To be livid at Tesco again

[Mallenstreak]

Further to my other post-while standing at customer services saw a woman with a child in her trolley stop at the sandwich section,grab a packet,open & eat it then walk off. I pointed this out to the manager who simply said "yes I expect the empty packet will go on a shelf somewhere". She also said that this happens all the time and she is always finding apple cores or banana skins where shoppers have just picked up food and eaten it as they go around the store. Tesco have loads of signs warning that they prosecute shoplifters but it's obviously o.k to eat the evidence as you go along!

No they dont mind, not at the supermarkets i shop in, i couldnt give a toss about other shoppers tbh, its none of their business
oh and actually in asda last week dd fell in a massive puddle in the car park so i took her in took wet trousers off, put on some of asdas in changing room(had to take two sizes in as sizing unreliable for her) took barcode to clothing till and paid for trousers while she was wearing them, they did not mind at all, lady on till said it was good to get her out of wet clothes quick on such a cold damp day, so i suppose i do let them wear clothes first too!

They have cctv so they can chase people stealing if they so choose, it isnt stealing. Where i am all the supermarkets are competing to be more family friendly (one has gone so far as to start setting up a creche to look after kids for an hour or two while you shop) so they would never want to stop kids snacking then presenting barcodes at till as then they loose shoppers to their competitors

No wonder we're such a nation of fatties if people can't even make it around a supermarket without eating.

If I walk to the supermarket (reasonable distance), I may, especially if the weather is warm, need to drink some water when I get there. Now 'need' may be a flexible term here, but the upshot of it is that if I'm not thirsty I'm likely to be in a much better mood, spend more time in the shop, and thus more money.

I would rather lift a cold bottle out of the fridge when I get there, drink it conspicuously then place in the trolley for scanning, than take my own and leave room for people like the OP to assume I'm stealing when I don't place said bottle in trolley. Of course, I could use a reusable bottle that would clearly be mine, or take a bottle of a brand they don't sell, but I really think that's taking worrying about what people think a bit far.

I find taking stuff and eating it as you go round utterly gross and vulgar

yeuch

When I was a kid mum used to bring a snack with her to stop me and my brother whinging about being hungry

Just seems wrong to eat before paying. Never realised so many people do it

DD used to love going shopping when she was little as she knew it was the only time she'd get a Dairylea Dunker. I always paid for the empty.
I'd often have myself a can of red bull too. No one ever minded. It's a small town, I'd often chat to the staff whilst going round with our snack too and they said whatever made it easier, so long as it was paid for.

Though come to think of it, I stole a bottle of water in Harrods because I was so excited by being in there, I really did forget to pay

It seems all part of an instant gratification culture. My ds somehow managed to survive sitting in a trolley for half an hour, knowing that he would get a treat when we had done the shopping

I don't think that's too hard a lesson for anyone to learn

I couldn't be arsed dealing with the tantrum, and when I realised the staff were fine with it, I was happy to do it.
The drink for me, I admit is a bit worse, but again the staff were happy.

No excuse for the Harrods one though, that was wrong.

It's the bad example this sets for the DC that bothers me. My mum would never have taken something from the shelves for me to eat without paying, I had to wait. It's called discipline.

"By nearlybeans Sun 13-Dec-09 13:19:46

I would rather lift a cold bottle out of the fridge when I get there, drink it conspicuously then place in the trolley for scanning, than take my own and leave room for people like the OP to assume I'm stealing when I don't place said bottle in trolley. "

Am I weird because I would go in and buy the bottle of water before drinking it. I suppose I'd have the receipt in my pocket just in case.

I also don't eat/drink stuff before buying and wasn't allowed to when I was a child, it just wouldn't occur to me to do it.

My mum would never have taken something from the shelf for me either, she'd have taken me outside and skelped my arse for having a tantrum, week after week if needs be.

I went down the path of least resistance. DD was about 2 at the time. She's 8 now, and wouldn't ask for anything before paying.

I pick my battles.

