Terms Which Have Disappeared

[2jakes]

While on the subject of retailing, are there still "floor walkers"?

Last time that I know was in the '70s when I worked in retail department stores.
Floor walkers carried their radios in store paper bags to communicate with others
who would be by the exit doors.
A person could stuff items in the pockets without being stopped.
It was only after they made the exit and were outside would security step in.

Cameras similar to this were situated on the registers from the ceiling but were
not so obvious as this one.

At the end of business day certain registers were showing a steady shortage of funds.
An assistant mgr. was removing small amounts of cash.
Store decided not to press charges if she would confess.
She did.
She was a very attractive young girl. I couldn’t believe it.


Today, I don’t see floor walkers or perhaps they are very good
at disguising themselves.

What I do see are security cameras.
And they are everywhere.

 

[MisterCairo]

Skullduggery.

 

[Fading Fast]

Last time that I know was in the '70s when I worked in retail department stores.
Floor walkers carried their radios in store paper bags to communicate with others
who would be by the exit doors.
A person could stuff items in the pockets without being stopped.
It was only after they made the exit and were outside would security step in.

Cameras similar to this were situated on the registers from the ceiling but were
not so obvious as this one.

At the end of business day certain registers were showing a steady shortage of funds.
An assistant mgr. was removing small amounts of cash.
Store decided not to press charges if she would confess.
She did.
She was a very attractive young girl. I couldn’t believe it.


Today, I don’t see floor walkers or perhaps they are very good
at disguising themselves.

What I do see are security cameras.
And they are everywhere.

I am not current on the numbers anymore, but retail stores lose an insane amount to theft, both the public and employees. Sterns where I worked in the '80s was pretty respectful to its employees, but women had to carry plastic see through pocketbooks after they checked in as the store was hemorrhaging small items to, unfortunately, it's own employees. And the public was even worse.

As to your pretty shoplifter employee, Robert Palmer addressed that years ago in "A Bad Case of Loving You:"

A pretty face don't make no pretty heart
I learned that, buddy, from the start​

 

[LizzieMaine]

My predecessor at the theatre was canned for dipping into the till. When confronted, she said she needed it for gas money to get to work, since the wage they were paying her was so low she couldn't afford that expense otherwise. Sometimes I think the main reason they hired me is that I live within walking distance.

 

[2jakes]

My predecessor at the theatre was canned for dipping into the till. When confronted, she said she needed it for gas money to get to work, since the wage they were paying her was so low she couldn't afford that expense otherwise. Sometimes I think the main reason they hired me is that I live within walking distance.

Walking?

I thought you weren’t going walking anymore with all those perverts lurking around.

You worry me Lizzie.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I can, but it doesn't mean I do.

 

[ChiTownScion]

My predecessor at the theatre was canned for dipping into the till. When confronted, she said she needed it for gas money to get to work, since the wage they were paying her was so low she couldn't afford that expense otherwise. Sometimes I think the main reason they hired me is that I live within walking distance.

I can only imagine the hurt that an employer who treated someone fairly, maybe even like family, must feel when they found out that they've been ripped off by someone that they genuinely care about.

I felt something similar when it came to light that a friend and co-worker, an adult probation officer, was shaking down her probationers for cash lest she violate them for some infraction. Someone wore a wire, and the rest is a very sad history.

Thing is, she was well liked and respected by all who worked with her: judges, cops, prosecutors, defense counsel. Had she asked any one of us for a hand because she was in financial straits (in her case, raising her daughter's out of wedlock kid) we would have moved heaven & earth to help her out. She ended up a convicted felon, lost her job.... and what hurt most is that in her hour of need (and I'll presume that the need was legit) she didn't turn to those who really cared for her.

 

[2jakes]

I can, but it doesn't mean I do.

Good.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I can only imagine the hurt that an employer who treated someone fairly, maybe even like family, must feel when they found out that they've been ripped off by someone that they genuinely care about.

I felt something similar when it came to light that a friend and co-worker, an adult probation officer, was shaking down her probationers for cash lest she violate them for some infraction. Someone wore a wire, and the rest is a very sad history.

