Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Flip

1 2 ··· 33 34 35 36 37 38

Original poster

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

946 replies

maddiemookins16mum · 24/09/2016 23:02

....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).

OP posts:

Thread gallery

Camembertie · 01/10/2016 08:49

DS aged 2 once ate a whole cucumber on our way round the supermarket (distracted by newborn DD screaming with reflux the entire time), paid for it twice, once with money at the tills, secondly with the most VILE nappy the next day. Learnt my lesson that day, strictly baked goods from then on in

MyWineTime · 01/10/2016 10:33

the point is that you haven't paid for the damn food! it's the principle and you're passing it on to your kids.
It's really up to the supermarket to decide if that is acceptable or not, and it's clear they have no objection to it. You are teaching your children that you must pay for any food that you have eaten. There's nothing wrong with that.

Mummyoflittledragon · 01/10/2016 11:19

What do you mean "it's as class thing..." BabyGanoush?

Sounds like inverted snobbery to me.

PoppyBirdOnAWire · 01/10/2016 11:37

"BabyGanoush

It's a class thing.."

I think you are right but are posters here rational enough to accept that?

PoppyBirdOnAWire · 01/10/2016 11:39

It's not up to the supermarket. If their other customers don't like seeing this, surely the supermarket has a duty to please them. The grazers are pleasing themselves, after all.

Mummyoflittledragon · 01/10/2016 12:11

Glad we can agree on something poppy, however, your inability to accept those, who must eat for MEDICAL reasons is also misplaced snobbery.

MyWineTime · 01/10/2016 12:39

It's not up to the supermarket. If their other customers don't like seeing this, surely the supermarket has a duty to please them
Not a duty, no. It's business sense and the decision definitely is up to the supermarket. It's clear by the fact that the supermarkets don't mind, that they are responding to what their customers want.

It's something that a minority of people do, for a variety of reasons.
The majority of other customers have got far better things to do than care.
The supermarkets have no problem with it.
It's only a handful of particularly judgemental people who actually object, and on the grounds that they are not affected in any way, their objection is irrelevant. If they don't like it, they are free to go and shop elsewhere.

wowowowow · 01/10/2016 15:15

BabyGanoush is right, it is a class thing. Some people have enough self pride to not want to eat in public/supermarket. Some people don't have the same standards.

LyndaNotLinda · 01/10/2016 15:27

wowowow - you're absolutely right, it is a class thing. Truly classy people don't spend their time judging other people I'm afraid. It's only the arrivistes who are so desperately worried about doing the right thing.

MyWineTime · 01/10/2016 17:01

Well said Lynda!

Quite a bizarre link between class, pride and eating in public - 3 completely unrelated things

Why do some people spend so much time worrying about what other people think and do? Surely you must have real things in your life that deserve your attention.

BadLad · 01/10/2016 17:27

It's not up to the supermarket. If their other customers don't like seeing this, surely the supermarket has a duty to please them. The grazers are pleasing themselves, after all.

Lol at this bollocks. Of course it's up to the supermarket - it's their business. If they decide people can eat items before paying, that's their choice, and customers who don't like it are free to vote with their wallet and piss off and shop somewhere else.

ncayley115 · 01/10/2016 18:23

This is really wrong if for example you buy loose fruit. How can you pay for a banana when your child has eaten it? Maybe they should weigh the child and you can pay for that weight of bananas!

PoppyBirdOnAWire · 01/10/2016 19:05

I was in Waitrose this afternoon and saw no one eating shop stock as they went around doing their shopping.

PoppyBirdOnAWire · 01/10/2016 19:09

"ncayley115

This is really wrong if for example you buy loose fruit. How can you pay for a banana when your child has eaten it? Maybe they should weigh the child and you can pay for that weight of bananas!"

Haha
But wouldn't the child have to be weighed as s/he came into the shop!?
I can foresee issues with this idea.

PoppyBirdOnAWire · 01/10/2016 19:10

"wowowowow

BabyGanoush is right, it is a class thing. Some people have enough self pride to not want to eat in public/supermarket. Some people don't have the same standards."

Agreed.

BabyGanoush · 01/10/2016 19:11

Mywinetime

You could ask yourself those sane questions.

Why fors it bother YOU what people think and do?

Clearly it bothers you enough, that some people are bothered by certain behaviour, to comment on these people.

hazeyjane · 01/10/2016 19:20

You should come to our Waitrose, Poppy. I know people from all backgrounds that have weighed some fruit/veg and given some to their kids as they go round, or taken a biscuit to the deli for a sticker so their child can snap a bit off while shopping is grabbed. Not because it is some unique shop with unique clientele, but because it is a completely normal and acceptable thing to do, that only seems to be frowned upon by people with a stick up their arse.

mathanxiety · 01/10/2016 20:02

It's not up to the supermarket. If their other customers don't like seeing this, surely the supermarket has a duty to please them. The grazers are pleasing themselves, after all.

You clearly fancy yourself to be in the majority, Poppy.

No, the supermarket only has an interest in loss prevention. That is why they are happy to see empty wrappers presented at the checkout.

That is also why high end grocery retailers offer a lot of samples, and I am not talking about manufacturers' reps offering coupons and little bites of this and that as you shop - shopping as a pleasant experience and the shop as a sort of gourmet heaven on a Saturday morning is a way to position your brand in the category of 'we can afford to lose several artisan loaves baked on the premises and wheels of French cheese' daily.

Mimicat44 · 01/10/2016 20:23

Hopeclearwater I bet it's fun living in your household

Mimicat44 · 01/10/2016 20:24

YANU - if they're going to pay for it a few minutes later then what's the problem? Do you just not like seeing people eating and drinking? Who cares? It's hardly 'revolting'

MyWineTime · 01/10/2016 21:10

Why fors it bother YOU what people think and do?
I think you're projecting there Baby, I'm not in the slightest bit bothered what anyone else does or thinks in this matter, but I do find it hilarious that some people are so uptight and judgemental about it
It must be very stressful for some of you to set foot outside.

Flip

1 2 ··· 33 34 35 36 37 38