Grapes... try before you buy?!

[Ivycrescent]

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!!)

I definitely remember my parents doing this in the nineties!

I don't think it was a thing. I've never known anyone to do it.

I remember my gran doing this in the early 80s. She’d take a handful and eat them going round Tescos and say ‘try before buy’.

I’d completely forgotten about it, thanks for reawakening that memory. It’s made me smile to myself

Is it just a 'thing' with grapes because they are small? What if you wanted to try an apple or a satsuma? Just small soft fruits are fair game?

I remember my mum doing this too in the supermarket! Had totally forgotten

Just with grapes though definitely not with pick & mix. This would have been in the 80s and early 90s.

We always had grapes while walking around the supermarket+

Yes it was a thing. In the 70’s and 80’s there were more greengrocers as norm. So they encouraged you to try the grapes first. To show they were nicer than Mr Bloggs’ grapes two doors down.

I remember having a lychee that way too. The greengrocer had new exotic fruit and wanted you to try it. I don’t think I’ve had a lychee since.

Also in those days, grapes had seeds which affected the sweetness.

Urgh I’m glad most decent people don’t do this any more. Saying it was “a thing” doesn’t make it “a thing” it just means you / your family did it, and doesn’t make it right.

You’re supposed to wash fruit before you eat it anyway, grim.

I would. My mum refused to buy grapes as they cost as much as 10 cigarettes, so when I saved up my pocket money I would try one to make sure my money wasn’t wasted.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with eating a single grape to see if its to your taste. Some are sweeter or sharper than others. I do it and there is no 'scrabbling' involved.

@melj1213

It’s stealing, doesn’t matter what your job is or what year you did it.

I work in a supermarket and I would not consider eating a single grape as stealing ... if you ate half the punnet before you get to the checkout then that would be stealing (especially if the grapes are paid for by weight) but a single grape is negligible.

Of course it's stealing. By that logic I can go into the supermarket, help myself to a slice of cheese from a packet of Leerdammer, take a small amount of butter and spread it onto a bread roll, take a swig from a few bottles of wine and then walk out without paying because I decided none of the wine complemented the cheese roll and anyway I'm full now.

It wasn’t a ‘thing’ in our house. My mum didn’t do it and would never have allowed us to do it.

Pmsl at the Hatton garden robbers :o
Out of interest (not a dig op) I think this topic was the basis of one of the very first threads on MN ever.

Oh and when I was in tesco earlier this week someone was trying the cans of lager. That didn't go down well

I watched an old man poking at the plums through the netting in Aldi. Dirty old sod actually pierced the skin on one, put that box at the back and took another.
This was at the beginning of the pandemic. I said “excuse me, you can’t put that back now” he replied “oh you’re alright, love”. Er, no! told a member of staff that he needed to remove that punnet and why. They both looked at me like I was the odd one 🤷‍♀️

My SIL and BIL do it still, particularly if you pay by weight at the till. They also grab drinks off shelves and put the empty bottle down somewhere before the tills. BIL once tried to give my children some sweeties directly from a pick n mix stand but I told my kids no, it's not allowed.

I recall once, the ILs were ever so put out when I placed their discarded empty bottles (that I'd picked up after them) and put them down at the till to be paid for.

I forgot all about trying grapes etc, it definitely was a thing.

It was a thing. My mum did it all the time.

Doesn’t mean it’s ok now.

I wonder what the price of one grape would be if you worked it out, 2p?

@StealthPolarBear

Pmsl at the Hatton garden robbers :o Out of interest (not a dig op) I think this topic was the basis of one of the very first threads on MN ever.

It’s very reassuring go to have a ‘eating stuff before paying/not intending to pay in the supermarket’ thread. Things are going back to normal. Reclining seats on airplanes next.

It is “a thing” for some people to steal.

if you sell 100 punnets of grapes and every person tries on (or a few) you lose 100 grapes.... that's more than a punnet's worth.... so you're losing money. It is stealing even though it's negligible

That’s not correct, the person who looses out is the consumer who buys the punnet someone has eaten some of.

if you sell 100 punnets of grapes and every person tries on (or a few) you lose 100 grapes.... that's more than a punnet's worth.... so you're losing money. It is stealing even though it's negligible

Considering the amount of produce that gets wasted every day because it is damaged or has gone bad, one grape out of a bag is a negligible loss, even if those negligible losses add up to a whole punnet of grapes then it is less than the amount of money lost if those grapes remain unsold.

I have a relative who worked security in Tesco, his podium was at the front by the fruit and veg.
A woman came in and took a bag of grapes, she'd eaten half of them as she shopped and then weighed and pay for the handful that were left.
She was incredibly annoyed to be picked up over this as she tried to leave the store and even more annoyed when she was handed a full bag to weigh and pay for.

Don't think she did it again.