Arrest over unpaid sandwich stirs debate of eating items while shopping

[Tara]

Link~The highly-publicized story of a pregnant Honolulu mom who was arrested last week with her husband after she ate a sandwich in a Safeway store and forgot to pay, leading to the couple's 2-year-old daughter being taken away by Child Welfare Services, has sparked a national debate on the issue.

It also raised the question: Is it OK to consume food and beverages in the store before paying?

The woman in Hawaii who ate the sandwich has no problem with it.

"I didn't know it was such a taboo thing," said Nicole Leszczynski who was charged with fourth-degree theft, a petty misdemeanor, along with her husband, Marcin. The charges have since been dropped by Safeway. "Where I grew up in a small town it's not seen as stealing for sure."~

That was nice the company dropped the charges. I think they should have been given a chance to pay for the items before police were called.

[karenv]

Oh gosh...i always eat a few grapes in the store before i buy them......yikes

[Delissa]

I would never do that personally (I'm too high strung) and it drives me crazy when I am with someone who does lol, but I agree that they shouldn't have called the cops unless they really believed she came into the store to "steal" the sandwich. Glad they dropped the charges.

[Heather]

I don't do this much now, but when my kids were little there were many times I would open a box of Teddy Grahams or something. Of course they weren't going to eat the whole box so I wouldn't forget. I use to be known to open waters too. I'm glad they dropped the charges too and I agree they should have been offered the chance to pay. Kind of extreme to put the two year old through that!

[KellyMarie]

I don't open things and eat them in the store, but have opened a snack or drink for my grandkids...I just pay for it while I pay for everything else. Every now and then I will open a drink for myself...but I usually go up to the registers and just let someone know (I guess I am high strung too LOL) that I am opening it...and then they usually look at me like I am dork for telling them

[Heather]

Yeah some of the stores should probably thank me for opening the stuff back then so they didn't have to listen to a meltdown from my kids. j/k I always paid for mine when I paid for everything else, too.

[KellyMarie]

Love your avatar Heather!