Do you consider it stealing to eat something in a grocery store?

[nini]

I'm talking fruit or veggies that have to be weighed. I've drank a bottle of water or soda and put the empty bottle to be scanned but I've never eaten something that couldn't be accounted for later.

The second time in a couple weeks I've seen people eating away at grapes and plums. Now I can understand tasting a grape to see if it's sweet, but walk around with a whole bunch of them munching away pisses me off.

The plum lady tonight helped herself to two of them while I was around her.

I consider this stealing. It makes me nuts.

/end of rant

[Burma Jones]

1. You Betcha it's stealing if it ain't accounted for

[progmom]

2. yep

i sure do.

[enigami]

3. Depends

are we talking a couple of grapes or like a side of beef?

[nini]

7. well a side of beef is obvious

and a grape or two is justifiable for a taste test, but more than that is pushing it.

[Zomby Woof]

4. Yes!

Like those damned Republicans we saw helping themselves at Fry's 2 weeks ago. :grr:

Guess they figure the Mexicans who pick them, and the serfs who sell them, can go eat cake.

[nini]

9. ha.. that's what set me off today

this woman was just having freaking dinner walking around the store.

:grr: is right!

[WindRavenX]

5. I have *ONE* grape to test the bunch

ONE.
Then I buy it.
Eating an entire plum or fruit/veggie is stealing.

[babylonsister]

6. It's stealing, same as with anything you package yourself

in a grocery store and proceed to eat. I can't/wouldn't/couldn't do it.

[njdemocrat106]

8. Indeed

At least once a year, I see (presumably) a mother taking a pack of cookies off the shelf, opening it up, and giving it to their kids. It drives me nuts as well.

[progmom]

12. confession

i did that once with some crackers
but i still paid for 'em.

[Zomby Woof]

17. But those are accountable

You can actually bring a package to be scanned. So I wouldn't feel bad about it, since you did pay.

[progmom]

22. i still felt very weird about it!

it didn't feel right. but when the alternative is not getting to shop because your kid is hungry and whiny...well...you do it.

[Zomby Woof]

30. Highlights the difference between you and them

Some steal with no remorse or guilt, and you pay and DO feel it. But because it was outside the "norm" for what we would call our ordinary shopping boundaries, well, it is understandable you felt out of sync. Consciences are good to have, even when they tickle.

My simple shopping principle: WWMD? (What Would Mavis Do?)

[progmom]

35. Put your hand on your mouth when you cough, , that'll help the solution

Well, that's what Mavis would say. ;)

[nini]

19. that's the difference.. you paid

I've had a bottle of water before in the store because I was really thirsty but I put the bottle up there.

I figure you can munch on cookies.. that would keep me from buying even more snacks than waiting :D

[progmom]

20. and when you have a semi-cranky toddler in the cart

you're better off feeding them crackers than (potentially) having them make a scene...

[nini]

25. absolutely... keep the kid's mouth busy so I don't have to post a

screaming kid in the store thread :D

[progmom]

27. if my kid were to scream

i'd abandon the store immediately. :D

mostly i just don't leave the house when he's in a mood. and now that i think about it....my kid doesn't scream. i am an incredibly lucky mom.

[nini]

28. you are lucky.. my son was that way too

I didn't realize how lucky I was until my nephews were born and they were holy terrors.

And like you.. if he had we would have left immediately.

[Dervill Crow]

50. My kids loved to shop and were usually pretty quiet.

in the store, so I would take them frequently. Because of the age span of my kids, that meant that for many years my shopping cart had an inhabitant. Oftentimes from habit I would find myself chattering to my shopping cart when there was no child therein.

I know I'm going to regret admitting this.

[nini]

51. any parent who would deny doing something like that is either lying

or on some good xanax or something.

Parenting is a tough job.. we're allowed to do odd things from time to time

[put out]

63. What Zomby says.

I used to do that lots, when my child was little. He could pick a box of graham crackers, or cheese crackers, or dry cereal. He would ride in the cart and munch his way through the store, and offer me one or two (soggy) munchies. Then we paid for the box. It was cheap peace and kept him happy and that kept me happy, as happy as one can be while grocery shopping.

No shame in that, we paid for it. Although I did feel compelled to explain to shoppers giving us hard looks, "We're buying these", and he would also offer them a soggy cracker or a slobbery cheezit.

