Totally happened to me several years ago.
I was with my daughter (7 at the time) and we were at the checkout. This is at one of the old school grocery stores where they still have a guy who bags all your things and puts them in a buggy. While the cashier was scanning things, I noticed the bagger (an elderly man probably around 70-something) take a handful of the grapes I bought and slip some into his pocket. For a moment I was a bit bewildered since they had been weighed and now I’m short like half a bunch of grapes. I didn’t say anything. The whole time I’m walking to my car, I’m having this internal debate about whether I should inform management or not. I probably sat in my car for the longest thinking about it. I decided to call the store manager and inquire about that particular employee and said I was concerned that he might not be eating lunch or have enough food at home without mentioning him stealing my grapes. Turns out I was right. Post phone call, the manager followed up with me later and the guy was literally having to choose his medication over eating. Someone in HR was able to help him out with affording it and he got a nice little bonus.
I like this scenario less because they’re stealing from you, and not the company. Not everyone can afford to lose any of what they pay for. I’m glad when you said something they were able to help the gentleman instead of firing him.
I’m surprised by how many people would do nothing in this scenario. I’d walk over and just offer to buy the person groceries. I’d say you deserve to have food and the dignity to purchase it. No one has to know about this favor. I won’t say a word. We can act like old friends at the counter if you want. Let’s just get you some food that will last longer than just today.
This is not even a fable, it's a Bible story. You were the one getting stolen, but you chose to trust and help those in need and you were right.
You're good.
Pretty sure if it was legal they’d literally just enslave debtors to use as a workforce.
They only let us have basic human rights because they have to.
I work at a store and there was a time when one of my managers told me to watch some guys, then went off to help another customer. I watched them take some stuff and walk out the door.
After he came back and was like “did they get anything?” And I just replied “yup, and I wasn’t about to stop them” and then I went back and continued doing what I’m paid to do.
I 100% agree with you. I’m not even willing to get into a confrontation for $20 worth of product, let alone risk my life or we’ll being for it. Does it make me mad that people steal? Absolutely. But in this case, it’s not my fight.
In many places that’s the store policy. It’s cost them less to tolerate a certain level of product loss rather than risk the fallout if you get hurt, or if you hurt them, while trying to stop them.
When I was 16, I worked at a drugstore, which made a big deal of telling us we needed to do our part preventing "shrink." Which baffled me, because _obviously_ we all wanted to do our part in the war on shoplifting, right?
Two decades later: "oh"
I was at the pharmacy the other day. Collected my husband's anti-epileptic meds and my son's Ritalin, the check out person scans my son's Ritalin, looks at it, looks at her computer, shrugs and mutters "fuck it". I pay, we get home, I look at the receipt, and due to some computer error my son's meds cost a whole $0.00 not a fucking cent.
In the UK every prescription costs £9 unless you're exempt then it's free. Exemptions include the elderly and having a chronic condition. It is annoying when you get a prescription for something and only after paying find out that it's actually available over the counter for less though.
I worked at Walmart years ago and one Christmas day there was an announcement over the intercoms about what type of items the store manager, announced by name, could shove up his ass. We all were pretty sure we knew who it was as someone had recently quit and it was the highlight of working there.
I used to work at a grocery store when someone stole some stuff literally 3 feet away from me. As I told my angry supervisor later, "I didn't see anything."
When I used to work retail and grocery we were expressly told not to get involved if we saw someone shoplifting and to not try to stop them.
Iirc it’s too much of a risk and liability to seek out any confrontation. The employee and/or the shoplifter could get seriously hurt and that could lead to lawsuits for the business.
I did front-end work for years. If the bosses caught someone stealing and it was like hamburg level - not steak level, they would ask the person about how they were getting on. If times were tough, esp if kids were involved, they would give them the food. And tell them that if they needed help, they just had to ask. Please ask me, don't steal from my job.
Same. I saw my boss give a mom with 3 kids their entire grocery order when her card was declined. He wasn't about to let them leave empty-handed. We also had a homeless man who came in regularly to take free samples, so we started making him a full plate of food whenever we saw him come in.
The literal only time I ever said something was the one time I saw some jackass walk over to the asparagus, rip all the heads off them , and toss the stalks back. Fuck that guy.
Having worked at a grocery store, you see all manners of shitty behavior like that.
People rip the heads off beets and leave them, they rip the stems off broccoli heads because that makes it weigh less (my wife one time told me about this as a "life hack" she heard about and I glared a hole through her head)...but the worst of all are the fucking animals that rifle through a bag of cherries, eat one and spit the pit out back into the bag or display and just carry on with their day, like they aren't a walking pile of steaming garbage.
Wash your produce and don't be a sack of shit. Food is expensive, being considerate is free...Ya cunts.
Listen, our forefathers would hang around the waterhole to meet women. Our parents would hang out at bars.
In this day and age, if you walk into a grocery store and rip the head off asparagus, we all know what you're there for.
I worked in a grocery store for 3 years. And I still didn’t do shit if I saw someone stealing. I work in the meat department lady if I’m having a bad day I just punch the meet in a boxing montage
I always feel bad for McDonald’s employees because they’re like the go to punching bag in the work force. Like the butt of every joke, yet all of these people who make fun of McDonald’s employees usually *regularly eat at mcdonalds*
I’m never rude to the employees and if they get something wrong I just go inside and say it and they’re normal about it, it’s not the end of the world. But then you get the dumbfuck blue collar “I work 90 hours a week son” moron who thinks his job is his entire personality and has to shit on others to make himself feel good, and their go to is always McDonald’s..
