Where I come from, it's against the law to fiddle with unpaid merchandise.

[magiccat26]

As a mom to a young child, I will admit to letting her eat while in the grocery store, but I ALWAYS paid for it. I also made sure the item was a "set price" rather than a "by weight" item.

I think I too would be upset if I was hauled off by security while completing my shopping. If they see me with it, but when I check out, it's gone...that's one thing. However, when I walk up to the register with the empty box/carton/bottle/bag and ask that it be scanned so I can pay...

(I also kept careful control of the box/carton/bottle/bag so that Kitten did not get her "icky slime" all over the item. I wouldn't expect anyone else to have to handle that type of thing!)

[greensinestro]

I

In the event where it is a personal product and the person is taken to the front of the store to pay for the personal product then and you refuse then again it would be shoplifting because you refused to pay for the product.

But this could be fought by the scammers themselves. Like the ones I mentioned who go through the store eating a bag of chips, or "taste test" grapes in the produce department, then state how stale or rotten they were that they can't buy the items.

I've also heard of people who don't have a pen handy while they do their shopping, and will grab one off the shelf, open it up, write with it, and then put it in their pocket or purse. Now, I know plenty of people who will walk off with a pen if they borrow it, which is why I don't keep pens on my desk at work any longer. What happens then if someone does that?

[Despina83]

I'm always drinking pop before I buy it. Sometimes I'll drink the whole thing. And when I've been really hungry I've opened boxes and taken out a nutri grain bar or something to eat. Now where I work, I see that people will say, with guilty looks on their faces, "Sorry, I just need a quick, drink, I'm so thirsty" before putting the pop on the belt. Or they'll put a box of fruit snacks on the belt and tell me that their kid ate one of them, and listening to them you'd think that it was a big serious thing that they felt terrible about. I never knew it was such a big deal. I guess I'm a sucky customer. But I'm going to keep on doing it anyway.

[greensinestro]

I'm always drinking pop before I buy it. Sometimes I'll drink the whole thing. And when I've been really hungry I've opened boxes and taken out a nutri grain bar or something to eat. Now where I work, I see that people will say, with guilty looks on their faces, "Sorry, I just need a quick, drink, I'm so thirsty" before putting the pop on the belt. Or they'll put a box of fruit snacks on the belt and tell me that their kid ate one of them, and listening to them you'd think that it was a big serious thing that they felt terrible about. I never knew it was such a big deal. I guess I'm a sucky customer. But I'm going to keep on doing it anyway.

They're feeling that way because they're the innocent ones who know if they actually tried to steal something, they would get caught. I'm like that myself. If I were to do anything that was wrong, not just shoplifting, but running a red light, peeing in public, viewing illegal porn sites on the internet, etc, I know I would be caught and punished. The people who shoplift all the time, as well as those who do those other things mentioned, have no conscience or think about the consequences.

[Shironu-Akaineko]

As a mom to a young child, I will admit to letting her eat while in the grocery store, but I ALWAYS paid for it. I also made sure the item was a "set price" rather than a "by weight" item.

I LOVE YOU.

[Kogarashi]

I've done this once myself. I was pregnant at the time, and while grocery shopping with Hubby suddenly felt dizzy and light-headed (low blood sugar). So I hurried to the deli, got some of their barbecue chicken nuggets (sold by weight, but they print a barcode sticker right there), and ate that. I made sure to keep track of the bag so we could pay for the chicken when we checked out. And I would never eat food that needs to be weight at the registers. I've been a cashier often enough to know that.

The customer that ticked me off most in this regard (aside from all the ones who hand me banana peels or half-eaten apples) was the lady who was buying gift cards for Christmas last year. She'd grabbed a few of the gift card holders too, which at the time were all about $2 or so (this was right before our Wal-Mart got some of the free envelopes you can put gift cards in). She'd already written salutations in two of them when she got to the register, and seemed highly irritated to be told that the card holders cost money (since they're apparently free everywhere else, despite being fancy greeting cards with gift card slots in them). She didn't want them, and since it was a busy day and there was a line, I didn't have the presence of mind to press the issue that she'd already written in them and rendered them unsellable to other customers. Argh.

[greensinestro]

The customer that ticked me off most in this regard (aside from all the ones who hand me banana peels or half-eaten apples) was the lady who was buying gift cards for Christmas last year. She'd grabbed a few of the gift card holders too, which at the time were all about $2 or so (this was right before our Wal-Mart got some of the free envelopes you can put gift cards in). She'd already written salutations in two of them when she got to the register, and seemed highly irritated to be told that the card holders cost money (since they're apparently free everywhere else, despite being fancy greeting cards with gift card slots in them). She didn't want them, and since it was a busy day and there was a line, I didn't have the presence of mind to press the issue that she'd already written in them and rendered them unsellable to other customers. Argh.

