Do people have no shame any more?

[tachetastic]

I don't know if the worst part of this story is the fact that its theft or the fact people don't care.

I was in Tesco this morning buying eggs (the normal type, not chocolate) and a couple were standing by the egg display swapping the eggs from two half-dozen boxes of the fancy premium brand eggs into a box for 12 Tesco own-brand eggs. They weren't even being subtle about it. He was just standing there holding the boxes while she swapped the eggs over. He then double checked that the designer eggs she had put in the Tesco box were all unbroken, and then they put the expensive box containing the cheap eggs back on the shelf and put the cheap box with the expensive eggs in their trolley, and off they went.

During all of this I and three other customers were just standing openly watching them and casting glances at each other.

The difference in price was probably about 50p per box, so about a quid in total. But is that the point? Are the eggs so much better that it's worth a heist, or are people just so pissed off with the CoL crisis that anything they can do to feel that they are getting something for nothing is worth while?

The couple so clearly didn't care that I couldn't see the point in telling them it was theft, but when they left I moved the two boxes containing the cheap eggs to one side and left them open, so nobody would pick them up not realising they weren't the fancy eggs.

AIBU, this is fine and large supermarkets have it coming?

or AINBU, this is still theft and cheeky fuckery of the highest order?

And more interestingly, what cheeky fuckers have you seen lately who could beat this?

I had some time to kill before work today and went in to my local Hobbycraft for some embroidery thread

Some CF has raided the thread. Whole bins were empty!

Who the fuck steals random fistfuls of embroidery thread???

Oh god my husband (ex Bobby) would have said something, if they’d then sworn that would have been a red rag to a bull, it’s a public order offence as he has pointed out to people in the past!

There are videos on tik tok of 'money saving hacks'. The swapping of eggs is one of them. It's pathetic and its theft but a great many people are scum and scum will always behave like this. They're probably the sane people who stop by my farm gate and steal my eggs in the honesty shop.

@AngelinaFibres : They're probably the same people who stop by my farm gate and steal my eggs in the honesty shop.

Now they ARE scum and that is not a term I use.

No, apparently not, after reading about the lady taking a poo in the range store on the shelf, the egg thing doesn’t surprise me.
It’s more important than ever to show respect and good manners.

Did you say it was in waitrose? You are allowed to steal eggs in waitrose anyway.

Wha-a-at?! I'm not going to be able to unread that now...

That’s shocking. I’d be raging if my Burford Browns got swapped!

It's not easy to be on here cracking jokes no one appreciates.
Well done for not chickening out

Some of them - at Morrison's at least - are literally cardboard cut-outs of police officers. I think the purpose of them is to surprise honest people and for something for the thieves who are already on their guard to ignore.

I read that out loud in Hyacinth's voice

see the story about Waitrose sacking the staff member for stopping a shoplifter

I remember years and years ago when I was a young teen, living on my own in a tiny studio flat with hardly any money. I went to the pound shop hoping to buy a cheap box of Christmas cards to give out to my friends
Every single box on the shelf had been opened and rummaged through, cards and envelopes strewn about, it was impossible to just buy a box.
I couldn't believe people just go into shops and take what they want so blatantly.
But since then, I've seen that I happens all the time.

I saw a guy breaking off the stems of the loose broccoli the other day before he put the parts he wanted into a paper bag. The price for loose broccoli is for the whole thing, not just the premium parts. This was in M&S. These people have a big sense of entitlement.

On a recent shopping trip I saw an elderly gentleman browsing the alcohol aisle and later he walked past me at the checkout clearly carrying a clinking carrier bag. And two men in the coffee aisle were discussing how expensive coffee is and one said “Well only if you pay for it”. The other asked what he meant and he shrugged and said “I just take it”.

On a recent shopping trip I saw an elderly gentleman browsing the alcohol aisle and later he walked past me at the checkout clearly carrying a clinking carrier bag.

Are you sure he didn't pay though? I regularly load up my own bag with stuff when I am doing a light shop and don't need a trolley, because I find it easier and more comfortable to carry than the wire baskets. But I simply empty it out at the till and pay for everything then load it all in again. If the staff want to stalk me around the shop, worried I might be stealing, or watch me on cameras they are very welcome to. I don't steal and they can't assume I do until I actually leave without paying, which I don't.

😂

It's a pity that it wasn't a bunch of CF blokes doing it in Tesco in Dundee - then we could have referred to them as 'Alba men' at no extra charge.

<gets coat>

But do you nevertheless tell the staff or other customers that you are stealing it, like this chap?!

Waitrose policy on not having staff challenge shoplifting is in my opinion nuts. However that’s up to them.

I guess any blackguards finding this out will feel free to go into their nearest store and help themselves.

However, I would question the commercial sense of sacking an employee of 17 years for challenging a shoplifter.

Have the decision makers there not heard of social media? Waitrose reputation has taken a very hard PR knock. All the more so now Iceland have offered the victim of their incompetence a job.

Maybe Waitrose need to take a long hard look in the mirror.

I think a lot of people are wrongly criticising Waitrose. Walker Smith admitted he knew he was going against the rules when he physically tackled the shoplifter he also admitted he threw something at the person as they left, in frustration.

Broke the rules, could have got himself, the shoplifter or customers injured in the physical tussle and then with throwing something.
Walker Smith wasn’t even a security guard and knew he was breaking rules. The shoplifter could have been like this one who stabbed a security guard. It’s just not safe to tackle people and be a have a go hero.

I think it's a question of degree of response. They should have made clear to him that what he did was against their rules and perhaps even given him a warning. But at the end of the day, he was doing what he thought was the right thing to do, even if it was against the rules, and that should have been recognised.

Waitrose is also a huge company and as part of the John Lewis group prides itself on how well it treats its staff. It misread the room massively in this case. People generally have had enough with people thinking they can take things because people are too afraid to act, so to throw the book at a loyal staff member who made a bad decision with the best of intentions was downright stupid and they need to be criticised for that.

I agree that dismissal is heavy handed but with employment law the way it is the employer must have had impeccable grounds for "gross misconduct" per the employee rules to have gone as far as dismissal rather than a "warning".

Obviously we do not know if there is backstory that has not been made public. I am NOT implying there is one.

How many times does an employer have to warn an employee, who agreed he already knew he was breaking the rules, before ending their employment ?

Don’t forget he admitted to a physical tussle and throwing something, either of which actions could have harmed an innocent bystander.

Waitrose/John Lewis have to consider their position from a ‘what if a customer, or that member of staff, had been harmed in the tussle or by something being thrown’ position.

Some shop thieves carry all sorts of weapons nowadays and shop staff must consider the safety of innocent customers as well as their own safety.

There needs to be a major crackdown on shoplifting, and shoplifters should be sent to jail, every time. Even for just a Freddo or a grape.