I think I saw an elderly woman stealing in the supermarket

Augmerson

I was going for vacuum cleaner bags and started wandering around the Tesco in our town, it's huge. I don't normally like Tesco but I couldn't find our type of vacuum cleaner bags anywhere else. Anyway I decided to get Tuna as well and on the aisle I came across an elderly woman. She had a handbag and was dropping cans of something into it, I just had turned the corner and we both locked eyes. She looked kind of sheepish. I just kept walking. There was no one else on that aisle.

Tbh, I don't know if she was stealing. Maybe she was just putting her shopping into that bag and on the way out she'd pay for it all. I see people do that sometimes, but usually not something that's a handbag. It was just the look she gave me, a mix between surprise and fear. There was something about it. If she was relaxed and had nothing to worry about I doubt she would have looked at me that way.

I got thinking about it on the way home. Was she stealing? Is it any of my business if she does? And then I got thinking, jesus what if she is broke and has to steal? That's a sad scenario. Elderly woman forced to steal to get by. I've heard of the elderly eating cat or dog food, I always thought it was an Urban Myth kind of thing. I'd ****ing hate to think of my Dad or anyone in my family having to do something like that to get by. I'd hate to think of anyone in their golden years having to do something like that.

What do you think, should I have said something to her? To security? Is it really wrong of me to come to this assumption that the woman was breaking the law without definite proof? Is it any of my business?

solomafioso

Beat her to death with her own shoes.

uch

I doubt if Tesco will miss a tin of Beans

OldNotWIse

Careful or you'll end up an accessory :P

McDermotX

Attention-seeking. All the oldies are like that. I'm not one to generalize, but the whole lot of 'em are like that.

Ihatecuddles

Maybe she murdered someone decades ago and is constantly walking around looking guilty??

TonyStark

Augmerson wrote: »

I was going for vacuum cleaner bags and started wandering around the Tesco in our town, it's huge. I don't normally like Tesco but I couldn't find our type of vacuum cleaner bags anywhere else. Anyway I decided to get Tuna as well and on the aisle I came across an elderly woman. She had a handbag and was dropping cans of something into it, I just had turned the corner and we both locked eyes. She looked kind of sheepish. I just kept walking. There was no one else on that aisle.

Tbh, I don't know if she was stealing. Maybe she was just putting her shopping into that bag and on the way out she'd pay for it all. I see people do that sometimes, but usually not something that's a handbag. It was just the look she gave me, a mix between surprise and fear. There was something about it. If she was relaxed and had nothing to worry about I doubt she would have looked at me that way.

I got thinking about it on the way home. Was she stealing? Is it any of my business if she does? And then I got thinking, jesus what if she is broke and has to steal? That's a sad scenario. Elderly woman forced to steal to get by. I've heard of the elderly eating cat or dog food, I always thought it was an Urban Myth kind of thing. I'd ****ing hate to think of my Dad or anyone in my family having to do something like that to get by. I'd hate to think of anyone in their golden years having to do something like that.

What do you think, should I have said something to her? To security? Is it really wrong of me to come to this assumption that the woman was breaking the law without definite proof? Is it any of my business?

Personally I would have just eyed up what she bought and then got some more of it and paid for it and quietly pushed the shopping bag into her hand and told her to look after herself and maybe talk to somebody and that if it were store security then they might not be as nice about it.

NewCorkLad

Are you sure she wasnt a ghost

Mongarra

I don't like Tesco either. Let her work away.

You don't know she wasn't going to pay for them, so security can't accuse her of stealing while she's still in the shop.

With the rising cost of heating and all services, I'd be surprised if old people on fixed incomes aren't driven to this sort of thing so they can eat. It's heartbreaking, and I'd be desperately upset if it was my granny.

OldNotWIse

Augmerson wrote: »

I was going for vacuum cleaner bags and started wandering around the Tesco in our town, it's huge. I don't normally like Tesco but I couldn't find our type of vacuum cleaner bags anywhere else. Anyway I decided to get Tuna as well and on the aisle I came across an elderly woman. She had a handbag and was dropping cans of something into it, I just had turned the corner and we both locked eyes. She looked kind of sheepish. I just kept walking. There was no one else on that aisle.

Tbh, I don't know if she was stealing. Maybe she was just putting her shopping into that bag and on the way out she'd pay for it all. I see people do that sometimes, but usually not something that's a handbag. It was just the look she gave me, a mix between surprise and fear. There was something about it. If she was relaxed and had nothing to worry about I doubt she would have looked at me that way.

