Are you allowed to consume food from the supermarket before they pay for it?
I have a relative who has a habit of consuming food from the supermarket before they pay for it.
For example, while shopping, they can just happily open up the bottle and drink from it, or tear open the chips and eat it while still shopping in the supermarket.
When we reach the check out, they will pass the empty wrapper/ bottle to the cashier for them to scan.
Usually, the cashier will give a puzzled look when they received the empty wrapper, but they quickly realised what was going on and they proceed to scan it like it’s no big deal.
I told my relative a few times not to do that cos it’s considered stealing to me and it’s embarrassing. But they said it’s not cos they are going to pay for it (which they did).
So is it ok? Or I’m the odd one who thinks its wrong?
Netizens’ comments
- I’ve seen someone crack open a coke in the store and then pay for the can. Not the norm but I guess no issue if he pays for it. It’s not shoplifting until you leave the store with the item without paying.
- I did it once because I was really thirsty after exercising.
It was all fun and games until I reached the self check out and couldn’t check out the item because of the weight discrepancies LOL.
Lesson learned haha - It is not recommended, but i can understand how people can judge. It a gray area to be careful to tread in. I believe as long as the product is at least paid in the store in the same visit you should be fine. People can be really scummy, so i dont blame the initial reaction.
- The cashiers seem to have gotten used to this behavior. Bottom line is: as long as the customers pay for the items and don’t create scene for other customers, the cashiers confront such customers.
I personally don’t consume before paying for the items. - I’ve done this once in my life, it was at a supermarket after attending a gig and I was so thirsty I bought 3 bottles of water and gulped down 2 bottles while in the queue. Cashier didn’t bat an eyelid. I think doing it regularly is a bit pompous though… are you that hungry / thirsty that you can’t wait for a while? Hahah
- As a cashier myself, sometimes this behavior is just obscene especially to those who decide to tear the wrapper so that i cant scan the item and now ive gotta run the entire length of the store to get a new one just to scan only for me to run back and put it back in its original place all while the longest queue in history is waiting for you. Im genuinely tired from the interactions with soo many people and i have to run so u can pay? Call me selfish but we have a job to do and everyone is gonna be blaming us for having a slow queue.
Then theres those who buy something, take a bite/take a sip, dont like the taste and then demand for refund but thats another story. But for those who do that without paying first is even worse cos they think its still an item that can sell????? No your saliva is all over it and its unhygienic
Then on top of all that, customers will be rude and be like “CuSToMers ArE ALwaYs RiGht” pls we are humans too.