XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.democrats, ca.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: shoot.the.shoplifters@sanfrancisco.com   
      
   Videos of masked men brazenly ransacking San Francisco store shelves and   
   displays have flooded social media feeds in recent years. But recently, a   
   viral TikTok exposed a different breed of culprit: well-dressed white   
   women carefully pocketing goods.   
      
   The video, viewed over 80,000 times, shows the thieves casually swiping   
   merchandise from Post.script., a gift shop in Lower Pacific Heights. For   
   Chandler Tang, the shop’s owner, it spotlighted how crafty shoplifters can   
   be, challenging stereotypes of who is behind the retail theft crisis   
   plaguing the city and region.   
      
   After the second theft in one week late last month, Tang was at a loss for   
   what to do. The gift shop, which opened in 2019, has dealt with   
   shoplifters in the past, but experiencing two thefts back-to-back was   
   unsettling.   
      
   “I filed the police report but knew the response might be limited since   
   there is so much going on in the city,” Tang told The Standard. “So we   
   took it in our own hands and put it on TikTok.”   
      
   Admittingly, Tang said, she was nervous about how the video would be   
   received and if it would be seen because the shop didn’t have much of a   
   TikTok presence.   
      
   “However, it was super positive,” she added. “It really snowballed.”   
      
   Tang said the shoplifters’ appearance made it difficult for her and her   
   employees to spot the thefts when they were happening. She’s subsequently   
   added several cameras around the store and signs that say, “Hi, you’re on   
   camera.”   
      
   “One of them had a fairly big coat,” she said. “We’re trying to change   
   things and be on the floor more. It’s tough because a lot of our customers   
   like their space, and our store is fairly small.”   
      
   San Francisco police confirmed both incidents were reported but did not   
   say whether the women have been identified or arrested.   
      
   Since Tang posted the video and a subsequent follow-up, a person sent her   
   a message saying that one of the women looked familiar.   
      
   “They told me that they thought it was a mutual friend from a prior   
   roommate, but we didn’t hear back, so I kinda dropped it,” she said,   
   adding that she never gave that information to the police. “That was the   
   closest we got.”   
      
   Tang said one woman took a small green kitchen timer while the other took   
   a tea towel with the Golden Gate Bridge on it.   
      
   “Both items were under $50, but they are made by vendors, so it doesn’t   
   just affect us but them as well,” Tang said. “Financially, as a small   
   business, it hits us more. Honestly, it affects the morale.”   
      
   Tang, who grew up in San Francisco, noted that many of the comments in   
   response to her video disparaged the city, saying she should just   
   leave—but she has no plans to do so.   
      
   “I’m not going to leave. I’ll be here,” she said. “I don’t blame   
   shoplifting on the city, but I also don’t know what it is. Possibly the   
   economy.”   
      
   Tang doesn’t think she will continue to post videos of shoplifters on   
   TikTok. Instead, she hopes to use the platform to educate small business   
   owners on how they can better protect their merchandise.   
      
   “It caught us off guard how viral those videos went,” she said. “I think   
   if it happens, in my mind, we would only continue theft prevention videos.   
   I don’t know if we’d continue to put people on blast online.”   
      
   https://sfstandard.com/2024/03/15/san-francisco-viral-tiktok-postscript-   
   shoplifting/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)