I love feel-good stories like this!

Teenager shoplifting in costume store forced to hold a sign out the front saying he got caught (while in costume, of course)

Excerpt:

An 18-year-old Virginia man who was caught shoplifting at a costume store has accepted a rather unusual punishment.

Andrew Perry, the owner of the Halloween Express costume store in Charlottesville, told the light-fingered teenager that he would not call the police - if instead the youth stood in front of the store with a sign saying he was caught shoplifting.

In a bizarre twist, Mr Perry also told the boy that he would have to dress as Sesame Street character Bert, as in Bert and Ernie.

Comment: We need to bring these back for small time crime!

Fired for stopping shoplifter

Grocery worker fired for stopping shoplifter

Comment: An excerpt hardly does justice to this story! Please read the whole article! Grocery worker hearken to his manager's call and stops a shoplifter ... and is fired for touching him. Unbelievable. Whole Foods is a little too "socially conscious"!

Excerpt:

Schultz says he had just punched out for a break at 7 p.m. on Sunday when he heard a commotion at the front door of the store, 3135 Washtenaw Ave. He said he came to the aid of the manager who yelled for help in stopping a shoplifter. Schultz, the manager and another employee cornered the shoplifter between two cars in the parking lot.

Schultz said he told the shoplifter he was making a citizens arrest and to wait for the police to arrive, but the shoplifter broke away from the group and ran across Washtenaw Avenue and toward a gas station at the corner of Huron Parkway.

Before the man could cross Huron Parkway, Schultz caught up and grabbed the man's jacket and put his leg behind the man's legs. When the manager arrived at the intersection, Schultz said, the manager told him to release the shoplifter, and he complied, and the shoplifter got away.

Schultz said he was called to the store's office the next day, on Christmas Eve, and was fired because he violated a company policy prohibiting employees from having any physical contact with a customer.

Kate Klotz, a company spokesperson, said the policy is clear and listed in a booklet that all employees have to acknowledge that they received before they can start work.

HT: Freakonomics (NYTimes)

I suggest: Shop at Wal-Mart ... (boycott Whole Foods) ... and please someone hire John Schultz!