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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:
Rhubarb · 10/11/2008 14:38

To my shame I used to steal.
Not shoplifting, but as a skint student I used to swap labels on clothes, so that something that was in the sale I would peel off the sale tag and stick it on the thing I wanted to buy.
I would never do that now though.

We all do things we regret.

I have walked off with unpaid things that have been in my trolley before, it's easy to do. But I've not noticed until it's too late.

I usually do highlight it if a shop assistant charges too little for something or overlooks something in the basket. I'm trying to make up for my errant ways as a student you see.

And I always return things I find in the street, esp money, as I've lost things this way in the past and I know how horrible a feeling it is to find yourself short.

I also know how horrible it is as a shop assistant to be down on the till and the deficiency comes up under your name.

debzmb62 · 10/11/2008 14:38

get outa here come on it was nappies ffs not the bloody crime of the centry !!she's wrong your right !! or is it the other way round !! as far as i,m concerned its over done and dusted if it make some of you feel a little better hey op take em back when you,ve finshed with them !!she knew she had them when she got to the car not actually instore!!

imnotmamagbutshelovesme · 10/11/2008 14:39

While she had them in store she hadn't stolen them then.

pingping · 10/11/2008 14:41

Someone I use to know used to do that pretend to scan things for her friends she got caught and sacked

Fllightthebluetouchpaper · 10/11/2008 14:44

Tesco regularly refund full price when you ring to return sale items. I picked them up on it a few times, they said 'our mistake' once and the other time they recharged my card!!

i think another time I just couldn't be bothered to explain so left it.

Oh and I took some egg sarnies home from Asda once as they had a fire alarm just as I took them from the shelf and we all had to evacuate - I waited with ds for 20 minutes then went home. I felt guilty about that. I just couldn't wait any longer for the store to reopen.

debzmb62 · 10/11/2008 14:49

ah flightthebluetouchpaper it was you they were looking for eh the fantom egg sanie stealer !!wish i was there and had to run out with me trolly full
i am joking before i get a backlash !!

anothertescoworker · 10/11/2008 15:36

I work on customer service and what your friend is doing by reducing stuff to buy herself for her daughter is likely to get her the sack if she gets caught. The fact that the price of the clothing has been over ridden on the till will show up on the number of the cashier who put the item through. If she is putting the items through on her own number then that is against Tesco policy as well and she could be disciplined for that too even if she hadn't altered the price.
Mssparkle. It is not commonplace for Tesco staff to steal where I work and what happens on customer service where your friend works certainly does not happen where I work. Everybody ertainly does not do it!! I don't and never would even if I did think I could get away with it.

sunnygirl1412 · 10/11/2008 15:39

Debz - no-one is saying it is the crime of the century - but they are saying that she should go back and pay for her goods.

If my son took £6 of goods from a shop, he'd be a teenage delinquent. The same rules apply.

MsSparkle · 10/11/2008 17:16

anothertescoworker tbh i don't think she really cares and i think she is stupid for doing it. She is leaving soon anyway because she is pregnant so i think all she wants is the maternity pay and then she won't be going back.

SummerC · 10/11/2008 22:16

I'm not going to make a judgement call on this one as I do believe you didn't set out to steal from the shop. The other day I did a shop and put 2 4pint bottles of milk under the pushchair as they were too heavy to go in the basket. I got half way home before I realised I hadn't paid for them. I turned around and went back and paid for them. For me personally, it would have worn on my conscience and I think leaving without paying for it sets the wrong example for my dd.

But...that is me. Everyone is different. I wouldn't necessarily class it as stealing as you didn't intentionally walk out of the store with them but I think you do know that it was wrong.

wonderwoman73 · 10/11/2008 22:16

Sorry, haven't read the whole thread but I don't think you should be too worried. Tesco is a huge multinational that spends vast amounts of money ensuring its business is structured so that it pays as little tax as possible. Tax that could be spent on schools, hospitals etc so don't feel bad!

That said, pampers are better...

