Last week, a pregnant mom, her husband, and almost 3 year old daughter were shopping for groceries at Safeway. They ordered two sandwiches, and the pregnant woman ate one as they shopped (we've all been there, shopping while hungry can be dangerous!). They saved the wrapper, fully intending to pay at the check out. When they didn't (the mom simply forgot), they were arrested for shoplifting and their daughter? She was taken into custody by Child Welfare Services.
I found the story in my e-mail, and here's the
LINK to news piece. The mom says that when they were taken upstairs, they offered to pay but Safeway wouldn't let them. Safeway has announced they have apologized and will not pursue charges.
How embarrassing, and how scary it must have been to be the young girl taken away!
I remember going to the store with my mom and my mom opening chips or crackers so we could snack (and be quiet!) while she shopped. She told the cashier, who usually smiled and nodded and scanned the bar code and gave back the food. Today, when I go shopping, I am always so tempted to get a bottle of water, or even some chips to snack on while shopping. And I bet if I did it ten times, I'm sure one of those times I would forget to pay because of "mommy brain", we're humans and we forget.
Have you snacked while shopping? Have you ever forgotten to pay?
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Comments (94)
Oh jeez. My daughter has snacked while we shopped a billion times. I can't remember every forgetting to pay, but, as you said, "mommy brain"; there's a good chance it's happened and I simply didn't notice it! I also work in retail and find myself constantly scanning empty wrappers or half-eatten bags of chips. How boring must their day have been to hassle this woman?? Shesh.
Oh, yes, and there was the time that I sent my (now-ex-) husband into the store for cat litter on his way home. We stayed on the cell phone chatting while he went in, got the cat litter, came out and headed home. He got home and realized he had been so busy venting about work that he walked right out of the store without paying for it! LOL
That story makes me LIVID. I posted it on facebook, too.
I saw this story on the news this morning. I would be raising hell if I were that woman! It's one thing to catch her in the parking lot and ask her to pay - which they didn't have to, she offered kindly when she realized - it's another thing to ARREST them and TAKE THEIR DAUGHTER!
At least Safeway apologized.
My mom had the idea to start letting my daughter snack on fruit snacks, while we grocery shopped. I was really not for it, but she started it one time and it just worked. It allows shopping without hassles. Anyway, my husband said, "well, you never know what can happen... so I wouldn't do that". lol After stories like this, uh yeah...
I feel bad for this woman. Especially since she said she'd pay for it. I mean, c'mon. Someone was having a bad day or something. Geez.
It's amazing the hell people will raise about stupid things. It was a sandwich. I'd be suing the asses off somebody for taking my kid away from me over a goddamn SANDWICH.
The title of this post is misleading. She was not arrested for eating the sandwich. She was arrested for shoplifting. none of it would have happened if she had paid for it. Everything that happened later directly stems from the action of shoplifting.
Some crimes such as murder, require intent, you have to mean to do the crime. Other lesser crimes such as shoplifting do not require intent. you do not have to enter the store with the intent to not pay for everything. You only have to leave the store without paying for one thing.
Safeway, did not take the daughter away, the cops did, because there was no one to take care of her. Safeway had no say in the removal of the kid whatsoever.
Going to the deli section, and ordering something such as a sandwich and eating it inside the store and then not paying for it, is one of the most common ways to shoplift at a grocery store, it happens so often, that most if not all stores have cameras pointed at the deli counter, so they can keep an eye on people that buy sandwiches and then walk around the store. On one of my mission trips, I stayed at the home of a guy who was district manager for Winn Dixie. While on that trip, he told me that his district would lose THOUSANDS of dollars every quarter from people eating food and not paying for it.
Shoplifting is a crime, some stores like wal-mart have a policy of always pressing charges, I have no problem with what Safeway did, the parents committed a crime, and Safeway acted within their rights to press charges for the crime committed.
Wow, that is just ridiculous! I can't believe they treated them that way, it isn't like they were trying to steal. People can be so ridiculous! And that poor kid! She must have been really frightened! Way to over react, Safeway. :\
Does the fact that she's pregnant really mean anything? Why do people use their pregnancy to solicit sorrow? If a non pregnant woman ate the sandwich would she be charged? Eating a sandwich has nothing to do with pregnancy. Recently in my home town there was a man who threatened to kill a 8 month pregnant woman. THAT deserved pregnancy attention, as he threatened to "kill her and her baby". But eating a sandwich? Who cares if she's pregnant, that doesn't make me feel sorry for her.
as a former grocery store cashier, I'm mad that she didn't pay for it before she gorged herself and then "forgot" to pay. Okay, it's a little over the top she was arrested but c'mon people. If you're going to EAT something pay for it BEFORE you do.