So, did another customer buy these cards? Hopefully that person had the same name as your previous SC. Kind of like that "Brady Bunch" episode where I think it was Jan or Marcia that wanted to buy the parents a silver platter, and then had the children's names all engraved on it. After they found out it was $6 per letter, or whichever it was, the seller offered to hold it, and assured him there would be no way it would sell unless another family with all of the same names wanted it.

[Kogarashi]

So, did another customer buy these cards? Hopefully that person had the same name as your previous SC. Kind of like that "Brady Bunch" episode where I think it was Jan or Marcia that wanted to buy the parents a silver platter, and then had the children's names all engraved on it. After they found out it was $6 per letter, or whichever it was, the seller offered to hold it, and assured him there would be no way it would sell unless another family with all of the same names wanted it.

Nope. I think the cards eventually got damaged out, as though we found them on the rack that way instead of the customer bringing them up to my register and handing them to me.

Thinking back on it, I should've called management on her or something, but like I said, it was a busy pre-Christmas day and there were lines.

[princess4life]

But this could be fought by the scammers themselves. Like the ones I mentioned who go through the store eating a bag of chips, or "taste test" grapes in the produce department, then state how stale or rotten they were that they can't buy the items.

I've also heard of people who don't have a pen handy while they do their shopping, and will grab one off the shelf, open it up, write with it, and then put it in their pocket or purse. Now, I know plenty of people who will walk off with a pen if they borrow it, which is why I don't keep pens on my desk at work any longer. What happens then if someone does that?

in the casses listed above it would be classified as shoplifting. It is harder to catch the people that eat a grape as they are walking through the store, but opening a pen using it and then putting it in your pocket is stealing no question about it. As for people that open up something like chips eat half the bag then claim they where stale that is also still shoplifting as the comsumed the product and are now refusing to pay for the what they consumed.

When someone tries the excuse "I had to make sure they where fresh" the best response I have found is to tell them that is why we have a return policy if AFTER you purchase something you find it is not fresh then return it, but eating half the bag the refusing to pay for it is stealing.

[petshopboy]

Its just a trashy thing to do

I hate seeing the mothers with a shopping a trolly with a kid in it, giving the kid drinks and things to eat just to shut them up.
They always say I will pay for it, but you usually find the product dumped after they have used it. Leave the kid at home if you have to stuff they face just to shop.
Its just a trashy thing to do!

[Nayeli_Sabia]

petshopboy, I used to feel the same way, untill I learned the most perfect day will turn into hell in a second. This is why i carry cheerios in a baggie with me.

[blas]

More parents need to bring snacks in ziplock bags when they go shopping or dip their kids' nookies in honey like I used to do with my god-daughter. Diaper bags are so large these days that there's no reason you can't fit a small bag of crackers or baby snacks in them.

[Anakah]

Also when I worked in family dollar it was very common for people to twist off the caps of coke bottles and take a swig.

Well one day this guy did that and well, guess what? When I went to scan it, I accidentally dropped the damn thing. It was all shook up and he had already drank out of it. He was stuck with it. I swear it wasn't on purpose and I was really embarassed. But had he not drank out of it, I would've given him another one.

[MrSunshineState]

I have grabbed a soda and consumed it while walking around the grocery store several times. The cashiers just ring up the empty bottle. Nobody has ever said anything about it.

[ZeoViolet]

*Thinks* At my old job (fast food joint) we'd give out free small cups to be used for water. Of course SOME people would try and sneak soda into them instead from the Self-Service drink station.

A philosophy about this from my original manager he passed to the other managers before he died was this: If they are so far gone that they openly steal pop, don't make a big fuss. 1. Pop is cheap and 2. Your fuss will have no impact because they obviously have no conscience. Overall it is a waste of breath. If I felt I could, the evil eye on my part was sometimes enough to deter them.

On my last day at that job, I finally did crack slightly at three young boys who tried this. I took them aside and very gently explained that what they were doing was considered stealing. They had wanted the cups for water and could only use them for water. Using them for anything else means they did not pay for that drink, and must pay for it. They looked at me solemnly and nodded. No parents in sight, and the youngest looked only five. I didn't have the heart to yell at them (one thing I've never done yet is let a little kid get to me). I don't think their parents had explained about stealing. After that they stuck to water.