What, now you're robbing me?
— Not A Victim
I caught my first shoplifter at The Shady Lady Exchange a few months after I started working there. I had a good feel for the customers, which made it easy to tell when something was off.
It was an early spring day. I was the only one in the store when a girl came in. Red hair, freckles. I recognized her because she was wearing a dress we'd sold her a few days before. She asked to see an emerald ring in the display case. I remembered showing it to her last time, too.
The ring itself was simple. It had a plain gold band with a green jewel, but being simple made the jewel stand out more. It wasn't a real emerald, but it looked real, so we priced it like we thought it was real.
Freckles thought it was real, and something seemed off, so I came out from behind the glass case when I handed it to her. I wanted to make sure I was standing between her and the door, just in case.
She reached for it with her left hand, placing her right hand under her left, almost like a cup, as if she was holding something precious. I thought she was admiring it. The ring slipped out of my sight for a fraction of a second before she held it up to the light, to make it sparkle. Then she handed it back with her left hand as she put her right hand in her pocket, and...
...Wait.
What?
I glanced at the ring in my hand. It looked different.
Oh, fuck that!
She turned to walk away, but I swung my foot out and tripped her, sending her crashing face-down on the floor.
WHAM!
I sat on her back and said, "Give me the real one, bitch."
"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied. "Get off me!"
"You came here with a cheap fake ring. You tried to swap yours for ours."
"I did NOT!"
"I'm gonna start counting. Give me back the real one before I get to three."
"Or what?"
"Or very bad stuff happens."
I took a fistful of her hair and pulled it hard enough to lift her head off the floor as I said, "One."
She pulled her right hand out of her pocket when I reached two, and uncurled her fingers, revealing our ring. I grabbed it and climbed off of her.
"Holy fuck," I said, as I inspected both rings. "You just tried to pull a French Drop with a swap. I swear to God, if you ever try to rob The Shady Lady again, I'll kick your ass. But I gotta say, I respect your skills."
"Yeah well, fuck you," she said. "Gimme back the other ring."
"Oh, hell no. You just tried to rob us. You're not getting that back. It's trash anyway."
"What, now you're robbing me?"
"That's exactly what I'm doing, in exchange for not calling the cops or beating the hell out of you. Now get out."
I spent the afternoon thinking about what she'd done. Her trick was obviously a variation of The French Drop. I should have asked if it had a name, 'cause I was gonna steal it. The Double Drop, maybe? It wasn't a Dupe-Drop since the dupe was the one she didn't drop. Her trick was more like a Dupe & Drop.
I decided to call it the French Swap.
Sneaky bitch tried to pull that? On my watch?
Don't think so!
Still, I had to admit, it was new to me, and it almost worked.