In our local paper, there is a section devoted to anonymous people calling in or emailing and complaining about whatever has their pants in a twist that day. This morning, I read the following entry from a local woman:
I’m totally disgusted by people who when they grocery shop, feel the need to open bottles and jars of food products, sniff the contents, close it back up and put it back on the shelf for some poor innocent to buy. I recently opened what should have been a new jar of peanut butter, only to find that the inside seal had been opened and the peanut butter was turning green. These people must have been raised in a barn, to not know that by opening these containers you are allowing contaminants to enter, thus allowing anyone who might eat them to become very sick or even die. I once saw a woman in a local supermarket going through each different brand of spaghetti sauce, opening, sniffing and placing it back on the shelf. This is stealing, you are ruining the product and not paying for it. This is one reason food prices continue to increase. This is a form of shoplifting and anyone who sees someone doing this should report them to the store manager. If not to catch the person, to at least remove the product from the shelves so that someone doesn’t end up sick.
Do people really do this?!?!?!?!??!! That’s craaaazzzyy!
I have seen people eating things in grocery stores, then not paying for them. I have found items in the wrong place, left there by someone too lazy to just hand it to the cashier. But I’ve never come across someone smelling the food, then closing it back up.
Also, In defense of people who grew up in barns, I think they would be the most likely to consider the rate of decay of perishable items, since most barns do not contain refrigerators.