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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Possibly just caught accidentally shoplifting

128 replies

EmbarrassedMum92 · 27/09/2020 14:48

Just went to return some bits to Primark that didn't fit and get DS some new vests. Went downstairs to go and pay and put the vests under my pram when I was in the lift as they kept falling off the top of my buggy. Returned the items and completely forgot to pay for the vests and walked out the shop with them not realising. I noticed a security guard was behind me when I was walking to the bus but I didn't think anything of it and he didn't say anything and must of lost me at some point. I only realised when I got home about the vests. :( I'm suffer badly from anxiety and I'm really worried that the store are going to contact the police or something. The vests only cost £6 and I'm happy to return them but also worried I may get in trouble if I do :(

OP posts:
Babyg1995 · 27/09/2020 16:10

Popcornlover are you trying to make the op feel even worse don't be ridiculous Confused

copperoliver · 27/09/2020 16:11

Call the store and pay £6 over the phone explain your mistake. X

ClementineWoolysocks · 27/09/2020 16:13

What good would contacting the police do Primark? They don't know where you live, the police aren't going to waste time and money trying to track you down for six quid.
Either return and explain what happened and pay for them or just forget about it.

Sarahpaula · 27/09/2020 16:13

When I was younger I spent a whole summer shoplifting. It was so easy to walk out with make up in my hand especially.

One time, I wore a cheap pair of runners into a shoe shop, and I tried on an expensive pair of boots and just walked out in them.

Eventually, my morals got the better of me, and i just stopped doing it

Bellsandwhistles202 · 27/09/2020 16:14

OP, I’m sure the shop staff will be understanding when you go back and explain the situation Flowers something similar happened to me once - I was out food-shopping with DS, and paid for what I’d bought at the self checkout with my Monzo card, and left the shop after my payment appeared to have gone through. I then had a mini heart attack when I got home, checked my Monzo balance and saw my payment hadn’t gone through. I went back when I realised, and the shop staff couldn’t have been nicer when I explained. I was so embarrassed (I also get quite anxious!), but the staff were really kind.

Yarboosucks · 27/09/2020 16:14

Why post here, why not just phone them and explain?

MitziK · 27/09/2020 16:15

@SkepticalCat

What you did is exactly why people should use the baskets. It's also the way that deliberate shoplifters operate - as you can see, it's a very effective way of working.

But it can be quite difficult sometimes to simultaneously hold a shopping basket whilst trying to push a push a pushchair, especially if the pushchair has two handles rather than a single bar.

True. But a bit of inconvenience is better than accidentally taking stuff without paying for it, and in my Primark at least, their baskets are fabric, so could be hung over a buggy handle.

When I used to do shopping with babies though, all of mine had hoods, so I'd be able to put things really obviously on top if the hood wasn't able to support the weight of a basket - or there wasn't enough room to rest the majority of a metal one against the handles.

I was a complete numpty innocent, though. I had gone shopping with another Mum I'd started talking to and when we got to the till, I said 'Don't forget the nappies'. She seemed to have the right hump with me afterwards and I had no idea why.

AldiAisleofCrap · 27/09/2020 16:17

Dd2 stole a box of chocolates from Woolworths as a toddler. Only noticed when I turned pram round on the bus. Dd1 stole sunglasses from Disney Store age 18months, my friend was babysitting and was too embarrassed to go back. She loved those glasses and wore them round the house for about two years!

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 27/09/2020 16:18

One Christmas I was pottering around Primark, picking up stocking fillers. I then meandered through M & S, and partook of the free Christmas samples in the food hall. At some point I looked down and realised I was still clutching my Primark basket.

At that point I sprinted, as fast as my middle aged legs would take me, back to Primark. I wasn’t stopped going in. But then, I hadn’t been stopped going out. So it’s perfectly possible to accidentally shoplift, even if you use a basket.

Notimeforaname · 27/09/2020 16:22

Oh no, do you think he took down the reg of your buggy?!
My favourite comment of the day 🤣

KickAssAngel · 27/09/2020 16:24

OP - use some logic. They call the police and say what "a woman with a pram may have some goods she didn't pay for. We don't know her name or where she lives but could you go and arrest her?"

If it will make you feel better, phone them up and offer to pay over the phone with a credit card. If it will make you too anxious to go to Primark again it may be worth doing, but they're likely to laugh and say don't worry.

rwalker · 27/09/2020 16:27

He would of challenged you there and then .
Ring them.