I got thinking about it on the way home. Was she stealing? Is it any of my business if she does? And then I got thinking, jesus what if she is broke and has to steal? That's a sad scenario. Elderly woman forced to steal to get by. I've heard of the elderly eating cat or dog food, I always thought it was an Urban Myth kind of thing. I'd ****ing hate to think of my Dad or anyone in my family having to do something like that to get by. I'd hate to think of anyone in their golden years having to do something like that.

What do you think, should I have said something to her? To security? Is it really wrong of me to come to this assumption that the woman was breaking the law without definite proof? Is it any of my business?

There's no shame in shopping at Tesco. :P

The_Pretender

Ah, Tesco are cnuts anyway.

If you see her again tell her you you'll keep sketch if she gives you a cut of it.

You would be surprised at what goes on in supermarkets a manager in Tesco was telling me of catching people opening bottles of alcohol and having a quick swing a putting the bottle back( think it was wine but not sure )

NewCorkLad

TonyStark wrote: »

Personally I would have just eyed up what she bought and then got some more of it and paid for it and quietly pushed the shopping bag into her hand and told her to look after herself and maybe talk to somebody and that if it were store security then they might not be as nice about it.

Im pretty sure you would probably berightly F****D out of it if you tried that. Many elderly women use their bags as their shopping bags, its a major assumption to say she is broke and going robbing a few cans.

uch

mariaalice wrote: »

You would be surprised at what goes on in supermarkets a manager in Tesco was telling me of catching people opening bottles of alcohol and having a quick swing a putting the bottle back( think it was wine but not sure )

Deadly, I have to try this one

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

Naimless

The poor woman probably hasn't a penny to rub together due to enda and Co robbing the poor to pay the banks and the Germans

Lapin

You have her in the palm of your hand now OP.

Tell her you'll say nothing if she picks up a few bits for yourself every week from here on.

Start small. Tell her you just want a couple of tins of tuna next week but slowly, over the course of a three month period, get her to work her way up to acquiring a 72" Flat Screen HD TV etc.

Effects

Augmerson wrote: »

I've heard of the elderly eating cat or dog food, I always thought it was an Urban Myth kind of thing.

If they eat cat or dog food then it's by choice. You can get cheaper food than cat or dog food to eat.

Kenny Logins

I have one question: Did they have the right vacuum bags?

Oink

On the one hand, stealing is stealing. On the other hand, if the guards are too busy to even log the theft of my bike into their system, maybe you did them a favour by not bothering them about a pensioner allegedly possibly about to steal some food.

anncoates

Kleptogenarian.

Necro

Augmerson wrote: »

I was going for vacuum cleaner bags and started wandering around the Tesco in our town, it's huge. I don't normally like Tesco but I couldn't find our type of vacuum cleaner bags anywhere else. Anyway I decided to get Tuna as well and on the aisle I came across an elderly woman. She had a handbag and was dropping cans of something into it, I just had turned the corner and we both locked eyes. She looked kind of sheepish. I just kept walking. There was no one else on that aisle.

Tbh, I don't know if she was stealing. Maybe she was just putting her shopping into that bag and on the way out she'd pay for it all. I see people do that sometimes, but usually not something that's a handbag. It was just the look she gave me, a mix between surprise and fear. There was something about it. If she was relaxed and had nothing to worry about I doubt she would have looked at me that way.

I got thinking about it on the way home. Was she stealing? Is it any of my business if she does? And then I got thinking, jesus what if she is broke and has to steal? That's a sad scenario. Elderly woman forced to steal to get by. I've heard of the elderly eating cat or dog food, I always thought it was an Urban Myth kind of thing. I'd ****ing hate to think of my Dad or anyone in my family having to do something like that to get by. I'd hate to think of anyone in their golden years having to do something like that.

What do you think, should I have said something to her? To security? Is it really wrong of me to come to this assumption that the woman was breaking the law without definite proof? Is it any of my business?

That's actually a lot more common than you'd think. I know of two of the local shops where I live who were taken for an entire week's worth of groceries on several occasions by some wily ould wans.

One little old man had a particularly sly way of doing it, he'd take most of his shopping into the trolley area of the shop, pick out four or five items, pay for them and saunter out with the full trolley. Criminal mastermind!

FTA69

Elderly women are one of the most prolific group of shoplifters according to a few security guards I know.

She could possibly have some mild dementia maybe.

I think I prefer to think that than think of her reduced to stealing to feed herself. Something terrible has gone wrong if that's the case.

tayto lover

I heard a neighbour asking the butcher for a few bones for the dog and I know for a fact she has no dog.

