XPost: alt.crime, alt.politics.media, alt.politics.conservative   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: democrat-criminals@mail.house.gov   
      
   NEW YORK -- Lululemon's CEO Calvin McDonald said the retailer stands by   
   its decision to fire two employees who tried to intervene during a theft   
   at one of its stores.   
      
   The incident took place in late April at its store in Peachtree Corners,   
   Georgia, CNN reported.   
      
   Cellphone footage from the store shows two men wearing hoodies and face   
   masks rush into the store and grab armloads of merchandise from areas   
   closest to the entrance of the store and then rush out. One female   
   employee is seen near the entrance of the store close to where the men are   
   heard yelling "get out" repeatedly. It is unclear if the footage was taken   
   by a customer or an employee.   
      
   RELATED: Group of women steal $10,000 worth of Lululemon leggings   
      
   "In this particular case, we have a zero-tolerance policy that we train   
   our educators on around engaging during a theft. Why? Because we put the   
   safety of our team and of our guests front and center," McDonald said   
   during a CNBC interview on Friday. "It's only merchandise."   
      
   McDonald said the employees "knowingly broke the policy" and engaged with   
   the thieves, including following them out of the store. Three men were   
   later apprehended.   
      
   While Lululemon has come under fire, notably from conservative media, for   
   seemingly penalizing brave staffers, "these situations always are a   
   delicate balance," said Read Hayes, criminologist at the University of   
   Florida and director of the Loss Prevention Research Council, Its members   
   include Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Gap.   
      
   "You're dealing with potentially very aggressive and violent people   
   committing these crimes," he stressed. "Retailers have seen employees lose   
   their lives when they've tried to intervene."   
      
   Lululemon sent a statement to CNN Tuesday reiterating the company's   
   "absolute zero-tolerance policy" for "engaging with guests in a way that   
   could put themselves, or others in harm's way."   
      
   SEE ALSO: Caught on camera: Marine veteran fights off 3 robbers who   
   followed him home in broad daylight   
      
   The company went on to refer to its "longstanding protocols in place" in   
   regards to safety, and said that "no amount of merchandise in a store" is   
   worth the risk for an employee.   
      
   "The two employees at our Peachtree Corners location in Georgia were not   
   terminated for calling the police.... Employees are able and instructed to   
   call 911 when needed, and that was not the cause of termination," the   
   statement said. The employees risked putting themselves and others "in   
   harm's way," Lululemon noted. Several retailers, from Dollar General to   
   Walmart, have had employees or security staff injured or killed during   
   attempts to intervene in theft.   
      
   As economic fears grow amid inflation and rising borrowing costs,   
   incidents of retail crime are mounting. Retailers large and small say   
   they're struggling to contain the escalation of in-store crime in   
   particular- ranging from petty shoplifting to organized sprees of large-   
   scale theft that clear entire shelves of products.   
      
   SEE THIS: Video of Oak Lawn jewelry store robbery in which 3 men cut hole   
   in wall to break in released   
      
   Target said last month that it was bracing to lose half a billion dollars   
   this year because of rising theft. Nordstrom, Whole Foods and some other   
   big chains said they were abandoning San Francisco because of changing   
   economic conditions or employee safety.   
      
   Many other retailers have blamed crime for closing stores, although   
   Walgreens, notably, has backed away from an earlier claim of rising theft   
   at its stores, saying it may have overstated the problem.   
      
   The National Retail Federation said total annual shrink, a retail metric   
   that tracks inventory losses caused by external theft, including organized   
   retail crime, employee theft, human errors, vendor fraud, damaged or   
   mismarked items, reached $94.5 billion in 2021, up from $90.8 billion from   
   2020. Nearly half was attributed to large-scale theft of products. The   
   group said retailers on average saw a 26.5% increase in this type of theft   
   over the previous year.   
      
   "This is organized retail crime. It's an opportunistic crew stealing   
   specific items from a specific place or one item from many places to   
   resell them," said Hayes. The stolen goods are most often sold online or   
   to neighborhood mom and pop shops or at street fairs, for example.   
      
   It's a point that McDonald stressed as well. "We've had instances, and   
   we've seen in other retailers instances where employees step in and are   
   hurt or worse, killed," he told CNBC. In 2011, a Lululemon staffer was   
   killed by another worker in a brutal stabbing in Bethesda, Maryland. The   
   killer, later convicted of first-degree murder, had initially reported   
   that thieves committed the crime.   
      
   CNN could not immediately reach the two employees who were fired in   
   Georgia.   
      
   https://abc7chicago.com/calvin-mcdonald-lululemon-ceo-firing/13351417/   
      
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   The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood   
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   President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed   
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