I'm a cashier, and people always hand me half-eaten bags of chips, candy, you name it. There's been a couple times they've almost walked out, but I'd either ask if they needed me to scan it or else they notice before they got too far. My supervisor doesn't freak out about it either. We'll joke about it, scan it, and let them go. No need to embarrass the hell out of them for something small. Everybody forgets things. They said they'd pay for it; Let it go.
this makes me so angry because we have people running around doing illegal drugs and raping and murdering people and they arrested a pregnant woman shopping with her family for forgetting to pay for a sandwich.
gotta love justice.
Are people complaing about her getting in trouble for breaking the law? Common sense would tell you not to eat in the store. How hard is it for her to eat before she leaves? Such ignorance.
It's stealing if you eat something without paying for it. Even if you supposedly INTEND to pay for it later, it's still stealing. I would never eat / drink something at a store without paying for it - I cannot believe how many trashy people on here are supporting this woman. She should at least be banned from that Safeway.
@raspberryjade@xanga - You mean arresting her for stealing? Yea, who cares about theft if it's a woman, amirite?
@ProudToBeAChristianFruitcake@xanga - Ever heard of having grace or forgiveness, especially when the guilty try to undo or fix what they have done? Why wouldn't they let her pay for the sandwich and be done with it? I'm sorry, but to me, your comment sounds very judgmental and harsh. And thank goodness you won't be my judge and jury come my turn at the pearly gates.
Did anyone here who is commending Safeway in this read the article, or did they just make their judgment call based on this blog author's synopsis?
I don't care if she was pregnant or not, I agree she should have paid first or ate before she went. Now, with that said, I have opened things in the store prior to purchase. But it is not a sandwich or anything that can be consumed and then "hidden." I let my son have a bag of goldfish while we shop. I let the cashier know it is an opened bag (so not to spill it everywhere) and no one has ever said anything or given me a dirty look. I've done this in Target and the commissary. My son has Autism and if he wants some "fish" to keep quiet so I can run my errands then damn it he can open a bag of fish in the store. He never even eats half and I always always pay for anything I open prior to reaching the register. The only time I've left the store with something that was unpaid for was a baby onesie that was on sale for $3 and I had both my son and newborn (at the time) and both were fussy or crying and totally didn't see it in the bottom of the cart half under my son. The cashier missed it as well. Did I go back in and pay? No. I had already packed my kids into the car and sure as hell wasn't taking crying/screaming 3 year old and newborn back into the store for a $3 shirt the cashier didn't see either. I felt bad, but shit happens. If it had been more I would have went back in.
@ProudToBeAChristianFruitcake@xanga - Yeah, but people sometimes do forget and they do make mistakes especially when it comes to eating in stores. It happens and that is why I agree with @sarahsmurfette@xanga - I would know because it has happened to me but I've never seen this kind of response unless the person purposely went in to shop lift and then try to walk out (and I have stories about it too....).
They may of committed a crime but the way it was handled was a bit over kill.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - The number one thing that shoplifters do, when they are caught, Is offer to pay for it, if they can beat being arrested, then they have more time out to keep stealing. This does not mean that all people that offer to pay for it, are shoplifters, but it blurs the line for honest people, that do make mistakes.
@Hinase@xanga - to you and Sarah, I have heard of grace, I am very familiar with the concept, but grace cannot always be done. Have you heard about the case where Toys R Us, was sued for discrimination, because the security guard doing random checks, stopped a black lady and not the white lady before and after the black one? Once you let a shoplifter go, you open yourself to lawsuits of discrimination, So you either have to prosecute everyone, or no one, to do otherwise would get you into trouble. in a perfect world, you would be able to show grace. But this is not a perfect world, it is a world where lawyers try everything in the book, to get the client off, and if they can show you have charged more blacks, or more women, or more pick a protected group, then you become the perp and the actual perp is the innocent victim of your discrimination.
Maybe next time they should just pay at the deli cashier if they intend to eat it right then and there instead of saving the wrapper to pay later and accidentally fogetting.
I have a personal policy of never eating anything before I pay for it, simply because I don't want to steal. If you haven't paid, it isn't yours.
However, I think this situation got completely overblown. The woman offered to pay when confronted. She shouldn't have been arrested or her child taken away by the cops.
Twice in my entire 24 years of life.
I sample grapes and cherries before I buy. I guess that's stealing.
The worst I have done (well my boyfriend) was open a box of kleenex cause he was having an allergic reaction and needed to blow his nose.. We paid for it though.. This really has nothing to do with her being pregnant.. She was stealing regardless and everyone will be treated equally in that situation. So many people steal from stores all the time and people are probably pissed about it happening so much.
@youngvan@xanga - "Maybe next time they should just pay at the deli cashier if they intend to eat it right then and there instead of saving the wrapper to pay later and accidentally fogetting."
You can't always do that, though. I work at a Deli counter and we're not allowed to take money. We don't have a cashier till there at all. People have to pay for all their purchases at the front of the store.