Will Shoppers Defend Clumsy Customer?

Jan. 7, 2011 — -- At the New Jersey Decorating Exchange in River Edge, N.J., customers cautiously navigate the aisles, seemingly mindful of that unwritten retail rule: You break it, you buy it!

But actress Traci Hovel appears to live by a different set of rules.

We wanted to see how people would react when Hovel, posing for us as a customer, drops an expensive vase right in front of their eyes.

Will they blame Hovel or cover for her when approached by the store manager?

CLICK HERE to watch the scenario unfold on the latest full episode of "What Would You Do".

There are only a few shoppers in the showroom when Hovel "accidentally" sends the first vase smashing to the ground.

The sound freezes shopper Kim Hughes in her tracks as Hovel begins to spin her story.

"Don't say anything, just don't say anything," Hovel pleads.

Hughes does what others do throughout the day: initially she stays silent.

We decide to turn up the pressure on Hughes by using a second actor to play the role of store manager.

Actor Vince August enters the scene and explicitly asks customer, Kim Hughes, what happened. Hughes, like many others, adjusts her answer in order to protect Hovel.

"Ma'am, did she break it?" August asks.

"Well she was over there. I didn't see her drop it, but I did see her trying to pick it up," Hughes responds.

Hughes later explained to ABC News' John Quinones that she did, in fact, notice our actress drop the object, but did not want to get Hovel in trouble with the manager.

We found most eyewitnesses to be sympathetic with Hovel's dilemma, often not revealing what they saw to the store manager.

When the scenario played out in front of shopper, Susan Manas, she told the bogus store manager that her back was turned at the time of the incident. Twenty minutes later, she confessed.

"Now, did you see it, or did you not see it?" Quinones asks.

A sheepish Manas admits, "I saw it."

"How could she be that careless?" Manas told Quinones.