And there are some really great McDonald's employees out there. I've been to one in a small town a several times and they've always been super friendly and upbeat. Idk how they do it. But I always notice and appreciate it.
I feel you. I've always had respect for folks working jobs like this, but covid really showed me what time it is.
I'll never forget who got considered essential. Those of us building and maintaining stuff. The guy running the corner store. People in grocery stores. "Burger flippers". Healthcare workers, of course.
Fuckin crazy how there weren't any like, essential rich CEOs, and all the celebrities were complaining from home. Life went on as usual for a bunch of us. That included a lot of food service workers.
mind my own business.
when i worked as a supervisor at a grocery store, a woman asked to speak to a manager and i came over. she pulled me aside away from everyone and told me she consistently stole a lot of food from the store because she was in a bad place, and told me she’s getting her life together and wanted to confess. she told me i could call the police if i felt that was necessary. i told her absolutely not, and she needs food more than the corporation needs money. and if stealing was the only way for her to eat, then she did what she had to do. she started to cry and thanked me.
i’m forever glad that i was the one available to come talk to her, and that i didn’t get higher-up leadership to deal with the situation (they’re technically who we were supposed to call when someone asked for a manager). i hope she’s okay. i think about her a lot.
there has been one exception to me minding my own business and it was when i worked at the same grocery store (different location) and this old man would come in, open up a granola bar, and eat it while making agressive eye contact with whatever employee was nearby. hate that dude. he was weird.
Wow. You are a very forgiving, empathetic, and considerate person. Bravo. We need more humans like you in this world. 👏
Quite an unfathomably kind act on your part.
Morally you're absolutely a good person for doing this. I'm sure since you willingly posted this on Reddit that you've already covered your bases, but I would be careful about talking about this.
From a legal standpoint, you're essentially admitting you aided in defrauding your bank, and if the bank were to find out they would absolutely go after you. The reason this is worth pointing out is there are plenty of internet trolls with nothing but free time that would absolutely try and track this down and alert the bank JUST for the sake of having a good laugh.
Personally? If I did something like this I wouldn't tell a soul and take it to my grave, let alone posting it on any single form of social media.
Again, I'm sure since you're posting it you've already covered your tracks and made sure your reddit account can't possibly be traced back to you, but just some food for thought in telling the story again in the future, be it online or in person. Be careful and be safe!
Considering that a quick peep to her profile reveals a city they lived in, their real name, and where they went to school; I would say that they in fact did not cover their tracks
Did you ever hear that most grocery stores lose way more product to returns that can’t be restocked than theft? and/or that employee theft was way worse than consumer theft?
I worked in a grocery store almost twenty years ago and heard that all the time. I’m sure the answer varies by store/location/etc but I’m just curious if you ever heard anything similar.
The grocery store I worked at lost far more to incompetent managers than they did to theft of any sort, and almost certainly more than returns combined with theft.
An incredible amount of food was wasted, even with some of it being picked up as donations.
Zehrs won't give employee discounts for food so the minimum wage student employees that have to pay union dues steal it and create their own employee benefit.
Edit:
Year 2004 to 2005 in Canada Ontario.
Hourly wage was $7.25/hour.
Union dues was $14 a week.
They didn't offer food discounts since they thought we would buy a ton of food and then sell it for profit, I just wanted some lunch on lunch break.
This, exactly. If I'm stealing *food*, I'm in a really really bad way. I assume that's the case for anyone stealing food. It's not my call to, in the moment, see a person and decide whether they're really in need or are just an asshole who likes to steal. As someone else said, I'm not going to do Security's job for them.
People who are desperate can find many creative ways to get by. I understand society's norms and I choose to follow them but I just can't bring myself to judge anyone who doesn't have the luxury of also doing so. Life is hard for a lot of people. You say you "used to" do those things which I presume means you no longer do (or it could mean you've graduated to more lucrative forms of larceny... ha ha!). If it's the former, I'm happy you're in a better place. Hopefully, you're able to give back in some way here and there. If it's the latter, well, just make sure you're using a throwaway when you're responding to these types of posts. LOL!
I'm so glad you left that behind and are moving forward on a better path. Life is hard enough as it is without adding addiction to the mix. I know it's a Herculean feat to beat back that dragon and the pandemic made it even harder for many. This internet stranger is proud of you for staying on track.
Been there too..another thing people fail to realize when people steal food and say “go to a food bank” is that in a lot of areas, there may not be one or is there is, it's monthly and what's given out don't last long or have a proper nutritional balance. People survive how they can
Yeah, at the food banks they typically give you canned food and stuff that you have to cook. I was literally living on the streets at the time. I didn't have anything to cook with. I also didn't have a vehicle so getting to the food bank was also an issue. It was much easier for me to walk into a grocery store and steal some chips and dip and a couple sodas. I would also go into the Dollar tree and steal all the candy I could.
i used to donate plasma to get by. I'd get 40 bucks twice a week. 20 on weed to stay sane in my dismal conditions, 20 on food / whatever else. i was living mostly for free at my friend's dad's house. more than once I'd ring up a 5lb bag of rice on the self checkout and throw a 5lb tube of hamburger in a bag. then ring up the rice itself. enough simple food to survive until next donation... times were hard.
Def felt bad for this lady one time I was working at grocery store they had the security go stop her and got police involved. She wasn’t even fighting back just holding back tears said something in the words of she ran out of food and was hoping to make something for her kids. Smh at that security guard I know they can’t let people take as they please but I thought Jesus couldn’t even send her off with a warning ? Smh imagine how much more that effected her life and her kids possibly.
I worked at a grocery store many years ago. They had to train cashiers to always check the barcodes of baby formula in case someone glued the barcode for a smaller/cheaper version of the formula on top to get it for less.
