Search Q&A
Stealing fruit in the supermarket
This is nothing against Belgium - I love Belgium, however I noticed on several occasions that several people here feel it is perfectly ok to help themselves to free pickings in the fruit department in supermarkets. Nonchalantly they will pick grapes, cherries and so forth. It is not Belgians per se, I saw a middle aged British couple do this and acting as it was the most natural behavior in the world to help themselves from a box of cherries. I wonder if there is some kind of social convention here that it is ok to do this here. Call me a goodytwoshoes if you like, but this kind of behavior offends me. And, I did point it out once to a store employee who intervened
Cultural thing mainly. I remember a story about a French woman getting arrested in a UK suprmarket for trying various bits of fruit. She simply asked how she supposed to know if it's any good?
Though some do take the micky. I have seen people apparently taking lunch in tasters.....
I've got to go with the French lady.
Taking a cherry or a grape to confirm that they are to your taste - particularly if you then buy some - is hardly grand theft. No more than testing a piece of fruit to see if it is firm or soft or checking that a ball-pen actually writes before buying it.
Grapes and cherries aren't exactly cheap.
At markets one would expect to try before you buy, cheese, olives, fruit, tons of stuff. Supermarkets should have the same policy, though this is a bit tricky if the stuff is pre-packaged and pre-priced. After all, if they don't then they're trying to hide something. I do pick up melons and pineapples and sniff and give them a little prod, though cutting into a watermelon with a Swiss army knife is probably a bit too much. I guess you could ask a shop-worker if there is one around, like attracting a conductor's attention on a train if you don't have a ticket. Transparency of action and all that.
There are people who would never haggle in a 100 years too, so go with what you feel comfortable with. I wonder if you could be accused of theft and arrested like that guy on the train in England, charging his phone from a handy socket?
What I do get embarrassed about are people who encourage their kids to take all the samples. That is uncivilized.
