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

Of course she lets the older lady have it, it's basic good manners.

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?

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.

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 mother

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. :P