Lululemon Employees Fired for Calling 911 on Looters Robbing the Store

[Ralph Wiggum]

Rachel Rogers was employed as a sales associate at the Lululemon store in Peachtree Corners, Ga., for five years. But after the same group of looters attacked the store for the fourth or fifth time, making off with thousands of dollars in merchandise, she called 911.

Assistant Manager Jennifer Ferguson described the scene. “All of a sudden we see some gentlemen run into the store in masks and hoodies,” Ferguson said, “They swiped until they couldn’t hold any more product and ran out the door.”

But a week later, Rogers was fired. She had apparently run afoul of a company policy that had a “zero tolerance” for calling 911.

Certainly one can understand a company directing employees not to interfere in a looting incident. But Rogers was fired for disobeying a company policy that prevented her from calling the police to the scene. As it was, the same group of thieves hit another Lululemon store in the area the next day and were caught.

The “no 911 call” policy was initiated to protect the company, said Ferguson.

“We are not supposed to get in the way. You kind of clear path for whatever they’re going to do,” Ferguson said, “And then, after it’s over, you scan a QR code. And that’s that. We’ve been told not to put it in any notes, because that might scare other people. We’re not supposed to call the police, not really supposed to talk about it.”

Retail businesses have apparently decided to accept the huge losses in merchandise taken by organized gangs who have woken up to the fact that no one really wants to arrest and prosecute them. “Shoplifting” or felony theft are “victimless crimes,” we’re told.

We, the consumer, pay for these crimes through ever higher costs for merchandise and shopping in an unsafe environment.

The brazenness of these criminals is matched in intensity by the stupidity and fear of management. Metro Atlanta will become more and more like San Francisco and Portland — and all other major cities — because they refused to learn the lessons of big cities in the 1980s and ’90s.

“Broken windows” lead to a broken society.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2023/05/27/lululemon-employee-fired-for-calling-911-on-looters-robbing-the-store-n1698542

[Eupher]

What a complete pile of shit.

This is the kind of woke bullshit that's prevalent on the West Coast. If your intention is to steal, thieve, or rob, you deserve a bullet in the head. Full stop. 

[SVPete]

1. How long before Lululemon will be forced to close bunches of unprofitable stores due to theft? I see there are 3 in SF, 1 in Oakland, and 1 in Berserkeley, as well as several on the Peninsula and 2 or 3 in Silicon Valley.

2. While I question the wisdom of employees not directly interfering with shoplifters - a Thus sayeth the business insurance company - I at least "get" that a shoplifter might turn violent and injure the employee(s).

3. Is this Thou shalt not call 9-1-1 policy imposed by the business insurance company or by Lululemon?

[Eupher]

To Pete's point above that a shoplifter "might" turn violent and "injure" an employee trying to stop him/her/it, that's where carrying concealed would fix that problem. If I'm working in a store trying to stop a thief and that thief attempts to "injure" me, well, you might just have a dead thief.

Cleanup on Aisle 3![/size][/color]

To the point about "business insurance", what kind of "insurance" is it that actually allows a thief to steal merchandise that's cutting into my bottom line? That's not insurance -- that's a GUARANTEE to lose money.

One of the bedrocks upon which this country was founded involved the ownership of property. If the "system" doesn't permit the ownership of property because of the fear of actually protecting it, what has happened to that bedrock?

[SVPete]

A bit of a while ago, my son worked at a drug store of the chain that started in Chicago in the year McKinley was assassinated (I looked it up). It was their policy not to interfere with shoplifters because their insurance company did not want to pay for the injuries of employees who tried to stop and were injured by shoplifters. That the insurance-company-imposed policy encouraged shoplifting was obvious to his fellow employees and managers. The store he worked in was in interesting neighborhood, and both he and his manager had learned "some karate" (my son was either second purple or first brown belt and knew his capabilities and limitations), so one day they, working together, nabbed and removed a shoplifter. Fortunately the guy didn't try to fight them. Knowing the kind of use-your-head training my son had received from his sensei, I'm sure he and his manager assessed the shoplifter before moving in on him.

[Ptarmigan]

Lululemon CEO Defends Firing Employees Who Confronted Robbers: ‘Step Back, Let the Theft Occur’
https://www.theepochtimes.com/lululemon-ceo-defends-firing-employees-who-confronted-robbers-step-back-let-the-theft-occur_5315737.html

Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald defended the firing of two employees who confronted three masked thieves robbing a Georgia store and called the police, with McDonald saying that company policy is for staff to “let the theft occur” and not try to intervene.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy that we train our educators on around engaging during a theft,” McDonald told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Friday, with “educators” being the company’s way of referring to their employees.

