Safeway groceries are horrible people.

Jade_Butterfly

That is insane. . . I can't even count how many times I have given my daughter something to snack on or drink in the store and paid for it on the way out. . Geesh. . Sounds like someone was on a powertrip to even be pointing that out.. Gosh. Some people just need to seriously get a life~!:frown:

JoyousRen

it is theft, but they could have charged her without going to such extremes! i don't understand how that is ok..

The store isn't responsible to police procedure. The article says "A police spokeswoman said it was procedure to call Child Welfare Services if a child is present when both parents are arrested." It;s not like the store manager did it.

inskydiamonds

it is theft, but they could have charged her without going to such extremes! i don't understand how that is ok..

The store isn't responsible to police procedure. The article says "A police spokeswoman said it was procedure to call Child Welfare Services if a child is present when both parents are arrested." It;s not like the store manager did it.

Where else is the child supposed to go if both parents were arrested? I don't understand people being upset about CPS being called. Were they supposed to just leave the child there in the store?

sarah_ep

My mom used to do this, and I have seen others do it. This was in the commissary though, and it was not a sandwich, usually just a granola bar out of a box of granola bars.

I do remember seeing it rarely in HEB's, once again, a couple of crackers out of a box of crackers that were put back into the cart.

They did not pay and left, this is shoplifting. Though it was harsh, it was within Safeway's rights.

_Timmeh_

This was clearly an innocent mistake, and shoplifting was obviously not the intention. I mean, 5 dollars for a sandwich? Sure, Safeway should have stopped them and made them pay, but I think the manager probably is overpcompensating for his little penis and was overzealous in how he handled it. He should have just made them pay after talking with them and realizing it was an honest mistake.

How would he have known? People shoplift candy bars and grapes and olives and whatever. How would you (or the manager, more to the point) know that it was an honest mistake?

Uhh they took the sammich wrappers with them to the register. Which.....I think has been pointed out.

infamousmk

This was clearly an innocent mistake, and shoplifting was obviously not the intention. I mean, 5 dollars for a sandwich? Sure, Safeway should have stopped them and made them pay, but I think the manager probably is overpcompensating for his little penis and was overzealous in how he handled it. He should have just made them pay after talking with them and realizing it was an honest mistake.

How would he have known? People shoplift candy bars and grapes and olives and whatever. How would you (or the manager, more to the point) know that it was an honest mistake?

After questioning, it's not exactly difficult to tell if they were intending on it or not. It's a sandwich for f*cks sake. I don't think you're going to have the highest class of thieves who have perfected the art of lying trying to wiggle their way out of stealing a sandwich, especially when they were willing to pay for it because it was a mistake. This was clearly a case of poor judgement on the manager's end. He should have just made them pay for the sandwich. Now, this $5 sandwich wasted a lot of time, tax payer dollars, and made Safeway look bad in the long run with negative publicity.

It's quite possible that Safeway store policy requires that police are called for all incidences of suspected and/or attempted theft. Even a hardened thief will say they forgot to pay if caught ... The manager's hands could have been tied in corporate procedure that required him to call the police, and whatever happened with arrests and CPS are out of the store's hands at that point.

I see your point, but I still think there are just too many facts and details left out of the story for us to decide it was a waste of time, energy, and money.

rml_16

This was clearly an innocent mistake, and shoplifting was obviously not the intention. I mean, 5 dollars for a sandwich? Sure, Safeway should have stopped them and made them pay, but I think the manager probably is overpcompensating for his little penis and was overzealous in how he handled it. He should have just made them pay after talking with them and realizing it was an honest mistake.

How would he have known? People shoplift candy bars and grapes and olives and whatever. How would you (or the manager, more to the point) know that it was an honest mistake?

Perhaps it was after talking to them that he decided it wasn't an "honest mistake." Sometimes, it's clear when people are lying. Maybe they were, maybe they weren't. I wasn't there.

