To have said something re. shoplifter...

[escapedfrommordor]

This has been playing on my mind since this morning.
I was doing the food shop and I saw a lady in the baby aisle. You know when you radar sort of goes off? Her behaviour just seemed "off" and I saw her pick up a bunch of baby food pouches and walk off to the next aisle. Straight after that I saw her walk between two tills and out of the exit. She didn't have any bags or anything and there were no other tills open.
I said to the lady on the till "Sorry I think that lady has just left with a load of baby food and not paid..." and she just kinda shrugged it off! She said "Oh I'll remember her face for next time."
I went back to my shopping and then paid at the till the member of staff was on and we chatted about it. She seemed to be of the opinion she must be desperate if she's stealing baby food and that it was sad.
Would you have said something or assume she was in dire need and ignored it? Wondering if I'm just a bit heartless..

Seriously - why would you waste compassion and empathy on people who don't deserve it?

My opinions are as valid as yours - it sounds a little patronising to say I should be treated with some level of kindness because I obviously have had a terrible life otherwise how could I possibly think like this?

Some people are cold hearted - I am one of them. ^^

Even if I genuinely thought that the woman was shoplifting to feed her child, rather than being a drug addict etc, that wouldn't affect my decision to report her. In that situation I wouldn't feel compassion. Why would I

Why would you? Well, most human beings have compassion for each other, we just do, it's as simple as that. It's called human emotion, you might have seen it in people. You seem quite delighted to be cold and unfeeling, like you'd march up to security and watch with glee as the offender was hauled away. What's up with that?

Bifs I just don't feel it - she isnt anything to do with me, I don't care about her situation and it doesn't emotionally affect me in any way.

Yes I would. Because I genuinely don't care. I'm not delighting in it - it's just a fact. We all care about some things more than others and we all have things we don't really give a toss about.

Well I can't fault your honesty I suppose!

What do you care about?

Although seriously, threads like this make me question whether I am out of step or whether it's just because of the overall 'liberal' attitude of MN.

I genuinely don't delight in being a cunt, it's just what I am!

I care strongly about some of my family, all of my friends and animals.

I think that's about it.

I would absolutely do my best for anyone/thing in those categories. But no, I wouldn't bother with anyone who wasn't.

What about an old lady falling over at a bus stop, or a lost kid? Would you keep on walking?

I would check if the old lady was okay, help her up etc but that's just because that's what you should do. I can give practical help.

Lost child? I wouldn't know what to do about that so would keep walking.

But emotionally I wouldn't feel anything.

Livia I'm genuinely sorry that you had to witness your mother's abuse at the hands of your father. It's an awful thing for a child to witness, I know all too well. When I was younger I tried to stop myself from caring about/investing in others, too, and I think now that it stemmed from my experiences as a child. I'd been hurt so much, I didn't want to risk any more pain. It took me a lot of time to unlearn what was essentially a coping mechanism, but when I was finally able to do so it was like a huge weight - a d sadness - had been lifted from my shoulders.

One thing I learned is not to judge others - you never know why they behave the way they do, or what their circumstances are. Life can be cruel. Sounds like psychobabble claptrap, but I don't want to be part of the problem. I always give people the benefit of the doubt now.

There is no pointy reporting.The shop security staff won't stop her unless they have seen it with their own eyes.they don't want to be done for wrongful arrest

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but, some time ago it was deemed that there would be no charges brought if the goods were under £25.