This is how Safeway supports our men in uniform!!!!!!

Good grief! I used to work at a place right next to the local Walmart. I would run into Walmart before going home to change for school sometimes and because stopping would mean not having enough time to eat at home, I'd get some popcorn shrimp at the deli. I'd then eat the shrimp while I shopped and pay for it on the way out. Granted, I never forgot to pay for it, but I never planned to leave the store without paying for it, either--not everyone who eats their food in the store is a thief. What a shame that there are so many people out there who think before they act and who are so quick to accuse other people.

 

I worked a holiday season at a Wally-World-Mart a while back, overnights while the store was closed (a rarity nowadays since they stay open 24/7). This one guy was working in the pet section, and picked up a sunflower seed, that's one seed, off the floor and stuck it in his mouth. The mini-boss came running out of the security room, hauled him to an office, and fired him.

One sunflower seed, picked off the floor.

 

One sunflower seed. Wow. What is the world coming to? I can understand the need for loss prevention, but the seed probably came from a bag that had been written off anyway--it's not as if the company was losing any money on a single seed or that he'd stolen a bag or broken open a bag to get one. That's as bad as not allowing someone to pay for something when the failure to pay was actually a mistake.

 

What does this have to do with supporting people in uniform? She wasn't wearing a uniform when they were arrested and the simple fact that someone was in the military does not automatically make them paragons of moral virtue.
Most companies have a zero tolerance attitude to anything they consider shoplifting. According to the law this was shoplifting since she didn't pay for the merchandise and technically it is not yours until you pay for it. This is why I teach my kids not to open things in the store because the things don't belong to them yet.
The days of people letting you just pay for stuff you "forget" to pay for are long gone because too many people have used the excuse "I forgot to pay for it" as an excuse when they get caught shoplifting.

 

I worked retail for a long timee DeeNeely and understand your point believe me. However, once in a while a manager has to use a bit of judgement and dare I say sense?
Like yourself I am not one to eat while in the store. I wait until it's paid for. I don't pluck a grape off of a bunch to "taste before buying" but a lot of people do and frankly it irritates me.
I suppose those people should all do some time to put them on the straight and narrow. You know people like the grandmother that's been doing it for 60 years or so. "We've been watching you ma'am, you've stolen 57 grapes in the past year".

These folks made a mistake and sure looks like they're going to pay for it. Safeway made a bigger mistake. They're really going to pay for it. They will lose sales even if it's only for a short period of time.

Common sense, to me anyway, would lean toward a bit of a judgement call, a lecture and receiving payment for said goods.

$5 and done deal. They're banned for a year as it is. Like they'd want to go back?

Food for thought.

 

...on a vaguely related note:

I saw this old guy on TV about 10 years ago or so talking about the old days before toilet paper was mass produced. He worked at some kind of fruit stand in a city, and they used to use paper under the fruits, or something like that. He recalled this one woman would take the paper off the fruits and other food, to use as toilet paper, and it upset him 'cause she was essentially stealing his property. One day he gave her a big wad of papers that had been used for prickly pears. She never stole any more papers lol