What I Saw in the Produce Section Today...

[N.Bailey]

When my kids were little, they knew when they went grocery shopping they would get a special treat of a donut they could munch on while shopping. It wasn't a bribe (although I wasn't above that!), it was just a nice little thing they got to do. Of course they were always paid for along with the rest of the groceries. Can't for the life of me figure out why it matters to anyone whether an item is paid for before or after consumption so long as it's being paid for.

A couple of people have raised the assumption that the food is not yours until it's paid for, which makes me wonder about restaurants. You are served food there, you eat it, but you don't pay for it until afterwards. How is that different? By the original logic, you should pay for your meal prior to consuming because it's not yours until it's paid for. And you can't say "because you don't know what your total will be until after you've eaten" because the same thing applies to grocery shopping!

Looks like we both had the same idea where restaurants are concerned.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We eat out in restaurants EVERY day of the week in this country and we mostly eat our food before we pay for it. Is that stealing too, if you plan on paying for the food you've eaten? Try having someone arrested for theft BEFORE they walk out of the store. Good luck with that!

Different situations.

There are restaurants that require you to pay first--there are most sit down situations where they do not.

The business models are different--considering in the super market, you are typically opening a sealed package to obtain the contents for consumption.

I don't know a single eating establishment that is okay with me opening a sealed package before I pay for it.

 

[CathrynRose]

I don't know a single eating establishment that is okay with me opening a sealed package before I pay for it.

Well apparently there are lots of them, because plenty of us have done / do it.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Well apparently there are lots of them, because plenty of us have done / do it.

Really?

Very interesting--I can't think of a single one--but perhaps I am sheltered.

Panera Bread, fast food, deli's, subway, etc--pay before consumption.


None the less, the business models are different and just like we don't tip cashiers and baggers--grocery stores aren't set up to be everyone's personal buffet to snack on unpaid for food/drink items.

So far--all the justifications are merely justifcations and nothing more. A restaurant that doesn't require pre-pay--sets their business model up for that.

Everyone can do what they wish--it doesn't make it correct.

 

[C.Ann]

Really?

Very interesting--I can't think of a single one--but perhaps I am sheltered.

Panera Bread, fast food, deli's, subway, etc--pay before consumption.


None the less, the business models are different and just like we don't tip cashiers and baggers--grocery stores aren't set up to be everyone's personal buffet to snack on unpaid for food/drink items.

So far--all the justifications are merely justifcations and nothing more. A restaurant that doesn't require pre-pay--sets their business model up for that.

Everyone can do what they wish--it doesn't make it correct.

I agree - but then again, maybe it's just because I was raised that way and that's how I raised my children as well..

The first rule of grocery shopping (and staying within your budget) is: "Never shop when you're hungry." So - perhaps that might be the downfall of people who need to eat or drink (or feed their children) while shopping.. I know when I was a kid our grocery shopping was always done on a Friday night - after we had eaten dinner - so we were all pretty full.. I didn't have a set day or time when my kids were growing up, but I always made sure they're weren't hungry or thirsty before heading out.. The added bonus (aside from the budget aspect) is that they weren't cranky and begging for everything under the sun.. LOL..

 

[kilee]

For everyone who says the cashier doesn't mind....she/he is not going to tell you if they do. So you are making assumptions based on the fact they are trying to provide good customer service.

As for the eating out of a cookie or chip package you are going to buy.......more so it's the mess that tends to get left behind. Usually there are crumbs being dropped while eating. That is what I find more annoying.

I say each to their own though, many people have no problem w/ that or many other things I find to be just a common courtesy.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

I shop at Wegman's every week with my mom. Sometimes I get bulk peanuts from the bulk candy section. Nothing bugs me more than seeing people sticking their hands into the bins and having a sample. That is just gross! Nobody wants to eat something that you just touched! And it's candy so it can't even be washed (like produce) before you eat it.

There was one woman who bought a bag of candy and then took a huge handful and stuck it in her pocket. She snacked from her pocket for the rest of her shopping trip. (No, I didn't follow her, but she was basically going down the same aisles that we were.)

 

[DISdreamin']

Wegman's has a Cookie Club for kids where kids 8 and under, I think, get a free cookie when they are at Wegman's shopping with their family. I don't quite know how to reconcile this with the idea that nothing should be consumed in a grocery store. They actively encourage it! They have the little stands on weekends with samples, and such too. So where do you draw the line?

Oh, and the Cookie Club - total bribe! My kids get to have a cookie once we get through the checkout and they are good. We walk back to the bakery and get a cookie if - and only if - they have been reasonably good throughout the whole process.

Anyways, I have never for a moment considered consuming something in the grocery store - with the full intent to pay for it - to be considered stealing. I guess I'll think twice about doing it now, as obviously it is some big taboo thing, but really...I can't see where it is wrong. Were I to NOT pay for it - totally stealing. But paying for it...nope, still don't see it that way.

 

[N.Bailey]

Different situations.

There are restaurants that require you to pay first--there are most sit down situations where they do not.

The business models are different--considering in the super market, you are typically opening a sealed package to obtain the contents for consumption.

