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).

It's not really your place to approve or disapprove, it's up to the supermarkets to decide if this is acceptable to them or not.
On the grounds that the supermarkets don't mind as long as the item is paid for, then your opinion is irrelevant.

And fwiw I don't think people are worried their toddlers will actually die of starvation. It may have more to do with keeping said toddlers quiet so that poisonous threads about 'noisy kids in Waitrose' don't appear on MN.

I agree with you OP, no need for it.
Ds worked in Morrisons until recently - it's a pet hate of the checkout staff being handed greasy, slobbered on wrappers to put through the till
If your toddler really can't survive a supermarket trip without eating ffs then maybe bring something from home. Then there's no question about whether you've paid for it or not and the checkout staff aren't having to handle greasy horrible wrappers before serving the next customer. Ds has been handed a banana skin to scan, taken out of the hands of toddler who was enjoying chomping on it. Not to mention the bags of grapes with most of the grapes already eaten. How's that supposed to be weighed and charged for properly?

Giving a breadstick (see what I did there? No gingerbread man required) to a toddler is not about food, it's about distraction and diversion - motherhood 101, surely?

OP I am totally with you on this one. It is my absolute room 101. You wouldn't go in to a clothes shop, put on new clothes and then scan them whilst still wearing them, would you?

I am going to be hated for admitting this, but I once had an awful incident where my unexpected period was very visible on my trousers. I did go into a clothes shop, put on a pair of trousers and take the ticket to scan. The shop had no loos I could have changed in after paying and I was too embarassed to buy then go hunt for a loo to change in. I put my dirty trousers in the bag I asked for when they scanned the ticket..and disposed of them in a nearby bin (they were honestly beyond saving). Nipped into boots for emergency products, and then found a loo.

/hides

Or maybe supermarkets should only allow you to do this with certain items. Maybe only red wine and gin?

It's obviously not the end of the world, but I could never do it.

Would the grazers do it in small, independent food stores, in sight of the owner/staff? Or is it only in supermarkets which are a bit more anonymous?

I did go to idea once wearing my nightwear. But it was a special event and anyone wearing nightwear got a free breakfast. And I am cheap.

IKEA not idea

I agree with you, OP. Grown adults munching on a full pack of pork pies as they shop is vile. I'm just picturing their greasy fingers all over the trolley. Yuck.

Oiks.

But doesn't breakfast at Ikea only cost 99p anyway?

If your toddler really can't survive a supermarket trip without eating ffs then maybe bring something from home. Then there's no question about whether you've paid for it or not what if the supermarket sells the same thing you have brought with you...then people will still assume that you are being uncouth and the staff may well think you are actually shoplifting when you do not scan said packet. Hmmm.

Look after the pennies, look after the pounds, squoosh

Does it? I am cheaper than even I thought I was.

Oh, oh, oh, the store I worked for would really fuck some minds: if you arrived and had to change a nappy of a baby or change your own tampon/pad while shopping then we had to give it for free. Forget the food, we were handing out all kinds of free stuff anyway and this wasn't even Waitrose

YABVU and sound like you have nothing better to do tbh - if they're paying then it's fine. If the supermarket doesn't give a shit why do you

Ooh, I know this is one of The Great Mumsnet Debates but I have never seen anyone eat in a supermarket. Or buy shoes and wear them out of the shop. Or clothes. I feel like I've missed out

Sorry I am probably not taking this seriously enough.
£250 fine for doing this? That'll teach them

wankingmonkey I once had an unexpected date after work, nipped into the shops en route, picked out a new outfit and got the sales assistant to cut the tags off in the changing room, then paid while wearing it. I've only once eaten something before paying, in the local pharmacy after just having blood taken and waiting on a prescription. The assistant said she'd far rather I'd opened a Snickers than fainted.

Actually, all piss taking aside, I agree with the OP

IMO there's no need to be wolfing down food before you get to the till, or plugging a bored/screaming child with it. It does come across to me as a bit uncouth bad mannered.

But I really couldn't get fussed enough to give it more than an eye-roll if I'm honest.

Each to their own.

Before I had kids I wouldn't have approved at all,of children or others eating In the supermarket. But 1 day I took DS shopping and he sat in the trolley and enjoyed eating a bread stick. It helped me get round the supermarket without a tantrum. 8 years on he still remembers it with real joy. So I guess it was the right thing to do :)

my supermarket had a sign up saying dont consume food before paying

then again theres loads of theiving duckers round here

might be genuine when people say theyre going to pay but how does security know that

I got openly judged and tutted at for eating a kit-kat in aisle for in Sainsbury's.... I wish I'd seen the silly pricks face when she and her companion got to Aisle 5 and met the man giving them away to shoppers.

You wouldn't go in to a clothes shop, put on new clothes and then scan them whilst still wearing them, would you?

I do this with my shoes in JD (Chav, me ) All the time...

As for the supermarket - I've never eaten yet but in summer I've drunk a bottle of water..

And to those moaning about the checkout staff being handed greasy wrappers - I go through self service so the only one who touches the wrappers which aren't even that greasy is me.