Honolulu – Sandwich Arrest Stirs Debate Over Eating In Stores Before Paying

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    Photo illustrationHonolulu – It happens daily in supermarket and convenience stores nationwide — digging into a bag of chips while waiting in line, sampling a couple of grapes in the produce section, opening a bottle of milk to appease a crying child.

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    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.”

    Others are not so sure.

    The story generated a robust debate on Facebook and Yahoo in comments following stories on the theft. Some argued that it’s wrong to eat what you haven’t paid for, and that police did the proper thing in arresting them. Others said eating while shopping has become a perfectly acceptable practice. Many denounced the arrest as a heavy-handed response.

    At the Safeway where the Leszczynskis were arrested, Linda Mercado and her friend Christine Lutley didn’t get too far from the exit Wednesday before they began digging into their food purchases. Mercado polished off a package of sushi as she discussed her views on the issue.

    “Pay before you eat,” the 66-year-old Mercado said. “It’s bad manners.”

    However, Mercado acknowledged drinking beverages in the past while waiting in line.

    “I don’t walk around the store drinking it,” she explained. “By the time I’m done shopping I’m thirsty.”

    Shoppers Gerard and Ruth Viggayan said they consider eating before paying to be stealing.

    “If you want to eat it, you have to purchase it,” the 34-year-old Gerard said. “It’s not like Costco where you get free samples.”

    His wife was craving a bag of potato chips, but she said she would wait until they got to the car to open it. “If it looks good, we pay for it,” Ruth, 33, said, “and then eat.”

    Wahiawa resident Jadene Espinueva, 34, has consumed cookies, grapes and bottled water before paying. “Just as long as you’re going to pay for it and you’ve got the money, why not?” she said. “If I’m hungry or thirsty, yeah, I’m guilty of it. I don’t see what’s the big deal.”

    Eating before checking out has clearly become part of supermarket culture. From supermarkets to Costco handing out food samples in aisles, shoppers associate stores with being an acceptable place to munch, said Dana Alden, a marketing professor at the University of Hawaii’s business school and an expert in consumer psychology and branding.

    Alden said it wouldn’t be prudent customer relations for stores to crack down. He likened the acceptance of eating before paying to dropping a jar of peanut butter, but still not being forced to pay for it.

    Consumer behavior expert Debbie MacInnis, a marketing professor at the University of Southern California, said a trip to the grocery store is a familiar routine, and can be seen as a place where it’s acceptable to eat.

    “That creates a certain sense of it’s OK for me to do that because I’m hungry and I have every intention of paying for it,” she said. “From a psychology standpoint, it’s mine even though the formal transaction hasn’t transpired.”

    As for the 28-year-old Leszczynski, the former Air Force staff sergeant who is 30 weeks pregnant was feeling faint and famished after a long walk to the Safeway near downtown Honolulu and decided to eat a chicken salad sandwich while shopping and saved the wrapper to have it scanned at the register. But she and her husband forgot to pay for the sandwiches as they checked out with about $50 worth of groceries.

    When confronted by security, they offered to pay, but Honolulu police were called and the couple were arrested and booked. Their daughter Zofia was taken away. Leszczynski said she was embarrassed and horrified.

    They posted $50 bail each and were reunited with their daughter after an 18-hour separation.

    Honolulu police said it was routine procedure to call Child Welfare Services if a child is present when both parents are arrested.

    Safeway called Leszczynski on Tuesday and apologized for what she went through. The company also informed police the same day that it wouldn’t press charges.

    Safeway said management followed routine shoplifting procedure by contacting police, but the company regrets not foreseeing that doing so would cause a child to be separated from her parents.

    Safeway said it has no policy that prohibits consumption of merchandise in the stores, “but customers are expected to be able to identify and pay for the consumed merchandise before leaving.”

    Foodland Super Market Ltd., Hawaii’s largest locally owned grocer, prefers customers pay for items before consuming them to avoid confusion or appearance of theft, spokeswoman Sheryl Toda said.

    “However, we do understand that emergencies occur where a child or individual needs to consume a product immediately,” she said. “In those instances, we expect that wrappers or containers will be saved and presented to the cashier for payment before the customer leaves the store.”


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    55 Comments
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    SandraM
    SandraM
    12 years ago

    Arrest? Talk about going overboard – this cowboy mentality in the US Justice system needs to be revamped completely.

