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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to have kept an item I inadvertently 'stole' today?

254 replies

ilikeyoursleeves · 09/11/2008 23:04

I was doing supermarket sweep at Tesco's today, huge amount of food in trolley so I hung a maxi pack of Huggies nappies off the hook under the kids seat at the front of the trolley. I paid for all my shopping, then realised when I got to my car that I had walked out with the Huggies still hanging on the hook.

...and then drove off.

AIBU to have kept them?

OP posts:
Original poster
ilikeyoursleeves · 09/11/2008 23:24

Of course I would return something I found if it belonged to a person rather than a faceless superstore that rules the world.

OP posts:
SneakerPimp · 09/11/2008 23:25

I would feel bad if it was the Co-op round the corner or a small shop but somehow the fact that it's Tescos made it seem less wrong in my mind as they seem to rule the world.

-then why not shop at coop instead of tescos and pay for your nappies?

Yes I know it's technically stealing

but I didn't mean to do it and they aren't going to miss it.

-you are having a joke, right?

differentID · 09/11/2008 23:27

OK. lets say that you are 1 person. what would happen do you think if lotsof people who went in stole the equvilent of 8.99 of goods. Say 500 customers a day. Work it out. Multiply that by 6 [full days]to get a weekly figure and then by 4 then by thirteen. That is how much a single shop stands to lose a year if inconsiderate people who realise before getting home that they haven't paid for an item don't go back.

These costs are then charged back to customers who do not steal. People who don't necessarily have the money to afford enough to feed their families.

Consequences, people.

MadamDeathstare · 09/11/2008 23:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

salsmum · 09/11/2008 23:32

I found £15 bunched up on the floor of the hospital room I asked the nurse in the room if she'd lost some money she felt in her pocket and confirmed it was hers thanked me for being honest. I felt good because i know nurses on crap bad wages.

SneakerPimp · 09/11/2008 23:36

Consequences, people.

Wezzle · 09/11/2008 23:38

ID I see where you're coming from but I think it's the professional shoplifters that cause this problem not people like the OP.

differentID · 09/11/2008 23:40

I was discounting the professional shoplifters who make off with a hell of a lot more than just a pack of nappies. Add those in as well and the sum jumps up quite a bit.

differentID · 09/11/2008 23:42

If she had got home before realising, I wouldn't have that much of a problem- but the op clearly stated she found them hanging on the trolley so she had plenty of time to go back into the store to pay.

SneakerPimp · 09/11/2008 23:48

agree ID,

theft,

simple as,

you knew,

you did nothing about,

end of,

BexieID · 09/11/2008 23:54

Co-Op is majorly over priced, as are most other corner shops.

We went to a big Tesco today (I work in a wee one) and there was something left in the trolley before we'd even got in there, so I dropped it off at customer service in case someone had actually paid for it.

I've noticed a few times that customers being served by another colleague may have things in their trolley thats not been put up on the conveyor. Just yesterday, some bloke told me he had only 8 cases of beer in his trolley but I counted 10!

SneakerPimp · 10/11/2008 00:00

chancers bexie,

chancers

debzmb62 · 10/11/2008 00:04

right come on let all blame the op for all the price increase;s were having at the moment ffs it happens she did,nt do it for a kick it was a accident it happens in the real world sometimes
if it was someone i knew i,d return it>

if it had a name and address on it i,d return it
i found a wallet once on a ferry and had the owners phone number
got his address and sent it to him appartently there was some money in it but was,nt when i found it !! he was really happy to have the wallet back it ws a gift from his daughter and sent me a cheque for 100 quid as a thank you
and no i would,nt of kept the money if there was any in there !!
i would,nt like it to happen to me
tesco is bigger than some people think
op don,t worry yourself its not the end of the world !! but please don,t do it again as you will go to hell !!

SneakerPimp · 10/11/2008 00:12

By debzmb62 on Mon 10-Nov-08 00:04:39

*right come on let all blame the op for all the price increase;s were having at the moment ffs it happens she did,nt do it for a kick it was a accident it happens in the real world sometimes
if it was someone i knew i,d return it>

-debz, it was not an accident, she knew about it,

*if it was someone you knew??

-you know TESCOS, right?

*if it had a name and address on it i,d return it,

-it had tescos name on it, how big would you like them to print it?

*i found a wallet once on a ferry and had the owners phone number
got his address and sent it to him appartently there was some money in it but was,nt when i found it !! he was really happy to have the wallet back it ws a gift from his daughter and sent me a cheque for 100 quid as a thank you
and no i would,nt of kept the money if there was any in there !!
i would,nt like it to happen to me

-debs, karma will be kind to you

electra · 10/11/2008 00:34

uh oh....this will run for days, I predict...

ToThrottleABlackBird · 10/11/2008 01:09

Yep YABU. I have realised when I got to the car, but I went back in and paid for them (loo rolls)

SneakerPimp, your typing seems familiar, do I know you?

Fllightthebluetouchpaper · 10/11/2008 06:52

Yabu, and you know it or you wouldn't have started the thread

Karma comes in the form of guilt quite often.

I got free stuff from Argos a few weeks ago, took it back, they were very nice - I didn't care what they thought. It was what I felt like inside, and I couldn't enjoy something I'd pinched.

I'd not have taken nappies back right away if I had a screaming toddler and couldn't stop by the entrance once he wsas strapped into his seat - but I'd have paid next time.

Fllightthebluetouchpaper · 10/11/2008 06:54

I didn't pinch the argos stuff btw!!

It was a website glitch where you got a free something with something else, but they just sent out the free stuff by itself and I ordered to see if it worked - and it did - but I couldn't keep it!!

mm22bys · 10/11/2008 07:53

YABU, they do cost a lot of money (we are not talking about a bottle of water or some grapes).

It's a sad reflection on our society when you have to post, presumably hoping to get the YANBU to have kept them.

SoupDragon · 10/11/2008 08:00

"it had tescos name on it, how big would you like them to print it"

It didn't have Tesco's name on it, they were Huggies. [sheesh]

The OP knows she was wrong (deep down), everyone knows she was wrong but we don't always do everything that's right do we?

theSuburbanDryad · 10/11/2008 08:00

I'm with edam on this one.

(No time to type out massively rationed argument)

Shoplifting is wrong and two wrongs don't make a right but, meh, y'know - shit happens? I have to say I wouldn't lose any sleep over it!

onthewarpath · 10/11/2008 08:13

There is no reason in the world why you should not go back there and pay for it. My DS(4yrs) took some sweets "by mistake". I found the wrappers hidden under his bed several days later. I took him to the shops to explain what had happen and pay for it. It is not stealing if you do not realise you did not pay for it (genuine mistake) but once you have realised and still do not pay it is called stealing and it is not OK. YABU to even ask if it is OK.

lostatsea · 10/11/2008 08:15

I did this once and posted the money anonymously with the barcode!

shitehawk · 10/11/2008 08:15

You knew you hadn't paid before you left their premises. Therefore it's theft.

Would you have taken it deliberately from their shelves and not paid? I suspect not. What difference does a few yards of car park make to that?

ShowOfHands · 10/11/2008 08:17

You know what, if you're going to knowingly carry out an act of theft which this clearly is then admit it. I dislike this 'oh it's Tesco' or 'they ripped off a friend of mine' or 'I spend a fortune there' etc. The subject is of no importance, you are still you. You have the ability to rectify it. Either you do or you don't. It's about you and your morals and principles and that's it.

You're throroughly unreasonable. It's theft. You take them back or you don't but don't try and justify the latter in any way.

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