In My Footsteps: A Gen-X Nostalgia Podcast

Episode 178: A Funny 1980s Shoplifting Short-Film, Best Debut Songs Ever, Nautilus Fitness Equipment, Boston Molasses Flood(1-15-2025)

• Christopher Setterlund • Season 1 • Episode 178

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A campy 1980s anti-shoplifting short film. The revolutionary Nautilus fitness equipment. Some of the best debut songs ever.
Episode 178 brings the heat of nostalgia for the cold days of winter.
New Year, New You...old equipment? We kick off with a look back at the creation of a fitness revolution. The Nautilus brand of exercise machines set the standard for all others to follow. Though primitive by today's standards the original machines of half a century ago are nonetheless highly influential.
Shoplifting is the scourge of all business owners. Apparently never more so than in the early 1980s when everyone was a thief. We go way back in the day to review an anti-shoplifting educational short film. Shoplifters: The Criminal Hordes shows some of the wacky but real ways people would steal and some of the ways to combat it.
Every legend started somewhere. This week's Top 5 features some of the greatest debut songs ever. These are the songs that kickstarted some of the most important careers in music history.
There is a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule centered around the bizarre but terrifying Boston Molasses Flood.
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Speaker 05:

Hello world, and welcome to the In My Footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund, coming to you from the vacation destination known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and this is episode 178. Even if the weather is cold where you are, we're going to heat up the buffet of nostalgia on this week's episode. We're going to start it off with New Year, New You, old equipment with the story of the fitness revolution of the Nautilus fitness machines. We're going to go way, way back in the day and have some laughs at a classic educational short film from the 1980s, Shoplifters, The Criminal Hordes. There'll be a brand new top five. These are the top five best debut songs of all time. The very first songs we're hearing from famous artists. And there'll be a brand new This Week in History and Time Capsule centered around the infamous Great Boston Molasses Flood. All of that is coming up right now on episode 178 of the In My Footsteps podcast. Oh boy, I tell you, never count on things going smoothly. Just getting this podcast started this week was quite a chore. I record this on Audacity as the software. And it's like every now and then there are updates to software on my laptop that starts to mess with how things are recorded, how the sound goes. What happened this week was as I started recording, there was a delay in the vocals being picked up. So instead of it picking up all of my words, it would cut off the first syllable and fade in, which is really annoying and it would not sound good for you out there listening. So I had to stop recording, delete what I had, and go in and try to figure out what was wrong with this microphone, what was wrong with my laptop. There was a brief moment where I was thinking, all right, maybe I'm just not meant to record the show this week and I should go online and just tell everyone. There'll be no episode because I can't figure out how to work my microphone after almost 200 episodes of the show. But have no fear, I settled down and figured it out. Also, you'll have to let me know how things sound this week in general. So I have a new recording studio, a new setup. It may not sound like anything different to you, but I'm just curious if you can tell. Now that I've said it, now you'll probably notice if the sound quality sounds different in a good way. Ah, yes, but here we are, episode 178. I can't start this show off, well, besides complaining about my microphone... I can't start it off for real without thanking my Patreon subscribers, the ones who put their money where their mouth is to support me and my content. Lori, Mary Lou, Ashley, Kevin, Leo, Marguerite, Neglectoid, Crystal, thank you all for being the ones who go above and beyond to show their support for me. Five dollars a month on Patreon gets you access to bonus podcast episodes, early access to YouTube videos. Just last week, I put up the webcam weekly wrap up my video podcast. I put up the outtakes video. That's only for Patreon subscribers. You can see all of the stuff that was left on the cutting room floor from the videos. I also have a growing free tier of content on Patreon. So if you want to go and check it out, see what it's all about without having to do any sort of subscription, be my guest. I keep adding new stuff to it, like my Vegas journals. Those are going to now be exclusive on Patreon on the free tier. We can get into more of the housekeeping, as I call it, on the podcast as we get to the end. I want to dive into the actual meat of this nostalgia sandwich. This next segment is going to be a fun combination of a lot of different things. A little bit of New Year's resolution, a little bit of fitness, a little bit of history, and some stories that I can't wait to share with you. So let's get into the fitness revolution that was the Nautilus fitness equipment coming up right now. When I was thinking of something to do for New Year's resolutions, a segment for the podcast... The first thing that popped in my head is most people, me included this year, do something with their health, their fitness to kick off the new year. This segment here, it's something I was looking for kind of a reason to do a segment on the Nautilus fitness equipment. Because yes, it's nostalgia, but it's not exactly something that fits usually the overall vibe of the podcast. I don't do a lot of talk about fitness, even though that is a big part of what I do as my day job as a trainer. I kept coming back to the new year, new you, which is one of those cliches. You don't need it to be a new year to start a fitness routine, but that's beside the point. Any of you out there who go to gyms, you see the fitness machines. They're more self-contained, very specific, targeted towards certain movements, certain muscle groups. Any gym you go to, Planet Fitness, Anytime Fitness, 24 Hour Fitness, anything else you can name fitness, they've all got these machines to varying degrees. Some