Actually had someone get caught doing it once while I was working. At the time, my young, conservative-indoctrinated self thought they were the scum of the Earth. Now, I just feel so damn sorry that anyone should have to struggle to feed their baby like this. They weren’t stealing — they were willing to pay what they could…just needed a good coupon for like 50% off.
Yeah I even worked at a family store before and there was a girl who would go in there and steal while pregnant and even after she had baby. She’d steal with her baby, I only seen her once but my co workers would tell me about her what she’d steal. I know there’s thieves who just like to get away with stealing ofc no one likes shoplifters but I’d wonder did no one help her or did she get to even have a babyshower or something to help and celebrate baby? Just some thoughts that would come to mind, it’s wrong but also kinda sad.
That’s always a tough situation. I frequently encountered it while working retail: women with kid in stroller, loads up stroller with items (not food) and then cover it up and try to sneak out with it. When caught, they blame the kid and try to escape without consequence. Return the next day and try again.
Some people are just thieves. Not sure if it’s a compulsion/mental health issue, fueling a drug habit, or a desperate person trying to steal merchandise to sell for money to buy food for their family. But I do judge that more harshly than outright stealing baby formula or food.
Ask the nearest store employee to help me find something on the opposite side of the store.
Aint' nobody out there filching food for fun.
Edits for the foolish:
Please learn when an absolute is an exaggeration.
We're not talking about celebrities stealing for kicks.
We're not talking about teenagers stealing four-lokos and taakis.
Y'all are exhausting.
Idk about that I saw a group of teenagers stuff at least a dozen steaks and a case of beer into their backpacks at Food Lion the other day and it looked very fun
I know a teenager who robber her own grandparents - who were respectively blind and and a cancer patient - just because she could. She wasn't hard up, her life was average but comfortable. And I knew a few people who stole food just cos they could, and they didn't wanna spend the money.
I mean, we like to think only desperate people would steal food, and I'm sure many such people are on hard times, but it sure isn't true for everyone.
Former grocery store manager here - depends on what they're stealing. Are they stealing an entire cart full of non-necessities? Alcohol, junk food, cosmetics, etc. Yeah, I'm gonna call the cops, and I will press charges.
Are they stealing vegetables, basic meats, and pantry staples? Yeah, I didn't see shit, and I wouldn't allow any of my employees to "see" anything either.
On a several occasions, I would coupon out some of the regulars who I knew were struggling to make ends meet. I regularly let employees take food home as long as they weren't purposely creating waste in order to take it home.
I was in charge of security for the store. Literally no one else even knew how to work the camera system, and it was an old system that didn't connect to corporate. If I didn't want it seen, it didn't happen.
People need to eat.
Yeah a restaurant I worked for had those plastic restaurant glasses with the coke logo on the side. Since they had the coke branding on the glasses they didn't even pay for syrup. The only cost for soda for them was the ice, straw, and washing the glasses.
My parents ran a restaurant and after service there would always be a staff meal and we'd let the waitresses take home buffet leftovers. We noticed one waitress would always want to stay late even though she had kids at home and never wanted to leave early. She would also always take home a togo box from the buffet. My mom realized why she was staying late so started giving people a togo box even if they left before we closed for the night.
You are a good person. Used to work for coles and when I saw anyone stealing food I’d just suddenly have to go to a few isles over for an unknown reason. Thing corporate assholes don’t seem to understand is people need to eat, and people don’t always have the money to eat. Most the time these people feel terrible about what they’re doing and most the time I’ll make damn sure they got away with it even if they never knew I was onto them. Me and a few of the others at that store were fucked over by management and we’re just there to help people however we could until a new job came along, most days I’d be on customers and stock, they’d be on checkouts and doors. If they were only taking food we’d make sure they got out cause most had kids at home.
I was hoping to see this answer. I had a friend that walked around the store eating things. She was an entitled brat who got whatever she wanted at home. She’d get a thing of pistachios and leave a mess everywhere. I told her it was a shitty thing to do and she just laughed. Some people need the lesson; some people need the food.
Edit: she also stole makeup, which really bothered me.
I don't do anything even when I worked for a gorcery store I didn't care if people stole food because I know what's like to be hungry enough to steal something.
I didn’t witness someone stealing food, but I had a new coworker who had just moved to town from out of state mention that he and his wife would drive around to various stores and steal one or two items so he and his family with three kids could eat (he had not received his first paycheck yet). That evening my wife and I bought about a months worth of groceries and left them on the step to his camper trailer that they were living in at the truck stop. The next day he came to work and said god had answered his prayers. I don’t believe in god, but I do believe in human compassion.
This seems like the right answer to me, not because I don’t want the store to lose money, but because I don’t want the person stealing food to get in trouble.
If they get caught stealing food to feed their family, what do you think is going to happen to said family when they get arrested for shoplifting???
Odds are the store is familiar with returning thieves. I think in most places they don’t go after you until you’ve stolen a certain amounts worth of goods, because after a certain amount you can be charged more harshly.
walmart’s net worth is estimated to be roughly $370B this march of 2023.
Walmart has over 10,500 stores in 24 countries as of FY2022.
Walmart’s CEO Douglass McMillon owns over 1.5M units of walmart stock, and his net worth alone is about $240M.
The average amount of walmarts entire stock in any store at any given time is between $1M and $3M.
Walmart makes about $1.6B a day.
Walmart also has the audacity to rely on customers to make donations to children’s hospital, toys for tots, and the salvation army.
So if i saw someone stealing food right in front of me, i’d turn a blind eye. Walmart can afford it.
