Thursday, December 16, 2021

Did Val Just Witness a Crime?

Save A Lot is a hotbed of criminal activity these days! In the same place I saw that parking altercation where the police were called, I observed another possible crime on Wednesday. 
I have a knack for being at the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time, I guess.

I was standing by my cart, shoving Chex Mix ingredients into T-Hoe's rear, when I noticed a man and woman taking carts out of the cart corral. I assumed it was two workers, taking them back into the store. THEN as I turned to wheel my own cart over to the corral, I saw that they were LOADING THE CARTS INTO THE BACK OF A RED TRUCK!

Well, crap. I couldn't be obvious about my suspicions. People who steal a truckload of grocery carts probably would think nothing of preparing a snitch for stitches! So I pushed my cart into the corral, and hobbled back to T-Hoe. If my wind-dried lips could have whistled, I would have been the poster Val for insouciance. 

That's when I heard the young worker who just came out the door. He was in the red polo uniform shirt, maybe 21 years old, just a gawky kid.

"Hey! Did you pay for those carts?"

Well, crap. Was I going to get caught in a rumble? I don't like confrontations. By now I was stepping into T-Hoe. Cart Taker replied, "Ha ha!" He mumbled something else, but I had closed my door for safety, and couldn't make out the words. They both had a couple things to say, some arm gestures. The woman Accomplice didn't say anything. Cart Taker loaded MY cart in the back of his truck. Then Young Worker went back into the store, and Cart Taker and Accomplice drove off.
 
I GOT PICTURES!
 
Yeah. I was kind of nervous. I pretended I was checking my phone and texting, being so nearsighted that I had to hold my phone in front of my face.
 
 
I blocked out Cart Taker's face. Accomplice had the good sense not to expose her identifiable features to me. I wonder about their parking choice. The could have loaded those carts easier if they parked in the space beside the cart corral. However, it's a handicap space. So I guess that cart thieves in Backroads are respectful of the disabled.

 
Those are new carts, too! Only about 6 months old. They even roll straight! And don't have broken handles that pinch my hands!

All I can think of is that maybe one of the other Save A Lots in the area needed more carts. There's one over in Sis-Town where Pony works and his house is located. But nobody was wearing any identifying uniform. Surely a hoity-toity management person wouldn't be doing physical labor, loading carts!

It's a mystery to me. This is Val, signing off, at the Backroads Save A Lot.

14 comments:

  1. Just moving them over to another store location...nothing to see...yeah, that's the ticket, just move on.

    If it was California I'd think they took them to facilitate the next group shopping for free spree.

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    1. It seems odd that they only loaded the number of carts in the corral. What a coincidence that the exact amount of carts they were sent to get is what was waiting for them, after I parked my cart there. So convenient that they didn't even have to go inside to get a couple!

      Nothing worthy of a spree around Backroads!

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  2. Today steal a cart, tomorrow a car. I hope your info helps them. But, the gall! Why wasn't it a wobbly cart?

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    Replies
    1. Funny how I never saw anybody loading up those old wobblies and finger-pinchers!

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  3. Replies
    1. I need to travel with a deerstalker hat, a Calabash pipe, and a magnifying glass!

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  4. I think you should send those pictures to the Save-a-Lot management with number plate clearly visible and not blocked out. They aren't going to remember someone with a phone in a car nearby.

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    Replies
    1. I'm keeping an eye on the local online newspaper, to see if there's anything about a roving band of grocery cart thieves.

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  5. Joke: William moved to Ireland, now he's a Billy in Eire.

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    Replies
    1. That's a quicker way to reach the goal instead of collecting pennies!

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  6. Probably being sold as scrap metal.

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    Replies
    1. Wouldn't surprise me. Five years ago, they were stealing the metal flower holders that screw into cemetery headstones. Several scrap metal dealers were raided. Now we have cheap plastic flower holders. There's a special place in Not-Heaven waiting for those thieves!

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  7. Low life thieves. In the big city they can walk in and out with out paying for $999.00 worth of mercahndise, without fear of prosecution. And they do it everyday. Times have changed.

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    Replies
    1. If these are thieves, it says that HERE, they don't even have to walk in! Just take the carts to cash in for profit.

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