are nicer than others. Some break down all the time. These machines are what newbies at the gym will usually gravitate towards because they're simple. A lot of people that go, I'm sure some of you listening know this, you don't want to go up and ask people that work there for help. Some of them seem like they don't really want to help or it can be intimidating. So people gravitate towards the machines and maybe they understand them, maybe they don't, but that's where a lot of people do their thing. Fitness machines at the gym and maybe walking a treadmill or riding the bike. The OG of these fitness machines was Nautilus is what they were called. They were invented in the early 1970s by a man named Arthur Jones. And whether you like the machines in the gyms or not, there's no doubt that they innovated and changed how fitness is seen as far as being effective, accessible. Think about it. If you went into a gym and you didn't know what you were doing and there were no machines, where would you go? Do a lap around it and leave? The man, Arthur Jones, he was a self-taught inventor and a passionate fitness enthusiast. Obviously, he'd have to be to create this. but he had a lifelong interest in anatomy, biomechanics, and strength training. He felt that traditional free weights and early machines were inefficient, and his goal was to create a device that could provide consistent and controlled resistance throughout the entire range of motion. For example, when you're doing a bicep curl, the muscle experiences less resistance at the top and the bottom of the movement. And Jones's solution was a machine that adjusted the resistance curve to match the natural strength curve of the muscle. I'm hoping your eyes aren't starting to cross and you're starting to yawn. I'm trying not to get too technical with this. The key innovation for Jones with his Nautilus machines was the cam system, which was inspired by the spiral shape of a Nautilus shell. And that's where you get the logo for Nautilus. But this cam ensured that the muscle received consistent tension at all points, which maximized efficiency and effectiveness. Jones worked on this. He refined it in the late 1960s. By 1970, he had refined the design and introduced the Nautilus Blue Monster, which was a large machine designed for lat pulldowns and pullovers. These are the machines you typically sit at. There are pads that go over your thighs. There's a bar up overhead. You set the weight and you pull it down to engage the bigger muscles in your back. Later in 1970, Jones founded Nautilus Incorporated in Deland, Florida to manufacture and distribute his machines, the first of which were available in 1971. And they quickly gained attention for their innovative design and effectiveness. If you pause the podcast and you go and look up the original Nautilus machines, they are going to look very much like antiques. But for the time, they were revolutionary. They influenced what's around today. These machines made going to the gym more accessible for those of all fitness levels. Before that, you may have had some primitive machines, but you also had just free weights and bars and barbells that's not appealing for everyone and not safe for everyone. These Nautilus machines, they had ones for every type of body part. You had leg press machines that would mimic a squat. You'd sit in the chair and push the weight away. Leg extensions and curls to do quadriceps, hamstrings. They had ab machines. That was typically the one you'd see people do the most. You'd sit. There are handles right above your shoulders. You grab them and you forcefully pull them down so that you get into a crunch. The bicep curl machine, a preacher curl, that's typically most men's favorite machine at the gym. Nautilus went hand in hand with the fitness revolution of the 1970s. Back in episode 144, I did a segment on 1970s diet and exercise fails. That's where they had such things as that slender bender that made me laugh and sauna suits. Nautilus was not one of those. By the mid-70s, Nautilus machines were a fixture in gyms, health clubs across the United States. With the brand becoming synonymous with fitness machines, I'm sure there were some gyms that had knockoff brands later in the 80s and they just called them Nautilus because that's what people knew them as. Nautilus equipment was used by celebrities, athletes, and ordinary individuals, which cemented Jones' reputation, the Nautilus reputation. It made it where introverts could go into the gym and not need to go up to a trainer or someone, you know, anyone working at a gym and ask them how to use equipment. You go and set the weight low and just try. Nautilus equipment is not without its issues. As it works specific body parts, specific muscles, you get locked into that range of motion. So if you've got any kind of hitch, any joint problems, anything like that, or if you set the weight too high, you could have trouble. It was in the later 1980s where competitors started to come around. That's where you get to see Bowflex, Soloflex, these types of machines. Except those were the ones that combined about 20 or 30 different machines into one. Arthur Jones sold Nautilus Incorporated in 1986 for $23 million or just over $66 million when adjusted for inflation to 2025. Most of the fitness machines that are in gyms today owe their legacy to the Nautilus machines. You can picture in your head a lot of those. Some of them are better than others. The seated rows or lat pulldowns for the back. Those are pretty good. Maybe the leg press for people that can't squat because they have knee problems. Then there are some of the ones that are kind of walking advertisements for injuries. I would highly recommend if you're going to the gym, do not use a machine for your low back. These are the ones where you sit and there's a pad that goes across kind of the middle of your back and you just arch backwards to strengthen your low back. That's an injury waiting to happen. Also, I would say, if you go to a gym and you see a machine to work your neck, do not do that either. This leads into a few fun stories that I had wanted to tell, but I kind of needed a segment to get them out. So I figured, why not with the Nautilus machines? The first gym that I worked at as a trainer was also a gym near me that I had been a member at years earlier. It's more of a tennis club, but they have fitness equipment. The thing is with