Funny how they always declined.

But, munching down on stuff you are not even intending to pay for. Different thing entirely; that's stealing.

[mermaid]

16. Yes, But

you don't know that the mother in question didn't take the empty packet of cookies to the counter, and have them scan it and charge her for them.

If she did, then what she did was not stealing.

[bertha katzenengel]

10. In the example you present: of course. Even a grape.

Jerks.

[salin]

11. I am so square

*old match game respones "How square are you?"* that it has never occured to me to eat/drink/sample while I am at the grocery store.

[mermaid]

13. If You Consume It...And Don't Pay For It...

what better definition of stealing exists??

Of course it's stealing!!

Yeah, I've tasted a grape or two off a bunch to make sure they were good, and that they were the kind I wanted...but to munch down a couple of plums, or a whole bunch of grapes that later cannot be weighed so that they cannot be accounted for....yes, that's stealing.

As the OP stated, I, too...have gotten a bottle of soda out of the cooler, opened it and chugged while shopping. But I always put the empty bottle up for scanning, and explained that I had consumed it while shopping, but hadn't yet paid for it.

Bottom line: If, in the end, you pay for what you consume, it is not stealing. If you consume something and do not pay for it, then yes, it's stealing. And they should be prosecuted.

[evlbstrd]

14. My sainted mother would haunt me.

Not a bite.

[maveric]

15. Its called "Grazing".

And yes, it is stealing.

[Pithlet]

18. It is stealing

I've done the empty container thing, too. If you're going to pay for it, it doesn't matter. But eating stuff that you aren't going to pay for is stealing. I don't know how it can be looked at any other way, really.

[Blue Diadem]

21. yep, it's stealing. Makes me wonder if people don't know that

some grocery stores have "shoppers" who are actually security.

[nini]

24. well the grape lady we saw a couple weeks ago was trying to be sly

the way she was holding her handful and sneaking them in her mouth. She knew all right.

hisss

[Blue Diadem]

41. Amazing isn't it..that people do that stuff thinking it's ok

A woman, who worked security for the retail store I worked at and also covered some grocery stores, used to tell us some hilarious stories. Mostly though it was more expensive things like steak under shirts/inside coats or down pants..that kind of stuff.

I really hate it when I find an opened package of cookies or snacks that someone has obviously opened and eaten some and threw back on a shelf.

It all raises our costs in the end.

[nini]

42. that reminds me of an incident in a former neighborhood

a well dressed woman in a nice coat triggered the sensors when walking out the door. She had stuffed wine, lobsters and God knows what else in every spot imagineable. She was pissed off they stopped her and made her come back.

lobsters...?????

LOL

[Blue Diadem]

44. OMG...lobsters????

:rofl:

[Zomby Woof]

45. When I worked at B&N

We learned from a loss prevention specialist that the majority of shoplifters ARE well-to-do or at least dress that way. Precisely because people are prejudiced against poor people or people who dress like they are poor. It's the most natural camouflage a shoplifter can have.

All ties in to that sense of entitlement and smug privilege.

[nini]

46. I got shadowed at a music store once

didn't bother me so much because I understand them wanting to cut the risk of theft, until I noticed the blondies weren't being watched a few rows over. Guess dark hair and skin always gets more attention. I walked out and never went back.

[Ready4Change]

23. Get her ass on the scale.

Paying for 100lbs of plums should get the message across.

Pardon my language.

[nini]

26. LOL I was waiting for a reply like this

:D

[Ready4Change]

34. Glad to oblige.

I'm normally a bit more restrained. :blush:

[Lisa]

62. how about using the difference between her driver's license ...

... and actual weight?

That way, the more she's "misunderestimated" on her documentation, the more she's going to have to pay at the till.


But seriously --
My folks taught me that it was best to avoid even the appearance of theft. In their time, if you were a visible minority, the authorities would be using every excuse they could find, to either slap you around, or take you into custody. Insisting that you had just had one grape, or were going to pay for an opened package of stuff at the till, was just setting yourself up for trouble. Even worse, it would make things more unpleasant for your family, or even people from the same ethnic group, because they'd use you as an excuse to rip off, or avoid hiring, anybody who looked like you.

