Today was our first bad experience with humanity – we had an attempted shoplifter. Some guy, probably mid to late 20s, browsed around the shop for a bit, picked up a bottle and then stated to walk out with it. That happens occasionally since people who aren’t familiar with the market think that they can pay for their purchases at one central spot, so I called out to him. He didn’t stop, and as I followed he broke into a run as he left the building. I closed on him in the parking lot and he put down the bottle – fairly gently, actually, so that he wouldn’t break it (and so that I’d stop to pick it up, which I did) – and took off down the street. Odd choice of wine, too – a 2007 Verget St. Veran, which is a lovely white Burgundy, but somewhat esoteric, and is only $24.50 but surrounded on the shelves by wines 2 and 3 times as much.
We’ve got so many great customers, but something like this makes me way more uncertain of people’s motives than I wish I had to be.