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Sportsnutcards
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A crazy situation happened to my in my shop today and im not exactly sure what to do next or really how to feel about it… A little back story- I have a customer who is 15 years old and has been coming to my shop for about 4 years. He is kind of a socially awkward kid who is very much into sports. He has become friendly with other regular customers of mine and comes into my store very often to talk cards and sports with me and whoever else is in there at the time. He lives around the corner form my shop so its pretty easy for him to come in as often as he wants. While he can be very annoying at times, I have always taken the time to be nice to him and try to get him on the right track of “collecting” instead of ripping. Customers have given him free cards at various times and he was always allowed to be involved in various events even if he didn’t have enough money to participate. There was also a point in time where kids from school were picking on him on his way home from school and I would allow him to come into my store so he could call his parents to come pick him up.
About 6 months ago, he came in with his dad and his dad told me that he was caught stealing money from his parents at that he would not be able to come into my store for a long time. I agreed that I thought it was a good idea for him to take a break because he was becoming a little too into collecting cards. About 4 months later (2 Months ago) he stops into my store with $5 and wanted to buy a ack of the new football cards so he could possible get some of the new rookies. I asked him if it was ok with his dad, and he said yes, his dad gave him the $5. He came in a few days later with another $5 to buy another pack and again I asked him if it was ok and again he told me it was fine. So since then he has been coming in on a pretty regular basis buying packs here and there and hanging out in the store a lot. Its winter time and there isn’t much else to do for a kid that age, especially one who doesn’t have all that many friends… Fast forward to last week, I was out of the store and my dad was watching it for me. I was in the next day and the kid came in showing me a buster posey auto card he pulled from a box that he “bought” from my store the day before. I said that it was cool, but it got me thinking a bit. My dad didn’t tell me that this kid had spent $75 on a box when he was running down the sales, and in fact remembered that he only had $5 plus a dollar in change to buy a pack and a pack of soft sleeves. So I put two and two together and realize that the kid stole the box. I then checked the kid’s youtube account and see that he also broke another box and uploaded it on Friday.
Today after school he came into my store and I confronted him about stealing the cards. He admitted to it and he told me that he had taken 4 boxes of cards plus 2 $100 cards from one of my other boxes. In all it was about $500 worth of cards he stole from me. I told him that I would not call the cops but that he needed to tell his dad what he did, bring all of his cards back to my store and bring his dad in to talk to me about it and figure out what we are going to do. About 2 hours later his dad comes into my store and I can see he is steaming. He starts screaming at me that I am the cause of his son’s problems and that he never game me the permission to let his son back into my store. He even went has far as to say that he feels like he should knock me the F*ck out for helping cause his sons problems and that it is because of my store that his son is obsessed with cards. I try to explain to him that I have done everything in my power to keep his son socializing with other sports fans and collectors while trying to keep him on a healthy path of collecting. I also was trying to explan to him that it wasn’t just my store he gets his cards from, but also that he buys them on ebay through youtube etc. The dad wants nothing of it and tells me that he might seek legal action against me and that he might not pay anything back to me from what was stolen because it is my fault. So he leaves and says he will call me tomorrow with what he decides… So my question, am I in the wrong? Should I have banned the kid from my store and never let him return? Am I the cause of this kid’s obsession or would he have found a way to buy cards elsewhere? What would you do if you were me?
About 6 months ago, he came in with his dad and his dad told me that he was caught stealing money from his parents at that he would not be able to come into my store for a long time. I agreed that I thought it was a good idea for him to take a break because he was becoming a little too into collecting cards. About 4 months later (2 Months ago) he stops into my store with $5 and wanted to buy a ack of the new football cards so he could possible get some of the new rookies. I asked him if it was ok with his dad, and he said yes, his dad gave him the $5. He came in a few days later with another $5 to buy another pack and again I asked him if it was ok and again he told me it was fine. So since then he has been coming in on a pretty regular basis buying packs here and there and hanging out in the store a lot. Its winter time and there isn’t much else to do for a kid that age, especially one who doesn’t have all that many friends… Fast forward to last week, I was out of the store and my dad was watching it for me. I was in the next day and the kid came in showing me a buster posey auto card he pulled from a box that he “bought” from my store the day before. I said that it was cool, but it got me thinking a bit. My dad didn’t tell me that this kid had spent $75 on a box when he was running down the sales, and in fact remembered that he only had $5 plus a dollar in change to buy a pack and a pack of soft sleeves. So I put two and two together and realize that the kid stole the box. I then checked the kid’s youtube account and see that he also broke another box and uploaded it on Friday.
Today after school he came into my store and I confronted him about stealing the cards. He admitted to it and he told me that he had taken 4 boxes of cards plus 2 $100 cards from one of my other boxes. In all it was about $500 worth of cards he stole from me. I told him that I would not call the cops but that he needed to tell his dad what he did, bring all of his cards back to my store and bring his dad in to talk to me about it and figure out what we are going to do. About 2 hours later his dad comes into my store and I can see he is steaming. He starts screaming at me that I am the cause of his son’s problems and that he never game me the permission to let his son back into my store. He even went has far as to say that he feels like he should knock me the F*ck out for helping cause his sons problems and that it is because of my store that his son is obsessed with cards. I try to explain to him that I have done everything in my power to keep his son socializing with other sports fans and collectors while trying to keep him on a healthy path of collecting. I also was trying to explan to him that it wasn’t just my store he gets his cards from, but also that he buys them on ebay through youtube etc. The dad wants nothing of it and tells me that he might seek legal action against me and that he might not pay anything back to me from what was stolen because it is my fault. So he leaves and says he will call me tomorrow with what he decides… So my question, am I in the wrong? Should I have banned the kid from my store and never let him return? Am I the cause of this kid’s obsession or would he have found a way to buy cards elsewhere? What would you do if you were me?
