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Man killed chasing Starbucks tip jar thief...

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the_painted_bird said:
Touching yet fucked up how the killer is the one spreading the victim's ashes, eh?
I thought this was a cut in dry news thread till I read your post which prompted me to go look at the story, and now I am in agreement with you that this is one weird story.

:?
 
Kenak said:
Seems to me they just went to where the most money is. They won't get their kid back, but at the very least they can have enough money to drown their loss in alcohol and cocaine.

lol

Now, now. That's a little mean. Funny, but mean.
 
Teh Hamburglar said:
Oh my...its his brothers ashes? Damn. "Yeah, mom! Just throw my ashes out on that tree on the corner downtown where dogs urinate! Remember me!"

Ummmm, did you read the article?
 
Am I the only one that thinks that it is strange that the guy who killed him spread his ashes? Especially when it's a petty thief who got him killed over less than $5?
 
Kodiak690 said:
Am I the only one that thinks that it is strange that the guy who killed him spread his ashes? Especially when it's a petty thief who got him killed over less than $5?
The idiot old man who chased after an idiot teenager is the one who got himself killed.
 
The caption under the picture has to be one of the most poorly-worded captions in the history of photo captions.

Poisson accidentally killed Kreutz as he tried to stop Poisson when he tried to flee after stealing the tip jar from the baristas counter...
The way it's written, it sounds like the guy who got killed was the thief. But that's not right is it?
 
JoeBoy101 said:
I think you should do a quick YouTube report from the site to let us know how the tree looks. This information is critical!
I was considering driving up there and snapping a re-creation pic from the same angle but I already took my lunch break :(
 
Every single job I have ever had has been very explicit in saying "do not ever ever chase after someone who shoplifts/robs/steals etc..."
We werent even allowed to chase after people who left the strip club without paying (as I learned the hard way after getting chewed the fuck out by my boss) because we had had incidents where doormen got stabbed or attacked doing so.
 
ZAK said:
Hm, I expected more people to be in support of a good citizen who tried to stand up to crime.


To stand up to crime you need to be trained and equipped to do the job.

If you do hero shit like this, you are putting yourself and others at danger.


Also the man was 54. God knows how he made it to that age.
 
This is quite possibly the most retarded thing I've ever read.
Customer goes after tip jar thief (why??), thief runs him over and flees the scene, gets arrested and pleads guilty, family forgives killer, lets killer spread his ashes (!!!!!!) on a random tree near the site of his murder that HE committed, and then the family sues Starbucks???

WTF
 
siddx said:
Every single job I have ever had has been very explicit in saying "do not ever ever chase after someone who shoplifts/robs/steals etc..."
We werent even allowed to chase after people who left the strip club without paying (as I learned the hard way after getting chewed the fuck out by my boss) because we had had incidents where doormen got stabbed or attacked doing so.
I worked at a clothing store chain during college and heard stories of people who would walk into the store with garbage bags, fill them up with merch in full view of everyone, and then walk out because they knew the policy was to not stop them or even call mall security.

I feel bad for the dude just trying to do a good thing but it's pretty stupid to try and stop the theft of a few bucks. Starbucks has shitloads of cash so no one should ever be risking their safety even if someone comes in and starts trying to set the place on fire.
 
siddx said:
Every single job I have ever had has been very explicit in saying "do not ever ever chase after someone who shoplifts/robs/steals etc..."
We werent even allowed to chase after people who left the strip club without paying (as I learned the hard way after getting chewed the fuck out by my boss) because we had had incidents where doormen got stabbed or attacked doing so.

Wife worked at SAMS for a while back in the day and they were not allowed to confront shoplifters. They would have people putting on clothing and stuff in their pockets, but they could not say or do anything about it except watch and contact police. Once out of the store they could simply ask for the person to come back but nothing else.

Brian Griffin said:
I worked at a clothing store chain during college and heard stories of people who would walk into the store with garbage bags, fill them up with merch in full view of everyone, and then walk out because they knew the policy was to not stop them or even call mall security.

Mall security should be contacted at least, thats what is done at any shop I've ran in a mall in the past. Security can't do anything though unless the person steps out of the store with the merchandise, they couldn't approach a shoplifter in store and "accuse" them.

Though at least any malls around here have little police substations in them or usually quite a few cops patrolling inside who don't have to follow any of these rules. One of my employees saw a dude stealing at the nearby clothes store and the guy comes out and tells her "to mind her own fucking business". I was at the register and just picked up the phone for security to call the cops who were there in less than a minute since we have so many walking around.
 
ZAK said:
Hm, I expected more people to be in support of a good citizen who tried to stand up to crime.

If you are absolutely sure you can do something then I guess. I support his intentions, but once the person you're chasing gets into a vehicle weighing a massive amount and you're just a guy standing there, that's the point where you give up and call the police with the license plate.

So, good job for trying, but he was an idiot.
 
If I ran Starbucks, I'd settle with the family for the contents of the tip jar. That's what he was risking his life to get. So he should get it.
 
