Eating fruit going around a supermarket

[josaphine32]

I was just in Asda's a man was walking around quite happily doing his grocery shopping eating a banana, The banana did not belong to one of those bag thingys that have a set price, So how would they work out the price of a banana skin when he went to the check out. ( thats if he put it on there),

I didn't see a pair of scales at the door so he could weigh himself in and out.

1) would you call it theft and could you be prosecuted?

2) Would you let your kids eat the grapes or unweighed fruit in a shoppingmarket before paying?

[Old_Geezer]

Of course I'm serious. It's about mutual help for each other.

[ummmm]

Times are not like they used to be.

[tigerlelly]

I saw a chap in Waitrose very carefully swopping the eggs in the free range carton in his basket for some organic higher-priced ones. I told him what I thought because the rest of us end up having to pay more so that supermarkets can recoup their losses. It was only one incident but multiplied by millions per year...well.
I am also annoyed by people who are too lazy (they might say busy) to put their trolley back in the bay so that young men have to be employed to collect them at yet more cost to customers.

[LoftyLottie]

Old Geezer, I think parents ought to take their children shopping and involve their children. It's life and children need to be taught to behave in situations like shopping, eating in restaurants etc. As they get older you can involve them in helping to choose stuff and making them feel useful. I always shopped with my child, he enjoyed it - so did I. He learned from the experience.

[Old_Geezer]

IMO well behaved children may say they enjoyed it, but ultimately they only like it if they get a chocolate treat or something at the end. They already behave, so they learn little and tolerate it. Ill behaved children just play up and treat it as a playground. And usually the parents seem to have given up on getting them to behave. Not all of them, but most. Most of those who do still try to teach good behaviour will have already suceeded.

[ummmm]

True...but it's still a chore that has to be done.

[LoftyLottie]

No treats were offered Old Geezer!! I never offered rewards of sweets or anything else to my child. I am a believer in making things enjoyable for kids by involving them. Children have to learn that life isn't all about pleasure.

To many parents stuff their kids in a shopping trolley and buy them sweets to keep them quiet. I never did this.

I believe that kids wherever possible should be doing things with the parents, not farmed out for others to look after just so you can rush round the shops without having to bother with your child/children. Lazyness on the part of parents.

[LoftyLottie]

Like ummmm says, it's a chore that has to be done. Children need to learn that there are chores that have to be done and join in - not be left with others who will just let them play. That to me is far more like spoiling a child and teaches them nothing.

[ummmm]

Easy to do with one child Lottie....not so easy with 3 +.

[ronpegram]

I assume that he did not bring the banana into the store. Dishonesty is an essential element of the crime of theft, so if the man intended to pay for the banana he was not stealing it - even if the cashier would have to guess at a price. But if he was going to slip the skin in his pocket or throw it away then he was a thief and a scumbag - and in any case a very bad example to children

[LoftyLottie]

Not easy ummmm, but life isn't easy!! ;O)

[Mamyalynne]

It was pointed out earlier I am sure that the person had a bunch of bananas in the trolley too, perfectly easy to weigh the bunch and then weigh another loose banana from that bunch. Job done.

[joko]

i have opened a bottle and had some, and maybe ate a grape, or one of something in a packet of about 20-30 odd items, but i probably wouldnt eat something properly, like a cake or a sarnie etc - unless i was feeling a bit weak and unwell and felt i needed sugar or something...but not because its stealing - as i dont think it is until i leave the store, but more because itd probably just get in my way of sorting my shopping...id rather wait 20 mins til i get outside...

as long as the person pays i dont see the harm...and if someone is seen eating they are most certainly monitored

unless someone is hunching behind a shelf shovelling stuff into their mouths clearly not intending to pay, then i cant see the problem really...

[dave50]

If it was part of a set weight in a sealed bag which had a barcode. Then he could open the bag and eat one and still be able to pay for the whole lot when the barcode is scaned.

[Mamyalynne]

But if not from a bag. then my solution would work, no big deal really.

[craft1948]

I kept trying to lose the daughter in Asda.............some bugger always brought her back.