[jpgray]

29. I think people don't spend enough time on their own faults to judge others

But the latter is certainly easier and more satisfying. :D

[Zomby Woof]

31. Nini has no faults

So she can judge any day.

[jpgray]

33. I'm too busy considering my tendency to leave stuff lying on my floor

Therefore I haven't judged nini.

[Zomby Woof]

37. If you leave grapes lying on the floor

It could get real messy... :o

[jpgray]

38. I got back from a run

My shirt is on the floor, and it's probably pretty sweaty. That's a pretty big fault right there.

[nini]

36. well.. I did buy some LIttle Debbie's while I was there

LOL

[Zomby Woof]

40. DAMMIT

I wonder if my Mom finished off that big box we got! LOL!

[nini]

32. I didn't say I didn't have any faults

:shrug:

[rug]

39. Why didn't you have the plum lady arrested?

[nini]

43. The store personnel saw her.. what they did to her if anything..

I don't know.

[BiggJawn]

47. Sampling's not stealing.

a grape or 2? No. What's more dishonest, me eating a coupla grapes then buying 3 pounds of them, or buying 3 pounds untried then finding out the store fucked me with 3 pounds of inedible SHIT?

I didn't use to taste-test, but I got tired of having to throw away pounds of bitter sour grapes when I got home.

But helping yourself to a box of Ho-Ho's and not paying for them is just flat-out wrong. and in my experience, usually done by people wearing filthy "Gawd bles are Trupes" t-shirts

[Dervill Crow]

48. Most assuredly yes!

When I was little, my dad would drive my mom to Fred Meyer and hang around while she shopped. I was traumatized by him swiping and munching peanuts. I was sure the police would haul him off and throw him in the slammer like in an Edward G. Robinson movie or something. While I was relieved, for years I felt conflicted about not reporting him to the proper authorities.

edit: stupid slang, i.e., "stoolie." Like who uses that word anymore?

[nini]

49. LOL.. My dad was a policeman - LAPD

I don't know what I would have thought if he did stuff like that (I never saw him at least)


stoolie??? haha can't say it's used but I do know it

[tinfoilinfor2005]

52. when my kids were very little and both riding in the cart

they started plucking away at grapes and stuffing them in their mouths while I was looking at something else in produce. I told them that this was stealing and that they would have to tell the lady at cash register what they did and hope that they did not get arrested. So when we checked out, they told the cashier, an elderly lady, and she very seriously looked at them both and said, "Well, this time I won't have you arrested, since you said you were sorry and you didn't know. But you musn't do it again. "
Both my kids tell me that to this day they remember that event, and that they have never stolen anything because of it. They are both in their thirties.

[nini]

54. Good for her and you

I made my kid go back into a store when he pulled out a pack of gum he took. He was mortified - he was pretty little and not completely aware of what he did but he sure remembered that event and learned from it. The help at the store were just as understanding as the lady you ran into.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

58. They were very cute, tears in their little eyes, scared to confess

the cashier was trying to hold back a smile, but she did a great job helping me with the lesson.
I guess we try to teach the little ones little lessons before they become hard big ones.

[Dervill Crow]

53. That is incredibly nervy.

I'm wondering: What did she do with the plum pits, or seeds, or whatever they're called?

[KitchenWitch]

55. Yes it is stealing

pisses me off

[Bullwinkle925]

56. Absolutely!

The only time it is permissible is if they have samples cut up and displayed for tasters!! Such as Whole Foods will do!

[Maddy McCall]

57. It is stealing. I say put her fat ass on the scales and make her pay...

by the pound.

I see people doing this, too. Bananas, donuts, you name it.

But I've got a question about the plum-eating woman. What did she do with the pits? I shiver to think. :D

[uppityperson]

59. Stealing.

Sometimes I get a deli snack to eat while I shop and always pay for it. The deli people at my store have finally gotten used to me opening it and walking away eating, they know I pay. It took them a while though. I feel sorry for employees having to watch for shoplifters eating food.

[notadmblnd]

60. no, what I always did, usually apples or plums

was put an extra one in the bag and after the cashier weigheds it, take it out of the bag and give it back.

[swag]

61. Yes, of course, that's stealing.

[AngryAmish]

64. A guy I know named Tony stole a pack of gum when he was seven

To this day he is known as "Tony Pack 'a Gum"

Yes, he is Italian.