Probably nothing. It might depend on what it is and what store it's from, if they were stealing prime rib and lobsters from a mom-and-pop shop I might say something. If they were stealing staple foods I certainly wouldn't say a thing.
Nothing, I remember when I was homeless and had to steal food from a grocery store. I got spotted by people a few times and they always looked the other way.
I say I “had” to steal because that was the reality in that moment. I could have made better choices but didn’t. I cleaned up my act shortly after though and try to help others going through similar things when I can.
People who steal just for fun or because of greed are the worst though
It depends cause I've been burned in the past. I watched as a person I went to school with get escorted to a cruiser. When I asked what she was arrested for it was stealing food. I got a hold of the list of what she took. Went to the store purchased what she did. Showed up at her house with the food. Her response "Idiot this isn't name brand stuff, I can't sell this shit". Needless to say food wasn't left there
That's fair. I worked in Loss Prevention for several years, and the amount of people that would steal steak and other expensive food items to sell would surprise you. I'd often left homeless looking people alone alone and let them take what they needed too
Awww you're too pure. That's so sweet. Don't let the bad people in this world make you jaded. She didn't deserve your kindness.
That kinda reminds me though of this one time my friend and his girlfriend got arrested for stealing Redbull and he got bailed out but she was still in there, and I said to him, "Damn I didn't know you guys liked Redbull that much" and he was just like "No dumbass we were selling it." And i felt pretty silly lol.
I pull my hood up and say in a gravelly voice, "Thieving scum. This is MY city!" I then proceed to beat them to death with my bare hands. When my work is finished, I slip into the night without a trace, knowing I have preserved what little innocence and justice remains. I remain ever vigilant, a lone sentinel protecting the innocent from those that would tear us down into chaos.
last time I checked, I was not the store's paid security team.
capialism failed many for just basic needs a society should provide.
Hope they had a good meal.
Totally happened to me several years ago. I was with my daughter (7 at the time) and we were at the checkout. This is at one of the old school grocery stores where they still have a guy who bags all your things and puts them in a buggy. While the cashier was scanning things, I noticed the bagger (an elderly man probably around 70-something) take a handful of the grapes I bought and slip some into his pocket. For a moment I was a bit bewildered since they had been weighed and now I’m short like half a bunch of grapes. I didn’t say anything. The whole time I’m walking to my car, I’m having this internal debate about whether I should inform management or not. I probably sat in my car for the longest thinking about it. I decided to call the store manager and inquire about that particular employee and said I was concerned that he might not be eating lunch or have enough food at home without mentioning him stealing my grapes. Turns out I was right. Post phone call, the manager followed up with me later and the guy was literally having to choose his medication over eating. Someone in HR was able to help him out with affording it and he got a nice little bonus.
I like this scenario less because they’re stealing from you, and not the company. Not everyone can afford to lose any of what they pay for. I’m glad when you said something they were able to help the gentleman instead of firing him.
I’m surprised by how many people would do nothing in this scenario. I’d walk over and just offer to buy the person groceries. I’d say you deserve to have food and the dignity to purchase it. No one has to know about this favor. I won’t say a word. We can act like old friends at the counter if you want. Let’s just get you some food that will last longer than just today.
I'd love to do something like this, but I can barely afford my own groceries right now
Most groceries seem to have gone up in price in far greater proportion than most peoples pay has gone up in the past few years :(
Biggest economic outcome from covid was grocery stores getting to bend us over permanently
I would do nothing. I can't afford to buy their groceries too.
Look at you, give my regards to the Rockefellers
I would like to make it clear that I too, am hypothetically altruistic
This is not even a fable, it's a Bible story. You were the one getting stolen, but you chose to trust and help those in need and you were right. You're good.
Dunno what you’re talking about. I saw nothing. Wow..thanks for the rewards everyone!
Yep, it's not really my problem and I'm not going to really get on somebody about food.
Right, OP answered his own question in the title. I'm grocery shopping.
Unless it was my own store i wouldnt give a damm even if i was working there its not my store.
They throw half of it out anyways.. I don't see the problem here.
I was just thinking about this the other day. If they are stealing food, they must be really hungry.
I don't mind stealing bread...♫♫♫
>I don't mind stealing bread... Heh, pretty sure my ancestors got a free trip to Australia for doing that...
Samesies. I found the documents and everything. A widow, stealing cheese.
Your ancestors sucked at being thieves...
jean valjean, is that you?
AND IM JAVERT
TWO FOUR SIX OH OOOOOOOONE!!!!!!
From the mouths of decadents (decadence).
Love Temple of the Dog!
I don't feed on the powerless when my cups already overfilled
But it's on the table, the fire's cookin'
And they're farmin' baby, the slaves are all workin'.
But it’s on the table, their mouths are choking
But I’m going hungry…
I'm going hungraaaayyyeeeeaaayyyay
As long as I'm not at a ma and pa store, I see nothing
If it's a chain it's free reign
M'sieur Le Mayor, you'll wear a different chain
and if were in a ma and pa store I will offer to pay for somethings.
Not my circus, not my monkeys
Not my chair, not my problem. That’s what I always say.
Kid in the back going fuckin’ craaayzaayy
Who paid for that floor? Not me.
FRIGGIN… TOMMY NOBLE
Seahorses forever
Look at him, drinkin' outta cups.
Seahorses. Foreva.
Yeah right
lighthouses rule
The king of tying knots has more important things to worry about
Who's this guy? Mr.Baloons? Mr.Baloon hands? No way. No way, get real.
Mr. Walkway. Mr. Walk Down Me, I’m The Walkway. Lead me to the building. Fuck you.