Revolutionary said:
This is quite possibly the most retarded thing I've ever read.
Customer goes after tip jar thief (why??), thief runs him over and flees the scene, gets arrested and pleads guilty, family forgives killer, lets killer spread his ashes (!!!!!!) on a random tree near the site of his murder that HE committed, and then the family sues Starbucks???

WTF
you summarized it perfectly.


It almost rings like a fail distortion attempt to me, to get money out of a billion dollar coffee shop industry.
 
Worst part is, they dont forbid employees from chasing after thieves because they worry about their well-being, it's because they dont want to get sued by either the thief if he or she gets the shit kicked out of him/her, or by the employee or family of employee if they get hurt/die.
 
JoeBoy101 said:
I believe in tipping and agree with this man. Starbucks is a fast food joint specializing in coffee. Its not like they are a real cafe' or something.

I'll bite, why aren't they a "real" cafe? The only difference I've noticed between it and the local cafes is there isn't a guy sitting out front with a guitar.
 
Tkawsome said:
I'll bite, why aren't they a "real" cafe? The only difference I've noticed between it and the local cafes is there isn't a guy sitting out front with a guitar.

Starbucks is evil maaaan, fight the power, drink coffee made by lazy hipster douchebags who work 2 hour shifts selling overpriced coffee.
 
Jeff-DSA said:
I feel bad for the man and his family, but you don't chase criminals over a few bucks. You get a good mental image of them and how they got away and you report it to the police.

I was in a gas station that was being held up and I could have easily cracked the guy over the skull from behind. The cops arrested him a couple of hours later. I think I did the right thing by pretending to decide whether or not I wanted to dump chili on my nachos until he left.
HAHAHAH!!!
 
What they should have done is attach a tape measure to the tip jar with the end resting on the edge of the counter.

Once the burglar got too far out the door the tape would snap off the counter and reel back super fast, hitting him in the hand causing him to drop the tip jar and (probably) fall to the ground in pain thus allowing a fast and safe apprehension.
 
Tkawsome said:
I'll bite, why aren't they a "real" cafe? The only difference I've noticed between it and the local cafes is there isn't a guy sitting out front with a guitar.

Well, in a cafe' I envision a waiting staff. If you're not getting waited on, no tip. Not for the store, not for the baristas, and certainly not for the scruffy david lee roth-wannabe with the guitar.
 
JoeBoy101 said:
Well, in a cafe' I envision a waiting staff. If you're not getting waited on, no tip. Not for the store, not for the baristas, and certainly not for the scruffy david lee roth-wannabe with the guitar.

I've never seen a cafe with a waiting staff, even the local places are run exactly like Starbucks.
 
Sad to hear, but I always wonder why these vigilante types are so crazy to enact justice for multi billion corporations.

Same with the idiots who try to play hero during bank robberies. Banks are insured.
 
Tkawsome said:
I've never seen a cafe with a waiting staff, even the local places are run exactly like Starbucks.

I dunno what to tell you. I have a Keurig. That's my policy though. If there's wait staff, tip.
 
Revolutionary said:
This is quite possibly the most retarded thing I've ever read.
Customer goes after tip jar thief (why??), thief runs him over and flees the scene, gets arrested and pleads guilty, family forgives killer, lets killer spread his ashes (!!!!!!) on a random tree near the site of his murder that HE committed, and then the family sues Starbucks???

WTF
Thanks for summerizing it. Reading through the thread and reading different people's posts, I kept getting confused as to whether the thief was the car-driver or not. Got it now.
And yes, it is really fucking dumb.

Though I don't think the entire situation was dumb enough to call some guy trying to stop a thief an idiot or jackass either.
 
woah, a sad story blighted by typical greedy opportunist assholes. your relative tries to b hero and a cash grab is how you honour him? where the fuck to people get off these days?
 
Korey said:
That whole news story is weird on so many levels. The photo is of the guy who:

a) stole the tip jar
b) ran the guy over killing him

...spreading the ashes of the guy who he killed's ashes over a tree right outside the Starbucks.........
LOL it was very fucking weird. "go spread my brother's ashes you jackass, that'll teach you a lesson". fucking weird.
 
The Lamonster said:
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For some reason, I can't unsee the dude pouring the ashes as smirking.
 
Worthless people looking for a payout instead of celebrating the life of their own family member. I hope they don't get a dime, but Starbucks will probably settle, giving hope to the next pile of human waste that thinks they deserve everything from everyone.

I hate people.
 
This is why they make it a rule that you NEVER chase after thieves. You can pretty much run out of any Urban Outfitters with any amount of clothing you wanted at most stores. These stores kind of rely on people having morals.
 
.GqueB. said:
This is why they make it a rule that you NEVER chase after thieves. You can pretty much run out of any Urban Outfitters with any amount of clothing you wanted at most stores. These stores kind of rely on people having morals.


It's not trust. Large retail outfits will lose more money on worker's insurance if their employees got into altercations with thieves than the monetary worth of the stolen items.

In fact, I'm pretty sure its a difference of several magnitudes.
 
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