To be furious that a cashier at supermarket told me off for DD eating a bite of an apple...

[pavlovthecat]

... which I paid for?

Apparently, it is paid for by weight, so could I not let her do it in future? No please. Nothing else.

She is 23 months old. So charge me the extra f**king half pence then tosser!!!

It came to 21p. She had taken two 23 month old sized bites. Which is why I was buying it in the first place!

Precisely cheeset. Neither underground, nor underclass - though if it were, that would be just fine.

If you don't like to eat before you've paid - don't!

I would quite happily consume a six-course meal in the aisles between Breads and Wine/Beer, if I were hungry. As long as I have the intention of paying for it, and the means to do so, I would consider it UTTER MADNESS not to.

Still can't work out precisely what the YABU's have against it, other than an (misguided) idea that it is somehow déclassé to do so. Which is a strange social anxiety to have, I think?

Onebat, okay I'll spell out one aspect of the several YABU objections

The OP did not pay for the goods. This is stealing. This is why we thought she was BU. Although of course the store should not have been quite so rude about it.

She did not pay for the goods because it would have been physically impossible to do so, once a minor in law had converted them into an immeasurable property.

OMG, glass houses I think. Any of you BU people worked in an office and borrowed/taken an envelope, paperclip, ream of paper, stamp, downloaded a movie, blah blah? If you have what does that make you?

niceglasses, isn't it illogical to complain about rudeness and then call someone a rude fecker?
I don't think it was very hygenic to let your daughter sit where people pack their groceries.

Do you Villette? I wasn't rude to his face though, unlike him. I accepted his diatribe and then reported him. I only called him a rude fecker on here. Because he was. And I'm the customer. What happened to service? Politeness?

Kids on packing bays? Humm. I'm not a clean freak. She was about 1 yr old - she wasn't wearing shoes. I haven't got time to get wound up about germs on trolleys/benches. I do have time to worry about kids running off though. If you worry about that kind of thing, I think thats more your'e problem.

I have never borrowed/taken an envelope - honesty is easy here because all the envelopes (onvelopes) are variously embossed or printed with THE CONTENTS OF THIS LETTER HAVE COST YOU A FORTUNE, or words to that effect. Paperclip no, ream of paper, no, stamp (I have never worked in an office with access to stamps, do people still do that? how quaint) downloaded a movie, downloaded a movie fark me - I can't even do that at home and even if I were computer-literate enough to be able to do it, one thing's for sure, the network would be set up to prohibit it. Actually the firm is a net recipient on the stationery front because I use my own pens religiously. Perhaps I should stick some of the ink through expenses? There's a thought.

I think perhaps the reason these threads go on (and on) and get relatively heated is pple seem to make big judgements and crashingly sweeping statements based on such small things. You can't really judge anything about anybody based on whether they let their 2 yr old take one bite of an apple and if you do, well, its not a sound judgement. There is also a sneaking tone that some are more honest than others, some are more worthy, some are better parents because they would never do this. Yeah, but maybe you do something else. Maybe you are very rude (my own bet noir (sp?) )

The OP paid for it. She is not dishonest. In the garbeled words of WC Fields or was it Chruchill - she'll wake up and still be honest the next morning. Your man on the till will also still be rude.

She didn't pay for it though, niceglasses, simply because it was not physically possible to do so.

The point is, even though she didn't pay, it STILL doesn't matter.

i always steal a kerrang magazine from tesco

I'm afraid I have to agree with Xenia and Quattro (though I may have to go and have a lie down in a darkened room afterwards)

Theft is theft - it is black and white in the same way as you can't be a little bit pregnant.

What is up for discussion is whether a 2 yo girl is culpable and what the 'punishment' should be. Seems clear to me that she is not criminally responsible and the punishment if there were to be any would be slight (like a comment from the cashier) but there isn't any doubt about the theft itself. As I said before, I don't think the cashier should have been rude about it but I don't think he was wrong to mention it.

I would also have to agree that it is wrong to take anything from a supermarket until you have paid for it. There is no need. If food keeps your DC quiet take some with you - don't take it off the shelf. What kind of example does it set for the children? At what point do you teach them that stealing is wrong? How do you draw the line?

And you don't seriously think Mr Tesco's is out of pocket from the grazing, do you? Mr Tesco's simply puts the prices up to compensation. Mr Tesco will not pay - the rest of us will.

it's bete with a circonflex on the first e, NG

Do you not think then that some people are more honest than others NG? Just as some people are nicer than others, kinder than others, ruder than others etc etc

sorry, keep forgetting my s at the madness of this all.

though it's circumflex in English.

LOL custardo.

I'm as honest as the next and not rude I don't think. You sound more honest than me! Or am I more lazy than you or more laid back?

Who knows. I know I wouldn't judge on this though.

I know I'm dimmer tho. Wassa a circonflex when its at home?

ône of these niceglasses. As in Kêrrang.

Oooh so nice to come home from work and find this thread still going!!
Custy - how about if you just read Kerrang in the store?? Would that be theft? Kind of mental theft because you've read the words but left the magazine in the shop?? Or how's about if you just look at the pics??

Ah Custy, Mr Tesco gives you spoons and a Kerrang magazine. Is Mr Sainsbury as generous? What about Messrs Asda and Waitrose? Do you visit them every week to give them an opportunity to display their largesse? Do you go with Elephantwoman? Or do you think you might get noticed together?

Mr Tesco is a mean bastard. Never gives me anything.

When does not stealing become not stealing? When its quantifiable i suppose. Two toddler size bites from an apple?? Would that even register on the weighing scales - i guess it might come to 0.789 pence. But without being trite that is a good point.

I "steal" grapes from the supermarket but i do it to taste them, sometimes they are sour, that is the genuine truth. Will tesco or any other supermarket or not, cut off a slither of cheese etc and allow you to try before you buy?? So i have probably purchased more grapes than i would have if i hadn't stolen one and said to myself oooooh yummy - but i am working class and my toddler is a nightmare in the supermarket. I would not however, in a million years, take grapes in an independant green grocer.

In Custy's defence, they probably are quite grateful for her taking Kerrang off of their hands .

Here's another thing - if you are walking in the woods one day, and you spy a bit of wood that would look just lovely in your garden border or make a great pot stand, etc - You then put that bit of wood in your car and take it home, you are stealing. If it aint yours and you dont have permission to take it its stealing, But who owns the bit of wood? The land owner?? What if it is public land then?? What if no one gives a flying fuck about the bit of wood?

I just thank God that this kind of thing doesn't go on in Waitrose.

I am not attacking Custy - she was joking I think. Just for the avoidance of doubt.

If it's public land it's still stealing too.

Q: Why is it morally more acceptable to steal from Mr Tesco than from a small independent greengrocer.

A (I think) Because Mr Tesco is rich and people have spent money there so feel entitled to a little something back

Isn't that self-justificatory thinking?

Iorek - surely they don't let tacky and working class people into Waitrose?

"Custy - how about if you just read Kerrang in the store?? Would that be theft? Kind of mental theft because you've read the words but left the magazine in the shop?? Or how's about if you just look at the pics?? "

hmmmm
thought provoking indeed. great question there.