Have I just witnessed a crime?

[Thumbtack]

And a heinous one at that!

In a supermarket, commited by a little old lady, complete with blue rinse and a tartan trolley thing. She had opened a punnet of strawberries and was replacing the smaller mankier ones for bigger, nice juicy ones from other punnets ! She was definitely doing this as both me and my mum saw her and laughed

Now firstly is this actually illegal? Or just a moral crime? Also AIBU to think if it had been a young man in a hoodie doing this would probably be less and more ?

Are sweet little old ladies able to get away with more?

[DramaAlpaca]

I snap the stalks off broccoli too, and root around in the boxes underneath for the fresher stuff.

Strawberry tampering is the sort of thing my lovely nan would have done, bless her.

[cumfy]

What could possibly be wrong with this ?

I regularly swap the bag inside the 500g value cornflakes (which I don't really like) for a 500g bag of pecan and honey granola (yummy, yum tum).

It's just common sense.

[cumfy]

tum yum

[Thumbtack]

Well, she had opened at least two or three punnets , I think, pretty much in a row and had hers also opened and was basically picking and choosing the best strawberries for her own punnet. She was fairly old, so I think it was like adeucalione said, in that old habits die hard. And, I guess, why not get the best value out of your money? Although its a bit tough on the buyers of the other punnets . . .

[plainjaney]

I have a relative who works for Tesco on security and he tells me little old ladies are by far the most devious

He watched one a few months ago pick up a bag of grapes sold by the weight, scoff half the bag as she walked round the store and then present half eaten bag at the till. I don't think she was too impressed when he came over, removed her half eaten bag and replaced it with a new full one, nor when he quietly told her that stealing grapes would get her banned if she tried it again.

[cumfy]

Old criminal habits die hard.

It just sounds like she's too old for chokie.

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

Hooble I have always eaten the stalk of broccoli...aren't you meant to?

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

cumfy you DON'T do you???

[InLoveWithDavidTennant]

i used to work in sainsburys on the checkout. i had a snotty customer who had eaten a whole bag of grapes on her way round and expected me to charge her for the bag she gave me. i said no and i got a collegue to go and find the heaviest bag of grapes she could find so i could weigh those instead... when the customer started to have a go at me i told her if i caught her doing it again i wont hessitate to call security as stealing is an offence. to my knowledge she never did it again... and collegue told me afterwards that she weighted the bag down with extra grapes

[Buswanker]

My brothers friend ate six biscuits from a packet in a shop once.
His argument was they were the 25% free with them.
The security guard that saw him did not agree.

[cumfy]

But NeoMax, it's all just cererals innit ?

My tastebuds just seem to prefer pecan granola.

Equally those that prefer cornflakes can go with that.

Really, just like the strawbs and the brocolli it's all just personal taste.

Not theft.

Oh no.

[AmIthatSpringy]

Ha, "sweet" old ladies, are only older versions of the variety of different people. I used to work in a charity shop and one "sweet!" old lady used to come in and steal every week. I knew she was doing it, but wasn't sure whether to challenge her, only used to find empty hangers when she had moved on and out.

One week, though, she gave me the hardest, most challenging stare and I thought, fuck it, told the manager, she stopped her on the way out the door.

BTW, I always take the newest best before date, and go to the boxes underneath for apples/potatoes

[plainjaney]

People eating as they walk round is a pet peeve of mine. I followed a 20 something couple round the other week who started off with sandwiches, progressed to crisps and finally cracked open a can of monster each.

I can sort of understand bunging a small kid a milky way from a multipack but eating your lunch as you walk round? Are you THAT hungry you cant wait half an hour?

I did wonder how much of what they had eaten they paid for.

[SillyTilly123]

I used to work in a fruit and veg shop and some oaps used to always do this and try to fit more into the punnet, so we'd find a punnet with like 2 strawberries in as everyone had filled their punnets up. lol

[wannabeawallaby]

I saw a man swapping nice big organic eggs and the horrid battery cage ones between egg boxes. He paid battery price for the good eggs I presume.

[prettybird]

I have on occasion swapped cracked/broken eggs for unbroken eggs to ensure that I get a box of "complete" eggs. I'd only ever do it with the same type of eggs, ie free range large for free range large or medium for medium.

[Crikeyblimey]

We used to have the village shop and some people would take the stalks off the mushrooms before buying them! Some people are just bloody cheeky (and tight).

[Ledkr]

The only good thing about getting old is all that you can get away with such as pushing in queues, having a seat for your bag on the bus while people stand up, tutting under your breath at everything, seeing the gp at least once a week and telling mothers off if 3yr olds poke your breakfast

[DatsunCogs]

Are you not supposed to eat the green bits on leeks then? They're just as nice ( and it would be a waste not to! )

[Methe]

I do this with trays of summer annuals in the garden centres.. Pull out the manky looking ones and replace with good'uns.

Wishing had the guts to do it with strawberrys!

[JerseySpud]

i hate seeing parents feed their kids stuff they havent paid for around the supermarket.

Mine have to wait till its paid for

[AmIthatSpringy]

I have always hated that too JerseySpud, I never understood why people couldn't wait.

However, for the first time ever, last week I was doing a quick shop after school with DD, who's periods had just started that day and she was very pale and was feeling faint, so I opened a bottle of water and let her sip from it before putting in my trolley

[MrsHuxtable]

I'm in two minds about this.

I wouldn't want to pay for half rotten strawberries either and I can never fins a punnet where they are all fresh and nice. Wish I had the guts to do my own pick n mix...

[Aethelfleda]

Mine used to like eating carrots/apples around the supermarket, but I didn't always want to buy a huge polybag. So I'd hoss a (reasonably large) carrot or apple in the trolley, give one (the same size or smaller) to junior, and then tell the shop assistant to weigh, charge for and then keep the one they hadn't just eaten. Most cashiers were very nice about this, though there was always the odd one who found this far too confusing and would try to insist I keep the "benchmark" carrot/apple I'd "paid for"....

[Turniphead1]

I do this with Walkers crisps. I open the bag I want to buy. If there are any crisps that are darker than my optimal shade of golden I get some replacements from a neighbouring bag. Then I add some more for good luck as there seems to be a lot of empty space left in the bag.