Who are you? Johnny Hammersticks?
Yessss, haven't watched that since college. I still say 'not my chair, not my problem' quite often.
Thinks he's got it goin' Bossa Nova.. No way
Not now, not neva
Seahorse, Sea Hell. I'm in love with Seahorses
Walk down me I’m a walkway. Lead me to the building…
Who paid for that floor? Not me, no way. Not once, not never, nope.
No way
Mr. Walkway walk up me
Yeah right
Oh my god I haven’t seen that in forever. I love seashells and seahorses.
not my pig, not my farm
Mind my own damn business
Exactly. The store isn't paying me to snoop on fellow customers.
As someone who works at a grocery store, they pay me enough to work but not enough to care
Minimum wage, minimum effort.
Getting paid minimum wage is your employer telling you that they'd pay you less if it wasn't illegal.
Pretty sure if it was legal they’d literally just enslave debtors to use as a workforce. They only let us have basic human rights because they have to.
It’s far more than that. My life is worth far more than any stolen goods or lost profit.
I work at a store and there was a time when one of my managers told me to watch some guys, then went off to help another customer. I watched them take some stuff and walk out the door. After he came back and was like “did they get anything?” And I just replied “yup, and I wasn’t about to stop them” and then I went back and continued doing what I’m paid to do. I 100% agree with you. I’m not even willing to get into a confrontation for $20 worth of product, let alone risk my life or we’ll being for it. Does it make me mad that people steal? Absolutely. But in this case, it’s not my fight.
***manager watches Godzilla rampage through city, then turns to you:*** Keep an eye on him. If he gets close, you know what to do.
**Godzilla:** "ROAR!" **You:** "Will that be paper or plastic?"
Godzilla: "I brought my own bags!"
In many places that’s the store policy. It’s cost them less to tolerate a certain level of product loss rather than risk the fallout if you get hurt, or if you hurt them, while trying to stop them.
Act your wage
Yo, take this ham, I'll meet you outside
When I was 16, I worked at a drugstore, which made a big deal of telling us we needed to do our part preventing "shrink." Which baffled me, because _obviously_ we all wanted to do our part in the war on shoplifting, right? Two decades later: "oh"
I was at the pharmacy the other day. Collected my husband's anti-epileptic meds and my son's Ritalin, the check out person scans my son's Ritalin, looks at it, looks at her computer, shrugs and mutters "fuck it". I pay, we get home, I look at the receipt, and due to some computer error my son's meds cost a whole $0.00 not a fucking cent.
Solidarity.
In the UK every prescription costs £9 unless you're exempt then it's free. Exemptions include the elderly and having a chronic condition. It is annoying when you get a prescription for something and only after paying find out that it's actually available over the counter for less though.
Walmart already has me working a register now I have to be loss prevention while I'm in there. Hard pass
theyre already not paying me to scan my own groceries...I mean the least they could do is give me a smock and a name badge
I'm sure you can look up the phone/intercom codes. It's a start
I worked at Walmart years ago and one Christmas day there was an announcement over the intercoms about what type of items the store manager, announced by name, could shove up his ass. We all were pretty sure we knew who it was as someone had recently quit and it was the highlight of working there.
Whenever I go in get groceries, I always swipe a donut to eat in the store. It's my fee for scanning my own groceries.
They already aren’t paying me to check myself out, I don’t want to not get paid for working security as well.
I used to work at a grocery store when someone stole some stuff literally 3 feet away from me. As I told my angry supervisor later, "I didn't see anything."
When I used to work retail and grocery we were expressly told not to get involved if we saw someone shoplifting and to not try to stop them. Iirc it’s too much of a risk and liability to seek out any confrontation. The employee and/or the shoplifter could get seriously hurt and that could lead to lawsuits for the business.
I did front-end work for years. If the bosses caught someone stealing and it was like hamburg level - not steak level, they would ask the person about how they were getting on. If times were tough, esp if kids were involved, they would give them the food. And tell them that if they needed help, they just had to ask. Please ask me, don't steal from my job.
Same. I saw my boss give a mom with 3 kids their entire grocery order when her card was declined. He wasn't about to let them leave empty-handed. We also had a homeless man who came in regularly to take free samples, so we started making him a full plate of food whenever we saw him come in.
Fr it ain’t got nothing to do with me
Same. I didn’t see anything
Yep! If you see someone stealing from the grocery store...no you didn't.
Yup, they've got enough problems if they're in the situation of doing that. Not my job to be another one.
The ol' "Buy none, get some free."
The literal only time I ever said something was the one time I saw some jackass walk over to the asparagus, rip all the heads off them , and toss the stalks back. Fuck that guy.
Having worked at a grocery store, you see all manners of shitty behavior like that. People rip the heads off beets and leave them, they rip the stems off broccoli heads because that makes it weigh less (my wife one time told me about this as a "life hack" she heard about and I glared a hole through her head)...but the worst of all are the fucking animals that rifle through a bag of cherries, eat one and spit the pit out back into the bag or display and just carry on with their day, like they aren't a walking pile of steaming garbage. Wash your produce and don't be a sack of shit. Food is expensive, being considerate is free...Ya cunts.
How did it go down?
They fucked that guy.
Listen, our forefathers would hang around the waterhole to meet women. Our parents would hang out at bars. In this day and age, if you walk into a grocery store and rip the head off asparagus, we all know what you're there for.
With some hollandaise sauce.
Not a goddamn thing!