this gym, it wasn't built as a gym. It was built, I believe, as a restaurant. So you'd walk in and the fitness equipment was upstairs, which immediately was kind of weird. Because it was regular stairs and they had carpet. The upstairs fitness area was all carpeted, which was weird. When I was first a member at this gym, before I worked there as a trainer, they had one of these neck machines. You would put your head against these pads and push your head forward with resistance to work muscles in your neck. And you could do it front or side or back. When I was a member at this gym, it was the late 90s, early 2000s, and the equipment they had there then was antiquated. They also had strict rules as far as when you walked into the Nautilus area, you had to start at one machine and go in order, and if you were going to cut someone, it had to be two machines ahead or else you'd get yelled at. Perhaps the best thing about this gym, when I was a trainer there, they turned their fitness area into such a convoluted mess. They took a lot of the free weights, heavier weights. They moved them out of the gym area and put them downstairs in what used to be a squash court. So if you got off the treadmill and you wanted to go in and do the squat rack, you'd have to walk down a hallway, go out a door, down another hallway, down a flight of stairs, down another hallway and into the squash court. But like I said, they're more of a tennis club, so that's kind of why I didn't stay there as a trainer. They didn't take fitness as serious. They did some classes, but not really seriously, I guess. The other funny story I wanted to tell with the Nautilus equipment was when I was in college at the local community college, Cape Cod Community College. This was in the late 1990s, and I would go to the gym after getting out of class and work out. The equipment there in the late 90s had to be some of the original Nautilus machines from the early 70s. There was a shoulder press machine where it was two handles, but they were attached so you would press them both overhead at the same time. The only problem was the machine was so high off the ground that in order to get a full shoulder press, you had to pull up a stool. They had an actual bar stool you would have to sit in and then do shoulder presses. Meaning if the stool wasn't stable and you tried to press this weight, you just fall over. I mean, I don't know if anyone ever did that, but that was always what I thought. Nearly 20 years later, when I was at the community college becoming a personal trainer, that's where I got educated. We were down in that gym and they had all the same equipment. And I'll never forget, my instructor, my training instructor said, if you can teach people how to safely use this equipment in this gym, you can train anybody anywhere. Because it was so bad. This equipment at that point was probably 35 to 40 years old. I can picture some of that equipment in my head right now. I can't believe that stuff was still there. Circling back though, today, Nautilus, it continues to be a prominent name in the fitness industry. While newer technologies and training philosophies have emerged, the core principles behind Nautilus machines remain relevant. You've got machines that work better on freer range of motion, ones that are safer. I hope they got rid of the stupid neck machine. But in general, what you see when you go into a gym is based on the Nautilus machines of over 50 years ago. So new year, new you, old equipment, kind of. Arthur Jones and his Nautilus equipment revolutionized fitness in the 70s and 80s. So much so that some of the gyms that I frequented 25 years ago still had the original equipment. So yes, if you see Nautilus equipment with the shell on the side, check to make sure that it doesn't have cobwebs on it, that it's not rusted and ruined from the 70s. Otherwise, get on it and enjoy your New Year fitness goals. This week in history, we are going back 106 years ago to January 15th, 1919 and the Great Boston Molasses Flood. So I'm taking you from fitness revolution to sweet, sweet molasses. This is one of the most unusual and devastating disasters in the history of Boston. In short, a massive wave of molasses swept through the North End neighborhood, causing destruction, death, and a legacy of questions about industrial accountability. In the early 20th century, Boston's North End was a bustling, working-class neighborhood, home to many Italian immigrants. At the heart of this tightly packed community stood a giant steel tank owned by the Purity Distilling Company, which was a subsidiary of United States Industrial Alcohol. The tank was built in 1915 and was used to store molasses, which was a key ingredient in producing industrial alcohol for munitions and other purposes. This tank was 50 feet tall, 90 feet in diameter, and held up to 2.3 million gallons of molasses. On January 15th, 1919, the temperatures rose unusually high for the season, reaching around 40 degrees after days of freezing cold. The molasses that was in the tank was recently delivered, and it was still warm. It expanded and exerted pressure on the already compromised steel tank. At approximately 1240 p.m., the tank ruptured with a thunderous roar. and unleashed a torrent of molasses traveling at speeds of up to 35 miles an hour. This tidal wave of molasses was estimated to be 25 feet high and 160 feet wide. It swept away everything in its path. You had buildings get flattened, horses and wagons swept off the street, and scariest, you had people that were trapped and suffocated underneath molasses. The force of this wave even knocked a freight train off its tracks. In total, 21 people died and more than 150 were injured. And cleanup took weeks, with traces of molasses, including the scent of it, lingering in the area for decades. The disaster prompted one of the first major class action lawsuits in United States history. with survivors and victims' families bringing a case against United States Industrial Alcohol, arguing that the company had been negligent in the construction and maintenance of the tank, and evidence showed that the tank had leaked since its installation, with residents frequently collecting free molasses that seeped through its walls. The court ultimately ruled in favor of the victims, awarding $628,000 in damages, or about $11.4 million when adjusted for inflation to 2025. The disaster also led to stricter building