Papoy · 27/09/2020 16:30

Call or go back there again and give them the item back and said it was an accident. It is good that you are a honest person and it restores the kindness balance of the world when someone does the decent thing....

It is not about them going to the police or not.... it is about being able to live with something like that.... even it is a mistake...

Justaboy · 27/09/2020 16:30

Thanks everyone. I'm sat here crying like an idiot whilst DH looks at me like I have two heads and tells me Primark aren't going to call the police over a £6 pair of vests.

Tell DH that he should be gald he's married to an honest person:)

As to Primark give them a ring and offer to pay with a debit card over te phone but I suspect they'll just say thanks but forget it!

Toothsil · 27/09/2020 16:31

We once accidentally stole a bag of cat litter from Morrisons, DH had hung it on the hook under the handle of the trolley and we only realised when we got to the car. We took it back in and the staff said we weren't the first to do that!

Also when DD was a baby, she used to be a terrible thief! I once found her clutching a pair of shoes, thankfully still in the shop, but later that day I noticed she was holding a fancy hair bobble and I still to this day don't know where she got it 😂 It wasn't in a pack of any sort!

GameSetMatch · 27/09/2020 16:32

My dog stole a pigs ear from pets at home, he ate it in the isle and wouldn’t move! I didn’t let him have things like that so he wouldn’t budge, at 41kg I couldn’t move him either. The lady at the till just shrugged I didn’t have to pay for it.

Tomatoesneedtoripen · 27/09/2020 16:32

my ds stole loo paper from tesco, at the tender age of 8 months.

Tunnocks34 · 27/09/2020 16:34

I did this in Selfridges once in Trafford centre with a £100 dress! It didn’t have an alarm on, and I put in on the back on the stroller. Anyway my son had a tantrum, and I started getting flustered and just picked him out of the pram and left the shop. When I got to my car, I noticed the dress still on the stroller!

I took it back and there was no one to give it to, so I just hooked it back into the rail and left!

Don’t worry OP. Honestly just take them back and pay for them and it will be fine x

yearinyearout · 27/09/2020 16:37

Why post here, why not just phone them and explain?

Why post anything on mumsnet? Why not just make your own decisions about everything and not ask anyone else's opinion. 🙄

ilikebooksandplants · 27/09/2020 16:38

Firstly, it’s £6 and primark. That’s nothing to them. If they wanted to arrest you, I’d imagine they’d have apprehended you there and then.

Secondly, I’ve done a similar thing before in boots. I had a load of things in my hands, so tucked some shampoo (or moisturiser or something smallish) under my arm to avoid dropping it. Went to till. Put everything in my hands on the counter and paid and walked out with the moisturiser still tucked under my arm! Free moisturiser! Shop lifting pro!

(I actually took it back and was like ‘oh gosh I’m mortified, let me pay’. The woman on the till was a bit Hmm about my honesty.)

Ring up and ask to pay. They’ll probs just laugh and let you off.

BikeRunSki · 27/09/2020 16:40

Surely the security guard would have stopped you whilst you were in the shop if they were concerned.?

ThePlantsitter · 27/09/2020 16:43

As a younger woman I would definitely have called and paid or returned to the shop. Now life has taught me that it's often not actually worth bothering. They would have caught you at the shop if they were going to. Nobody in that shop cares that you accidentally took a £6 packet of vests and they will have a budget for write-offs. You'll actually complicate their day if you take it back. If you feel bad donate the £6 to a charity that supports a charity campaigning against modern slavery.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 27/09/2020 16:44

Please don’t worry, OP. If he’d really suspected you, I’m sure the security guard would have nabbed you.
I once walked out of Ryman’s with a large pack of Jiffy Bags under my arm, I’d completely forgotten to pay for them despite having paid for something else! The assistant evidently hadn’t noticed.

I was a fair distance from the shop when I realised, and went cold, thinking what might have happened. Went back and paid, no problem.

2beautifulbabs · 27/09/2020 16:47

Don't worry I did the same with bananas of all things in Asda used a scan and pay forgot to weigh them at the check out and only realised I hadn't paid for them when I started to load the bags in the car and spotted them at the front of the trolley I went back into the store and paid for them straight away but like you was in a bit of a panic it happens don't worry.

Deereamer · 27/09/2020 16:48

I did this at boots once. Went to the till - paid on my card and chucked the stuff in my bag. Then my card got declined. I was so embarrassed and flustered (and panicking about what was going on with my bank account) I walked straight out! I realised when I got home, so went in and paid the next day. They were fine - from other posters, it obviously happens a lot.

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