I don't know a single eating establishment that is okay with me opening a sealed package before I pay for it.

The restaurant where you pay first will not give you the product until you pay for it, but tell me, how many people did the grocery store; where you worked, have arrested BEFORE they left the store?

The store may not like it or appreciate, but it's not theft. I see people opening packaging all the time. Again, I don't think I have ever done it (I might have opened a soda at checkout once, but I can't even say in all honesty that I didn't pay first), but that doesn't mean everyone has to do as I do because I take exception to their acts (as long as they are within the confines of the law of course).

Quick definitions (theft)

▸ noun: the act of taking something from someone unlawfully

Can you show me any statute in law, or any store policy that says someone commits theft if they eat something prior to paying for it? What's unlawful about eating a Twinkie before paying for it? You might not like it, but I highly doubt it's illegal. Your opinion doesn't trump everyone else in the store. You can give him/her the look if you're so inclined, but that's about the extent of it.

 

[pearlieq]

Like a previous poster said, why not carry a granola bar with you if you think you can't make it without eating something?

Because I'm not perfect. Sometimes I forget the granola bar. Sometimes I already ate the granola bar and didn't get around to replacing it.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've been so desperate that I've grabbed something while shopping in the store. Sometimes it just happens.

For everyone who says the cashier doesn't mind....she/he is not going to tell you if they do. So you are making assumptions based on the fact they are trying to provide good customer service.

Soooo...being tolerant and accomodating to honest customers who happened to need a snack or a drink IS good customer service? That's kind of what I was thinking too.

Frankly, I don't really worry about what the cashier thinks, because they're just people and you never know who you're going to get and what their particular proclivities are. Their job is to be friendly, check out my groceries, and enforce store policy.

If the store managers don't want me grabbing a drink when I'm desperate, they could easily put up a sign or otherwise inform their customers of the policy. Obviously it's not a problem for them.

 

[N.Bailey]

Really?

Very interesting--I can't think of a single one--but perhaps I am sheltered.

Panera Bread, fast food, deli's, subway, etc--pay before consumption.


None the less, the business models are different and just like we don't tip cashiers and baggers--grocery stores aren't set up to be everyone's personal buffet to snack on unpaid for food/drink items.

So far--all the justifications are merely justifcations and nothing more. A restaurant that doesn't require pre-pay--sets their business model up for that.

Everyone can do what they wish--it doesn't make it correct.

If the customer has hands on access to the food without having it handed to them at like a drive thru, I'd bet my life that somewhere, someone at some point, ate food prior to paying for it. If they put your food on the counter on one of those trays at Mickey Dees and your little one started eating the fries while awaiting the order to be completely filled, would that be theft in your imagination?

All a store can do is mandate that you pay for the items you've consumed. If you're willing to do that, it's simply not theft.

As in several of the stories from the produce section, I bet the store could have them arrested on other charges (they are destroying store property) as they make their way thru that section taste testing everything in sight. It's not the same situation at all. Perhaps if the stores would address the issue, people would stop doing it.

 

[N.Bailey]

For everyone who says the cashier doesn't mind....she/he is not going to tell you if they do. So you are making assumptions based on the fact they are trying to provide good customer service.

As for the eating out of a cookie or chip package you are going to buy.......more so it's the mess that tends to get left behind. Usually there are crumbs being dropped while eating. That is what I find more annoying.

I say each to their own though, many people have no problem w/ that or many other things I find to be just a common courtesy.

There is a huge difference between it being irritating vs. it being theft, though. I bet we could ALL come up with a long list of what irritates us at work.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

I don't know about manners, but I won't open snacks in the grocery for DS5 b/c I don't want to teach him patience and that the world doesn't revolve around him. My BIGGEST pet peeve with kids these days is the sense of entitlement they have... UGH, drives. me. CRAZY!!!

I know it's something very small and seemingly insignificant, but I've seen first hand how the small things lead to big things. Polite, well rounded, empathetic adults (or rude, selfish, egocentric adults) don't just end up that way... they become that way after years and years of practice!

So, if I teach my child that it's OK to open a pack of cookies before paying for them b/c he wants them NOW...then he will come to expect that in every facet of life. "I want ice cream for breakfast, why should I have to wait?? I want it now." -type thing- KWIM? That leads to all kinds of "I don't want to wait, and shouldn't have to, I want it NOW" attitudes... which is SO not good.

Just my opinion

On a side note... I never go into a store unless we are BOTH fed and watered b/c I know we'll BOTH be cranky otherwise. If a child is SO hungry that they just can't wait until the car or they get home for a snack; then maybe it's not the right time to be at the grocery store and better planning is in order. (Spoken to everyone, not directed at whoever I quoted!)

I'm talking about a 17-month-old for pete's sake. Anyone with a 17-month-old knows 2 things--(1) you can't always plan around when he'll be hungry and (2) you can really only go so far at that age to teach patience. My 4-year-old waits until we get home.