codes and increased scrutiny of industrial practices, and it set a precedent for corporate accountability. Although the story is just bizarre, It's tragic and serves as a sobering reminder of the consequences of cutting corners and ignoring safety standards. This event has since been immortalized in books, documentaries, even local lore, with some claiming in the North End that on hot summer days, the faint smell of molasses still lingers. Today, the site of the disaster is a small park near Commercial Street, marked by a plaque commemorating the lives lost. That weird, unique, bizarre story of the Great Boston Molasses Flood occurred 106 years ago this week in history. Oh, the only thing sweeter than loads of molasses is a brand new time capsule. We're going to go back to January 15, 1965, 60 years ago this week. What was going on in the world of pop culture back then? Let's find out. The number one song was Come See About Me by The Supremes. This song was the third of five consecutive number one singles for The Supremes. And it was number one two different times. Where it went to number one, it was knocked out of number one by the Beatles song, I Feel Fine. And then went back to number one, knocking the Beatles off the top. In total, the Supremes have sold more than 100 million albums. And they had a total of 12 number one songs between 1964 and 1969. The number one movie was My Fair Lady. And you could get into the theater with a ticket costing 93 cents. This is a musical comedy starring Aubrey Hepburn, based on the Lerner and Lowe 1956 stage musical, which was that based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play Pygmalion. This is routinely ranked as one of the best musicals ever made. The film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, winning for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. And interestingly, at the time, it was the most expensive movie ever made in the United States with a budget of $17 million, or $173 million when adjusted for inflation to 2025. The number one TV show was The Bob Hope Christmas Show. Yes, I know, it was a couple weeks late. But hey, most people don't want Christmas to end right on the 25th. As I'm recording this, I still have my Christmas decorations up. So why not have Bob Hope's Christmas be in mid-January? These Bob Hope specials would usually be part of USO tours where he would go and entertain the troops. There'd be his comedy, sketch comedy, music. And if you were around back then, January 15th, 1965, maybe you were in need of some new clothes. Oh, well, you're in luck because it's slack riot time at Jordan Marsh. Celebrating their 114th birthday, you could get two pairs of slacks for $9, usually $8.99 each. Sporting dress shirts, well, they're $2.44. But to top it off, maybe you want a sharkskin suit? Don't worry, they're not made out of sharkskin. But you could get one for $33. But hurry, there's only 210 in stock. That's a pretty arbitrary number, but that's what it says in the ad. So hurry up to Jordan Marsh, get your new clothes. Slack riot. That'll wrap up another time capsule, another This Week in History. Even the greats had to start somewhere. And this brand new top five, we're going to showcase some of those as we look at the best debut songs of all time, starting now. This was a fun segment to put together. Best debut songs of all time. There are a couple of caveats with this countdown. because I didn't want it to be so obvious. You take the biggest names ever in music, and then you list their first single they released, and it's kind of boring. I tried to combine this with the importance of the musical act, the importance of the song, how good the song actually was, any influence it may have had on future musicians. Maybe I'm overthinking it. Maybe I should have just chosen... The first singles from all the groups I think are the most famous. I am pretty sure your top five will differ from mine because a lot of music, it's subjective. A lot of these top fives are subjective. Mine, they're in no particular order and there are some honorable mentions. So let's dive into it. Honorable mentions for the best debut songs of all time include... Our Lips Are Sealed by the Go-Go's. This is from 1981 with the Go-Go's influencing so many female bands over the ensuing decades. Another honorable mention is Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones. This is from 1976. Hey ho, let's go. Everybody knows this song, even if you don't know it, you know those lyrics. Another honorable mention is Baby One More Time by Britney Spears. This is from 1998 and ushered in a whole new era of young female singers, female bands. Another honorable mention is That's Alright by Elvis Presley. This is from 1956 and started one of the most influential careers in the history of music. I put this on my honorable mentions because I feel like this song isn't even in the top 25 of Elvis songs. But again, it's subjective. And there's one more honorable mention. That is Anarchy in the UK by the Sex Pistols. This is from 1977 and basically brought punk rock to the masses. I'm sure a lot of you are already shaking your heads at my honorable mentions, thinking some shouldn't be there or should be in the top five. Well, let's see how many more of you I can make disagree with my picks here. Let's get into the actual top five. Remember, in no particular order, we're starting with number one, Dream On by Aerosmith. No, I'm not partial to Aerosmith because I grew up in New England. This is from 1973. I put this on the top five because I feel this is still one of their best songs, Aerosmith's best songs, one of the best rock songs of the 70s. It immediately introduces you to Aerosmith-style Stephen Tyler's signature shrieking voice, although not that much in this song, near the end. Aerosmith has sold more than 150 million albums worldwide. They are considered hard rock, so they are the best-selling hard rock American band ever. If you think about, if you're a fan of Aerosmith like me, think about all their famous songs. Dream On is going to be in there. And that staying power is a big reason why they are in my top five. Number two is I Want You Back by the Jackson 5. This is from 1969. It introduced the world to Michael Jackson, who was... 10, 11 years old when this song was released, even though I think they said he was 8 years old, to make it seem more incredible that such a young child