Supermarket question

[hopewrites]

would you tell her to put back the tin of catmeat she didnt pay for?

 

[David Evil Overlord]

A real invisible witch that I've just seen? No.

I'm reminded of John Cleese's peasant in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. When Sir Bedevere asks the villagers how they know this woman is a witch, John Cleese cries, "She turned me into a newt!" Everyone stares at him until he tries to explain his obvious non-newt-ness with a shamefaced, "I got better."

 

[Ursa major]

Presumably that peasant didn't want to tell them the truth: that he'd sobered up.

 

[Arkose]

My first question would be, how much power does the witch have? If she is "powerful" than couldn't she bewitch an individual for money every week, or just have people buy her groceries?

If she did steal over a long time in a small town wouldn't people just get use to it? If I was working as a general manager and had missing items every week, I would first put up cameras. If cameras caught nothing, I would see who was the last person to see the items (Stock boy, Register clerk, ect.). I would probably fire the individuals. If it keeps continuing and I had nothing to stop it, I would have a "ghost," and it would be part of every day life. The workers would probably pass it off as the "Grocery Store Ghost."

I can see that when the workers accept what is going on that the witch becomes more arrogant and messes up.

Now, if you want some stories of catching shoplifters than I would have a couple. I use to work as a University bookstore security, probably caught 20-30 individuals a year. I had caught drug users, freshman girls crying, PHD students, and other individuals that you thought would and would not steal.

 

[Venusian Broon]

If the witch can change peoples memories...

Then why doesn't she go down to the supermarket, pick a person at random, and implant a memory that tells them 'oh, I really owe you (the witch) £50, I must pay you now'.

And use that money for her shopping.

Still stealing

​

 

[Ursa major]

She probably thinks that stealing £50 from a company which makes a big profit (for example, Tesco's last reported profit was £3.8 billion, I believe) is preferable to taking £50 off someone who has, say, a gas bill to pay.

 

[Venusian Broon]

As I don't know the context about the character, I'm just brainstorming.


But if she was a bad witch, then causing an individual to get into trouble over bills would be in her character then and much more damaging (Actually very much in character with the reputed ills that witches were supposed to inflict on their neighbours in the witch burning crazes).

On the other hand, if she knew the locals and was a good person, perhaps she could target the bad, the greedy and the rich?

Personally I think be able to change peoples memories is too powerful (you probably could get away with murder and a whole lot of things, it's a bit like having a device that lets you slip back in time), so I'd balance it with the need to perform some complex, physically and mentally sapping ritual over many days - i.e. the witch will only do it if absolutely necessary because it's too difficult or painful to do.

 

[Hex]

She's meant to be someone with magical powers in a world where no one really believes in them, so she's careless and thoughtless and has an enormous sense of entitlement.

It's not a central scene, really, just an illustration of what she's like (and a couple of other characters too). And she probably is too powerful. It's bad for her.

 

[Venusian Broon]

If you are using invisibility, exactly how will it work? (I've gone over the thread, and I'm not sure what her modus operandi is, so perhaps she's not using that anymore )

Is she invisible totally? So if she picks up something, does the object vanish too, or can she hid it in material that's she'd magicked?

If she can make herself and objects invisible, then rather than supermarkets for the weekly shop, I'd be round the bank taking a little 'witchy' tax from counts of notes. More profitable, possible perhaps if you know the system to hid the loss, and you don't have to carry as much .

Of course the ideal place to be would be as they are carrying in cash to be counted in casino's and skim a little off there.

 

[Bowler1]

When I worked at a supermarket a long time ago the manager was stealing his shopping for years. He was never very greedy it was just what he needed, or whatever a family need to get by. Because he was the guy locking up and as he was the manager and it was a big store he got away with it. However, head office did catch up with him and give him the sack but only after years had passed.

In stores there is always damage and a lot of these damages get returned by the big supermarkets. In reality what happens is the store get a credit for the goods and then bin the food. So in stores there was always a box with food to be chucked. Cereal is a good example here, I had to buy milk but there was nearly always a box of damaged cereal in the stores.

This was in the 80's so things will have tightened up a lot, but the higher up in an organisation you are the easier it is to steal.

 

[Arkose]

She's meant to be someone with magical powers in a world where no one really believes in them, so she's careless and thoughtless and has an enormous sense of entitlement.

It's not a central scene, really, just an illustration of what she's like (and a couple of other characters too). And she probably is too powerful. It's bad for her.

Ever think about having her shoplift something else? Groceries seem so boring in the world in were she is a witch. I would ask, 'why not something with more pizazz?' a local jewelry store with a large diamond, A BMW from a dealership, A thousand dollar purse, Ipad 4 prototype, A 60" 3D TV on the back of her broom, ect.

 

[MemoryTale]

I actually like the idea of her stealing groceries. It shows her up as a rather petty criminal, who could do so many things with her powers, yet she uses them to get the weekly shopping for free.