 

[ksumn1]

I totally disagree with the situation the OP discribed. Obviously the woman was trying to find the juciest, most succulent berries with no thought to the health risks or how she was shorting someone else who would end up purchasing and overpaying for a carton that was not it's full standard weight.

But I always grab a drink out of the cooler up front when I grocery shop. Most of the time I'm coming straight from school, where drinking and eating in the classroom is prohibited. Not to mention that a small bottle of water form the vending machine is $1.25! I just wait until I reach the grocery store/Wal Mart/Home Depot and grab a 21 ounce drink there for a more reasonable price. I always pay for it. I've also been know to eat a bag of M&M's in line for the checkout, which I pay for as well. I also usually end up buying a small travel size of tissue in Wal Mart and Target because i always start sneezing, and wouldn't it be weirder to carry in your own BOX of Kleenex in with you?

And honestly, the people who are going to eat or drink and NOT pay for it, never will. They're the ones who leave the empty bottles and candy wrappers stashed all over the store. They are probably also the ones who make a snack of the produce without paying and who take stacks of paper towels from the restroom to keep in their car as tissue. They are also the same people who will eat dinner, then compain about the food, service, AC, restroom clenliness, etc to get out of paying the bill.

Totally different behavior than buying a coke, and a pack of animal crackers to eat in the store while shopping, which will be paid for.

I think you are lumping 2 different catergories of people and behaviors together in a manner that is unfair. I guess some of ya'll just see black and white and never shades of gray.

 

[agnes!]

If any of these people habitually eating their way through the produce aisle had EVER worked around produce they would NEVER ever eat it without washing it first. At one time I worked with a gourmet produce delivery business...the back rooms and the wholesale markets are actually?...somewhat ewwwwwwwwww....nasty, dirty warehouse-type places. ((shudder))

agnes!

 

[MushyMushy]

This is something I don't agree with at all. It's not mine until I pay for it, period. I have enough self control, and expect my kids to have enough self control to make it through a grocery store without eating something we didn't pay for.

 

[kellyg403]

I have worked in the grocery business for a long time. Trust me, it does not bother me a bit if you want to open a box of crackers and feed a few to the kiddies or a juicebox as long as they are paid for at the register before you leave. Do I think its right or that its sending the right message..nope but I am not the morality police either. Its a toss up, as a parent, for the child to scream/cry thru the store disturbing everyone else or snacking. Per pound items, nope but a box that just needs to be scanned. As a cashier the only problem I had with it was when mom let jr hold the box and cookie gush mixed with saliva was all over the box. That is nasty sorry sorry. Give them a cookie and you hold the box.

I do have a problem with the people who stop at the deli and pick up the chicken wings to munch on, then stop over in produce and sample..and we won't even get into eating UNWASHED produce that has been picked, trucked, boxed, trucked and whatever else before you get your hands on it, and then the best of all, the person who stops by the meat case and grabs some cooked shrimp and eats it. These are the people who have issues in my book. Very rarely do they pay, on any given day I can find chicken bones and shrimp tails on the floor, on the shelves. These are the people who will get ill and turn around and try and sue my company.

As for the illnes etc, especially the diabetic, we have a few customers who have this issue. One who seems to have a difficult time with hers. We always bring her to the front, sit her down and grab some orange juice. Haven't ever requested her payment first.

Kelly

 

[Sleepy]

I will never forget the old lady in the Piggly Wiggly back when I was 11 years old. There were a couple carts of Bama jelly displayed in the front of the store as a sale item. This lady was opening the jars and sticking her fingers in them to taste. I never could eat Bama jelly after that.

 

[mjkacmom]

Usually I turn down the free cold cuts b/c I'm in a rush, but sometimes the kids will say that they want it. I can understand getting the sample each time b/c unless it's a newly opened package, the meat CAN taste different. If you get a slice from a pack that's open and it doesn't taste right, you can request that they open a new one and get your meat from there. I happened to be lucky once when I saw the package and the BH ham wasn't as pink as the unopened one, so I requested a new one.

Cold cuts come out of a package? At our deli section, you select the meat or cheese you want, and they slice it up for you (after you tell them how thin you want it - even the deli machine at the store entrance allows you to select very thin, thin, regular, or thick). There are at least 20 types of ham to choose from!

Anyway, I think that if you asked a store owner if he would rather you eat something and pay for it, or just wait until you get home and eat your own food, he'd rather get the business. Many times, the only reason you purchase the food is because you were hungry in the store (or most often, the toddler was fussy). Otherwise, the sale wouldn't have happened.

 

[kellyg403]

I will never forget the old lady in the Piggly Wiggly back when I was 11 years old. There were a couple carts of Bama jelly displayed in the front of the store as a sale item. This lady was opening the jars and sticking her fingers in them to taste. I never could eat Bama jelly after that.

I am so glad that nowadays there so many products that have that seal on top. It used to really skeeve me out to be walking down an aisle and see people picking products up, opening and then sniffing it. I did not eat salad dressing, peanut butter, juice etc for a long time because I had a vision in my head that I will spare the rest of you! Thank GOD for those seals, no matter how painful to get them off at home, the inventor deserves a high five.

Kelly