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Original poster

Grapes... try before you buy?!

98 replies

Ivycrescent · 28/04/2021 00:11

I remember as a child shopping with my dad in the 80s, he would try a grape or a cherry from the bags of fruit on display, to see if he liked them before buying! Pretty sure he did it with the Woolies Pick n mix too!

Was this common back in the day or was my dad pushing his luck?!
(He was a politics / history lecturer btw, not a criminal type- well not an obvious one anyway!!)

OP posts:
TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 28/04/2021 05:03

Thin end of the wedge to me...
I think that gang who did the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary starting small with pinching a grape here and there but it soon escalated through plums, then nectarines, water melons, and look how it ended up - seven years in prison and a confiscation order that went far beyond just soft fruits.

NeedNewKnees · 28/04/2021 05:15

Yes, it was very common in the 70s and 80s.

Lonecatwithkitten · 28/04/2021 05:38

I have never done it, but come from Bury St Edmunds which still has a strong market culture. Market traders until covid still encourage you to try before you buy, in the 70s supermarkets were a new thing people were previously used to the market.

alilstressed · 28/04/2021 05:52

We wash fruit before eating so this was never an option to try before you buy.

Tartyflette · 28/04/2021 05:59

If there are loose grapes i always ask if i can try one (just one) and have never been refused yet.

tulippa · 28/04/2021 06:16

My mum used to do this. I think it must be why supermarkets only sell them pre-packaged now.
I've got quite good at working out if they'll taste good. I don't buy white grapes of they're round and bright green. If they're yellow and slightly longer in shape then they'll probably be nicer. I also don't buy strawberries if they're dark red and the pips are close together.

tulippa · 28/04/2021 06:16

If they taste good by how they look.

CeeceeBloomingdale · 28/04/2021 06:24

Born mid 70s and I've never heard of this. I wouldn't dream of doing it!

sandgrown · 28/04/2021 06:30

I remember market traders inviting you to try one before buying. I think they still did up to Covid happening. I wouldn’t do it in a supermarket though .

Ifailed · 28/04/2021 06:31

I wonder if this would work in the BWS section - take a swig out of each bottle until you find something you like?

Sparklingbrook · 28/04/2021 06:35

Wasn't a thing for me as a child. My Mother would not have allowed it and certainly wouldn't do it herself.

Not sure why you would need to try Pic n Mix before you buy.

ShadierThanaPalmTree · 28/04/2021 06:36

The problem is that even in one pallet the grapes taste different, you always get a couple of horrible sour ones. So I don't think that the taste test is that reliable is it?

Sparklingbrook · 28/04/2021 06:44

@Ivycrescent

Ahh it’s nice to hear this was an actual thing (sorry Greyhound, you’re outnumbered!) and others remember too! They put tasters of bread and cheese out sometimes don’t they, I guess it’s the same idea. I would feel very wrong eating grapes now though!
Well the vote currently stands at 66% YABU so not sure about 'outnumbered'. Grin
PurBal · 28/04/2021 06:50

I don't think it was a thing. But yes people did / do it. I watched someone pay for an empty bottle of pop once, they picked it up at the beginning of their shop and drank it on the way around. I'd never seen that before but the staff didn't seem to mind.

5zeds · 28/04/2021 06:57

Paying for something at the end of your shop that has been consumed while you walk round indifferent to stealing fruit.

franfolly · 28/04/2021 07:00

Tbh I wish you could still do this as you can never tell by looking whether they're going to be squishy or nice hard crunchy ones.

FunnyWonder · 28/04/2021 07:01

I remember people doing this, but only in small greengrocers' shops, not in supermarkets. Sometimes the shop owner would actively encourage people to go ahead and try something if they needed convincing. I don't ever remember seeing anyone lift a pick n mix sweet, though, or ever thinking that was the norm.

mildlymiffed · 28/04/2021 07:01

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles

Thin end of the wedge to me... I think that gang who did the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary starting small with pinching a grape here and there but it soon escalated through plums, then nectarines, water melons, and look how it ended up - seven years in prison and a confiscation order that went far beyond just soft fruits.
Nothing new to add to the thread- except to 😂 at this!
ohbygolly · 28/04/2021 07:04

It wasn't athing. Just because some people did it doesn't make it a thing.

Oh it was a thing. It was such a thing, the Simpsons included it in an episode. Marge was at the supermarket with Lisa and Maggie. She tries 2 grapes. Lisa accuses her of stealing (like many on here!), so Marge 'confesses' at the checkout and insists on paying for the 2 grapes.

It was definitely A Thing.

inappropriateraspberry · 28/04/2021 07:10

I'm just imagining everyone 'trying' the grapes and that when someone comes to buy a bag there are only 3 grapes left on the bunch!
What an odd thing to do.

Palavah · 28/04/2021 07:10

It was a thing.

Sparklingbrook · 28/04/2021 07:14

@ohbygolly

It wasn't athing. Just because some people did it doesn't make it a thing.

Oh it was a thing. It was such a thing, the Simpsons included it in an episode. Marge was at the supermarket with Lisa and Maggie. She tries 2 grapes. Lisa accuses her of stealing (like many on here!), so Marge 'confesses' at the checkout and insists on paying for the 2 grapes.

It was definitely A Thing.

Simpsons first aired in 1990ish. Maybe it’s a more recent ’thing’. Late seventies in our household it was not a thing.
Sparklingbrook · 28/04/2021 07:16

@PurBal

I don't think it was a thing. But yes people did / do it. I watched someone pay for an empty bottle of pop once, they picked it up at the beginning of their shop and drank it on the way around. I'd never seen that before but the staff didn't seem to mind.
This wouldn’t bother me. If they drank the pop and put the empty bottle back on the shelf then yes, but there was no intent to steal if they are paying for it before leaving the shop.
Mylittlesandwich · 28/04/2021 07:17

I remember my mum doing this. One single grape from the bag she was inevitably going to buy is hardly the end of the world. I've also picked up something DS likes to keep him happy round the shop (a bag of prepared fruit for example) and just handed over the empty bag at the checkout to pay for it. Nobody has been remotely shocked so far.

transformandriseup · 28/04/2021 07:20

My gran would do this in the early 90's and would sometimes give me a few to eat in the trolley whether she was buying grapes or not.

My mum would never do it though and I have never done it as an adult.

I remember seeing bags of grapes which had been half eaten Shock