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Speaker 1: We know that we've been speaking quite a bit about

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Speaker 1: some of the issues that we've got around the Northern territory.

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Speaker 1: We do each and every day, and unfortunately, you know,

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Speaker 1: they're not just related to issues happening here in Darwin

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Speaker 1: or issues happening in Alice Springs. In fact, over recent

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Speaker 1: days we have certainly spoken a little bit more about

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Speaker 1: some of the concerns in Catherine. And joining me on

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Speaker 1: the line right now is the owner of Willow Blue boutique,

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Speaker 1: Beck Beaumont.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Beck.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, Good morning listener. Beck.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Now, I understand that unfortunately throughout the week you've been

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Speaker 1: subjected to a pretty terrible incident. I've seen some of

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Speaker 1: that footage and essentially you've had your wallet stolen and

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Speaker 1: somebody go on what I can only describe as a

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Speaker 1: spending spray pretty much.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So I had my purse in underneath my cram

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Speaker 3: in the shop. Now, not something that I would normally do.

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Speaker 3: I normally have it hidden away, but I had another

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Speaker 3: daughter come into, one of my other daughters come in,

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Speaker 3: and so we went and had a snack over at

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Speaker 3: a shop. And when I got back there was customers everywhere,

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Speaker 3: so then I pretty much just you know, left it.

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Speaker 3: I didn't give it another thought. I had two ladies

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Speaker 3: come in. I was serving a young guy who was buying,

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Speaker 3: you know, a birthday present for his mum, and unbeknownst

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Speaker 3: to me, she had gone in underneath my pram, taken

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Speaker 3: my wallet, gone behind some of the clothing racks, taken

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Speaker 3: out fifteen hundred dollars in cash, and taken out my card,

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Speaker 3: but then had put my like my purse back underneath

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Speaker 3: the pram. She was so sneaky about it, and I

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Speaker 3: didn't know anything. You know, I didn't notice my perse

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Speaker 3: missing or anything, so I didn't you know, I didn't

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Speaker 3: pay any attention to it. And the worst thing was

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Speaker 3: after she had done it, we had had a really

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Speaker 3: good conversation, you know, she we were talking about babies

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Speaker 3: because she had a ten month old baby. She had

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Speaker 3: told me that, you know, her baby was born at

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Speaker 3: thirty weeks, so he was premature, but he was a

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Speaker 3: big boy. So I commended her on you know, she'd

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Speaker 3: done a really good job on obviously raising him. And yeah,

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Speaker 3: then I get to leave and I get a message

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Speaker 3: from Bendigo Bank to say we've put a block on

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Speaker 3: your card because of unusual activity. I've gone to get

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Speaker 3: my card and gone, oh gosh, it's not there. Then

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Speaker 3: I've noticed all the cash gone, seen my banking and

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Speaker 3: my card had been tapped three times at BP and

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Speaker 3: then three sorry, seventeen times at another retailer in town.

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Speaker 3: So I'm really annoyed at obviously myself believing the purse there.

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Speaker 3: I'm really annoyed at her for obviously being so dishonest.

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Speaker 3: But I'm really annoyed at that other shop owner for

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Speaker 3: allowing somebody to tap so many times. And I actually

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Speaker 3: confronted him, and his excuse or his response was, she

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Speaker 3: said it was her mum's card and she didn't know

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Speaker 3: the pin number. So straight away I've gone, well, hang

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Speaker 3: on mate, you've allowed somebody.

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Speaker 4: To fraudulant, fraudulent, ordulantly, yeah, fraudulently use someone's card knowing

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Speaker 4: that it wasn't theirs, and he just didn't care at all.

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Speaker 3: Like I know, retails toss across a mighty like if

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Speaker 3: it was a genuine purchase, someone's genuinely using their own card,

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Speaker 3: they would use that twelve hundred dollars transaction in one go.

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Speaker 3: But I allowed it to go through seventeen times.

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Speaker 1: I beg, how heartbreaking for you. I mean, look, look,

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Speaker 1: obviously you and I don't know each other, but I

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Speaker 1: you know, I understand that you've got five kids. You're

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Speaker 1: a mom that is five daughters. Well you deserve a

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Speaker 1: medal for that, mate, But you're genuinely trying to make

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Speaker 1: a go of it. You know, you're a mom that's

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Speaker 1: running a business, genuinely trying to make a go of it.

