When the alarm has gone off, it is usually because a dodgy character has left the store alongside me, perhaps to create a deliberate quandry: just which of these villanous-looking coves should they stop?
I wear my very best effoff face, which works on everyone except charidee-pests!
Only on one occasion did I stop and volunteer my co-operation. The lad manning the door - it's that sort of area! - was an ex-pupil! For once, no one else was near.
The offending item turned out to be one of my charidee-shop DVDs - presumably nicked from that supermarket a good few years earlier. There was still a magnetic tag inside the case. I assume every shop has its own code on those tags or would pilfered stuff set off every alarm in town? I'm asking for a friend . . .