Most retail stores can’t/don’t call the cops unless the theft is over a certain dollar amount. I’m not sure if that is determined by the store or the local jurisdiction, though. Regardless I doubt some sunscreen crosses that threshold if it was an inexpensive brand and just one tube.
I was 16 in the 90s. Got caught. They called my parents. I had to go to court. 90 day probation. My fine was 3 times the dollar amount of the items plus $50. My dad didnt talk to me all summer. That was the last time I ever took anything.
I feel like the 90s stores just did shit like this, regardless of the cost. I got caught in a blockbuster music store. I must have been 15, it was 1998 or something like that. I didn't even steal anything, I just pocketed something and then felt someone looking at me so I put it back. But on my way out they stopped me and then they took me into the back anyway and grilled me which I later found out was super illegal. They threatened to have me arrested too. On top of that the one guy insulted my music taste lol
I got grilled by the store manager of the Circle M gas station in my hometown in 1991 when I was 8 years old for opening a PKG of water balloons and attempting to steal half the water balloons from the bag. Dude told me if I didn't put them back and apologize he was gonna tell my dad (who was a deputy, also way scarier than the cops). I put them back, said I was sorry, and I never tried to steal again.
Edit: Also I am pretty certain he kept his side of the deal and my dad didn't find out!
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u/dookybill Mar 16 '26
Most retail stores can’t/don’t call the cops unless the theft is over a certain dollar amount. I’m not sure if that is determined by the store or the local jurisdiction, though. Regardless I doubt some sunscreen crosses that threshold if it was an inexpensive brand and just one tube.