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Speaker 1: And to be in a situation where you're actually juggling

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Speaker 1: your kids while trying to work for somebody to flog

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Speaker 1: your purse from underneath the pram?

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Speaker 2: Was your baby in the pram?

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Speaker 3: Well no, she actually wasn't like she she was earlier.

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Speaker 3: And at first I was like, oh my god, she

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Speaker 3: did it with my child there. And my daughter wasn't

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Speaker 3: in the pram. I had just taken her out not

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Speaker 3: long ago, and she was playing on the floor. And

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Speaker 3: so that's what sparked the conversation because old mate has

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Speaker 3: seen my daughter rolling around on the floor and said, oh,

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Speaker 3: is that's your baby? And I said, yeah, yeah, that's mine.

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Speaker 3: Like it's not just some random child, she's my child.

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Speaker 3: It's all but yeah, Like the thing is, Katie, I'm

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Speaker 3: a small business and in three months so realistically not

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Speaker 3: even that. Like the end of February, I got my

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Speaker 3: window kicked in by a drunken guy. That was a

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Speaker 3: DV situation. So ultimately, you know, I sacrificed my window

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Speaker 3: for her getting belted. I can deal with that. I

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Speaker 3: can take the wrap on that. Three days later, my

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Speaker 3: shop got broken into by three youths ten, twelve and

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Speaker 3: fourteen or fifteen, the ten and the twelve year old.

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Speaker 3: The police actually caught them red handed with the stuff,

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Speaker 3: and all they could do was take them home to mum,

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Speaker 3: who was in a state anyway. And so between that

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Speaker 3: the amount of product that they stole, which was over

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Speaker 3: five thousand dollars, replacing my windows, they smashed my window,

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Speaker 3: I had to put in busy guard on the shop

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Speaker 3: closed all up. I'm out over eighteen thousand dollars in

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Speaker 3: just not even two months realisticly, Like it's just it's

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Speaker 3: heartbreaking to make the money as a small business anyway,

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Speaker 3: and then to have that happen within such a short

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Speaker 3: time frame. It's pretty disheartening. And like, I'm a pretty

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Speaker 3: trusting sort of a person. I let most people into

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Speaker 3: my shop. There's only been a few times where I've

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Speaker 3: locked the door because you know, we had some rogue

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Speaker 3: teenagers running around, so I locked the door. And there

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Speaker 3: was only a few instances where I said, look, guys,

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Speaker 3: I'm sorry, but you can't come in. But I anyone

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Speaker 3: else that comes in tries to come in if they say,

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Speaker 3: I'm just looking around, no worries. I don't discriminate against

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Speaker 3: anyone coming into my shop.

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Speaker 1: Beck, I can see that from the security vision that

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Speaker 1: I've seen. I can see that you are treating everybody

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Speaker 1: with the utmost respect, and you're being lovely to everybody

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Speaker 1: that is inside the shop. And then the fact that

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Speaker 1: somebody's come and stolen your wallet while you're working hard,

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Speaker 1: while you're juggling, you know, your responsibilities and trying to

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Speaker 1: run your store, I think really heartbreaking. But then to

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Speaker 1: hear that you're eighteen thousand dollars out of pocket over

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Speaker 1: the last few months, just to sort of paint a

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Speaker 1: picture for our listeners, how difficult is that for you

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Speaker 1: as a small business owner trying to you know, trying

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Speaker 1: to make ends.

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Speaker 2: Mate, Well, I mean the.

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Speaker 3: Cost of everything is going up, so you know, the

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Speaker 3: cost of living in general is going up. I feel

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Speaker 3: the pinch as a person living in the community. And

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Speaker 3: then the cost of all of my stock is also

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Speaker 3: going up, but I'm keeping it at the same price.

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Speaker 3: So I'm wearing a lot of the expenses that are

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Speaker 3: coming in because I'm trying to keep my products affordable

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Speaker 3: for everybody to be able to purchase. Like I donate

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Speaker 3: so much into the community, I don't think you will

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Speaker 3: find too many raffles or you know, fundraisers where Willow

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Speaker 3: Blue has not donated something that is an added cost.

