A Country of Thieves

So, we had crappy weather here in Central PA yesterday; a little freezing rain, a little snow, and a little sleet, just enough to make the roads really slick, not treacherous, but icy enough to require caution while driving.  This being said, business was slow in the store.  The cashiers were kept busy but I didn't have to worry about juggling customers to keep lines short.
Later afternoon I went down to check on our Pro-Cashiers and found one of the standing by the exit, the other, with a hardware associate, was standing outside.  "What's going on?" I asked.  I was told that "some guy just walked out with 2 Milwaukee tools tucked under his arm."  This happens, but usually when we're busy.  Neither clerk had a customer, so I suspect they were busy bullshitting and suspect the Tool Thief took advantage of that.  They're smart, you know, these thieves.  And one of the clerks is back from college for the holidays and is... well, to put it nicely, is full of himself... he likes an audience.  I didn't tell him that Asset Protection will probably watch his performance on the security tape.

This guy's stealing something from Sears

Anyway, what this tool thief is most likely going to do is return those stolen tools to another one of our stores and get store credit.  What does he do with the store credit?  Use it to buy a more necessary tool?  No way.  He'll sell it.  A lot of times they sell them on Ebay.  Discounted, of course.  And people buy them.  Don't believe me?  Go to Ebay and search any large retailer's name.  This is what you get when you do a search Lowes.  And do people care that what they're buying is credit for stolen merchandise?  Hell no.  It almost makes you think we've turned into a country of thieves.