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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/PyroZach on 2025-08-01 00:00:39+00:00.

I’ve been out of retail for over a decade but another post jogged my memory of an event.

The store I worked at also did automotive services such as tires and lube, aside from all kinds of stuff available in the rest of the store. I was manager of the automotive merchandise but this overlapped with helping out in the shop and running the check out counter there.

There was an exit to the shop area, and then outside, that required a code to be entered, or a hidden button pressed behind the counter so we could let customers exit. Customers didn’t know this so if I wasn’t paying attention it would result in an awkward yank on the door and a “Sorry, try again” as I pressed the button. So I got in the habit of just pressing the button as some one was walking to the door.

One day a man is heading towards the exit, nothing suspicious, I press the button and as he exits the anti-theft scanner alarm goes off. I say “Excuse me SIR” and he breaks into a sprint, gets outside, hops in his car and peels out. So I’m confident he stole something, in face I’m pretty confident it was a fairly expensive OBDII scanner I found the package for later that day.

Dumb mistake and I felt pretty bad, but my district manager happened to stop by to inspect the store that day and was at the counter when that happened. I wasn’t reprimanded in any way for unlocking the door but I was nervous for a while that I was going to be and especially embarrassed.

I do sometimes wonder how the story would have gone if he wasn’t able to exit.