Location: North Carolina
I work at a chain pharmacy(Think CVS/Walgreens). I had set aside some seasonal stuff to buy later but ended up off work for a while and when I came back my stuff was still there. I was told by another employee to just take them when putting carts away down the seasonal aisle since none of the stuff from that holiday had been on the shelf for a few weeks/a month at this point and they were just gonna have to send it away to be trashed regardless.
Usually our seasonal items completely leave our system about a month after the holiday items are changed and we can't even scan them anymore.
I found out after they were already out of the store that the items were still in our system and the reason my coworker told me to go to the seasonal aisle was the lack of cameras because she knew it was stealing.
I thought it was approved since sometimes we have permission take damaged items/old displays/items we can no longer sell but I had no clue this was actually theft.
Nobody has said anything about it and it was only about three dollars worth (a small toy and candy holder) but I'm wondering if it's very likely I could actually get any kind of charge for this? Can they prosecute me? Could this end up on any kind of record? How likely is it for me to be fired and risk future jobs?