had such a commanding voice and presence. This song is here because it holds up well. It introduces the world to someone that would go on to become the most famous person on the planet for a time in the 1980s, Michael Jackson. Think about this. If Michael Jackson had never done anything besides the Jackson 5 and then the Jacksons, they were called when they were in their teens. The Jackson 5, that group sold more than 150 million albums worldwide. They are one of the most influential R&B groups ever. And that's just with this group taking out all of Michael Jackson's solo work. Which, if you were wondering, Michael Jackson on his own has sold more than 500 million albums. Number three is Take It Easy by The Eagles. This song is from 1972, and Eagles member Glenn Frey actually wrote it with Jackson Brown, and Jackson Brown recorded it for one of his albums the next year. When your debut single ends up on an album that is the best-selling album of all time, which the Eagles' greatest hits album is, you've got to put that on top five debut songs. And yes, it's been a battle over the years between the Eagles' greatest hits and Michael Jackson's Thriller as far as best-selling albums, with the Eagles' greatest hits being ahead as of right now. The band as a whole has sold more than 200 million albums. with Take It Easy being kind of a softer rock, breezy, folky song. I think it holds up well. I think it's still one of their best songs ever. At some point, I might do a top five for greatest songs ever or most important songs ever. That would be where Hotel California would come in. Songs you need to hear once before you die. Number four is Good Times, Bad Times by Led Zeppelin. This song is from 1969, and it ushers in one of the godfathers of metal. There's no understating the influence of Led Zeppelin. I'm sure Black Sabbath is considered more of the godfathers of heavy metal, but Led Zeppelin's sound was way louder. I mean, you want to classify him as hard rock, go ahead. But you want to talk about a song that just defines a band... Robert Plant's amazing voice that he ultimately destroyed. Jimmy Page's amazing guitar. I got into Led Zeppelin as a teenager when I read that Kurt Cobain from Nirvana was influenced heavily by Led Zeppelin. But then again, any of you out there that grew up in the 80s, 90s, if you listen to rock music, I'm pretty sure that whoever you listen to was influenced by Zeppelin. Zeppelin has sold more than 300 million albums worldwide, with some of their songs being the most famous songs in the history of music. Stairway to Heaven, if you don't know that song, I don't know where you've been living. And finally, number five on the list of the best debut songs of all time is Love Me Do by The Beatles. I may not have done just the most famous bands, musical artists in order, But it sure seems like a lot of them got on this list anyway. Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Elvis. This song is from 1963, and it started that wave, the British rock invasion, Beatlemania. Younger listeners, what's going on in the last couple of years with Taylor Swift? That's actually not as big as The Beatles were. Same with Michael Jackson in the 80s. The Beatles were one of the most influential musical acts ever. I say one of, I'm kind of downplaying it a little bit. This is another one, it's kind of like Elvis' That's Alright, where I feel like Love Me Do isn't in the Beatles' even top 20 songs. But there's no denying what came from the release of this song. The Beatles are a rare musical act where you could basically take any album of theirs and hit shuffle on any song and it would be good. They are the best-selling musical act ever, selling more than 600 million albums worldwide. And to top off the importance of the Beatles, as solo artists, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison combined have sold well over 200 million albums. Think about that for any other band ever. If the solo artists released all their music, would any of them combine to sell that much? And if you're wondering, yes, Ringo was fourth out of the four, but he's even sold more than 10 million albums worldwide. I know most musicians would kill to have 1% of the success that solo Ringo Starr had. But that'll wrap up top five debut songs of all time. How many of those do you disagree with? I'm figuring saying that they're in no particular order saves me from the actual top five. But we go from talking a lot about albums sold to now talking about albums stolen. Well, that might be my best segue ever. Let's dive into the educational short film Shoplifters, The Criminal Hordes. This is going to be one educational short film that you all need to go and watch and laugh at. Shoplifters the Criminal Hordes. It is so quintessentially 80s. When doing research for these educational short films to review, it's a lot of titles, it's a lot of just the short descriptions of what the videos are about, and I'm kind of like, well, that looks like it might be something interesting. Little did I know how much I would laugh at this particular one. The backstory of this, it's from 1983, and it was created by the Centron Corporation. It clocks in at just over 15 minutes in length, so it's an easy watch. That's why I choose short films. And just a heads up, for any of you that want to watch this, I couldn't find it on YouTube, so I found it on Daily Motion. I'll put a link in the description of the podcast, because I definitely think you're going to want to watch this one. Obviously, this video is about shoplifting. The film is Equal Opportunity, where... Every type of person, every age group, every background, every race, they're all shoplifters. It even shows you the tricks of how to shoplift, but then they say don't do that. The film starts off with a young-ish couple. They say young couple. In the video, they look like they're my age. But them starting their own store. The narrator talks about how Self-service stores now, it's based on trust. Because way back, you know, 100 years ago or even less than that, you would have to tell the salespeople what you wanted and they would get it for you. There was none of this going down the aisles and putting stuff in your own cart. They talk about the trust and honesty of people shopping. And this is where we are introduced to a high school student named Connie that goes into that youngish couple's store and steals from them. And