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Speaker 3: There's others that are coming up. And I said to

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Speaker 3: my other staff member this morning, Look, I'm sorry, but

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Speaker 3: we can't do packs that are as big as what

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Speaker 3: we normally do because I just need to try to

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Speaker 3: recuperate this somewhere along the line. So it's hard to

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Speaker 3: you know, being making ends meet. Rents are going up,

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Speaker 3: insurances are going up. That's why I haven't put insurance

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Speaker 3: clans in because it's not worth that. It's not worth

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Speaker 3: doing it. I got I did get how much was it?

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Speaker 3: I know, sixteen hundred dollars or something for my windows

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Speaker 3: from victims of crime? But I can't now like I've

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Speaker 3: got one more that I can utilize within a twelve

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Speaker 3: month period, because I's told you can only claim three

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Speaker 3: three lots up to one thousand dollars on each incident,

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Speaker 3: three times in a twelve month period.

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Speaker 1: And unfortunately that's so longer normal for territories, you know,

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Speaker 1: like it's more than that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And I mean I've the damage that I've incurred

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Speaker 3: has been absolutely minimal to what so many other businesses

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Speaker 3: have incurred, you know, like I haven't been ram rated,

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Speaker 3: So I'm you know, I'm very lucky there. But the

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Speaker 3: people that are doing it, they could not care less.

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Speaker 3: They you know, it does not bother if a shop

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Speaker 3: shut doors, Yeah, does not bother them. It genuinely doesn't.

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Speaker 3: And aspects everybody else.

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Speaker 1: Is it making you question whether you do keep your

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Speaker 1: shop opened?

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Speaker 3: Yes, it is, but I definitely want to keep her

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Speaker 3: open because I want to provide that service to Catherine.

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Speaker 3: We don't have much in the sense of retail down there.

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Speaker 3: Like if I was to shut down, the only place

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Speaker 3: you can go and buy Bras and Undy is k Hub,

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Speaker 3: and that in itself is not a very big selection.

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Speaker 3: I'm not a big busted lady, but I still can't

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Speaker 3: go and shop there, and you know that's the thing.

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Speaker 3: I'm trying to provide a service to people so that

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Speaker 3: we can get things locally.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and you should be able to you know, you

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Speaker 1: should be able to do that without having to worry

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Speaker 1: about being broken into or you know, having three incidents

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Speaker 1: since the end of February, it costing you eighteen thousand

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Speaker 1: dollars and you know, being in a situation where someone

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Speaker 1: stealing from your right under your nose, in my nose, I.

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Speaker 3: Was literally meters away. And because I was focused on

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Speaker 3: helping the young guy by a present free mum and

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Speaker 3: gift wrapping for her, like I was keeping a quick look,

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Speaker 3: I'd have a quick scan around. Oh yep, you're all okay.

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Speaker 3: You know I did not notice her duck down and

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Speaker 3: you know, crouch behind the pram and grab my purse out.

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Speaker 3: I didn't notice that. And you know, now it just

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Speaker 3: made me question so many things. And you know, do

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Speaker 3: I now be a little bit more subjective as to

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Speaker 3: who I actually allowed to come in my shop? And

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Speaker 3: that's not something that I want to do.

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Speaker 2: No, that's exactly right that I now have to do.

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Speaker 1: Well, you shouldn't have to bloody worry about that and

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Speaker 1: that's the whole point. You know, you should be able

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Speaker 1: to run your business and everybody accepts it. Now and again,

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Speaker 1: you might have something happen, but certainly not eighteen thousand

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Speaker 1: dollars worth of damage in a couple of months. I

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Speaker 1: mean that is just inside Becky in.

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Speaker 3: The loss of the value of the stock, lot, lots

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Speaker 3: of trading, all of you know, replacing everything. Ye, that's

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Speaker 3: where we're at. That in itself is pretty disappointing. Like

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Speaker 3: that's a big loss for a small business.

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Speaker 2: It truly is.

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Speaker 3: To recuperate that is I don't It's just something I've

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Speaker 3: got to wear because I'm not going to be able

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Speaker 3: to recuperate it.

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Speaker 2: Bec we are going to have to leave it there.

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate you having a chat with me this morning.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much. And I'm really sorry to see

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Speaker 1: and to hear what has gone on.

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Speaker 3: Sorry, thank you for allowing me to share.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Thanks very much. I have a great afternoon

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Speaker 2: you too. Thanks beck