u/darth-small

hey all. I want to share my situation and see some opinions please.

This is in the UK so UK laws/regulations firmly apply

I work for a large convenience chain ;) Shop theft is a constant issue and we are currently having a really rough time in with it.

firstly, I should add. it isn't my stock, I don't care about it and I follow company policy regarding shoplifting because it simply isn't my job to handle it.

I have a colleague who has been with the company forever. she is not popular due to her attitude, crap work ethic etc etc. but the biggest issue for me is how she deals with shoplifting. to say she is 'hands on' is an understatement. she has been told in the past to not get involved but she constantly gets in thieves faces, puts hands on and attempts to recover stock.

my current/newish manager is not great and isn't taking action. frankly she should have been sacked ages ago but to my knowledge, she hasn't received any formal disciplinary action. my previous manger was also hands on with thieves so never disciplined her.

she's a nightmare.

so I was shown security footage from an incident a few days ago where she got stuck in. there were two thieves with bags full of goods from our shelves. my colleague followed one of them around the store, shoulder to shoulder whilst jostling and pushing/shoving.

this is bad enough.

but towards the end of the incident, she picked up a 'caution, wet floor' sign and repeatedly smacked one of the thieves as he was heading to the exit. whilst doing this she positioned herself in a manner which prevented the second thief from exiting the store. she was shouting and bawling abuse throughout.

meanwhile, customers were present and very close by including a man with a very small baby in a pushchair. my other colleague was on scene but correctly out of harm's way offering space and an exit route to the remaining thief.

in the end, she wrestled a bag from the one thief but got the wrong one. she recovered what looked like a pot of greek yoghurt for her troubles.

she has no sense. she gets stuck in despite current and clear information that we are being targeted by thieves who are carrying weapons.

I watched the video and in my mind I concluded that whilst she has potentially put herself in actual mortal danger, I was more concerned for the customers who she was moving through and most importantly, my other colleague.

this is the most important part to me. my other colleague is a male and quite a big guy.. whilst he was actively posing no threat during this situation, I just know if the second shoplifter had been carrying a knife, he was the potential primary target, rather than my idiot of a colleague.

this is exhausting. I don't want to get into conflict because of a colleague's poor choices. I have a tangle in the past with a thief who threatened me with a broken bottle . I only did it to defend another colleague who was in serious danger. after that I said never again.

so the problem is that she constantly gets away with this behaviour despite being utterly foolish and incredibly risky to others.

on my next shift I am going to ask never to be put on the rota with her because I'm worried that she's going to run out of luck and I don't want to be there when it happens.

I also want to escalate the matter but my manager is no use and I think he'll brush over any of my concerns despite seeing the footage.

what would you do?

Hi. I have a couple of branches opening near where I live in the next year or so and I'm interested in employees opinions on working in the bakery for Lidl

I currently work for the co op and quite enjoy my bakery shifts but don't get given as many as I'd like.

So what's your bakery experience like? Are you hired as a general member of staff or do you specialise as bakers? What's a bakery shift like etc.

Thanks in advance!