I accidentally didn't pay in a shop today.

[Whoyagonna]

In mitigation (though I think it would count in a court), I'm highly stressed.

So I went through the self scan thing and it kept asking for approval because I was buying paracetamol. I paid no heed, cashier came and scanned them for me. Then I needed a bag, So she had to do that for me too. Last was the machine telling there was something undedected on the belt. I walked out and ignored the machine because it is forever going on at me.

Got to bus-stop, checked for wallet. Eh. I didn't have it. So if I had been caught doing this stressful thing, it's not as if I forgot to pay, (which I did) as I didn't even have the means to pay. They'd have thought it was pure theft!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wallet is here at home. It was only £4, but Jesus I need to recover my senses.

I worked in a department store on children's wear. People were always coming back in a panic because they'd left the store with some item of clothing hooked on their pram. No big deal, it happens. I'm sure plenty of people forget to pay for things at the self service tills and the staff are used to it.

Lol, no baby brain or pram to answer for this. I even had to ask the lady over twice, once to approve the paracetamol and the second time to get me a bag, so it's not as if I was trying to go under the radar!

I’m impressed that you paid £4 for paracetamol and needed a bag for them!

It was Poundland. I had a 12 pack packet of tissues, three packs of paracetamol, Flash floor cleaner and a packet of label stickers for Christmas presents!

Hardly the heist of the century. It's actually more my memory that's worrying me.

And I had forgotten my wallet. Dementia case 1. Dementia case 2. Forgetting to pay.

I had a similar situation in mothercare too, my then toddler playing with a display bin of balls, rolling and bouncing all over the place. Newborn asleep in double buggy. I put all the balls back. Left the store. A little while later I needed my bag from the storage area under the pram and I spotted a ball from mothercare lurking, I went back and explained they were fine about it. I felt awful though, but it was a completely innocent mistake.

I'd have phoned and would have either paid over the phone or let them know I'd pop into the shop and pay. I'd feel a bit embarrassed but nit spectacularly so. It happens!

Apparently professional shop lifters often use babies and prams as tools of the trade.

Being in hospital for any time makes you institutionalized, and you get confused easily when you get out. Stress does the same thing plus it messes with your cognition and memory, ditto anxiety and strong meds.

You noticed you hadn't paid, and you;ve had a wake up call. What you can do is plan ahead and think through the stages of things you need to do. Go easy on yourself and give yourself a chance to get over the last few days.

If it's any consolation to how you view my memory, I was recently in Heathrow, going through the fragrances bit. Smelled a few etc. Wandered on, until almost on my way there, I found the quite significantly sized lid in my hand. Had to run back and not look suspicious replacing lid.
I think I wander around in a daze most of the time.

I was getting rather irrationally irate at a self service machine the other week. By the end of having to call the long suffering assistant over for every fucking thing to be approved I'd forgot to pay for my bags. Called assistant back. Told her I needed to pay for the bags. "ach! It's almost Christmas!" she said, and sent me on my way.

The fact you're going to go back will show them how honest you are.

My husband once 'stole' a hat via the velcro on his messanger bag.

It somehow had got stuck to the velcro, and he only noticed when he got home after a 10mile ride on his motorbike ! With hat still velcroed in place.

You've been in hospital for a couple of days on sedation, you were stressed, the machine kept messing up and shouting at you. Honestly I often work on self scan tills, go back and square up (if they let you) and try not to be too hard on yourself. Seems like a very easy accident to make to me, happens a lot and you can usually tell the stressed accidents compared to the obvious thefts. If its any consolation i work on the bloody things but they are still always crashing and playing up on me and I forgot to pay the other day! (colleague called me back).
Hope you are feeling better

Oh and in the circumstances you describe even if it had been an expensive item and they gad stopped you, in my experience, they'd have given you chance to go home and get your purse to pay for what you wanted. Honestly not all shop workers are dragons, we've all had hard times and shit things happen and I honestly can't stress how often people forget their purses!

I once went into a supermarket with only a basket, didn't need much. At the checkout I struggled to get my purse out and to bag the stuff, it was only as I turned to leave that we both, the checkout worker and I, realised why I was having difficulties, I had a double kitchen roll firmly under my arm!

Genuine mistake which you can rectify don’t beat yourself up
It’s human to make a mistake.it happens

Another thing I do, when cashiers package things up nicely, is just walk off until they say 'eh that's 58 pounds'

My mum walked out of Clarks, and through a number of other shops, with two leather bags hooked over her shoulder - she bought the third one she’d tried and had somehow forgotten about the others. She took them straight back and the sales assistant said it was really common.

Ah dont worry too much either forget it and enjoy the freebie or ring then in the morning apologise snd offer to pop in and pay when your next passing im sure they wont mind.
Im more suprised they sell 3 packs of paracetamol at a time to be fair most shops are limited to 2 packs per customer. Anyway dont fret over it xx

I went through a spell of this sort of thing back in the 1980s.I was on strong medication and under great stress of a domestic nature, juggling the kids and my job at CeeFax. I eventually mastered my incapacity with the help of a hypnotist and a change in diet.Hope that helps.

I forgot to pay at the takeaway shop. The takeaway has a restaurant and a separate holding pen for takeaway customers. Friend and I ordered our food by phone, walked in to collect. It was ages. Waiting around in a tiny pen. Drunk people came in, had a fight. Staff ran away. We stayed waiting for our food engrossed in our conversation.

Eventually the fight was broken up by other customers and the staff came back. Handed over our food and we walked away. Only when we got home I said did you pay, I didn’t . Friend said I thought you paid.

I get overly stressed in restaurants too unless they take payment first otherwise I happily wander out full as a pinkin.
Maybe in a former life everything was paid for me.
That, or early dementia.

Ive done this! Not my finest hour and it wasn't somewhere I was going past again for a long time so I left it.

The amount of stuff DD has 'stolen' by shoving it under the double buggy is The amount of times we've walked out of a shop only to find her clutching something totally random and having to figure out where it came from... I've lost count!

I inadvertently stole a £200 rug from a well known retailer who is never knowingly undersold - there was a mix up with the things I was returning and the things I was collecting.

I also got a £30 rosebush from another large retailer in a similar mix up .

I do not feel at all bad about this. Of course, if the mistake had been the other way round I would have asked for my money back

MN is full of 'little miss goody two shoes' types who will all tell you to go back and pay.

Stop worrying, it's hardly the crime of the century. Just a mistake. Forget about it.