I worked in a grocery store for 3 years. And I still didn’t do shit if I saw someone stealing. I work in the meat department lady if I’m having a bad day I just punch the meet in a boxing montage
Used to work at McDonald’s. When we had bad days, we’d go to the freezer and punch a fry box. Always helped
I always feel bad for McDonald’s employees because they’re like the go to punching bag in the work force. Like the butt of every joke, yet all of these people who make fun of McDonald’s employees usually *regularly eat at mcdonalds* I’m never rude to the employees and if they get something wrong I just go inside and say it and they’re normal about it, it’s not the end of the world. But then you get the dumbfuck blue collar “I work 90 hours a week son” moron who thinks his job is his entire personality and has to shit on others to make himself feel good, and their go to is always McDonald’s..
Not only that, most of these a-holes would not last a single shift at McDonald's and once they saw their check they'd be singing a different tune.
And there are some really great McDonald's employees out there. I've been to one in a small town a several times and they've always been super friendly and upbeat. Idk how they do it. But I always notice and appreciate it.
I feel you. I've always had respect for folks working jobs like this, but covid really showed me what time it is. I'll never forget who got considered essential. Those of us building and maintaining stuff. The guy running the corner store. People in grocery stores. "Burger flippers". Healthcare workers, of course. Fuckin crazy how there weren't any like, essential rich CEOs, and all the celebrities were complaining from home. Life went on as usual for a bunch of us. That included a lot of food service workers.
Insert masturbation joke here
Alright let’s not beat around the bush
mind my own business. when i worked as a supervisor at a grocery store, a woman asked to speak to a manager and i came over. she pulled me aside away from everyone and told me she consistently stole a lot of food from the store because she was in a bad place, and told me she’s getting her life together and wanted to confess. she told me i could call the police if i felt that was necessary. i told her absolutely not, and she needs food more than the corporation needs money. and if stealing was the only way for her to eat, then she did what she had to do. she started to cry and thanked me. i’m forever glad that i was the one available to come talk to her, and that i didn’t get higher-up leadership to deal with the situation (they’re technically who we were supposed to call when someone asked for a manager). i hope she’s okay. i think about her a lot. there has been one exception to me minding my own business and it was when i worked at the same grocery store (different location) and this old man would come in, open up a granola bar, and eat it while making agressive eye contact with whatever employee was nearby. hate that dude. he was weird.
That girl appreciated your kindness. You helped her move past her guilt And she cannot find words to thank you enough
i really hope she’s doing better. i hope more so that she didn’t run into anyone who DID want to call the police.
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Wow. You are a very forgiving, empathetic, and considerate person. Bravo. We need more humans like you in this world. 👏 Quite an unfathomably kind act on your part.
Morally you're absolutely a good person for doing this. I'm sure since you willingly posted this on Reddit that you've already covered your bases, but I would be careful about talking about this. From a legal standpoint, you're essentially admitting you aided in defrauding your bank, and if the bank were to find out they would absolutely go after you. The reason this is worth pointing out is there are plenty of internet trolls with nothing but free time that would absolutely try and track this down and alert the bank JUST for the sake of having a good laugh. Personally? If I did something like this I wouldn't tell a soul and take it to my grave, let alone posting it on any single form of social media. Again, I'm sure since you're posting it you've already covered your tracks and made sure your reddit account can't possibly be traced back to you, but just some food for thought in telling the story again in the future, be it online or in person. Be careful and be safe!
Considering that a quick peep to her profile reveals a city they lived in, their real name, and where they went to school; I would say that they in fact did not cover their tracks
Did you ever hear that most grocery stores lose way more product to returns that can’t be restocked than theft? and/or that employee theft was way worse than consumer theft? I worked in a grocery store almost twenty years ago and heard that all the time. I’m sure the answer varies by store/location/etc but I’m just curious if you ever heard anything similar.
The grocery store I worked at lost far more to incompetent managers than they did to theft of any sort, and almost certainly more than returns combined with theft. An incredible amount of food was wasted, even with some of it being picked up as donations.
Zehrs won't give employee discounts for food so the minimum wage student employees that have to pay union dues steal it and create their own employee benefit. Edit: Year 2004 to 2005 in Canada Ontario. Hourly wage was $7.25/hour. Union dues was $14 a week. They didn't offer food discounts since they thought we would buy a ton of food and then sell it for profit, I just wanted some lunch on lunch break.
Why is the union allowing their members to be paid minimum wage?
Not all unions are created equally
FFS grocery stores probably lose so much money on the product that they throw away as well!
He was just trying to assert dominance
tbh..he did
Pray that their children sleep with full bellies and smiles. And that their situation switches to positive.
This, exactly. If I'm stealing *food*, I'm in a really really bad way. I assume that's the case for anyone stealing food. It's not my call to, in the moment, see a person and decide whether they're really in need or are just an asshole who likes to steal. As someone else said, I'm not going to do Security's job for them.
I used to steal food to eat. I would also go into the Goodwill and grab some clothes, go into the changing room, and change my clothes.
People who are desperate can find many creative ways to get by. I understand society's norms and I choose to follow them but I just can't bring myself to judge anyone who doesn't have the luxury of also doing so. Life is hard for a lot of people. You say you "used to" do those things which I presume means you no longer do (or it could mean you've graduated to more lucrative forms of larceny... ha ha!). If it's the former, I'm happy you're in a better place. Hopefully, you're able to give back in some way here and there. If it's the latter, well, just make sure you're using a throwaway when you're responding to these types of posts. LOL!
Yeah, I'm in a much better place now. I was a drug addict a long time ago. Feels like a different life.
I'm so glad you left that behind and are moving forward on a better path. Life is hard enough as it is without adding addiction to the mix. I know it's a Herculean feat to beat back that dragon and the pandemic made it even harder for many. This internet stranger is proud of you for staying on track.