“We put the safety of our team, of our guests, front and center. It’s only merchandise,” he added. “They’re trained to step back, let the theft occur, know that there’s technology and there’s cameras and we’re working with law enforcement.”

The two former staff members—Jennifer Ferguson and Rachel Rogers—told local news outlets that they called the police after a group of robbers entered the store earlier in May.

How to lose business.

[SVPete]

Lululemon CEO Defends Firing Employees Who Confronted Robbers: ‘Step Back, Let the Theft Occur’
https://www.theepochtimes.com/lululemon-ceo-defends-firing-employees-who-confronted-robbers-step-back-let-the-theft-occur_5315737.html

How to lose business.

I'm pretty sure Lululemon has its own online store and is distributed via outlets like Amazon, so its their brick-and-mortar corporate or franchisees who will suffer. Not that online sales is Paradise, since the returns rate will probably be higher.

[Eupher]

I'm pretty sure Lululemon has its own online store and is distributed via outlets like Amazon, so its their brick-and-mortar corporate or franchisees who will suffer. Not that online sales is Paradise, since the returns rate will probably be higher.

Franchisees will suffer - the corporation won't suffer at all. Just pot-shotting here, but I'd posit that of the 521 brick-and-mortar stores the company has (corporate and franchise) in several countries (USA, UK, Australia, Canada, China), the CEO bets that thievery would occur mostly in the franchisee-owned stores. If true, that would indicate he's far more comfortable pissing off his franchisees - who have skin in the game - rather than lose money through thievery.

This doesn't even factor in the woke crap. 

[SVPete]

Glancing over their website, I see they have running shoes and men's apparel. I already have several brands of shoes that work well for me, and the running events I do always include a shirt suitable for workouts (so many I "have to" weed out older shirts to make room for the more recent). I don't expect to darken the door of one of their stores or their online store.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Franchisees will suffer - the corporation won't suffer at all. Just pot-shotting here, but I'd posit that of the 521 brick-and-mortar stores the company has (corporate and franchise) in several countries (USA, UK, Australia, Canada, China), the CEO bets that thievery would occur mostly in the franchisee-owned stores. If true, that would indicate he's far more comfortable pissing off his franchisees - who have skin in the game - rather than lose money through thievery.

This doesn't even factor in the woke crap. 

By no means an expert on this rather niche brand (and not using a search engine to discover more, don't care), but I don't think Lululemon is big enough to franchise its stores. They're probably all owned by the company.

Haven't worked in retail since the 1980's and very early 90's, but the stores where I worked there was a "Loss Management" team that would monitor and apprehend shoplifters. We even had codes over the storewide intercom that gave subtle codes to our fellow employees that there was a suspicious person pocketing clothing, Nintendo games, jewelry, or whatever they might have been pilfering. Then the Loss Control folks would call the police who would pick up the criminal. That used to be acceptable and perfectly normal.

Normalizing theft is just ridiculous and enables criminals.

[Eupher]

By no means an expert on this rather niche brand (and not using a search engine to discover more, don't care), but I don't think Lululemon is big enough to franchise its stores. They're probably all owned by the company.

Nope. They clearly have franchises in their business model. According to this link, over 800 franchises that cleared $3 billion in 2016.

https://www.thestartupauthority.com/lululemon-franchise/

[Ralph Wiggum]

Nope. They clearly have franchises in their business model. According to this link, over 800 franchises that cleared $3 billion in 2016.

https://www.thestartupauthority.com/lululemon-franchise/

Thanks. As I said above, was feigning ignorance on the business model of the franchise. And not certain of where you found the link, but I did a quick search that says there are about 400 stores in the U.S., and around 600 worldwide.

Then again, my best girl and I don't buy yoga pants and athletic wear. I'm a collared shirt guy who disdains that sloppy casual look. Just my humble opinion.

[Eupher]

Thanks. As I said above, was feigning ignorance on the business model of the franchise. And not certain of where you found the link, but I did a quick search that says there are about 400 stores in the U.S., and around 600 worldwide.

Then again, my best girl and I don't buy yoga pants and athletic wear. I'm a collared shirt guy who disdains that sloppy casual look. Just my humble opinion.

521 was the most recent number from a couple of different sources. No idea where they got that 800 number from, unless they're factoring in vendors selling their stuff online.

I don't do yoga pants either and I don't get jock itch. Don't know about you, but I'm putting this one in the "I'm done with this thread" column.