You have got to be kidding me!!

[ksacres]

Well, I think a lot of opinion on this issue forms from our individual experiences. When I was growing up, our neighborhood grocery store had a soda fountain and no checkstand near it. You were expected to get a drink and enjoy it while shopping and pay for it when you checked out. It was designed to make the shopping process more enjoyable. And it worked. No one ran up to you and said OMG, YOU DIDN'T PAY FOR THAT SO DON'T TAKE A SIP!!! Intent people, intent. They also gave out a free cookie from the bakery if you asked for one. Small town values, pr, whatever you want to call it, it was danged effective.

So, I don't feel weird getting a drink and taking it through the store. I ALWAYS pay for it-just so I don't forget, I keep whatever it is right next to my purse so it's the first thing to get scanned. I care very much that people never think I would try to steal something. I'm a very honest person and I was raised to know the difference between right and wrong in very clear terms.

Case in point-back when I was a middle schooler, I had a little garden pool that I wanted to put goldfish in. I walked to Wal*Mart and purchased-with my own money-a dozen Comets. Now, bear in mind that it's about a forty minute walk there and back and that at the time Comets only cost $0.05 each, when I got home I had FOURTEEN goldfish. Did I go back and insist that I pay for the extra two?? You bet your behind I did. The looked at me like I was crazy when I explained what had happened. But they took my $0.11 cents and I went back home, happy to have paid for what I received. I could not have enjoyed the extra fish if I hadn't paid for them, they would have been a reminder of guilt rather than a source of pleasure, even though I'm not the one that put the extra fish in the bag.

So, long story short, I never take what isn't mine, and will go to seemingly stupid lengths to right any wrongs I see. But, yes, I will drink something while shopping. And PAY for it. So those of you saying that it's wrong to do, well, you didn't grow up as some others of us did. It's not the fact that she ate while shopping that is the issue here, it's that she didn't PAY for it. I don't usually eat while shopping, but if I were hungry enough I might do it.

But let's just be clear-I don't think PREGNANT people are above reproach just because they are pregnant. That's idiocy. Lots of women use pregnancy as a crutch, and I think it's disgusting. Lots of people use small children as a crutch and I think that's disgusting as well. People wouldn't be so outraged at this "treatment" if it had been a raggedy looking teenager with metal in their face. They would say "good for Safeway, right the wrongs" or something of that nature. Biologically we are programmed to be kinder to small things or pregnancy, it's a mechanism to keep us from killing them. It also makes some people incapable of making sound and fair judgement calls. And, let's be honest, if the worst thing that kid ever faces is 18 hours away from her parents with someone that has her best interests at heart, she's going to have a much easier life than most of us.

Did she do wrong, yes, in plain black and white terms, she did. That's clear, and most of us probably agree that she did wrong. Was it worth going to jail over, maybe. Why? Because of intent. We don't know because we weren't there. It doesn't matter if the item is a $0.05 goldfish or a $50,000 car, taking something that isn't yours is wrong. I'm a firm believer in the justice system, and that it will all work out in the end. I bet she never forgets to pay for a sandwich again.

 

[Chickie_Banana]

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She broke the law, whether it was accidental or not.

 

[buffalogal]

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She broke the law, whether it was accidental or not.

I'm not convinced it was accidental; it sounds like she has a habit of MOL grazing like a cow when she's "shopping". Read the second story; she mentions that she did this all the time wherever she was from in California. My guess; that it was a small town, she probably knew half the checkers at the local store who wouldn't think twice about a friend having a snack. If she was called on it, she would naturally offer to pay, but otherwise, free lunch.

As to whether or not they're deliberate, habitual thieves, or just stupid, the question you still don't see answered is where were the wrappers? I ran across one post that said one of the them was holding them *in their hand* and Oops! Forgot to mention them to the person checking them out, and another that said the wrappers were deliberately stuffed *under* the infant seat in the shopping cart. Either way, there was some reason security at Safeway detained them and called the cops; they felt there was clear evidence that they were stealing.

Safeway settled because it's easier to write off the $5.00 loss than deal with the bad publicity after she puckered up and squeezed out a few crocodile tears on TeeVee, quivering her lip while she "explained" how she was just MORTIFIED that she got caught shoplifting, er,um, making a simple mistake like "forgetting" to pay for the food they'd just eaten, not to mention how "traumatized" her daughter was. (sniff, sniffle, excuse me, it's just so emotional) There is something else I don't understand, if Mr And Mrs Pregnant were so starved they had to eat *right there in the store*, why aren't we reading about how she fed a sandwich to that toddler?

Yeah, I'm pretty negative, but then, I've known people who worked in management as well as store security and the stories you hear will leave you cynical about 90% of the "shoppers" who claim they "forgot to pay".

 

[chickened]

The things people will do to a store would amaze you. My stepmother worked in the shoe department in a large variety store, people would bring back shoes that were wore out, discontinued a year and a half ago and demand a refund because they did not last long enough. What really surprised me was the caliber of people that shoplifted, some were very well off people and respected people. How often do we hear of celebs getting busted for shoplifting?