I've been working on a job site adjacent to a very nice mini-mart. Whatever you want - food, drink, a decent toilet - just a few steps down the road. Plus, a staff that is friendly and quite welcoming.

What could go wrong?

Well, I arrived at work this morning to find "my" parking spot occupied by a police car. Entering the job site, I was just in time to see the cuffs placed upon one of the workers, and the man led away.

It seems that, for the past week this gent has been on-site, he has been having his breakfast and lunch at the mini-mart, without bothering to pay. Mart personnel watched where he went, and police responded.

Amazingly enough, the gent had several outstanding warrants as well. Once a perp ....

Meanwhile, we've been having trouble finding some of our tools lately. The suspects' truck did have some NEW tools in it, still in their wrappers. The theory is that he was exchanging our tools for new ones at various vendors. There's no proof of this, but we suspect the rate of tools disappearing will drop.

This was a grown man- not some kid. Can you imagine going home at night, to tell your kids you were arrested for stealing a hot dog and a soda?

Interesting that he did it for a week.

The bad part of the above situation could possibly be 'everyone else' being looked at by the mini-mart staff.

Tool theft is a concern on a lot of jobsites, hence the gang boxes with the heavy duty locks, and ID info engraved into most tools.

Last week at a large medical type complex, the GC tells me that his rental forklift vanished overnite from the side of his site trailer.

I wonder how long your perp spent locked up. I've seen guys thru the revolving door at an inner city police station.