As for being on a high horse, yes, we've all forgotten to pay for things. And if I got stopped leaving a store with something I didn't pay for, intentionally or not, the store would be within its rights to press charges. No one is on a high horse, just pointing out that she broke a law and is paying the consequences.

As for Lindsay Lohan, she's in jail right now, isn't she? I know she was recently for violating parole that she was on for -- what was that? Oh yeah, SHOPLIFTING!

Sublimely_Self_Righteousreused

This was clearly an innocent mistake, and shoplifting was obviously not the intention. I mean, 5 dollars for a sandwich? Sure, Safeway should have stopped them and made them pay, but I think the manager probably is overpcompensating for his little penis and was overzealous in how he handled it. He should have just made them pay after talking with them and realizing it was an honest mistake.

How would he have known? People shoplift candy bars and grapes and olives and whatever. How would you (or the manager, more to the point) know that it was an honest mistake?

After questioning, it's not exactly difficult to tell if they were intending on it or not. It's a sandwich for f*cks sake. I don't think you're going to have the highest class of thieves who have perfected the art of lying trying to wiggle their way out of stealing a sandwich, especially when they were willing to pay for it because it was a mistake. This was clearly a case of poor judgement on the manager's end. He should have just made them pay for the sandwich. Now, this $5 sandwich wasted a lot of time, tax payer dollars, and made Safeway look bad in the long run with negative publicity.

It's quite possible that Safeway store policy requires that police are called for all incidences of suspected and/or attempted theft. Even a hardened thief will say they forgot to pay if caught ... The manager's hands could have been tied in corporate procedure that required him to call the police, and whatever happened with arrests and CPS are out of the store's hands at that point.

I see your point, but I still think there are just too many facts and details left out of the story for us to decide it was a waste of time, energy, and money.

Oh good point. They were probably a conspiring couple who planned out the perfect crime to steal that 5 dollar sandwich and get away with it. Their plan was to take the wrapper to the counter, but secretly not give it to the cashier. They are excellent theives. I applaud Safeway for this massive takedown, saving themselves no money (since they were willing to pay to begin with).

ItsCasey

LOL are you serious? I remember being a kid and my mom would open up something in the store and let me sit in the buggy and eat...people are a joke.

In this case, the woman ate some sandwiches while in the store and DID NOT PAY FOR THEM. That is theft.

it is theft, but they could have charged her without going to such extremes! i don't understand how that is ok..

She broke the law. Getting arrested is typically the consequence of being caught shoplifting. That's how it is "okay."

Was it entirely necessary? Given that the store is saying they may not have handled the situation very well, I would say no in this particular instance. As others have pointed out, if she and her husband intended to steal the sandwiches, I'm guessing they would've eaten them as they walked around the store and then left. But if you're going to drop $50 on other things, why would a $5 sandwich motivate you to break the law?

But I can see where some places of business feel compelled to have a zero tolerance policy. What if you had a pregnant white woman who was allowed to pay for the sandwiches and avoid being arrested, and the next week a black teenage boy does the same thing, only this time, the manager has him arrested? I think we all see where that can lead.

dragonbait0126

So here's a question the article doesn't answer. What happened to the $50 worth of groceries they DID pay for? Did they receive the groceries later? Did Safeway give them the money back? I would THINK that the store would have given them their money back for these groceries but if the customer was not refunded then they have had $50 stolen from them.

I'm honestly on the fence about the entire situation. While yes, they forgot to pay for the sandwich (which the article doesn't make clear if it's 1 or 2 because she picked up 2 but only ate 1 and then the article says they forgot to pay for the sandwiches), it appears they were clearly apologetic, they offered to pay for the sandwich, and the store refused. If they were going to attempt to steal with intention I would think they would try to take off with the card of groceries worth $50 and not a $2.50 sandwich. My other question is if the store noticed this, why wait until they get outside? Why not just stop them after the checkout before they get outside?

shovav91

Just read that she forgot to pay for it...
I ALWAYS pay for it!
Just hand them the wrapper at the checkout.
Are we just supposed to let people take food from the store? If they eat it inside, is it suddenly not stealing?

rml_16

So here's a question the article doesn't answer. What happened to the $50 worth of groceries they DID pay for? Did they receive the groceries later? Did Safeway give them the money back? I would THINK that the store would have given them their money back for these groceries but if the customer was not refunded then they have had $50 stolen from them.