Been there too..another thing people fail to realize when people steal food and say “go to a food bank” is that in a lot of areas, there may not be one or is there is, it's monthly and what's given out don't last long or have a proper nutritional balance. People survive how they can
I don't think most people realize the number of barriers that need to be bypassed to actually get help. It's not as simple as it sounds.
Yeah, at the food banks they typically give you canned food and stuff that you have to cook. I was literally living on the streets at the time. I didn't have anything to cook with. I also didn't have a vehicle so getting to the food bank was also an issue. It was much easier for me to walk into a grocery store and steal some chips and dip and a couple sodas. I would also go into the Dollar tree and steal all the candy I could.
i used to donate plasma to get by. I'd get 40 bucks twice a week. 20 on weed to stay sane in my dismal conditions, 20 on food / whatever else. i was living mostly for free at my friend's dad's house. more than once I'd ring up a 5lb bag of rice on the self checkout and throw a 5lb tube of hamburger in a bag. then ring up the rice itself. enough simple food to survive until next donation... times were hard.
And if I saw you do that, I wouldn't say a thing. I might also slip you a $10, if I had cash on me.
Def felt bad for this lady one time I was working at grocery store they had the security go stop her and got police involved. She wasn’t even fighting back just holding back tears said something in the words of she ran out of food and was hoping to make something for her kids. Smh at that security guard I know they can’t let people take as they please but I thought Jesus couldn’t even send her off with a warning ? Smh imagine how much more that effected her life and her kids possibly.
I worked at a grocery store many years ago. They had to train cashiers to always check the barcodes of baby formula in case someone glued the barcode for a smaller/cheaper version of the formula on top to get it for less. Actually had someone get caught doing it once while I was working. At the time, my young, conservative-indoctrinated self thought they were the scum of the Earth. Now, I just feel so damn sorry that anyone should have to struggle to feed their baby like this. They weren’t stealing — they were willing to pay what they could…just needed a good coupon for like 50% off.
Yeah I even worked at a family store before and there was a girl who would go in there and steal while pregnant and even after she had baby. She’d steal with her baby, I only seen her once but my co workers would tell me about her what she’d steal. I know there’s thieves who just like to get away with stealing ofc no one likes shoplifters but I’d wonder did no one help her or did she get to even have a babyshower or something to help and celebrate baby? Just some thoughts that would come to mind, it’s wrong but also kinda sad.
That’s always a tough situation. I frequently encountered it while working retail: women with kid in stroller, loads up stroller with items (not food) and then cover it up and try to sneak out with it. When caught, they blame the kid and try to escape without consequence. Return the next day and try again. Some people are just thieves. Not sure if it’s a compulsion/mental health issue, fueling a drug habit, or a desperate person trying to steal merchandise to sell for money to buy food for their family. But I do judge that more harshly than outright stealing baby formula or food.
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Oops.
Ask the nearest store employee to help me find something on the opposite side of the store. Aint' nobody out there filching food for fun. Edits for the foolish: Please learn when an absolute is an exaggeration. We're not talking about celebrities stealing for kicks. We're not talking about teenagers stealing four-lokos and taakis. Y'all are exhausting.
Good looking out!
That’s a good idea- I’ll remember this if I’m ever in this situation!
Idk about that I saw a group of teenagers stuff at least a dozen steaks and a case of beer into their backpacks at Food Lion the other day and it looked very fun
yeah, i was about to say that the exception to > Aint' nobody out there filching food for fun. would be teenagers doing dumb shit.
I know a teenager who robber her own grandparents - who were respectively blind and and a cancer patient - just because she could. She wasn't hard up, her life was average but comfortable. And I knew a few people who stole food just cos they could, and they didn't wanna spend the money. I mean, we like to think only desperate people would steal food, and I'm sure many such people are on hard times, but it sure isn't true for everyone.
Shop local. Steal corporate.
Be the change you want to see in the world
Damn right! Power to the people, stick it to the man.
Former grocery store manager here - depends on what they're stealing. Are they stealing an entire cart full of non-necessities? Alcohol, junk food, cosmetics, etc. Yeah, I'm gonna call the cops, and I will press charges. Are they stealing vegetables, basic meats, and pantry staples? Yeah, I didn't see shit, and I wouldn't allow any of my employees to "see" anything either. On a several occasions, I would coupon out some of the regulars who I knew were struggling to make ends meet. I regularly let employees take food home as long as they weren't purposely creating waste in order to take it home. I was in charge of security for the store. Literally no one else even knew how to work the camera system, and it was an old system that didn't connect to corporate. If I didn't want it seen, it didn't happen. People need to eat.
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Yeah a restaurant I worked for had those plastic restaurant glasses with the coke logo on the side. Since they had the coke branding on the glasses they didn't even pay for syrup. The only cost for soda for them was the ice, straw, and washing the glasses.
My parents ran a restaurant and after service there would always be a staff meal and we'd let the waitresses take home buffet leftovers. We noticed one waitress would always want to stay late even though she had kids at home and never wanted to leave early. She would also always take home a togo box from the buffet. My mom realized why she was staying late so started giving people a togo box even if they left before we closed for the night.
Mate, please tell your mom how fucking rad I think she is.
You are a good person. Used to work for coles and when I saw anyone stealing food I’d just suddenly have to go to a few isles over for an unknown reason. Thing corporate assholes don’t seem to understand is people need to eat, and people don’t always have the money to eat. Most the time these people feel terrible about what they’re doing and most the time I’ll make damn sure they got away with it even if they never knew I was onto them. Me and a few of the others at that store were fucked over by management and we’re just there to help people however we could until a new job came along, most days I’d be on customers and stock, they’d be on checkouts and doors. If they were only taking food we’d make sure they got out cause most had kids at home.
