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Eating in Grocery Stores

Esper

Esper

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    HONOLULU (AP) -- It happens daily in supermarket and convenience stores nationwide - digging into a bag of chips while waiting in line, sampling a couple of grapes in the produce section, opening a bottle of milk to appease a crying child.

    The highly-publicized story of a pregnant Honolulu mom who was arrested last week with her husband after she ate a sandwich in a Safeway store and forgot to pay, leading to the couple's 2-year-old daughter being taken away by Child Welfare Services, has sparked a national debate on the issue.

    It also raised the question: Is it OK to consume food and beverages in the store before paying?

    The woman in Hawaii who ate the sandwich has no problem with it.

    "I didn't know it was such a taboo thing," said Nicole Leszczynski who was charged with fourth-degree theft, a petty misdemeanor, along with her husband, Marcin. The charges have since been dropped by Safeway. "Where I grew up in a small town it's not seen as stealing for sure."

    Others are not so sure.
    Click to expand...
    The full article is a bit long to quote, but you can read the rest of it from [the source]

    So then, eating in grocery stores. Okay? Okay if you keep the wrapper/packaging and pay for it at checkout? Okay if you intend to pay, but forget and offer to pay after the nice security guard reminds you?

    I've personally never eaten anything in a store (I like to be more comfortable when I eat), nor seen anyone else do it. Apparently, though, this isn't too uncommon.

    Share your thoughts.
     
    I've done and seen this happen all the time, I don't see anything wrong with this. Funnily enough we were discussing this in sociology today.

    Though I do find it crazy that just because she forgot to pay for a sandwich their child was taken away from them. This should be about the problem with child services, not eating before you pay. :x
     
    I don't really see the problem with it but it's not something I would do either. I remember once we needed a pen for a grocery list so my dad just grabbed one off of the shelf and opened it. I was like :O but then we ended up paying for it at the register but I seriously thought he was stealing, haha.

    But imo if you plan to eat in a store, that makes it your responsibility to remember to pay. I think that's kind of a cop-out to say that you forgot, because you knew the risk of forgetting to pay when you opened the sandwich or whatever. :x Put it in the basket of your cart, on top of one of your food items, something to help you remember.
     
    I did it a few times when I was younger. I'd eat a cheese stick or something, give my mom the wrapper when I was done, and she would pay for it. Never had a problem with it.

    It's pretty ridiculous that they would take their kid away for something like that... in fact, why is she facing any charges at all? Unless she refused to pay when they stopped her, she should just be able to say, "sorry, I forgot" and pay right there. Sure, it's pretty stupid of her to forget, but it shouldn't have been that big of a deal.
     
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    I've never done this before but I've found plenty of open half eaten bags on chips left on shelves before. And honestly I don't know how people can do it. If you're going to eat something, just buy it and then eat it asap.


    I remember showing this article(different source) in irc the other night.
     
    QuilavaKing said:
    I did it a few times when I was younger. I'd eat a cheese stick or something, give my mom the wrapper when I was done, and she would pay for it. Never had a problem with it.

    It's pretty ridiculous that they would take their kid away for something like that... in fact, why is she facing any charges at all? Unless she refused to pay when they stopped her, she should just be able to say, "sorry, I forgot" and pay right there. Sure, it's pretty stupid of her to forget, but it shouldn't have been that big of a deal.
    Click to expand...
    I think I read that they took the child away for less than a day because both parents were being booked at the same time and no one was there to take care of the kid.

    I also think the "sorry, I forgot, here let me pay" line is a little fishy, but if I were running a store I'd be okay with this if it were for something small like a sandwich. A lot better than involving police. (Of course, if they were walking out of a tech store with ipods or something like that then I wouldn't buy it.)
     
    As long as you pay for it, it's understandable. I also understand if people want to 'sample' the vegetables or fruits they've bought, to see if it's fresh and healthy etc. As long as they remember to pay for it, thats fine. I don't think they should be arrested if they forget to pay, though. That's a bit too much. Just make they pay and give them a (metaphorical) slap on the wrist. Don't get your panties in a bunch over the fact that Mrs. Smith forgot to pay $2.00 for some candy she gave Lil' Johnny while she was waitng in line.
     
    The Safeway by my flat has a deli where you can buy hot meals. I eat them while shopping.
     
    A couple times, my dad would buy a drink at supermarkets, take a few drinks of it, and then buy it later once we reached the checkout. I wasn't okay with this of course, didn't feel it was right, but we never got in trouble for it.

    I agree that the couple shouldn't have been arrested instead of forced to pay, or their child taken away from them. However, they should have remembered to pay for that sandwich. If you were so hungry all of a sudden in the store, you should have ate before coming or waited to eat after. There was no reason, that I see, to open a sandwich and eat it in the store before paying.
     
    I rarely do this, I've ate in a couple but they always seem packed and I dont think there is anything wrong with it I mean if they can provide the food and the service so be it.
     
    I never knew this was such a problem. I don't eat in grocery stores, but every once in a while I'll open a Coke and drink it while I shop (though I do this more often in department stores).

    I just can't believe the woman had her daughter taken away. Even if she stole the sandwich on purpose, how does getting the daughter involved solve anything? I would think most children would be better off with a mother who may or may not shoplift rather than in the hands of Child Welfare Services...
     
    I see people do this at the store I work at. It is generally acceptable there, so long as they pay for their drink/food/whatever it was. I've never done it myself, and usually prefer to eat in a more comfortable place than in a store.
     
    I had a bottle of soda before paying for it when I was doing the shopping with my mom once. I was so scared though, I thought one of the staff members was going to see me and yell at me lol. So I never did it again, even when my mother told me it was OK.

    But yeah, as long as you pay it's fine. But it's definitely not a bad enough problem to have your child taken away from you even if you do forget to pay (assuming having your child taken is considered a bad thing...) All in all, I think the message attained from this article is "Hawaii be crazy".
     
    I think it's weird. I wouldn't do it. But, if you pay for it in the end, what the hey. Not a huge deal I guess.

    People and children rummaging around the bread without using tongs is larger concern for me.
     
    I really never ate something before I paid for it. I know there is a place in the supermarket I always go to where people can eat their food after they have paid for it.
     
    I was taught that sampling a grape or cherry from a bag was fine, but that's mainly cause my dad is serious about his fruit purchases, lol. Nothing bigger than those, though. And the only other time I think it's okay to eat in a store is like at somewhere like Walmart that has a deli. Me and my dad usually get a small bucket of fried okra and eat it while shopping and keep the plastic container and pay for it at the register with everything else we buy.

    Opening chips and such though seems a little...tacky, but that's just me. As long as you do end up paying for it though, I don't see a big issue on it. But I agree, it's pretty drastic that they took the couple's child. ;/
     
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