Stealing my Thoughts...

I'm going to share with you what's been on my mind for a while...literally, stealing my thoughts...

SHOPLIFTERS!!!

I am having a problem with SHOPLIFTERS...in an ANTIQUE MALL of all places!!!  Craziness, right?

I KNOW I approach the world at top speed - and I know that with age comes wisdom and a wee bit of cynicism (supposedly - HA!) - yet STILL I view the world through my rosy naive glasses...I am uncritical, unsuspecting, unwary, idealistic (and perfectly happy to be me!)... annnnnnnnnnnnnnd I'm very trusting.  Perhaps TOO trusting?  Apparently that is the case when it comes to having some space in an antique mall. Not only does the "MIA" bother me for the moral/ethical reasons, but it's starting to effect what I create and what I choose NOT to create!  Anything that snags on the wheels turning in my head REALLY gets me fired up!  Which, yeah....I laugh when I'm mad - but that's a whole different affliction.  LOL

I have found myself setting aside the smaller things that I love to play around with such as journals, jewelry, greeting cards - anything and everything that tickles my creative fancy -  for the simple reason that it could potentially make its way into someone's handbag or pocket...or wherever thief's (yeah, I said it!) squirrel things away. To date: I have had a few brooches taken off of my bags, a few inexpensive (but handcrafted) necklaces and NOW Halloween tags!  Halloween tags!  They were only $1.50 each!!!  And it's not even the monetary value of the tags that bothers me (I love to use my scraps and glitter...glitter is da' bomb!) but the fact that someone would rather risk getting caught for HALLOWEEN TAG THEFT than pay $1.50 each for them!  They had some love and labor into them - so yes, that gets me fairly fired up.  And the brooches?  They are grabbing up my handbags, walking through-out the mall with them and slowly working them off of the bag - then they lay the bag down wherever they happen to be.  Now, it takes just the SLIGHTEST bit of inspiration to get me going on a handbag - most of the time it was because I found the perfect brooch, or buckle, or buttons, or belt, or scrap of fabric, or....well, I did say the SLIGHTEST.  ;-) So in MY red.neck mind they have managed to walk off with the icing on the cake - the centerpiece...the tiara.  Am I supposed to feel HONORED that they find the creations of red.neck Chic worthy of going to jail?  Hmmm....I think I missed THAT message!!!

I believe I have solved the brooch/buckle dilemna by securing them inside the lining - then securing them again, jewelry in the locked glass case (which stinks if you are a tactile person such as myself!)...but the other things?  Such as Halloween tags?  Who'd have thunk that such a small thing was worth such a risk? And who would even look in a glass case for a piece of glittered paper?  That are only $1.50 each!!!  There ARE cameras in the mall...apparantly they are never aimed in the right direction at the right time!

So, my question to you is this.  As a shop owner, a space owner - a seller as well as a customer..  What do I do next?  How do you deal with this in your own world?  Do you have a problem with shoplifting and theft?

This here microwave door (is dumpster diving considered theft?  oops....) is my first installment on my anti-theft crusade.  Perhaps just the SLIGHTEST inkling that they know that I know might slow 'em down a hair....after THIS I'm not responsible for the next thing I come up with.  LOL And really...how can you miss a microwave door in the middle of a very studious antique mall?  Oh wait...I DO have a refrigerator for shelving and cheese graters hanging down the back wall...

Please - could you offer up a plan B?

Comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide...hee-hee
;-) robelyn

P.S.  I have been laughing during this whole post...I am THAT MAD!!!  Seriously.  No, really.  LOLOL
I truly hope you have a wonderful week-end and I appreciate your input!!!  ;-)