Speaker 04:

I've got to show you something. Look at this. Walked in yesterday and picked this up. Fifteen bucks.

Speaker 00:

They are persons like Connie, a young woman so unsure of herself that she uses thievery to try and impress schoolmates.

Speaker 05:

And the narrator says it comes down to her lacking self-confidence. And then he says, even though she's bragging about what she stole, it's showing her friends that they can't trust her because she'll probably steal from them too. Things start to get serious when they show Connie at another store trying to steal and she actually gets caught by the owner. And she pretends it was her first time and she gets really sad and upset. So he ends up letting her go. So she gets let go and then when she goes to school, she brags about getting out of it. So all these other kids decide they're going to go to this same store and start stealing. What's great about this video as you go, like I said, it's quintessentially 80s. So everyone has got the typical 80s clothes. You got the typical 80s mustaches on the older guys. You see classic stores like Radio Shack. A lot of the supermarket scenes in this are in Kroger. But as these two boys from Connie's class, they're walking towards this store to steal from, the narrator's saying that if you're easy on shoplifters, you're a target for thieves because shoplifters have no honor. The narrator says that in some of these stores, I don't know where he got the numbers from, that one out of every four customers is looking to steal. And they show that youngish couple that I mentioned a few minutes ago talking about how business is down. So the narrator's blaming it on shoplifters. And then it shows a going out of business sign on their front window. So I don't think that that girl Connie and her two friends caused them to go out of business, but maybe they got dozens of shoplifters every day. Oh, but like I said, it's equal opportunity shoplifters. So they go to a fancy restaurant and there's an older couple. They're probably in their early 60s. The husband and wife steal the salt and pepper shakers off the table. Then they splice together scenes of people stealing from other places. There's a guy stealing books in the library. Then to really get 80s, there's a guy reaching into someone's open car to steal stuff off the dashboard. So back before car alarms were prevalent, back when people would just leave their cars open windows down with them not in it. Then we really get serious here. We get introduced to Billy, who's probably five years old. He's on vacation with his parents and they're in a hotel room and the parents are stealing everything that's not nailed down. They're shoving the towels in their suitcase.

Speaker 01:

Pack these. We can use them.

Speaker 00:

The only difference between stealing towels from a motel and stealing them from a store counter is the thief's estimate of the comparative risk. By their example, Billy's parents taught him that stealing was okay if you just called it by another name, such as taking souvenirs.

Speaker 05:

