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MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should Gwyneth give the lady her reduced steak?
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MSE_Jenny
Posts: 1,318 MSE Staff


Here's this week's hypothetical situation for you to cogitate on:
Should Gwyneth give the lady her reduced steak?
Gwyneth is rummaging through the supermarket reduced section bargains and, as usual, there’s a bit of a scram for the cheapest goodies (get clearance food bargains online too see the Supermarket Shopping guide). She manages to grab a posh steak down to 50p from £6, but, as she picks it up, a woman in her late 70s says the steak belongs to her, she just put it down so she could browse the rest.
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Of course she lets the older lady have it, it's basic good manners.0
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its good manners to let her have it but from experiance the old lady might no do the same in return so im gonna say no she shouldntReplies to posts are always welcome, If I have made a mistake in the post, I am human, tell me nicely and it will be corrected. If your reply cannot be nice, has an underlying issue, or you believe that you are God, please post in another forum. Thank you0
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In theory, she should. But in theory, the little old lady is a pleasant upstanding member of the older generation.
In practice, the old ladies who hang around my local supermarket would slit your throat for a 10% reduction (and I live in a posh part of London). Not content with elbowing me in the crotch should I venture anywhere near their perceived territory (generally the reduced bin coincides with the sandwich and snacks fridge, making lunch an oft painful experience), they harass the staff and guard anyone with a pricing gun with a vigour usually reserved for the canine species.
So, for all their hypocrisy about the younger generations having bad manners, to hell with them. What do they think shopping baskets/trolleys are for?0 -
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...?!"0 -
Of course it's not 'hers', but this is one of the many moral conundrums where doing the kind thing is better in the greater scheme of things. If no other circumstance applies (is Gwyneth herself on the breadline, is she out of work, does the old lady look in dire need of a square meal, etc etc), then ask yourself 'What contributes more to the sum of human happiness?'. Then your course of action is obvious.0
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If she put it down it would be in her basket/trolley, claiming she put it there to look at the other items is a bit of a fib
If there was another one I'd let her have it, if not explain I'm having to live on less than her and could use the bargain more.0 -
Certainly doesn't belong to any person in the process of shopping, legally speaking anyway, although I get the meaning.
Depends on her attitude. It's good manners, but old folk can be just as rude as everyone else, especially in supermarkets for some reason. If she's nasty about it, it's mine - yes you should respect your elders but respect is a 2-way process; when it's 1-way it's bullying.
If she's polite and seems to have a good reason not to have put it in her basket and whatnot... well there are a lot of variables but in most cases I'd just do the polite thing and hand it over. Why make a fuss over some 50p meat.
I guess in some bygone age before even her time, when everyone was nice to each other, she'd have mentioned it very politely and the other person would've insisted she comes round for tea and shares it. But yeh. Wouldn't work that way now :P
Or the answers could take a Fallout 3 approach:
The old lady says the steak is hers. Do you....
- Hand it over politely. You didn't want it that badly anyway.
- Tell her "Let's find a way to share it. That's fair, right?"
- Tell her "It's my birthday. I don't have to hand it over today."
- Spit on it then hand it over
- Turn her in to the security guards
- Make a comment about her mother0 -
help .. why do I keep being asked to log in and re enter every time I try to 'go advanced' only to find my entry lost and having to retype it ?????
so I can't be bothered .. edited answer .. yes let her have the steak .. who cares if she's telling fib to get a bargain she didn't notice before you did.0 -
Given how rarely I get to eat steak on my extremely tight budget and that I think if she'd actually already taken it it would be in her basket and not still on the shelf, no. I'd keep it, unless the old lady was being really nice about it and I didn't feel that much like eating it that day anyway... I can't very well afford to pass up cheap steak. :PHomosexual, Unitarian, young, British, female, disabled. Do you need more?0
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wgy not offer to split it between them? as others have said, strictly not old lady's until it's paid for.. and as not in her trolley, she hasnt even staked a claim (sorry..),, shown others she is interested in it..
and to defer to old age, in these PC times, must surely be age-ist?
#xmas #tough #timesLong time away from MSE, been dealing real life stuff..
Sometimes seen lurking on the compers forum :-)0
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