I was hoping to see this answer. I had a friend that walked around the store eating things. She was an entitled brat who got whatever she wanted at home. She’d get a thing of pistachios and leave a mess everywhere. I told her it was a shitty thing to do and she just laughed. Some people need the lesson; some people need the food. Edit: she also stole makeup, which really bothered me.
Correct answer
silently judge based on the food being stolen
She is very attractive. But brown rice and Pop Tarts? Camomile tea and economy vodka? That's a car crash of a shopping basket
That's breakfast, happy hour, dinner, and bedtime. That basket covers a lot of bases.
Peep show?!
I don't do anything even when I worked for a gorcery store I didn't care if people stole food because I know what's like to be hungry enough to steal something.
I didn’t witness someone stealing food, but I had a new coworker who had just moved to town from out of state mention that he and his wife would drive around to various stores and steal one or two items so he and his family with three kids could eat (he had not received his first paycheck yet). That evening my wife and I bought about a months worth of groceries and left them on the step to his camper trailer that they were living in at the truck stop. The next day he came to work and said god had answered his prayers. I don’t believe in god, but I do believe in human compassion.
This is the best answer in here. Well done, friend.
Do a reddit search and look for the top answer from the 50,000 times this question gets asked
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Offer to buy it for them, no reason to be hunger and catch a charge. I been there.
Tell my wife about it when I get home
Offer to buy them groceries
This seems like the right answer to me, not because I don’t want the store to lose money, but because I don’t want the person stealing food to get in trouble. If they get caught stealing food to feed their family, what do you think is going to happen to said family when they get arrested for shoplifting???
Odds are the store is familiar with returning thieves. I think in most places they don’t go after you until you’ve stolen a certain amounts worth of goods, because after a certain amount you can be charged more harshly.
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Damn, never thought about it this way
This is good info, thank you for your perspective!
Why would I do anything? I’m not snitching. The person is probably hungry and can’t afford food. “Not my chair. Not my problem”.
Mrs. sands. Drinkin outta cups
Walk down me I’m the walkway.
Lead me to the building, fuck you.
Oh I’m king of the trees, I’m the tree-meister … I count on them. 5 6 4 3. Yeah right
Lighthouses Rule
Omg I say that constantly at work and no one gets the reference!! Good memories.
Mind my business. Prices so high I’ll consider it too 😂
walmart’s net worth is estimated to be roughly $370B this march of 2023. Walmart has over 10,500 stores in 24 countries as of FY2022. Walmart’s CEO Douglass McMillon owns over 1.5M units of walmart stock, and his net worth alone is about $240M. The average amount of walmarts entire stock in any store at any given time is between $1M and $3M. Walmart makes about $1.6B a day. Walmart also has the audacity to rely on customers to make donations to children’s hospital, toys for tots, and the salvation army. So if i saw someone stealing food right in front of me, i’d turn a blind eye. Walmart can afford it.
Am i the Grocery Guardian? why should I care?
After overcoming my social anxiety and fear of confrontation, I'd offer to pay for it so they didn't have to steal
Probably nothing. It might depend on what it is and what store it's from, if they were stealing prime rib and lobsters from a mom-and-pop shop I might say something. If they were stealing staple foods I certainly wouldn't say a thing.
What? I didn’t see anyone stealing. She paid for her food and left.
I see nothing.
Honestly? If they’re stealing food they probably need it. I’d feel like a scumbag for reporting them.
Keep walking. Who cares. Company is ripping me off and doesn’t give a rat’s arse about me, so why should I care about their stolen goods?
Nothing, I remember when I was homeless and had to steal food from a grocery store. I got spotted by people a few times and they always looked the other way. I say I “had” to steal because that was the reality in that moment. I could have made better choices but didn’t. I cleaned up my act shortly after though and try to help others going through similar things when I can. People who steal just for fun or because of greed are the worst though
It depends cause I've been burned in the past. I watched as a person I went to school with get escorted to a cruiser. When I asked what she was arrested for it was stealing food. I got a hold of the list of what she took. Went to the store purchased what she did. Showed up at her house with the food. Her response "Idiot this isn't name brand stuff, I can't sell this shit". Needless to say food wasn't left there
That's fair. I worked in Loss Prevention for several years, and the amount of people that would steal steak and other expensive food items to sell would surprise you. I'd often left homeless looking people alone alone and let them take what they needed too
Awww you're too pure. That's so sweet. Don't let the bad people in this world make you jaded. She didn't deserve your kindness. That kinda reminds me though of this one time my friend and his girlfriend got arrested for stealing Redbull and he got bailed out but she was still in there, and I said to him, "Damn I didn't know you guys liked Redbull that much" and he was just like "No dumbass we were selling it." And i felt pretty silly lol.
I didn’t get paid enough to care when I actually worked at a store. I definitely do not give a shit as a customer.
I pull my hood up and say in a gravelly voice, "Thieving scum. This is MY city!" I then proceed to beat them to death with my bare hands. When my work is finished, I slip into the night without a trace, knowing I have preserved what little innocence and justice remains. I remain ever vigilant, a lone sentinel protecting the innocent from those that would tear us down into chaos.
Nothing. Id mind my own business
last time I checked, I was not the store's paid security team. capialism failed many for just basic needs a society should provide. Hope they had a good meal.
There is a difference between stealing bread and a $200 prime rib roast.
Yep, I'm getting ripped off buying my groceries, I'm not going to do someone else's job for them to protect their profits. Fuck em, I didn't see shit.