to think eating products before you pay for them at the till is uncouth?

[lastfanjoinparis]

OH and I disagree. He thinks eating a packet of crisps then handing the empty packet over at checkout to scan is perfectly acceptable but I think this is a no-no.

Where do you guys sit on this matter?

I have done it loads of times and will continue to do it! I don't see the problem and I don't care if anyone thinks I am uncouth or impatient. The only exception is something that needs to be weighed.

Everyone's different.

But... don't you supermarket munchers wash your hands before eating?

(I am happy to admit I am germ-phobic in general and that this question would preoccupy me more than most.)

I think it's been an interesting thread but some people on both sides are getting stupidly upset and angry over this. It's an internet thread about manners... it's not worth bursting a blood vessel over.

As I understand it (but perhaps someone with more legal know-how than me can explain if I'm wrong), eating food in a supermarket for which you haven't (yet) paid technically IS theft. Until you pay for the food, you have not entered any sort of contract with the supermarket and therefore consuming the food would constitute theft. This is different to a restaurant where you enter into a contract when you order the food. However, it would be very unlikely that any supermarket would prosecute someone for eating before paying and they generally just turn a blind eye because they want your money.

If you eat fruit and vegetables in the supermarket that you have not washed then you run the risk of giving yourself or your children food poisoning. If you handle fruit and vegetables in the supermarket and then eat something else you run a smaller risk of giving yourself food poisoning. Each to their own but it isn't a risk I'm prepared to take with my children.

Every time I eat in a restaurant I am eating before paying for the food. There's no difference in my mind.

That's what I've just explained, Notatall. The difference is to do with when you have entered into a contract. You enter into a contract with the restaurant you order the food (i.e. before you eat) so at that point they can choose when they want you to pay (after in most cases, but usually before in a fast-food restaurant). You don't enter into a legal contract with the supermarket until you present a representative of the company (i.e. a cashier) with your order (the food in your trolley).

I work in a supermarket and while there are people out there who pick up frozen and chilled food and then just dump it anywhere when they change their minds, I will struggle to give a shit about the cheeky nibblers.
I usually just think "meh, probably diabetic"

I have done this with my toddler during a mega tantrum, and my own mum thinks it's perfectly fine, however, it makes me feel uncomfortable, so now I bring a snack from home for DD so if she's hungry she can have that. I've seen people put half eaten bags of grapes back on the shelves, which is definitely rude!

Wow, I had no idea that people have such strong feelings about this!!

I plan trips to the supermarket to coincide with lunchtime- give both toddlers an(unpaid for) sandwich and scoot round supermarket whilst they eat their lunch! I thought I was being a clever little multi-tasker!

I can't imagine actually wanting to or enjoying eating in a supermarket. Odd.

whatthefuck you can eat in the street after 3am till sunup, provided it's a kebab.

Maryz I do wash my fruit and veg but I certainly don't wash my meat (you're not supposed to wash your chicken now anyway, according to the latest advice, you know). Other than that, I too come from the pre-hand-sanitiser generation and am none too fussy about germs. DD preferred eating the sand on the beach to the picnic I made her the first time she went. I'm simply following on from my point from yesterday - or was it the day before, this thread has been rumbling on - that people are obsessed with antibacterial sprays and wipes but happy to eat in supermarkets.

I would never do this! Is it even a thing?

It's horribly uncouth, even for a child. Though I would rather eat my own eyeballs than go supermarket shopping with the kids - that's what the Internet is for.

Well there's no cognitive dissonance for me on the unwashed fruit issue as I usually forget to do it once we get the fruit home too. [Blush] Both children are remarkably robust.

I recently found the bottle of antibac gel I bought for the changing bag when DS was born 4 years ago. It was still 3/4 full so I threw it away.

Oh bugger, do smileys not work like that on the mobile site?

I tend to agree schnitzel, but I live in a country where online grocery shopping doesn't exist, so needs must.

It's not theft. Theft is the dishonest appropriation of property belonging to another, with the intention to permanently deprive. To be guilty of theft, all elements need to be proved. If you pay for the item at the till, then there is no dishonesty. A previous poster mentioned a lack of "intention to permanently deprive" but I would say that if you eat something then you probably intend to permanently deprive the owner of that thing - but that's just splitting hairs. It's not theft.

The contract bit is irrelevant to theft as it's a criminal act and contract is civil.

Supermarkets don't give a shit about this; they're not stupid. I, for example, spend about a hundred quid a week in the supermarket, that's £5,200 a year, or a hundred grand plus over a twenty year period. Surely they're not going to begrudge me the odd swig of pop on the way round, which I then pay for anyway at the till!

Honestly, if this bothers you then don't do it - but fuck off trying to impose your pettiness on the rest of the world!

You used a capital 'B', Mrsfrumble, that's all.

Walk around the supermarkets stuffing your faces, it's fine.
I like to think I've got a bit more class

Ít's not something I would do, tolerate my DH doing or allow my children to do. There's really no need.

I'm going to aldi tmw for my weekly shop, kids are on mid term so they'll have to come with me. I think I'll crack open a bottle of wine while doing the food shop, but of course bring my own glass from home! Great idea who ever made that comment

Yes very uncouth. But I've still done it before, I think it was a drink actually.