MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should Gwyneth give the lady her reduced steak?

jenniewb

Well- the lady obviously doesn't shop where I do!

You snooze-you lose seems to be the mentality, and putting something reduced back on the shelf = fair game for anyone else. Aside from any legal "owing" stand point, this is how it works when your struggling for supermarket reductions, it is the "law" of the bargain shopper, its how it works.

I think the lady wont have shopped for reductions for the first time and will probably have put it back on the shelf so the supermarket reduction person can come reduce it some more (they wont reduce anything thats already in your trolley/basket). I'd also bet Gwyneth has not shopped at supermarkets for reductions very often and does not realise that if its close to 9pm, the little reduction man is going to come round again to reduce stuff even more. Then its a scramble (in which the lady will play up to her "I'm old and on a pension" ploy to get others to give her the item without question whist she later gives the reductions to her 40 year old son waiting at the checkout, sorry, I digress....) The lady is likely merely biding her time. Its not though, her right to have something reduced again, you win some, you lose some. You put it back on the shelf, you may end up losing the item.

Supermarket reduction shopping is like a reverse price auction. Its a gamble.

Taffybiker

50p? What old lady?

Seriously though, it would really depend on the attitude of the old lady. If she was one of those who seems to think they have a god given right then it goes in my basket straight away. OTOH, if she was one of those that I just take a liking to then she might be cooking some onions to go with steak that evening.

luxor4t

I never see meat (any meat) this reduced round here unless it is green & covered with flies (OK, I'm exaggerating...but only about the flies).

The LOL's would have grabbed it long before, bullied the reductions SA into halving the price & then tried to get it reduced again at the checkout.

Cynical? Me? no - realistic!

ceridwen

Well - i dont eat meat anyway - so its a bit academic to me.

But - the general principle of this - my attitude would be "it would depend entirely on whether she had told me the truth or no when she said that she already "owned" it".

If I could see that she was telling the truth - and she had already "bagged it" - then I would hand it over instantly.

If I could see that she was lying and hadnt already taken it at all - then I would be inclined not to do so (it would depend on whether I had "picked up" that she was actually desperately poor or no). If I had "picked up" that she was so poor that she might lie out of sheer desperation (but was basically an honest person normally) - then I would probably give her the steak. If she was lying and not that poor - I would keep it.

I do appreciate that I personally feel pretty confident about being able to tell whether people are telling the truth or no and at "picking up" the most important things about them (eg being very poor) - hence why my own personal reaction would be based entirely on what I had "seen"/"picked up" about them - rather than any rigid "rule of thumb" about how I would act in those circumstances.

My only rigid "rule of thumb" rule about behaviour pretty much is to treat people in accordance with what I have "seen"/"picked up" about them.

neneromanova

I wouldn't give it back. If it had been in her basket then I would have seen that she'd "claimed" it as hers. But if it's back on the shelf I would just tell her nicely to jog on.

But if she was a frail little sweet old lady, then I'd feel sorry and give it to her.

DKLS

I wouldnt give the old biddy the steak back, I would buy it and feed it to the scratty mongrel tied up outside the supermarket.

That should balance out my karmic actions of upsetting the wrinkly.

cozlw

She doesnt own the meat, she hasnt put it in her basket and hasnt paid for it so fair game. Im not exactly rolling in cash either and not about to pass up a bargain (Not that anything like that ever turns up in my local!)

If she was being honest (however I dont see how she could prove it) then I may let her have it...

Susan_Frost

No, I wouldn't. She has seen me get it and is playing the "age card".

However, I would probably help her rummage and find the next cheapest for her to take.

Too often have I heard my dear old mum say "act daft" when she wants something done for her.

motherhen2234

I'd give her the meat but that's working on a few assumptions. Firstly that she was nice about it not spitting venom! Secondly on the assumption she is pensioner and in more financial need than myself.

ThinkingOfLinking

tryfive wrote: »

It belongs to her?!

No, it doesn't. Until the product's actually been sold, it remains property owned by the supermarket.

I don't have much sympathy for the old biddy in this case. If she'd really picked it up earlier, the only place she'd have put it down would have been in her basket/shopping trolley - and not back on the shelf (which would suggest she'd looked at it, and decided against getting it).

It sounds like she's seen someone else pick up a bargain before her (or at best, changed her mind about it) and thought "why not play the old age card and see if I can get it...?!"

I have to say, I agree. Actually, I dropped an item I was trying to put into my basket (a reduced price one), and some old lady grabbed it and refused to let me have it back. They're pretty ruthless in my neck of the woods.:rotfl: