Who would shoplift from a charity shop?

Being unemployed has given me a lot of free time and the opportunity to try new things rather than the daily 9 to 5 grind.  One of my flatmates was a former volunteer at the local Oxfam shop, a lot of his friends and people we do the pub quiz with are also either former or current volunteers at Oxfam, so the idea of volunteering at the Oxfam shop was quickly, and repeatedly suggested to me.  At first I didn't want to volunteer because I had handed a copy of my CV to virtually ever bar within a mile radius of where I live and I was expected some interviews to come up.  However after not hearing anything back I decided to give Oxfam a go.

It was my first shift today, my shift was from 10 in the morning till 2 in the afternoon.  I entered the shop at 10:20 (20 minutes late), luckily Rick didn't seem to mind, to be honest he didn't even know I was coming in today.  Their was another volunteer, a girl called Grace, it was her first day as well.  Pete was also their however he had manflu or something so he hid in the back in the stockroom and left after an hour.  In fairness he did look like hell.

The day was interesting overall.  I wide variety of people seem to shop at Oxfam.  Old people, young people, tall people, short people, posh people, common people, sane people, maybe not so sane people..... everyone seems to drop by their local Oxfam.

Though some unwanted people made an brief appearance as well i.e. shop lifters.  One of the first "customers" I saw was some blonde woman in her forties with scraped back hair.  She placed something in her back near the front of the shop (I think it was a glasses case) and quickly exited the shop.  I couldn't believe it at first, I thought I'd must have been mistaken so I asked Rick if we were selling glasses cases near the front and he said yeah we have one on display.  I told him what I saw and he quickly ran to the door however the bitch had made good her escape.

Rick told me how it isn't uncommon for people to shoplift.  Like, who would shoplift from a charity shop?!  Some people are really really low.  Just like my flatmate Chris put it "you have to be a bit of a cunt to steal from a charity shop".  I guess people see us as an easy target because we are a none profit organization and we can't afford those security guards you see at supermarkets or a system of cctv cameras, plus all the people working there are volunteers.

It isn't just shoplifting either that goes on.  We get people trying everything to exploit the good shop of Oxfam for their selfish gain.  We get people who will pick an expensive item of clothing and swap the price label with that of a much cheaper one.  People who just tear the label off completely and try and argue a price they want to pay with the person behind the till, we also get people who try and bargain at the till, they say like "oh, I know it's £7.99 but I only have a Fiver on me, that's ok right?"  No, of course its not.  We never sell items for any other price other than what it written on the label, and yes we check to see if the label has been tampered with as well.  We even have a little doorbell under the desk which is attached to a bell in the back room should be need reinforcements to deal with particularity awkward customers or a dodgy or miss price label.

I'm only a volunteer, I thought this would be a simple job...
My next shift is on Tuesday morning, hopefully there will be shoplifters then.