Thing is, she was well liked and respected by all who worked with her: judges, cops, prosecutors, defense counsel. Had she asked any one of us for a hand because she was in financial straits (in her case, raising her daughter's out of wedlock kid) we would have moved heaven & earth to help her out. She ended up a convicted felon, lost her job.... and what hurt most is that in her hour of need (and I'll presume that the need was legit) she didn't turn to those who really cared for her.

The person who fired her and hired me, unfortunately, had all the emotions of a drill press, and it showed in the staff turnover. I was the third manager hired in less than a year, and I realized immediately that the main role of the manager was to serve as a buffer between Lady Ironpants and the rest of the staff. That's what I set out to do, and I think, over the past decade, that I've done it well. I've been criticized for it by my current boss, who thinks I'm too close to the people under me, but as far as I'm concerned, there *is no* under me. I will not work *over* anyone, I will only work alongside them, and that's a principle upon which I remain completely inflexible.

I was recently forced to cut the hours of one of the kids from full time to part time, and I made it clear that I strenuously opposed this edict. I have hired this kid to help me out personally around the house for fifty dollars a week in an effort to make up some of the hours she's lost, because otherwise she wouldn't be able to pay her rent. She's been my most loyal co-worker for over seven years now, and I will in no way be a party to cutting the legs out from under her.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Just by what I've read and my own common sense, I'd say that it's safe to say that those theatre kids would do anything for you. Loyalty to one's staff isn't a one way street (at least, in the overview) and it would seem prudent business practice to take your outlook, Lizzie. Wish that more in this world did.

 

[2jakes]

^^^^^@ LizzieMaine.
You remind me of my boss in the news dept. in some respect.

She attained her position as news director because of her work
not because of a diploma.

She has the tendency to jump in and get into the nitty-gritty
with us to make sure the product is ready on time.
Something that the head chief frowns upon.
Thinks she should be more of a supervisory level.

I’ll never tell her in words, but I will go beyond the line to
make sure that whatever she asks of the task, I will come
through.
And she knows this.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's the only way I know how to work, or to function in society. I simply have no use whatever for hierarchal modes of authority -- I don't care if they're political, military, corporate, ecclesiastical, or academic. This is the main reason I've made a point of avoiding these kinds of situations wherever and however possible. Show me *who* you are, and I'll respect you as an equal -- as a brother, a sister, or a "comrade," even, to coin a phrase. But try to impress me with *what* you are, and you can drop dead twice.

The kids know this, and they are very glad to work *with* me, because they know I would never expect them to do anything I wouldn't do myself. And I only hire the kind of kids who can understand that this is the way we do things. Every kid I interview, I show them the scars on my hands and arms, and I tell them how I got them, and that if they end up getting a few of their own, they can rest assured that they won't be alone at all.

 

[2jakes]

^^^^^
I’m not in the habit of expressing by words but by actions.
But, I’ll make an exception even though none was asked.

I would walk the line for you as well.

 

[skydog757]

I read, but never hear, the term "sporting" anymore. As in "He was sporting a particularly loud tie" or "sporting a fresh black eye".

 

[BlueTrain]

I don't even hear the word "loud" anymore, at least in referring to clothes. In Scottish circles, I used to hear the expression "loud McLeod," referring to the bright clan tartan.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It suits us. We're loud people.

 

[Trenchfriend]

"Anorak".

That was german 90's speech, recently.

 

[skydog757]

I don't even hear the word "loud" anymore, at least in referring to clothes.

My older (70+) relatives use "loud" quite often. They have a lot of ways to refer to something that they don't like.

 

[BlueTrain]

Does anyone use the term "white sidewalls," other than in an automotive context? For that matter, I don't think white sidewalls are still current on automobile tires.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Anorak".

That was german 90's speech, recently.

While less common than ten and twenty years ago, I still see anoraks advertised in clothing stores. I have one from the Gap from, about, twenty years ago that is threadbare but still a go-to piece when it's a misty / rainy kinda day.