This blog post isn’t totally about food; maybe more about ethics but I just can’t help myself….I really want to hear some other peoples ideas. On Sunday the FH and I were at the grocery store and I totally saw a guy stealing food. At first I was shocked and then I was very intrigued; I wondered, “is he homeless, is he starving, does he get a rush from sticking oranges in his pockets?” and I guess that is the other thing about it…he wasn’t stealing Doritos or Beer, he was stealing healthy food. I know I saw him put a protein shake, an orange and a banana in his pockets. My internal dialogue, “should I tell on him, why is it my place to rat him out, what if he is starving and really needs this food?” He was very “good” at it; I don’t think anyone saw him but me (and then the FH after I told him) yeah these are my detective skills coming out. As we were paying he just strolled out of the grocery and when we were headed to the parking lot we saw him on a bike, cycling away…Now 2 days removed I am still not sure what I think about this. He did look like he needed a shave and his clothes were very ratty, but I am not convinced he couldn’t afford the food. Also I don’t know why I am “justifying” his stealing because starving is not a shop lifting excuse…obviously, stealing is wrong and he shouldn’t have been doing it, but what if he really was starving? Should I have told on him (I know it’s like I’m in 3rd grade), should I have offered to help him? Am I absolutely ridiculous for still thinking about this 2 days later? Well let’s hear it…what would you have done? Why? And feel free to tell me I am crazy for thinking about this…I don’t know why I was so intrigued in the first place, its sort of like Sister Wives, I don’t know why I couldn’t stop watching but I just couldn’t…
Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey
i think i would have done nothing. but, i think something i could have done is tell the cashier what i saw and offer to pay for whatever was taken.
ReplyDeleteI probably would have done just what you did - nothing. I know it sounds terrible but if he needed the food I couldn't bring myself to say anything to the store. The thought of anyone going hungry just makes me so sad. :(
ReplyDeletei really don’t know what i would have done. probably the same as you-or maybe offered to buy him a few things? or point him in the direction of the grocery store job applications :) i kid, i kid… :):)
ReplyDeletewow that's a tough one. I would love to believe that the grocery store knows about it but they let him get away with it. If there was some way for me to offer him a grocery store gift card (or cash, if I ever carried any) I probably would have. I don't know how I would go about it though.
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