Valetta

Naimless wrote: »

The poor woman probably hasn't a penny to rub together due to enda and Co robbing the poor to pay the banks and the Germans

I tried rubbing a penny together but found that one of my fingers was both the same so it didn't work.

And who goes shopping for just hoover bags and tuna?

Augmerson

Kenny Logins wrote: »

I have one question: Did they have the right vacuum bags?

No, had to get these generic fit any size ones. Seem to be doing the trick though.

beks101

I remember when I was on J1 in San Diego many moons ago I was working at some sh1tty little burrito bar in the mall, and there was a basket full of freshly baked cookies right beside the till.

One day an old homeless woman came along, asked me if we sold the hot sauce bottles individually (designed, I'm sure, to get my young green head to feck off to the back to ask the manager) and when I came back she was frantically shovelling the basket full of cookies into her holdall bag.

I distinctly remember that moment of walking back to the counter and she looked up, our eyes locked, she froze, looked down, pulled one of the cookies out of her bag and offered it up to me.

In that instant I just decided, there but for the grace of god, so just smiled at her and told her to get lost. I hoped to hell she wasn't about to try to trade them off for crack somewhere and was really genuinely hungry, but sure I'll never know.

I forgot what the point of this post was. Maybe thank jesus it wasn't yourself stuck smuggling cans into your purse for whatever reason and hopefully you'll never be in that predicament. I'd never condone thievery, it's vile and criminal behaviour, but think sometimes there's a difference between your run-of-the-mill scumbag doing it because he/she can and they think nothing of it or its victims, and someone so down on their luck that they have to set aside their pride and self-respect in order to survive.

OP made me quite sad.

anncoates

FTA69 wrote: »

Elderly women are one of the most prolific group of shoplifters according to a few security guards I know.

To be fair you stop doing it as a kid because you realize you'll get caught and possibly get a record but at her age you're unlikely to get into trouble so you can go back to enjoying it.

c_man

Don't be a grass OP!

kneemos

What does "sheepish"look like?

TheBeardedLady

Augmerson wrote: »

What do you think, should I have said something to her? To security? Is it really wrong of me to come to this assumption that the woman was breaking the law without definite proof? Is it any of my business?

If she was stealing, I'd personally say nothing. Stealing snazzy stuff is one thing but someone stealing canned goods (which are rarely snazzy) and food is another thing completely.

My 6th class teacher told us sometimes stealing wasn't wrong; that it wasn't always so black and white and if it was a matter of survival then to go for it. That always stuck with me although I've never had to steal to survive, thank god.


I used to work in a supermarket on the tills as a teen and security and ourselves would turn a blind eye to the auld ones who'd steal, which was a regular enough occurrence. They were absolutely rubbish at it though - one woman would walk out with a massive hump on her back with a load of stuff stuffed up there. The only thing I wanted to say to her was to be a bit more subtle about it in case the boss caught us blatantly ignoring her but obviously we didn't want to embarrass her.

catallus

What kind of tuna did you buy, OP?

endacl

kneemos wrote: »

What does "sheepish"look like?

Woolly.

RustyNut

kneemos wrote: »

What does "sheepish"look like?

This is what the bold ones look like...

Irish Guitarist

When I was about six or seven years old I was in the supermarket waiting for my mother to pay for her shopping and was passing the time by looking at things on shelves. I picked up one of those pens with four different colours and started looking at it. An old bag elderly lady came up and and started shouting at me "ARE YOU GOING TO BUY THAT?". I said "I'm just looking at it". She shouted at me some more "PUT IT DOWN".

I really hope that was the woman you saw. Probably not though because she has most likely died of old age or has been stabbed by a child with a pen by now.

Irish Guitarist

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

When I was about six or seven years old I was in the supermarket waiting for my mother to pay for her shopping and was passing the time by looking at things on shelves. I picked up one of those pens with four different colours and started looking at it. An old bag elderly lady came up and and started shouting at me "ARE YOU GOING TO BUY THAT?". I said "I'm just looking at it". She shouted at me some more "PUT IT DOWN".

I really hope that was the woman you saw. Probably not though because she has most likely died of old age or has been stabbed by a child with a pen by now.

That's a long, long time to hold a grudge.

And what a revenge fantasy. Totally proportional.

kumate_champ07

this is kind of ageist , people dont become soft&cuddly with old age, why is it not acceptable for old people to engage in criminal activities?!

GHOST MGG

In our wonderful banana republic in 2014 the poor old dear would be likely locked up and the key thrown away.
Yet the scumbag drug dealers and feral kid gangs are allowed to roam the streets with no penalty.
I asked a local guard in my area why there were scumbags openly drug dealing in the local park and nothing being done about it..
he replied with "ah sure we know who they are"..typical gob****e answer to a serious question,geldof was right!