I'm honestly on the fence about the entire situation. While yes, they forgot to pay for the sandwich (which the article doesn't make clear if it's 1 or 2 because she picked up 2 but only ate 1 and then the article says they forgot to pay for the sandwiches), it appears they were clearly apologetic, they offered to pay for the sandwich, and the store refused. If they were going to attempt to steal with intention I would think they would try to take off with the card of groceries worth $50 and not a $2.50 sandwich. My other question is if the store noticed this, why wait until they get outside? Why not just stop them after the checkout before they get outside?

Keep reading. They went back after making bail and got their groceries.

Ashley_Panda

As a pregnant girl, I'm the most forgetful person ever. Seriously. I forget that I've checked my mail and check it three or four times a day even if I've already brought it in. Should she have been arrested? No. Should they have just let her pay for it and go on? Yes. They handled the situation poorly. It's a damn sandwich it's not like she robbed a bank.

Sublimely_Self_Righteousreused

Jesus Christ, its like the whales at the buffets. You can't WAIT until you sit down to eat? You have to lick your grubby fingers WHILE you're scooping food that we are all going to scoop too? Go HOME and be a pig, don't make me watch you. Wait 2.5 minutes to go sit at your table and eat your food.

Really? You can't WAIT until you LEAVE the store to stuff food in your face?

All people who do that should be arrested.

Humans are gross.

I really just came here to see how groceries can be horrible people.....but then I got all infuriated like.

I KNOW!! I CAN'T BELIEVE HUMANS POOP TOO!! EWWWWWW I'M GLAD WE AREN'T HUMAN!

dragonbait0126

Keep reading. They went back after making bail and got their groceries.

Got it! Thanks. Totally missed that sentence. I still don't understand why no one pointed it out to them before they left the store. AND who noticed they didn't pay for it? Did the cashier see the wrapper in the cart and not say anything? Obviously the sensors didn't go off or they wouldn't have made it out of the store so someone noticed it in the store and never said anything. I'm paranoid about checking my cart because I've left something on the bottom and forgotten about it. Thankfully, I caught myself before leaving the store but I can see how it could happen.

EmpressOfJudgment

I'm always a little disgusted by people eating in the grocery store. Seriously? You can't wait 15 minutes til you pay for that *kitten*? I think it's trashy. But I'm a judgmental princess.

Jade_Butterfly

This was clearly an innocent mistake, and shoplifting was obviously not the intention. I mean, 5 dollars for a sandwich? Sure, Safeway should have stopped them and made them pay, but I think the manager probably is overpcompensating for his little penis and was overzealous in how he handled it. He should have just made them pay after talking with them and realizing it was an honest mistake.

Love this take on it. . . That's what I thought too. . Total powertrippin~

_Timmeh_

So here's a question the article doesn't answer. What happened to the $50 worth of groceries they DID pay for? Did they receive the groceries later? Did Safeway give them the money back? I would THINK that the store would have given them their money back for these groceries but if the customer was not refunded then they have had $50 stolen from them.

I'm honestly on the fence about the entire situation. While yes, they forgot to pay for the sandwich (which the article doesn't make clear if it's 1 or 2 because she picked up 2 but only ate 1 and then the article says they forgot to pay for the sandwiches), it appears they were clearly apologetic, they offered to pay for the sandwich, and the store refused. If they were going to attempt to steal with intention I would think they would try to take off with the card of groceries worth $50 and not a $2.50 sandwich. My other question is if the store noticed this, why wait until they get outside? Why not just stop them after the checkout before they get outside?

Keep reading. They went back after making bail and got their groceries.

Surprised Safeway even let them in, they've been banned from Safeway for a year.