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 do not agree with eating weighed food before paying, that IS stealing. Grape muncher, I am looking at you with my judgey eyes

/shakes fist

Oh dear, when I was growing up my mum used to take us to the supermarket for lunch all the time!
The difference being she would toss the wrappers before going through the checkout. I can only remember us being challenged the one time, it was in M&S and an assistant asked my mum if we were going to pay for the food.
I am not going to repeat what my mum told her to do but we were in the fruit and veg section and it involved a melon and a good deal of discomfort!

treacle come and work in one, literally nothing shocks me now

It's why I'm amused by comments claiming staff care, they really don't unless you've slobbered all over the packaging before handing it over. Unless you're the slightly odd woman I served who accused me of rubbing the carrier bags all over my body so she wouldn't use them

I would be embarrassed to do it but would in an emergency although I never have. It is a bit uncouth.

Oh and I've done it with clothes etc to. Realised the other day ds2 shoes were tight so went in to shoe zone popped one shoe on scanned the tag so dh could put the other shoe on while I paid (he is 2) sales assistant didn't bat an eye lid.

I agree with you OP. Unless there are unusual unexpected circumstances, I.e. Diabetic hypo then there is no need for anyone to eat things in a supermarket before they have paid for them.

I really doubt this is generally thought as acceptable in real life as it appears to be on MN.

I would have been of your opinion until dc2 who s a supermarket screaming monster (and I hadn't discovered smart phones). A packet of sugar snaps while going around the supermarket kept him blissfully quiet. Other shopper were probably more than grateful to avoid an hour of ear peircing screaming

If you or your children are so unwell/lacking in nourishment that you can't make it round a supermarket without sustenance then perhaps you need to plan ahead and bring essential snacks. well since I'm in a place filled with snacks why would I take a packed snack along with me? I normally go to the supermarket after work when the cupboards at home are empty so I have no snack with me and i can be quite hungry surely eating something doesn't affect you so keep your attention on your own business.

Oh dear I see Maddie is bitching on this thread too

I have twice when my blood sugars dropped, I now know I am borderline diabetic and keep glucose tablets with me, but at the time I didn't know and they happened a week or so apart (prompting me to go to Dr's)

I felt ashamed handing over the partially consumed products (tube of jelly beans and bottle of lucozade) even though the second time was bad enough that a passers-by had to get a member of staff

I don't judge other people eating in store, not something I have really seen though, but I do get annoyed when I see abandoned wrappers! You never a person's situation, they may be as embarrassed as I was

Why do people only get assailed in supermarkets by this terrible hunger which means they can't possibly wait 20 minutes to satisfy it? They manage to cope in other contexts - you don't see people constantly grazing through long business meetings, for instance.

I've managed to raise two children to almost adulthood without having to give them food during the shopping. They had to learn to wait. It's just a very "common" thing to do....and I was raised on a rough council scheme in a large family without a pot to piss in and were often hungry.

There really is no need, diabetic emergency or very small baby aside.

I opened a new pack of wipes today at the supermarket to wipe ds's face and his hands and his clothes and the trolley and me after he had finished a lolly I had brought from outside which he was eating in record slow time.

And then I paid for them.

So my technical theft made us all cleaner and MORE pleasant for the checkout man to deal with.

There's a conundrum.

Disclaimer - it's not really a conundrum, I quite happily feed my kids fruit, bear yoyos, oaty bars etc etc. Anything at all that will stop them grabbing random products off the shelves and trolleying them while my back is turned.

If I get a warm French stick it's alway half gone by the time we get to the till! Who cares I'm paying

I suspect the staff who have to clear up the trail of crumbs care.

*well since I'm in a place filled with snacks why would I take a packed snack along with me?8

Because you haven't paid for them? They're not yours to just help yourself to on the way round? You buy, THEN they're yours.

I normally go to the supermarket after work when the cupboards at home are empty so I have no snack with me and i can be quite hungry
Everybody has shopped when hungry at some point. Including me. I just tend to buy more crap when I shop when hungry, and come away with crisps, biscuits, doughnuts, cakes etc!
Nowhere in a right thinking mind does someone decide to just rip into food on the way round though.
You wait until you're outside and through the checkouts are back at home though, you seriously won't die before the tills!

Okay own up. You just started this thread to brag that you shop in Waitrose, and have a perfect robotic little poppet, didn't you.
Meanwhile ITRW opening packages is often the only way to get around the supermarket in peace.

The grapes conversation made me think of this.....

I just read a bit more OTFT and would also like to point out in my further defence that:

a. I was in Waitrose.
b. The wipes were Waitrose own brand.
c. We are actually usually pretty couth.

Meanwhile ITRW opening packages is often the only way to get around the supermarket in peace.

No, it really, really isn't. This coming from the "owner" of two little darlings gits who if left to their own devices would kneeslide the length of Sainsbos aisles or just whine the entire way round.
Doing your head in.
Distract doesn't always mean shoving food in their mouths to keep them quiet.
Depends on age, but there's always something to keep them occupied and not doing your head in with moaning. Holding things (especially new things) on the way round if child small can keep them quiet. Or a favourite toy/book.
Bit older, still whiny, get them to help them find your stuff on your list. Keeps 'em quiet.
If they can write, they can make the list and go hunting for the items.
Plying them with food just to keep them quiet, ok, can see that if desperate, but swiping off a supermarket shelf before paying is NOT your food!
Maybe it's a morals and basic manners thing.

Still genuinely interested to know if people only do this in large supermarkets, or whether they do it in a corner stores or boutique food shops too?

I agree with you, OP. Although I'd perhaps substitute the word "irritated" for "revulsion."

You are a small but not quite lone voice in the wilderness.