Littledusks, that's fine if it works for you. Good for you that's you don't care what anyone thinks.

I just don't think it's acceptable and don't want my kids growing thinking they can have whatever they want, when they want it. Just my personal opinion.

I wouldn't be lived but it would still anger me, prices increase for everyone when things are not paid for.

I dont eat anything when in a supermarket and wouldn't let DS either, he can have his biscuit etc after going through the checkout.

Blimey you lot are quick 10 - 15 mins to do your shopping. Takes me flippen hours.

re OP
i dont give a shit

chegirlwithbellson- i was thinking that too, my supermarket shopping takes 1.5 hrs (no wonder the kids are bored) i cant manage 10-15 mins to order online
oh and my kids know they cant have anything they want, they get something that i choose normally a banana/other fruit from multipack and the end of crusty bread about 45 mins in, they would never ask in other shops as it doesnt take hours

Glad I am not the only one ducks I do admit that I have to walk up every single asile which clearly doesnt help

I usually take some bits for my youngest when we go out. Its me that eats on the hoof!

I really really cannot see what the problem is. I always pay. I dont dump packaging anywhere. I spend more money in supermarkets than on anything else!

I think eating without paying is rank but that is not the same as eating a packet of crisps whilst spending £100 in Tescos.

When I have breakfast in Morrisons I also read the paper before I pay for it. Is that hinious as well?

i can't believe how het up some people must get over this. The majority of people say they would pay for the stuff and rarely do you see empty packets etc on shelfs so most must pay.

It's hardley going to make kids crime lords because they have eaten/drunk before paying.

I feed my youngest dd when im shopping,will also have a drink myself before paying and in lots of countries you try foods before you buy.Also when buying a bed i have lay on it for an hour,i didnt get charged for nap when i decided it was bloody bad on my back,nor was i told off when i tried out every sofa in the shops.
I agree eating and not paying is theft but getting wound up by others eating in a store is a waste of energy imo.

ineedalifelaundry - The sinks at work all have either utensil or hand washing signs on them. They put in a water butt, but am sure the water was giving me an upset stomach as that stopped when I stopped drinking from it. I won't drink tap water unless its mixed with diluting juice.

We always take snacks for Tom to have in the supermarket but we could really do with a muffle and straightjacket really as he pretty much whines the whole way round with or without snacks. His favourite thing to do is opening kitchen rolls!

Totally, you just reminded me of my dad who is a furniture store manager and once dozed off to sleep on a display bed whilst waiting for a delivery to come in. Shop was closed at the time.

I spent ages lying on one of the Ikea circular beds before.

LOL at this thread. Interesting though that some of the people who claim never to have done it, and think its unreasonable are also people who have more than once said that they get their big weekly shop delivered to avoid having to take children to the supermarket

We do it with the youngest, the older children now know to wait. However, its always things that are bought by unit price rather than weight, ds's favourite thing is warm hot cross buns . We always pay at the till.

Incidentally we actually did our supermarket a favour in doing so. Ds was eating a raspberry muffin and discovered that the berries were all frozen - quite how they manage to cook a muffin whilst keeping the fruit frozen I will never know, but on further inspection from staff it was appeared that the whole batch was the same and needed removing from the shelves.

Also, as a fellow customer in the shop I would much rather people gave their children something (healthy) to eat to keep them happy for the 1hr+ they are trapped in a trolley, than letting them howl all the way round and therefore irritating the rest of us with contented children and waking our sleeping babies

I've never done this and wasn't brought up to believe its acceptable. It is theft, the difference between the shop and the restaurant being the verbal or implied contract with the restauranteur that the customer will pay after consumption.

For the first 10 and 11 years of DDs lives respectively I shopped in-store, waiting for buses to reach it too. If they wanted something my children would have to wait - as another poster put it, its called discipline.

I have occasionally paid for something in the shop, given it to my DDs and then got on with my main shopping. Where's the difficulty in doing that instead of stealing and teaching children bad examples?

you would have to pay me to eat a tesco sandwich