BexieID · 10/11/2008 23:10

I've known people to be sacked for stealing clubcard points!

So your friend MsSparkle is actually serving herself on her own number as well? The management there must be well slow to catch on.

ElfOnTheTopShelf · 10/11/2008 23:22

I think its quite sad to see how many people who do not consider this to be stealing. And I hate the "its only Tesco" comments.

I once purchased a gift bag from clintons, and when I opened it, there was a tag inside. It totally freaked me out. DH refused to let me trapse back to the shop to pay for it. Its freaked me out ever since!

Lotster · 10/11/2008 23:41

Chrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiist!

How did this go on so long?! It's no biggie, you were all packed up, child strapped in. YANBU.

But YABU to post this silly thread that allowed so much "I'm a saint me!", "ooh me too", "well I'd have painted "thief" across my chest in red paint and prostrated myself across the fruit and veg before handing over my life savings as pennance" CRAP.

tsk!

Lubyloo · 11/11/2008 00:01

I am shocked at the number of people who think that this is acceptable and the number of people who have done similar things.

Theft is theft.The OP didn't "inadvertently steal". She decided to steal them the moment that she realised she hadn't paid for them but instead went home instead of going back in to pay.

cheesesarnie · 11/11/2008 00:08

yep yabu.its theft.simple.

fortyplus · 11/11/2008 00:10

YABU but I will forgive you if you donate the money to charity

Quattrocento · 11/11/2008 00:12

Ah. We have these threads for thieves every so often. There are support groups for kleptos, you know. Should you not be at Netmums? Think that's the den of thieves. Hun.

TeenyTinyTorya · 11/11/2008 00:17

I was sacked because of someone doing what you used to do, Rhubarb. I worked in a discount designer kids' clothing place, and was told that I had been reducing stuff without permission, and sacked. The only thing I can think must have happened is that someone must have put a sale sticker onto the thing they wanted to buy, and I was none the wiser. I was mortified, because I pride myself on being very honest.

OP YABU, you should have gone back and paid. I'd feel really guilty if it was me.

Chrysanthamum · 11/11/2008 00:39

Don't lose any sleep over it. Do kind deeds for the next decade or donate to charity and the karma will right itself. Its heartwarming to see so many saintly people contributing on mumsnet

Kewcumber · 11/11/2008 07:44

what actually shocks me is how it seems that being how some of you have reacted to those of us who have said "YABU you hsould have paid for them or left them" as if we are being highly unreasonable/saintly etc.

Haven't noticed anyone saying OP should paint herself in scarlet letters, turn herself in at the local police station or flaggelate herself. She asked if she was being unreasonable to keep something she inadvertantly "stole" and a good proportion of us pointed out that

a) it wasn;t inadvertant - she didn't put it in her car by accident, she knew she hadn't paid for it, she could have either gone back and paid or left it in the trolley.

b) "stole" doesn;t need to be in inverted commas - if you take something belonging to someone else wihtout their permission it is stealing.

Had the OP started a thread saying "I kept the nappies I hadn't paid for, but I needed themand thebaby was crying and I just couldn;t face going back in to pay, I'm so embarrased do you think its the end of the world" no doubt replies would have been more practically based.

I find it slightly depressing that some people find are so shock and surprised (and disbeleiving) that anyone could possibly think OP was unreasonable.

Tortington · 11/11/2008 07:56

i got change for 20 quid when i gave a tenner at the petrol station yesterday. i didn't tell him.

imnotmamagbutshelovesme · 11/11/2008 07:59

Why not? It is dishonest and he might lose his job now.

mumoverseas · 11/11/2008 08:35

Just wondering what would happen if everyone on here inadvertantly forgot to pay for something that cost around £6? Surely the stores would ultimately increase the prices and we would all therefore pay the price for that?

NorkyButNice · 11/11/2008 08:44

Agree with Kewcumber [nodding vigorously]

And yet more people trying the "It's only Tesco's so doesn't matter" line - if you all hate their big business, tax-avoiding ways of running their company then don't shop (or steal) there.

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