People eating food they haven't paid for....

[maddiemookins16mum]

....It just really bugs me. To the point of utter revulsion.
In a supermarket, grown adults opening a pack of 4 pork pies and happily munching their way around the shop, only to toss the empty pack to be scanned as their shopping goes through. Why do people do that, have you ever, and why??? (DD had to wait until the car for her gingerbreadman biscuit from Waitrose).

I've done it once. Was feeling very unwell when pregnant so figured it would be better to eat then pay than collapse.

I guess the problem is if people give in to screaming the first time then the child will scream every time they go to the super market because they know they'll get food. Eventually parents will just give their kids food to eat to preempt the screaming when they go shopping.

Lol I'm guessing you haven't been shopping with a toddler or baby? Dd1 had such a thing about the supermarket as a baby (before she was even eating) that she would start screaming before she got through the door. But yeah it was all my fault for 'giving into the screaming of a 5mo'...... OK.

"If you're trying to insinuate that I said that, you might want to read my posts again."

I did. You did.

Do I find it slightly irritating? Yes.
Does it bug me 'To the point of utter revulsion?' Er, not really, no. I tend to reserve phrases like 'utter revulsion' for child murderers and ISIS.

Gingerbread men are wearing clothes, that´s why their genitalia are not on display. Obviously.

Where?

This is only something I see the uncouth doing. Everyone else can control themselves until they check out. It's not a restaurant, it's a shop.

Everyone who does it is what's wrong with Britain today -- self entitled.

This is one of my favourite mumsnet quotes ever. Lovely stuff.

Some of you are so utterly ridiculous that I suspect you're joking. No one could really get this het up over people paying for food after they've eaten it.

Yes, sooooooo uncouth dontcha know.

This is something that has never crossed my mind to do. On the few occasions I've been really thirsty I buy a drink before starting the shopping.

I have been guilty of using food or a comic as an incentive to get the kids round the supermarket quickly and with minimum fuss but that only works if you leave it until the end. If they had eaten it there and then it would have been gone in about three minutes and they'd be back to whinging/running off/lying on the floor.

I often fed my two ( I had two under three for a while) as we walked around the supermarket.

It kept them happy and quiet.

Occasionally I may eat something myself if a feel faint/ hungry.

Not one shop assistant has ever done anything but smile.

Get a grip OP, if you don't like it, don't do it.

All so gloriously Hyacinth-y. Net curtain twitching, Asda carrier bag hiding, eating pizza with a knife and fork, floral cover for the food processor........

Thanks Festa. I'll know next time to collapse on the floor instead of being so uncouth. I've collapsed twice in Sainsbury's and once in M&S and they had no problem giving me free food btw. I have chronic fatigue syndrome (ME) and had it pretty severely and slowly improving a bit. So when I need to eat, I need to eat. And it's not just a case of waiting until I feel well enough or have eaten. Take my illness then we'll see you take your judgy pants off.

I'm with you OP. Find it all disgusting to be honest.

Op I wasn't being mean-I was joking. We all have our bugbears-mine is cake bars. Honest to god-fucking cake barsshudders. I don't care if your child eats in the supermarket, the car, church etc-just don't give them a cake bar

I had no opinion on cake bars until now but you're right, they are revolting aren't they? Never shall a cake bar darken my door again.
How do you feel about chocolate mini rolls though, are they ok?

southeastdweller I think the problem might be with the semantics then. .. 'Disgusting' to me suggests something quite different from the sort of outrage an MN might enjoy at the thought of theft. 'Disgusting' is to do with some sort of visceral, even physical, reaction. Why people are suddenly sick to their stomachs at the sight, another person (shudder) eating is quite beyond me. But "oh, the crumbs!!' they cry. Hmmm. But surely other people's crumbs on furniture, floor or door handles is only likely to make you sick if you're also eating? Like, say, in a restaurant? ? In the supermarket, where 99% of the food is safely packaged and is going into a (completely non-sterile) trolley, what exactly is there to trigger your gag-reflex? The sight of a crumb? Seek help.

Never done it myself, but as long as they pay at the checkout I can't see the problem.

It might be slightly off putting, but 'utter revulsion' op? Really?

Mumsnet ( AIBU more specifically) exists in this absurdly heightened emotional state in which people are disgusted, shooting daggers, sobbing (never mere crying) storming in or out of places and generally being more highly strung than a grand piano.

I often think I must exist in some parallel world of relative emotional equilibrium.

Yes, because basic standards of public behaviour like paying before consuming are exactly like hiding an Asda carrier bag.

Manners have nothing to do with being 'Hyacinth Bouquet', but nice way to imply you're above it all, I suppose.

I seriously doubt that the people I see feeding their kids crisps as they do their shopping and swigging cola are all just suffering a hidden syndrome- except 'lack of discipline' syndrome.

Surely if you have an illness which requires you to eat then and there you would carry snacks in your bag? What if the need for food occurs and you aren't near a shop?

I don't feel 'utter revulsion', btw. But I don't think it's a good thing to do, or to teach children is acceptable.

"I often think I must exist in some parallel world of relative emotional equilibrium."

Me too. And people have such strong physical reactions too- always heaving and retching and "boaking" (see what I did there?)

Well, this has gone the expected way, hasn't it, maddie?

Why do people fall for these stupid goady threads?

Because arguing with complete strangers about utter irrelevancies to pass the time of day is the whole point of participating in this kind of forum?

Is it to do with the type of food then? So it's more disgusting to swig cola and munch crisps than a satsuma or a leek or bottle of water?