    This is too much.

    genmill
    genmill
    12 years ago

    Ok come on, serious difference between taking a sip of soda Or one cookie out of a package and eating a whole item and walking out without paying for it.
    If they allow that then every bum will do it and if caught say “oh I’m sorry, did I forget to pay for that?”

    sissel613
    sissel613
    12 years ago

    What a stupid bunch of people working in that store. They can clearly see the woman was very pregnant. Anyone with any common sense could have seen why she ate the sandwich. All they needed to do was remind her to pay for it–not arrest her and take her little girl into custody. I myself am a diabetic –this means that even though I watch when and where I eat to keep my blood sugar on level, my blood sugar CAN drop and I would need to drink some juice or eat a piece of chocolate or such to bring the blood sugar back up. I have never forgotten to pay for this at the checkout of our local shoprite. No one has ever made a comment that first you pay and then you eat. Sometimes, in certain circumstances these things have to be overlooked. Would shoprite prefer that I pass out from too low blood sugar and then have to call an ambulance? I don’t think so. So to the folks at Safeway in Honolulu–smarten up and use some common sense. If your employees don’t have any common sense, then I guess you will have to teach them “BiRochel Bitcha Haketana”

    Tzi_Bar_David
    Tzi_Bar_David
    12 years ago

    From someone who worked in retail, the stories I could tell you about people we caught who “forgot” to pay for something would go on for hours…and from every race, sex, and social strata imaginable. Question: had she gotten home and found the wrapper and realized she “forgot to pay,” would that have triggered her to rush back to the store and pay for the sandwich? … of course not.

    Until you pay for it, it’s not yours. Safeway has NOTHING to apologize for…they did not take away the child, the police did when they arrested the parents.

    Babishka
    Member
    Babishka
    12 years ago

    If you take a bunch of grapes and nosh on them before checking out, THIS IS GEZEL since the produce is weighed at the checkout. It also grosses me out to see people noshing on grapes that they didn’t even put into their own carts–picking off stuff that other people might buy.

    DavidCohen
    DavidCohen
    12 years ago

    While the authorities appear to have overreached in this situation (based on the limited reporting here), the bigger question is not much of a question at all. Before you pay for something, even if you intend to do so, it’s not yours. Eating something that is not yours is stealing. Simple!

    fedup11210
    fedup11210
    12 years ago

    To #4 :

    You are correct about eating a “bunch of grapes”. However, it may be halachically acceptable to taste 1 or 2 grapes to determine if they are ripe and sweet to help you decide if you want to purchase it especially if you ask the owner of the store.

    SherryTheNoahide
    SherryTheNoahide
    12 years ago

    Well, I think sometimes the situation isn’t always what it seems, for example: I am a touch hypoglycemic, and so when my blood sugar gets real low, but I’m out shopping & etc. it gets hard for me to WAIT to eat something.

    But usually what I do, is once I’ve gotten all of the food I want in my cart, and are headed to the checkout counter, I get a pop from one of those coolers they sometimes have at the end of the aisles, and I ask the lady doing the checking, if I can open it right then & THERE because I need the sugar.

    Usually… nobody cares! Because as soon as it’s my turn to start ringing my things up, I give her that opened pop first thing, so that neither one of us forgets to ring it up! (lol)

    But I think what makes my “strategy” different, is that I openly take from the pop IN FRONT OF the employee, AND I make sure it’s the 1st thing that gets wrung up.

    To me… anything less would be sort of like stealing, I would think. *shrug* It’s at least not very proper- and especially to be snacking on stuff you haven’t paid for yet in front of your kids! That’s not very cool. It think it’s important to set the example & to have them see you ASK first at least.

    Thanks!

    12 years ago

    if i would be the store owner i would fire the employee that called the police for lack of common sense and wouldn’t take money for the sandwich in addition to an apology if a pregnant women asks for food you give her even for free

    Proud-2-B-Orthodox
    Proud-2-B-Orthodox
    12 years ago

    The Gemara (Kedushin 40B on bottom of page) says “HaOchel Beshuk harei zeh domeh l’kelev”… I don’t care what religion you belong to it is a disgusting habit to eat in public.

    And for those who are Jewish the Gemara also says that you are Pasul for Eidus, and this is how we paskin (see Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat Siman 34:18)

    curious
    curious
    12 years ago

    I do this all the time. I just hold on to the rapper so they could scan it at the end I don’t see any problem with that I wouldn’t eat a sandwich though because I think that’s just plain rude

    smoosh
    smoosh
    12 years ago

    I agree with #3 on this one, i know diabetics and sometimes you need to consume something right away. I think it’s ok for someone pregnant too, but if you’re just another shopper then the proper thing to do is wait, unless the situation is pressured.