And we get Billy's backstory as he starts growing up and becoming a thief because he saw his parents stealing. They show him taking matchbox cars. The narrator says he gets caught less than once out of every 20 attempts to steal. So I don't know how many times this kid is supposed to be stealing. Dozens, hundreds of times and never getting caught. No, but he doesn't get off scot-free. They show Billy, probably 20 years old. He's in jail playing cards with his cellmates because he finally ran out of luck. And they say his parents don't know where he went wrong. And the narrator talks about, yeah, you stole the towels that led him to think stealing was fun. The film keeps coming back to Connie and her two male friends, just their adventures in stealing. And the narrator talks about how these shoplifters aren't smart, so they use the same tricks to try to steal, like wearing an overcoat. And they show this guy in the hardware store shoving a Looks like a drill into the pocket of his overcoat. They show a woman with fake maternity clothes where she's got this... It looks almost like a backpack under her shirt, and she's just shoving stuff in it. There's a woman in a department store shoving shirts up her dress, and they say the narrator says women practice how to walk with their thighs together so they can get out with the clothes. I mean, I guess it looks like she has to really use the bathroom. Or the famous take things into the changing rooms in a department store and just put all the clothes on and then leave. The narrator talks about something called a booster box. It looks like a gift box wrapped nice with a bow on it, but it has a fake end to it. I'd never heard of this booster box, but then there's a guy in a jewelry store with a fake cigarette carton. Like, could you imagine someone going into a jewelry store carrying a carton of cigarettes with them? I mean, I guess it's very 80s. But it's a fake one, so he steals all the jewelry and shoves them in there. There are a couple of scenes from this where I laughed out loud at how ridiculous it is. I know it's supposed to scare people to not steal, but they say, current hot items in the shoplifting realm and it's boom boxes, like the ones you would see in the 80s movies. And there's a guy in a store that just shoves a boom box in his coat. There's another one where this guy has evidently taken a box that has what looks like a big wheel in it and opened it up, taken the big wheel out, and then filled the empty box with a bunch of other stuff and then sealed it shut again.

Unknown:

...

Speaker 00:

They've brought back the toy box switch. The thief removes the toy, slips in the expensive merchandise, and pays $10 for an $800 item.

Speaker 05:

It's so ridiculous because they show the guy with his cart with the empty box and he goes down to where the appliances are and it looks like he shoves a full stereo into this big wheel box. Who in the world would have that much time? If you were at a place in the 80s, Sears, Kmart, you really think you could take everything out of a big wheel box and then go to the stereo section with that box and just grab a stereo off the shelf? It's like, come on, at least make it realistic. They show people switching price tags so that when you would go get it rung up at the register, it would come up as something much cheaper. This was back before there were barcodes. I mean, they had barcodes because they show a guy who takes a barcode off of something cheaper in Kroger and then has a glue stick and glues it to a canned ham. It was ham that expensive in 1983. There's this old woman that's got to be in her 80s and she's going through the checkout line at what looks like, you know, somewhere like Bradley's. And she's just got Reynolds wrap in her purse sticking out. And the cashier is like, oh, what about that in your purse? And the lady's like, oh, I forgot. Another way that shoplifters steal is by bringing in their own shopping bags, which is kind of funny because today, now, a lot of supermarkets and places, they have the recyclable bags. Stop and Shop, I know I've got mine, Target. They show people going into these stores and just filling up their bags. where I guess back in the 80s, they assume that if you've got store bags that you must have bought whatever is in them. The guy that walks out with his cart full of stuff in these bags, he's got this gray overcoat and this foolish-looking grayish-yellow hat and this... Every guy in this seems to have the same mustache. Another one where I just laughed so hard was the idea that there's a couple that goes into this store... The wife goes in, she buys something, and she has a receipt, a paid-for receipt. And when she leaves, she hands it off to her husband. And then he goes in and grabs this giant TV in a box and puts it in his shopping cart and just starts walking out with it. And he shows the security guard, oh, here's my receipt. And it's like the wife is backing up her 80s station wagon thing. But the jokes on the guy, he gets arrested.

Speaker 00:

Some are brazen enough to allay suspicion by approaching a security guard.

Speaker 01:

Thanks. I just bought this new stereo. I suppose you could help me get it out to the car? Sure, all I have to do is check your receipt here.

Speaker 00:

In case any of these stunts strike anyone as clever, it should be pointed out they are all taken from reports made by the arresting police officers.

Speaker 01:

Wait a minute, partner. If you just turn around here, put your hands behind your back.

Speaker 05:

The narrator says that even though these things that he's talking about as far as how to steal seem kind of outlandish, they're from actual shoplifting accounts with the police. So after that guy gets arrested, now the narrator talks about what can businesses do to stop the shoplifters. The main thing is having store employees go up to customers and just see if they need help, saying that the honest customers won't mind, but the dishonest ones will. And we go back to Connie again, just like the fourth time that she's been shown stealing. But the employee comes up and asks if she needs help and she immediately just like runs away. It's a lot of training your employees to be vigilant and aware. They show one woman where the narrator says that employees will notice an empty hanger in a department store so the thieves will just take it. And they show this woman take a shirt off of the rack and she snaps the coat hanger to fit it in her shirt. And they show the woman at the register, her head whips around. I guess this is a big thing because the narrator says if you hear a cracking sound from the clothing department, be warned. And then the narrator gets coy by saying there are other things that stores have been learning about how to stop shoplifters, but he won't give them all away. So I guess in case if you were watching this film in school and you were like, oh, I know how to defeat all of these safety things, the narrator says, ooh, watch out, there's some I'm not telling you about. We get a great scene of inside of a classic 1980s mall. Like I said, you see Radio Shack, The Athlete's Foot, Town Crier. And the narrator goes on to say that shoplifters come in all shapes and sizes and ages and gives you tips on how to spot these shoplifters. He says they don't all wear huge overcoats in the middle of summer, that some just leave when you approach or check the mirrors to see that there's no one around. They also say someone that doesn't Check prices on things or compare shopping. They might be a shoplifter. They show a guy in the supermarket just grabbing a bunch of steaks. Making it seem like because he didn't check the price, he must be stealing them. And then we get near the end where we get this scrubby looking guy that tries to squeeze by the exit stealing something and the cashier catches him and makes him go to the manager's office. This is where he says, I was going to pay for it. And the guy says, nope, too late. Cops are coming. This guy, he's got this scrubby mustache. And he's just got this very punchable face. They do show someone running outside and getting away and getting in their car. And the narrator says, don't chase. But you see the car's license plate is from Kansas. I don't know if this is where it was all filmed. But you see several very 80s cars in the parking lot. And we get at the end of this video here where we show Connie and her friends again at a discount record store getting ready for their next heist.

