Walked out of supermarket without paying because of brainfog

[Sususudio]

Well, I did it. I walked out of Co- Op with a shopping basket and without paying. 😪
Was thinking of my mum, my job, DD etc etc and forgot to pay!

The staff were really nice about it. They already have shoplifters so they could have been horrible. But they were so kind it made me feel worse. Can never go back.

I was on HRT until April. Then I went off it because it was making me really bloated and thick in the middle. I need to go back on it, don't I?

I (almost) did that once. Wandered around the basement food department of a local Selfridges - then found myself at the top of the escalator, staring at Loewe handbags, with a wire basket of unchecked-out food hanging from my arm.

It was pretty terrifying. I’m not sure how convincing a thief one would be still holding the shop’s basket, but I look like a security guard’s idea of a wrong’un, so it might have been difficult.

Anyway, skedaddled back down the escalator to the check-out with no palaver. But thinking of it now, that must be why I felt a bit jumpy in that particular shop for years afterwards.

Sorry you had to go through that, @Sususudio.

Ah, don’t be ashamed of going back in there. They were kind and understanding, and you made a genuine mistake which you fixed straight away.

I get it though; it’s absolutely terrifying to think what our brains are capable of (incapable of?) with brain fog. 💐

I'm sure the staff could tell that you were genuine and utterly mortified. There's a lot of us peri women around, it probably happens at least once a week!

But yes, HRT is probably the way forward. It has helped my brain fog massively

I'm so glad that they treated you with common sense and compassion.

It happened to an old colleague of mine who mindlessly chucked some toothpaste into her shopping bag on her arm as well as filling her basket. Stopped by security on the way out of a Sainsbury's branch and hauled into the office, banned from the store for life and utterly humiliated. She was distraught.

A friend of mine had the same thing with a shop called boyes
She'd gone in and ended up in a row with her dd (over the fact her mother as having the menopause from hell and the dd said she was making it all up) who stormed out and she followed
Only she had a pair of pyjammas over her arm and the guards treated her like she was the world's worst shoplifter (she'd stopped just outside the doors and went back in but it was too late)
Best laugh is,it was a shop that was targeted by professional shoplifters around that time-a lot saw it as a badge of honor but they where big and burly men and the guards didn't look twice at them and their hauls

I have been having terrible brain fog. Lost my keys, sent emails without attachments, left the fridge door open...
DH thinks I have lost my mind. Didn't tell him about this!. Back to HRT. Will try to curb the weight some other way. I clearly need it

The Co- Op staff must have realised a middle aged lady with a basket full of salad fixings is just absent-minded. I actually blurted out " Oh god I am getting so old". And the nice young man said " You look good for your age"! 😫

I don't think it's always attributable to menopause.
I think many women of that age have a great deal on their mind.
Children. Parents/in laws. Household. Work. Their own health and interests.

I'm a lone parent managing all of those things. I think you can find yourself on your own somewhere not very demanding (the supermarket) and you either zone out, or (because you're not actively doing one of the above), your brain fills up with thinking about the above.

I 'lost' my phone in a little Co-op yesterday. Panicking at the checkout until lady on til found it under some kebabs in my basket. She was lovely- and of a certain age as well.
I am on hrt (very low dose) and have always been ditsy but still am unfortunately 😕

Aww, what a lovely young man!

I've done this several times. Don't worry. Go in and keep being friendly to these nice people. Show them they've kept a pleasant customer with their kindness and humanity.

It's nothing to be embarrassed about.

Don't worry about it OP.
It was obvious to them that you weren't a shoplifter because shoplifters don't just wander out with a basket full of stuff.
There's no reason why you can't go back. If it's the same staff just laugh it off "Remind me not to wander out with a basket again like the last time please".
Just be extra focussed on it not happening again.

I think people do understand that sometimes people are in a world of their own, whether it's brain fog, worries or thoughts about something or other; grief etc.