    AdamS
    AdamS
    12 years ago

    Eating before paying. Technically, isn’t that what you do in a restaurant or pizza shop?

    Butterfly
    Butterfly
    12 years ago

    I have seen women with toddlers eating nosh from the shelves. It is finished before she gets to the register. The bag is in the garbage can. Did she pay for it??? I rest my case!! These women are ” shayna yedishe” women who should know a lot better!!

    Survivor
    Survivor
    12 years ago

    If you didn’t buy the food, it’s outright stealing. Punishment shouldn’t be jail time. I think a fine/ticket would suffice. For subsequent offenses, getting banned from the store is only fair.

    If you are “dying” of hunger or thirst, take one piece of food and/or a bottle of water, and pay for it BEFORE shopping.

    After running for 10+ miles, I walked into a 7-11 and bought a bottle of powerade and a meal-replacement bar. If I can manage to wait a few moments to take the time to PAY, then why can’t everyone else? (And yes, there was a long line of people at the check-out, and only one cashier!)

    Bezalel
    Bezalel
    12 years ago

    I don’t eat food in supermarkets, but the blanket statement that “if you eat it before you pay for it, you’re stealing” is not the case at restaurants, where one pays at the end of the meal.

    shulem
    shulem
    12 years ago

    This story is so disgusting! Let’s assume there was something fundamentally wrong with her behavior (even taking into account her being pregnant and exhausted) is it really necessary to call the police and arrest them causing the subsequent taking their child to custody? I know I would feel completely horrified going through such a humiliating affair in public. Did she insist that she doesn’t want to pay for what she ate? or did she insist that she wants to continue to eat after she was confronted to stop? No not at all! She did a mistake she was reminded and she was willing to cooperate. Now could someone figure out what the arrest was all about? That’s true Midas Sedom!

    Renegade
    Renegade
    12 years ago

    I do it all the time.

    The only time anybody ever said anything to me about it was one time at Costco in Brooklyn, some meshugeneh employee came over and started screaming at me…
    (and say “meshugeneh” because of the way he did it, he just seemed crazy…) Funny thing is, had he just told me nicely “It’s against store policy, please don’t do it in the future” instead of flying into a rage I probably would’ve listened to him…

    I’m pretty sure I’ve never forgotten to pay

    just to be clear, I’m talking about where i get my own bottle/package (sold by the package, not weight) and I open it before checking out. Picking from random bunches of grapes etc. is just wrong.

    cbdds
    cbdds
    12 years ago

    My child is special and has no patience. I always tell the store manager when we grab something and work it out.
    Once, in an Eckerds in Miami my son started chocolate, with permission and there was a blackout. We were told to leave because there were no registers working. The manager said to just forget about paying but instead we asked him to carry it out to avoid a bad situation.

    SteveW
    SteveW
    12 years ago

    Not long ago I saw a mother taking grapes and eating them, without paying. When her child got to the bulk candy department, his little dirty hand was in every candy bin taking handfuls of candy while stuffing his mouth full. He was just following his mother’s example.

    When I was working retail, one man wanted me to open a complete set of adapters so he could purchase the one he wanted and not have to pay the complete price. I had to refuse his request and he stormed off. Not 10 minutes later, I noticed that the entire set was missing and I can only assume that this gentleman came back and just took the entire set.

    People can rationalize any behavior, yet when it comes down to it, theft is theft, whether I am taking something from the store, or wasting time while I should be working.

    newtransplant
    newtransplant
    12 years ago

    I was having an unexpected hypo and I had some sweets in my trolley, I asked the man at the till to open them so I could have a few to raise my sugar, he said no problem, opened it and I ate what I had to. therwise I would NEVER open a package before paying. y kids have had tantrums but they know now that we do not eat or use anything until we have paid for it.

    The-Macher
    The-Macher
    12 years ago

    When I was a student, it was accepted procedure to open a bottle and start drinking while waiting on the often long lines at the grocery nearest to campus. I used to do that only if I was desperate after a long run or gym session. I don’t think it’s wrong, just kind of low-rent.

    If I’m that desperate now, I run in, bring a drink to the 5 items or less register, pay for it, go outside, drink it and come back in. Then again, I am not pregnant or diabetic, just a guy who sometimes takes long walks to the supermarket or mall.