Posted on 11/01/2011 8:26:21 AM PDT by Mat_Helm
HONOLULU (AP) — Nicole Leszczynski couldn't imagine that two chicken salad sandwiches would land her and her husband in jail and her 2-year-old daughter in state custody. But it happened five days ago, when the 30-weeks-pregnant woman forgot to pay for her snack while grocery shopping. "It was the most ridiculous chain of events that happened," she said while sobbing Monday. "It's still hard to believe what happened." Leszczynski, 28, and her husband Marcin, 33, were handcuffed, searched then released on $50 bail each. Their ordeal at the police station lasted a few hours, but their daughter Zofia spent the night away from her parents in a case that has sparked nationwide outrage and forced the Safeway supermarket chain to review the incident. The family had moved to an apartment near downtown Honolulu from California two weeks ago. Still settling in, they ventured out Wednesday to stock up on groceries, took the bus, got lost, and ended up at a Safeway supermarket. Famished, the former Air Force staff sergeant picked up the two sandwiches that together cost $5. She openly munched on one while they shopped, saving the wrapper to be scanned at the register later. But they forgot to pay for the sandwiches as they checked out with about $50 worth of groceries. "When the security guard questioned us, I was really embarrassed, I was horrified," she said. They were led upstairs, where the couple expected to get a lecture, pay for the sandwiches, and be allowed on their way. But store managers wouldn't allow them to pay for the sandwiches, she said. "I asked to talk to a manager and he said it was against their policy to pay for items that left the store," she said. "The security guard said we were being charged with shoplifting."
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Times are different...People are different.
Best answer posted yet. ROTFLMAO!
—’the world’ is so tainted at this point—
We made our move from Seattle to rural Kentucky a few months ago. We love it more every day we are here. Everyone is like family, even at Sam’s Club. It’s like we went back in time 50 years.
And it is not the rural aspect. We spent time in rural South Dakota and the people there were NOT friendly at all.
You've taken the common sense route... that would be my take too. That said, like others I resent being forced to pay more because stores allow crooks to steal...
a few grapes is understandable, as they are disgusting if rotten or sour...we recently had a bag of one day old peaches...externally they looked and felt perfect, but every single one was rotten to the core...i aint sayin we shouldve tried those first, but a few grapes ???
That includes people who "sample" fruit. You have absolutely no right whatsoever to eat in a grocery store, unless there's some lady in an apron and a cook's hat pushing samples on you. That's the difference between a grocery store and a restaurant.
One of the arguments was that people pull the grapes off and drop some of them on the floor.
Customer slips, store gets sued.
I had to believe them. When I was a kid my Dad slipped on a grape in a store and threw his knee out of place.
He wasn’t the suing kind because the store was on top of it.
Honoring a return is not the same as someone walking out without paying. Store management would have to be fools to believe they get customer goodwill by letting someone go out of the store without paying. The actual opposite is true of course: once the public knows they can walk out without paying why would anyone pay? All grocery stores have perpetual problems with shoplifters eating in stores - they call them “grazers”.
They get their chance before a judge to plead their innocence. Taking their “story” to the papers just proves them a___oles.
BTW - this is exactly what happened to Marge Simpson.
—Store management would have to be fools to believe they get customer goodwill by letting someone go out of the store without paying—
Well, I agree with that. On the other hand, stopping them on the way out or even in the parking lot and asking if they forgot to pay for something would be a reasonable thing to do. Not the arrest thing.
But it should be on a case by case basis. I would be shocked if they tried to charge me or my wife. But I would not blame them a bit if they charged some others that come to mind. Arresting someone is the nuclear option, and for a $5 sandwich it should be reserved for the more obvious shoplifting offenses. Even if it is only a pack of gum.
—They get their chance before a judge to plead their innocence. Taking their “story” to the papers just proves them a___oles.—
Actually, if it was as unjust as they are suggesting and it happened to me, I would be sorely tempted to do what they did. It’s the high road compared to keying the manager’s car.
It is a bit of a “fight fire with fire” type of thing.
—They get their chance before a judge to plead their innocence. Taking their “story” to the papers just proves them a___oles.—
I should add that I’ve had to deal with more than one guy in authority with serious “short guy” syndrom in my life. As I get older and cantankerous, I am less forgiving of it. Not that that is what is happening here, but we all seem to be falling back on our own life experiences in how we react to this story. :-D
She openly munched on one while they shopped, saving the wrapper to be scanned at the register later. But they forgot to pay for the sandwiches as they checked out with about $50 worth of groceries.
—
I know a lot of folk are sympathetic to the knucklehead parents ‘excuse’.. but the store is not there at their leisure nor is the security guard. My advice, move back to the mainland.
How many other times has she forgot to pay for stuff?
a cheap lesson for them .. the kid will get over it.
Common sense would keep me from munching down a sandwich that I have not yet paid for. I have brought back items because of expiration dates and told to go out and just grab another off the shelf but I always make sure I am telling someone what I am doing, and holding a receipt too.
I lived here when gas pumps were ‘pay first’, but housing development got rid of those and replaced them with red light and speed cameras.
Steal a $5 sandwich. Lose your child and go to jail.
Steal $12 million. You’re Jon Corzine.
Well, that shows what kind of person you are. Unless you actually believe they’re telling the truth, then you’re just a pigeon. Their pigeon.
How often do you think they pull this little scam? Once a month? Once every other week? Every weekend?
The thing I don't see people talking about is the kid spending the night in state custody at 2 years old. I pray nothing like this ever happens to me because I am not screwed on straight when it comes to my kids. I would seriously lose my mind and definitely make the situation WAYYyyyy worse if someone came to take my kids away. Just the thought of it gets me shaking. Perhaps I could maintain calm and gain understanding depending on how professional the officers were, but I can definitely see myself reacting VERY poorly in such a situation.
This sounds like the same “zero tolerance” (= zero judgment/zero common sense) policies that have been in our schools for a while now.
welcome to the bluegrass state, neighbor...home of beatiful horses and fast wimmin...wait, what ???
—Common sense would keep me from munching down a sandwich that I have not yet paid for.—
Common sense only keeps me from munching a sandwich I don’t intend to pay for.
That reminds me, did you know you can be detained for shoplifting even if you don’t leave the store? If you are caught hiding merchandise in your clothing, etc. they do not have to wait until you exit the store. That said, a person eating a sandwich is not hiding anything (except in his stomach) if the package is in clear view.
I’m with you on the cameras though. It’s a hobby of mine as well. It is why a person who somehow gets out of costco without his receipt being marked cannot return and get the same stuff and try to exit with it again.
I actually got a whole package of pictures at costco once that had not a single good shot. Since you don’t have to pay for them if you don’t want them, and I didn’t, I just tossed them in one of the trash bins in the food section. A day later I got a call from costco that someone had thrown away some of my pictures. I believe they saw me throw them away. It makes no sense that some employee was rifling through the trash.
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