Sunny and I go grocery shopping every Monday together after school. I love doing this together as I hate grocery shopping by myself and Sunny makes everything more fun. She thinks she’s being super helpful as she’s putting things in our grocery cart while knocking down half of the produce section, but I don’t mind because she’s so cute about it.
As a parent, it’s obviously very important to teach your kids right from wrong. So when Sunny asks to eat a banana at the store or open a juice, I tell her that she can do that as long as she knows we have to pay for it and she can’t just take it or that would be called stealing.
Lately, if I open a packet of seaweed and start munching on it or open a bottle of water, she’s started making annoying comments like, “I hope you know you have to pay for that” or “There’s a security guard right there and he knows you’re stealing.” So I calmly explain to her that I have no intention of taking anything that doesn’t belong to me without paying for it at the cash register when we pay for the rest of our groceries.
The other day, I put two bouquets of flowers in my grocery cart and while Sunny was throwing random food in the cart that I secretly always take out later, she was squishing the bouquets and some of the petals began to fall off. When I went to pay for my groceries, I asked if I could replace one of the bouquets with a different one as one of them was seriously busted at this point. The guy at the register charged me for both bouquets and told me to go get a new one to replace the broken one on my way out.
So on my way out I pulled a brand new bouquet off the shelf. As I’m exiting, Sunny says loudly and in front of the security guard, “Mommy, we didn’t pay for those flowers, you’re stealing!” I smiled and explained what had happened and she just kept saying, “We already paid for everything and now your just taking those flowers.” As we walked to the car, the security guard came out of the store and asked to see my receipt. At this point I start fumbling in my purse and Sunny keeps saying, “Mommy, you can’t steal things.”
There is no reason why I shouldn’t be able to find my receipt, seeing as the cashier gave it to me not 15 seconds ago but of course my purse is a bottomless pit of receipts, fliers, Sunny’s art from school and diapers so I cant seem to find anything. Now I have this guy saying something into his walkie talkie and Sunny goes from ratting me out to like real quiet real quick. She thinks hes taking me to jail as I try and explain the situation. Finally, the guy at the cash register walks out and says everything is cool so the security guard lets me go. As we get back to the car and I strap Sunny in, she looks at me all serious and says, “Just drive.”
Yeah, I gotta say, I work at World Market and I don’t like it when people walk up to me and hand me their used dirty wrappers saying they already ate it. I find it extremely rude. I understand if you’re hungry, but please pay for it and THEN walk around the store. I mean, really.
I work in a massive supermarket and we would let a customer have another bunch of flowers if the first ones got squished in the trolley! We also wouldn’t make someone pay for breaking something unless they were being an idiot and brought it upon themselves…accidents happen and most big stores have a budget specifically for damaged goods (some of which can be returned to supplier).
As for eating as you go round, you can do it if you want but in our store the security guard will probably follow you. I can understand about the eating while you shop though, sometimes I’ll open a packet of rusks and stick one in my niece’s mouth just for a moment of peace! I too always pay for it at the till though
Is it so hard to bring a snack from home if you have blood sugar issues or impatient children? I get that there’s really no harm in eating something in the store if you pay for it later, but there’s still something about it that really rubs me the wrong way and I just can’t help it!
I feel like with kids, it’s a must to be able to open something up and let them snack, it’s the only way to get the grocery shopping done with a kid that decides they are done….halfway through getting groceries! I always ask them to remind me that they ate it so we can pay for whatever they ate when we check out. Who cares if you eat something in the store as long as you pay for it!
As a cashier, I don’t have much issue with people grazing while they shop, provided they show me and let me scan in when they’re at the register. It’s the people who eat or drink while they shop and leave the wrappers in the magazine rack that get me. Last week, I found a half eaten chocolate bunny! But, I supposed that’s what I get for working at Wal-mart.
I hope this will help to explain some of the concerns with people “grazing” in the store.
I have become hypoglycemic a time or two in a grocery store(albeit infrequently, and I suppose I COULD carry something in a purse to eat, but then they’d just wonder if I’d stolen that) so occasionally I will pop something in my mouth in the store. I don’t know that this is the case with anyone else, but I hope that some store workers might take that into consideration before judging anyone having munched before buying.
Yeah, sorry, but stop eating stuff in the store. If nothing else, you’re touching the carts then touching food… eew.
I have always taught my son we can’t have it unless we pay for it. There has been many occasions now where I will grab a snack he likes and pay for it right away seperatly than everything else and then continue to shop while he has his snack. This avoids any embarrassing toddler talk and has shown my son we have to pay first.
I ant STAND when people eat food in the grocery store before they’ve paid for it. Is it really that urgent that you open up a pack of trail mix right then, where other people are trying to shop too? I don’t get it.
(p.s. teaching her right from wrong would be saying “we can eat that once we pay for it”, which is what I tell my child when she wants something.)
Heads up, most stores consider opening anything in the store before it’s paid for stealing. I know emergencies happen and have had them myself, but just opening up food because you want to munch while shopping is technically theft, even if you were planning on buying it later. (Obviously, once purchased it can’t STILL be theft)
A sort of cute story. Except, your daughter squished one of the bouquets, meaning that you didn’t want it any more — which probably means that no one else will buy it either, right? So explain to me why you shouldn’t have paid for THREE bouquets?
How is this different from breaking something in a store by knocking it off a shelf? I mean, you’d pay for the item in that instance, right?
I’m with Sunny’s initial reaction — I think it is stealing, though obviously a relatively minor form, condoned by the store. But still not a great lesson to teach.
Ok, sorry, but this bugs me. I work at a store that sells food, candy, drinks, etc. and I don’t understand why people can’t wait to eat until after they’ve paid for an item. I’m always put in an awkward situation of having to ask a person if they’ve paid for an item in another part of the store and the customer is always so offended as if I’m accusing them of stealing, Lots of people “graze” while wandering the store and never do pay for the food they ate. How are store employees supposed to know who’s legit?
I work in a clothing store, and one this boy saw a shirt he really wanted to show his older brother who wasn’t there. He asked his mom if she could “borrow it”. She said no and try to explain to him and he returned with “I PROMISE I’ll bring it back!”
Be careful! You don’t want to end up like that Alaska mom a few months ago. No sandwich or seaweed is worth jail time for. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45103847/ns/today-today_news/t/pregnant-mom-says-sandwich-arrest-was-horrifying/#.T3Mb9niJvBI