Something I rarely see covered with lifters is natural dialogue. What are the things you say to your partner and how natural does it come off?
Remember, you are an actor when you lift, and the scene you’re playing is a normal shopper hanging out with friends.
Now what does that look like? You talk to your friends loudly and excitedly, the dialogue you have tends to be non- secretive or inconsequential, for example, “god I hate my job” or “omg I’m completely in love with Steve”. This is seen as normal by retail workers and others in the store.
Now imagine if you start to whisper, look around scared and paranoid, or begin to talk about lifting subjects openly? This is NOT normal and will get people’s eyes on you. The way you interact with friends CANNOT be awkward or unnatural.
Dropping your excitement and voice as soon as you get to the changing room, being unable to answer the retail worker in a natural way, or attempting to avoid retail workers at all cost is very unnatural. You will get someone to look at you and wonder what’s happening.
In fact, sometimes you don’t need to say anything to your partner when the help is being provided. Yup, you heard me. Is your partner holding clothes for you outside the change room that she’ll sneakily give to you? Don’t add unnecessary dialogue, open the door, your partner knows what you want (the retail employee will simply assume they didn’t hear the initial convo). Is your partner nodding at you? Don’t need to say a word, go grab that other item without prompting. Is your partner handing you a new item randomly? Most likely they want you to lift it for them, don’t need for them to tell you to get it. Not all things need to be verbalized, when the illegal action is going down, stay quiet. Have your partner already intuitively aware of what’s happening and keep the natural “Steve is so cute” conversation going without missing a beat. That natural convo is your misdirection, stopping the flow of it will jeopardize your lift.
Remember: dialogue, excitement, and warmth needs to stay the same within the store, when the illegal stuff is happening do not prompt with unnecessary words “can you grab me another size?” etc., just expect your partner to know through gestures. You can drop the act once you leave.
The store is your theatre, remember to act the part.