TheBeardedLady

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

this is kind of ageist , people dont become soft&cuddly with old age, why is it not acceptable for old people to engage in criminal activities?!

They become more vulnerable and less physically (and sometimes mentally) able and if they're in a situation where they can't feed themselves, they can't exactly go out and get a job, can they?

Iranoutofideas

Having worked in retail for years I have seen it all. People of all ages and backgrounds steal. Some of them would amaze you with the way they will justify what they do.

I suppose the most memorable one was the 80 year old stuffing as many lollipops as she could into her coat pocket...

...then there was the female garda putting a copy of Hello inside her jacket.

diograis

GHOST MGG wrote: »

In our wonderful banana republic in 2014 the poor old dear would be likely locked up and the key thrown away.
Yet the scumbag drug dealers and feral kid gangs are allowed to roam the streets with no penalty.
I asked a local guard in my area why there were scumbags openly drug dealing in the local park and nothing being done about it..
he replied with "ah sure we know who they are"..typical gob****e answer to a serious question,geldof was right!

Rabble rabble rabble. You didn't even mention the banks ffs

TheBeardedLady

GHOST MGG wrote: »

In our wonderful banana republic in 2014 the poor old dear would be likely locked up and the key thrown away.

You genuinely believe that?

freshpopcorn

She might have only wanted a few things and couldn't be bothered to carry them.

Birroc

You have no idea how much is robbed from supermarkets every week. Unbelievable. One big store might be losing 10k-20k in a typical week! They cant or wont do anything about it for various reasons including legal costs. It is priced in.
The self service checkouts are now a huge drain - people are pretending steak is loose fruit/veg and paying by the weight rather than showing the barcode.

Bonny23

OP, I would focus on what I was there for and leave the old woman be, it's between her and Tesco.

Perhaps she was going to pay for them she just preferred her bag to the provided shopping baskets and when she saw you she realized you would think she was stealing because she was using her bag.That's speculation of course - like suggesting she may have been stealing, not enough facts to do anything really.

Besides supposing she was stealing do you really want to be the one who alerts security and causes an old woman (who might be too poor to buy the items) to be publicly humiliated in order to aid Tesco?

newmug

Pray for her. It never hurt anyone.

Santa Cruz

Augmerson wrote: »

I was going for vacuum cleaner bags and started wandering around the Tesco in our town, it's huge. I don't normally like Tesco but I couldn't find our type of vacuum cleaner bags anywhere else. Anyway I decided to get Tuna as well and on the aisle I came across an elderly woman. She had a handbag and was dropping cans of something into it, I just had turned the corner and we both locked eyes. She looked kind of sheepish. I just kept walking. There was no one else on that aisle.

Tbh, I don't know if she was stealing. Maybe she was just putting her shopping into that bag and on the way out she'd pay for it all. I see people do that sometimes, but usually not something that's a handbag. It was just the look she gave me, a mix between surprise and fear. There was something about it. If she was relaxed and had nothing to worry about I doubt she would have looked at me that way.

I got thinking about it on the way home. Was she stealing? Is it any of my business if she does? And then I got thinking, jesus what if she is broke and has to steal? That's a sad scenario. Elderly woman forced to steal to get by. I've heard of the elderly eating cat or dog food, I always thought it was an Urban Myth kind of thing. I'd ****ing hate to think of my Dad or anyone in my family having to do something like that to get by. I'd hate to think of anyone in their golden years having to do something like that.

What do you think, should I have said something to her? To security? Is it really wrong of me to come to this assumption that the woman was breaking the law without definite proof? Is it any of my business?

I know one O.A.P. that swipes a tray of meat every Friday. Nothing else just a nice bit of steak or chicken breasts. Then she lines up at the checkout with all her other shopping and is all friendly with the cashier handing in tokens etc.

Guy:Incognito

TonyStark wrote: »

Personally I would have just eyed up what she bought and then got some more of it and paid for it and quietly pushed the shopping bag into her hand and told her to look after herself and maybe talk to somebody and that if it were store security then they might not be as nice about it.

You know old people can be thieving scumbags too yeah? They aren't all nice sweet granny's off TV programs. All the people that are scumbags through their lives don't suddenly become nice and law abiding once the pension starts rolling in.

gctest50

newmug wrote: »

Pray for her. It never hurt anyone.

???

its no wonder nothing gets done

it never hurt anyone ? ask yer man they crucified - were still hearing about it