And That’s How The Stolen Cookie Crumbles

I’m working in my grocery store when I see a man open a pack of cookies that someone had left on a table in the frozen foods section and eat several. As he walks away from the open pack I confront him:

Me: “Sir, you need to pay for those.”

Customer: “But they’re free samples!”

Me: “No, they’re not, sir.”

Customer: “But I couldn’t have known because that table is used for tasters!”

Me: “Sir, there are always signs hanging up saying what can be tasted; this table is completely blank. We never leave tasters in the packaging, we always open them and display them on a tray. Also, we have actual cookies out for tasting, in the cookie aisle, which you would have had to have passed to get here.”

Customer: “I had no way of knowing! It’s not my fault!”

Me: “Sir, you still opened a brand-new product and ate several of them, you will have to pay for it.”

It ends, or so I think, with me saying something along the line of “you eat, you buy it, end of discussion” and placing the item in his cart so he could have the rest of the cookies as well. But I have a feeling, so when I see him waiting in line at the checkout, I walk by him and see the cookies aren’t in his cart. I rush back to the frozen section and sure enough, between the shelves sits the still-open package of cookies.

I take it, go to the cashier in whose line he’s waiting, walking right past him, cookies in hand.

Me: *To Cashier.* “That guy over there opened this, ate several, and doesn’t want to pay. I already explained it to him and he tried to hide them when I wasn’t looking. Charge him for the cookies and don’t take no for an answer.”

I walk back into the store, looking him straight in the eyes, and gave him a customer service smile. He ended up paying for the cookies.