Guy runs out of Starbucks with tip jar

Nor should they have. Desperate people do desperate things and theres a reason literally every customer facing employee ever in this country is told not to chase thieves

I'd rather just replace the money from the tip jar than chase after some potentially violent criminal. Not risking injury or worse over 10s of dollars, regardless of whose it is.

This happened repeatedly when I worked at a starbucks in the back bay a few years ago. Pretty sure it was always the same guy, but the staff was always different and nobody was ever 100% sure it was him, so we just had to dedicate someone to watching anyone who was loitering weirdly. (It would always happen in the evening when we were trying to clean.) We screwed the tip jars to the counter, but then once somebody opened the top and took all the bills out. We got little luggage locks for them, but that looked really sad and the keys got lost, or the locks broke or something. Eventually we just emptied them all the time so there was never much in there to steal.

We'd also get more than our fair share of dudes trying the "I gave you a 20, you only gave me change for a 10" scam, or passing counterfeit bills. There was a couple once who tried to pass the same ridiculous looking fake traveler's check a few days in a row. Homeless guys would steal sandwiches from the refrigerator case and we'd (mostly) try not to notice. There was a (very friendly) guy who would jerk off in the bathroom who we called the Honey Man. (Ask me why!) I mopped up urine out of the downstairs seating area during the Celtics victory parade. I also had to evacuate it once after a sewage line burst during a rainstorm and there was an inch of gray smelly water down there. The district manager said we had to stay open but we locked the doors anyway and had to put trash bags over our feet to go get our stuff out of the office.

This comment got long! I don't miss that job.

Ok, I'll say j it... Real men don't drink Starbucks.

but I learned a long time ago money is not worth dying for.

It's easy to criticize the commenter for her lament about no one helping, but it was an honest expression so relax.

No harm would probably have come to anyone blocking the exit but I don't disrespect anyone who didn't. Fear (and, as I think the commenter is suggesting, indifference) is a strong emotion.

I've spent a lot of time in Starbucks and seen crime after crime after crime, from the South End to Back Bay to the Financial District - it's incredible, the amount of stealing. Starbucks does itself no favor by having merchandise near the doorways, making it easy to go in and out. And, people are stupid, too - they leave their shopping bags and personal items out in the open.

I've confronted maybe half a dozen people over the years, and every time I do and go home to talk about it, Terry says to me, "You're incredibly stupid." And, it's true.

A man came in to the Back Bay Starbucks (no doubt, the one mentioned above) and took a guy's cellphone that was on the counter behind him (again, stupid person). I saw it and confronted the man. I think I said, "You're going to have to give that back." He said no and headed for the door. I stood in the doorway ... and then got smart, real fast, and let him walk out. Someone else called 911 and the police came quickly and followed him up Ring Road.

I guess this sounds as though I'm tooting my own horn, but really I'm just saying 1) people do confront them; 2) those people are stupid; and, 3) if you want to steal something, go to Starbucks.