledgeable young man in person. I guess my smug demeanor and ample eye contact make me an easy target. Ask the guy with the name tag, tie, price gun and worksheet for a shoe, not me. I'm just an unexpecting bi-stander like you in this situation. I don't want to help you, and I'm not going to, but good luck with that!

Why Even Bother?

Yeah sure, you wanna buy a firearm? No problem, here you go. Right over the counter, you look like a good guy so I'll cut you a break. Psh, what do I look like? Someone who doesn't want to keep his job? You will fill out the paperwork, you WILL submit to a background check, and if you don't pass, it's not my problem! Having a serious or violent criminal record f***s you up for life dumbass. When people tell you: "Don't do drugs," "Don't drink and drive," "Don't hit your girlfriend," or "Don't knock off a liquor store or steal a car," they are not trying to register you for the Republican party, they are trying to prevent you from preventing yourself from owning a firearm! California is the worst place to purchase a firearm. With all the idiots running around, we have to have ridiculous legislation in order to make sure someone like the before-mentioned does not arm themselves. Just think about it: The more people you pack in to an area, the more idiots are in that area, I'm just playing by the percentages here. How else can you control the idiots? You can't separate them out, so everyone suffers (i.e. the stringent and strict laws in California for obtaining firearms). Now I've just wasted my time with you at this counter, opening up every rack and showing you several firearms, only for you to tell me you have "a record" and ask if your girlfriend can fill out the paperwork for you. I don't want to believe in the phrase, "Once a criminal, always a criminal." I believe in second chances, people make mistakes in the long journey of life. But these people walking in to the store and doing these kinds of things makes me have doubts. I am sitting in class right now, fully appreciating my education, because I have a firm grasp of logic and reason, and I feel bad for those who never had that. Will mankind ever get better.......?

And the Store Has Reached...A New Low

You spend a couple hundred bucks on a piece of technology that is supposed to make your life easier. It doesn't work out how you wanted it to, so you return it. Fair enough. $200 is a lot of money for most of us, especially in our nation's current economic predicament. However, I have yet to encounter a $200 hoola hoop, and yet I have returned three of them over the span of my career with my current employer. Two of those times, the customer simply wanted their money back and was not planning on exchanging it for anything else. Are you freaking kidding me? The customer probably spent more money on gas to get to the store than they got back after returning that stupid piece of plastic that is a sorry excuse for getting your kids to exercise. Side note: It seems kids are getting fatter and fatter these days, and hoola hoops have become better at creating future strippers than shedding childhood weight.
What is the thought process for returning a hoola hoop? At the time of purchase: "Wow, this looks great. I can dance with it, I can...uh....spin around and move my hips....oh and this store has a GREAT return policy if it doesn't perform how I want it to. It's a freakin' hoola hoop! It doesn't water your lawn, take out the trash, get you a beer out of the fridge, nor will it pay your taxes. You put it around you waist, spin your hips in a small circle, and it does what your hips do. How do you buy one of these things and then suddenly decide that $3.99 investment is crippling? Two out of the three times I have returned one of these the excuse was, "It was the wrong size." Did it shrink in the washing machine? Did you remarkably become far-sighted just at the right moment when your eyes were first laid on that scented and brightly colored circle of nightmare? What the hell is wrong with you? Just take your $3.99 and buy yourself a bus pass to the end of the earth, take one more step off the edge and do all of us a favor. Jackass