cheating at the grocery store - have you ever seen this? (tuna, fish)

[KittenSparkles]

I was in line at the grocery store and the man in front of me had about 5 different types of items in his basket. He took one of each and put it on the conveyor belt, and then left the rest in the cart. So for example, he had one bag of chips on the belt, and then several more of the exact same type in the cart.

When he got to the cashier, he told her that there was X number in the cart for each item. So she would take each item and scan it X times. As he said this, I looked down into his cart, and I noticed that he gave her a lower number than was actually in the cart. It was just one lower than the actual amount. So he ended up getting about 5 items for free.

I also happened to glance over as he scanned his card and saw that it was an EBT card (food stamps). (Just an observation, not a judgment).

He only ended up getting maybe $5-$7 dollars worth of free merchandise.

I felt somewhat awkward as I had just witnessed someone shoplift.

Have you ever seen something like this? What did you do?

[jim9251]

A thief is a thief. I've never seen this but to me it would be the same as shoplifting and I would say something.

[HappyFarm34]

Apparently, I'm not nosey enough to witness something like that in the check-out lane. Let say I have 10 cans of tuna. Usually, the cashier will scan each one or count them when scanning one to input the quantity on the register.

[KittenSparkles]

I found myself thinking that maybe this is a known "trick" ... I always put all my items up on the conveyor... but maybe this is a tactic to get a few free items - as long as you get a checker who won't make you pull everything out.

[Scooby Snacks]

Wow OP, you're incredibly observant to be counting every single thing the customer in front of you had, noting how many items of each product he told the cashier he had, noting a discrepancy of one of each type of item among all the items the customer really had in the cart and how many items he told the cashier he had, observing how he paid for his groceries, then adding up how many $$$ in groceries this customer supposedly shoplifted. I'm smelling something fishy, and it's not just the groceries in the shopping carts

[Praline]

I don't understand why you were so interested in HIS transactions in the first place.

[thatguydownsouth]

The recent comments on here are perfect examples of some observations that Ive been noting lately on forums. There is some kind of subset of people who, when presented with a topic, will take a stance against the author of said topic regardless of said topic's credibility. In other words no matter what you say, x percentage of the population will disagree with you. For instance the author of this post points out that they witnessed shoplifting, and in response 3 people insinuated that something was wrong with the observer rather than the shoplifting in question. Its truly fascinating.

[shh1313]

Agreed ^^^
I also notice everything too, I don't have my eyes glued to my phone..

[arleigh]

Those that shift blame might them self be responsible for the same things.

[greyhorsewoman]

How many of the SAME chip bags could he have had that he left in the cart, that a casual glance by the clerk wouldn't have determined how many there were? 10, 20? Otherwise, it would be quite obvious if you said you had 3 and there were 4.

It's difficult for me to believe that the clerk would be so unobservant as to not notice a count difference unless there was a LARGE number of the same product, something people on food stamps are not generally doing on the limited funds issued to them.