I think I saw an elderly woman stealing in the supermarket

Augmerson · 04-09-2014 04:53PM #1

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 · 04-09-2014 04:55PM

Beat her to death with her own shoes.

uch · 04-09-2014 04:56PM

I doubt if Tesco will miss a tin of Beans

OldNotWIse · 04-09-2014 04:57PM

Careful or you'll end up an accessory :P

McDermotX · 04-09-2014 04:57PM

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

Ihatecuddles · 04-09-2014 04:57PM

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

TonyStark · 04-09-2014 04:57PM

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 · 04-09-2014 04:57PM

Are you sure she wasnt a ghost

Mongarra · 04-09-2014 04:58PM

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

04-09-2014 04:58PM

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 · 04-09-2014 04:58PM

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 · 04-09-2014 05:00PM

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.

04-09-2014 05:00PM

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 · 04-09-2014 05:01PM

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 · 04-09-2014 05:01PM

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 · 04-09-2014 05:01PM

This post has been deleted.

Naimless · 04-09-2014 05:01PM

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 · 04-09-2014 05:02PM

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 · 04-09-2014 05:04PM

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 · 04-09-2014 05:04PM

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

Oink · 04-09-2014 05:05PM

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 · 04-09-2014 05:05PM

Kleptogenarian.

Necro · 04-09-2014 05:07PM

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 · 04-09-2014 05:07PM

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

04-09-2014 05:08PM

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 · 04-09-2014 05:13PM

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 · 04-09-2014 05:15PM

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 · 04-09-2014 05:17PM

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 · 04-09-2014 05:18PM

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 · 04-09-2014 05:19PM

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 · 04-09-2014 07:22PM

Don't be a grass OP!

I think I saw an elderly woman stealing in the supermarket

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