Speaker 02:

What are we stopping here for? But I thought you

Speaker 03:

wanted records.

Speaker 02:

Not this store. If we go in here, we'll have to pay

Speaker 03:

for them. Yeah, let's go to one of the easy ones. Okay. Ready or not, here we come.

Speaker 05:

And it just freezes. And that is the end of Shoplifters the Criminal Hordes. This one is so funny. It is so cheesy 80s. And like I said, over the top with some of the ways that people steal. My favorite is the big wheel one, emptying out the box and putting a stereo in it instead. I will link to it in the description of the podcast if you want to go watch for yourself and laugh. And it won't be too long. I'll do another educational short film review and employee training video reviews. These are so much fun. But until next time, that will wrap up episode 178 of the In My Footsteps podcast. Thank you so much as always for tuning in, making my show part of your weekly podcast listening pleasure. I do my best to make it as fun and entertaining and somewhat informative as I can be. It's like you know it's going to be nostalgia, but you can never be quite sure what's going to be on the show. That's the fun of research. I find things that I say, oh man, that'll make a good subject. Next week is episode 179 and we're going to have the return of me versus AI top five. I don't know what the subject will be yet. I'm waiting for my AI overlords to tell me what I can talk about. If you enjoy my content and you want to become a subscriber on Patreon, $5 a month. You can always do donations through buymeacoffee. I've got tons and tons of content. Obviously, you know with this podcast, I'm getting up close to 200 episodes. I do the webcam weekly wrap-up video podcast. I've got blogs. I've got YouTube videos. I have nine books. You can check those out at ChristopherSatterlund.com. I spend on average 15 hours a week doing content work, sometimes a little more. I would probably do more if I had more free time. You'd be surprised, or probably not surprised, how many different ideas I have that pop up and I'm like, I don't have time to do that right now, but that's good for in the future if I get any free time, any room on my plate. Find me all over social media. I'm on Instagram threads. I'm on Blue Sky. I have a Facebook fan page. I'm on TikTok. I do a lot of videos, podcast promotion. I have to market myself. I don't have a team of marketing. I don't have employees that can do all this for me. I'm a one man crew. That's definitely not complaining. I enjoy it. It's all a fun use of my creativity. I've wanted forever to be totally self-employed, self-reliant, using my own brain to create whatever my source of income is. Even if becoming a Patreon subscriber or doing any sort of donations, if that isn't in the cards for you, the best thing you can do as a fan of my work is share it with others. I'd much rather have a hundred people listen to the show from a recommendation than have one person give a donation. Plus it's free. All you got to do is say, hey, this guy's content's pretty good. You should go listen. Even if you don't mean it, just say it. I'm getting ready to wrap up the audio podcast and I'm going to now record the next webcam weekly wrap up. This will be interesting because like I said, I have a new setup for the podcast. I'm recording it in a different area. So I'm going to have to figure out the logistics for the video part of the podcast. So that will be, I think it's the 14th webcam weekly wrap up. So you can take a look at that and see how I've done as far as my setup. Even though we're in the dog days of winter, remember to get outside if you can when it's sunny out. It's sunny as I'm recording this, but it's freezing cold. It's like 33 degrees. But you want to get out and get that vitamin D because a lot of us get deficient in it in the winter. That's the seasonal affective disorder. Sad. Just take my podcast with you. They tend to be 50-ish minutes long. So just start it, go for a walk and come back and you'll have burned enough calories. I promise I will do my best to make it fun and engaging and worth your walk outside in the cold if it is cold where you are. And as I always say at the end, remember, in this life, don't walk in anyone else's footsteps. Create your own path and enjoy every moment you can on this journey we call life because you never know what tomorrow brings. Thank you all again for tuning in. This has been the In My Footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund. You already knew that. And I'll talk to you all again soon.

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Christopher Setterlund

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