What would you do?

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
What would you do if you saw someone in a grocery store open a bag of food, like chips, eat a few, and put the bag back on the shelf?

1. nothing
2. report it to customer service
3. confront the person yourself
4. join the party
 

Nothing. They have enough employess working in the stores, cameras and most stores have security guards. These things happen all the time and they know it. It annoys me to see those things, but it's really none of my business.
 
I wouldn't do anything either. The person may have had some kind of a problem and had to eat immediately like low blood sugar? I don't know but actually they should have bought the chips after opening the bag.
 

I actually had an experience like that once - well, twice. One time I was in the produce department and saw a guy open a bag of grapes, eat a few and put the bag back. I walked over, smiling and picked up the bag and put it in his shopping cart and just stood there smiling at him. He looked chagrined and headed for the checkout - with the grapes.

Another time a woman opened a a bag of cookies and ate a few and put the bag back. After she went about her business, I picked the bag up and put it in my cart. I timed my checkout so as to be behind her. Just as her stuff was just about all rung up I very politely said, "Here - I think you dropped these" and put the bag on the conveyor belt - the clerk rang them up.

Yes, the stores have security but the price of the items sold include all costs - including theft. So, the way I look at it, those people are actually stealing from me.

As far as low sugar goes - fine open the bag and eat some. And then take it with you to pay for it.
 
Nothing, I'm not the food police and besides I've been guilty of eating a grape to see if they are sweet, if they are sweet, I buy, if not I don't buy.

How about the times I've gone home with food that was not good and I had to chunk it....did the store steal from me?
 
Yeah, I would most likely do nothing. There are a lot of aggravating things that go on in a grocery store and I just try to get my stuff and go. When my son was little, I remember him opening something without first seeing him-something already in the cart. Of course, I paid for it.
 
Like Jackie said I'm not the food police either enough grown up tattle tales around don't need some busybody poking their nose in my business. If somebody like
Ray came over and put something in my cart security would be involved before all was said and done I wouldn't put up with that no way!
 
Boy, that's a tough call. I shop at a small, local market that does a lot for the community. I would not permit it there. I would say to the offender "do you realize that the people who own this market just gave a $100,000 scholarship to the high school? " If they were still acting clueless I'd probably put it in my cart and pay for it myself.

If it were another large franchise market I'm not sure what I'd do. I'd probably confront the person and say "Are you going to pay for that, or am I?"

In either case I'd do my best to encourage the offender to feel as sleazy as I perceive them to be, then I'd forget it as soon as I got out the door. Someone else's conscience is not my problem...

So, I guess my answer is 3. I don't mean to be the food police, but I love my supermarket.
 
I agree with tasting grapes before you buy a whole bag, sometimes they can be really bitter depending on the crop. But if I saw someone open a bag or box and put it back. I'd let it go, maybe I'd quietly put that one to the back so somebody else doesn't pick it up.
 
SeaBreeze said:
Nothing. They have enough employess working in the stores, cameras and most stores have security guards. These things happen all the time and they know it. It annoys me to see those things, but it's really none of my business.
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I agree, SB. And I'll taste a grape or two to see if they are good before I buy them, too. The absolute most I'd do is hand the opened box to an employee and indicate it was open and shouldn't be on the shelf for another shopper to buy. But confront the guy who opened it? No.
 
Butterfly said:
I agree, SB. And I'll taste a grape or two to see if they are good before I buy them, too. The absolute most I'd do is hand the opened box to an employee and indicate it was open and shouldn't be on the shelf for another shopper to buy. But confront the guy who opened it? No.
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I don't even taste grapes or cherries Butterfly, but sometimes I'd be better off if I had. :p Ive gone to the Sprouts Natural Market where they have bins of chocolate covered berries and nuts, plain nuts and other stuff like that that you buy in bulk and scoop out on your own. I'm always seeing people taking handfuls of these things and casually walking around the store eating them, and not really buying any. I can only be thankful that they use the scoop to put it in their hand and don't put their filthy fingers in there. :sick: I rarely buy any of those items anyway, but still. I'm like Eric, if somebody did confront me in the store about anything like that, I'd stand my ground and make sure they knew it was none of their business and they needed to back off.
 
SeaBreeze said:
I don't even taste grapes or cherries Butterfly, but sometimes I'd be better off if I had. :p Ive gone to the Sprouts Natural Market where they have bins of chocolate covered berries and nuts, plain nuts and other stuff like that that you buy in bulk and scoop out on your own. I'm always seeing people taking handfuls of these things and casually walking around the store eating them, and not really buying any. I can only be thankful that they use the scoop to put it in their hand and don't put their filthy fingers in there. :sick: I rarely buy any of those items anyway, but still. I'm like Eric, if somebody did confront me in the store about anything like that, I'd stand my ground and make sure they knew it was none of their business and they needed to back off.
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I LOVE Sprouts -- I buy all my produce there. It's better than any of the supermarkets, and it's cheaper, too.
 
I work in a grocery store and find open product occasionally. It's not a big problem at our store so I wouldn't have done anything. Management is more concerned with maintaining good customer relations than preventing minor losses.
 

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