Usually when I see an article about someone being arrested for drug trafficking or grand theft larceny, I think to myself that is something that could never happen to me. But here are two crimes that I definitely could have easily committed (and still could):
This woman got a ticket because her two year old peed in the grass in public. How is that illegal? Especially awful because she tried to use a public bathroom and wasn't allowed in. I can totally imagine this happening to me.
Someone said this woman should have planned better. How exactly do you plan for a two year old urgently needing to pee?
This woman got in trouble because she forgot to pay for a couple of items that she had stored in her stroller while shopping. I used to shop with a stroller all the time, and this easily could have happened to me. I'm actually amazed it never did.
My mother showed me that article and said that it was clear the woman was guilty. When I said I could see exactly how that happened, she insisted that there's a video where it was clear the woman was being sneaky and trying not to pay for the items. I still doubt it.
The woman who got the ticket for her 2 year old peeing in the grass -- that was Philadelphia, right? I found that especially ironic considering the vast numbers of adults who urinate and defecate in the park next to my house and NEVER get tickets.
ReplyDeleteI think that was a point someone made in the comments.
DeleteAAHAHAHHAA so true....Philly, the city of poo-smelling streets, where people defecate pretty much anywhere in public (including stores, like WaWa)...
Deleteso we were JUST at the park this weekend when a neighborhood dad took his kid to the nearest tree to pee, and my husband said "good idea" and I said, ummm I think that's illegal, but he argued with me. I need to show him this. but seriously, when a two year old needs to go he probably needed to go 5 minutes ago. not sure how you can prepare for that, though it explains why people tote around those potty seats. I've seen a kid on a busy sidewalk perched on one of those, just doin' her business, don't mind me...
DeleteWhat parent hasn't accidentally stolen something that got put in the stroller?
ReplyDeleteA few years ago someone here got in trouble for leaving their kid "unattended" in the car while they returned a shopping cart. Really. I am "guilty" of this all the time. What exactly are we supposed to do with the cart then?!
ReplyDeleteI know! I always try to park right next to a cart return station just to avoid that problem. One time I didn't do this and just left my cart loose in a parking spot and it went rogue and started hitting cars.
DeleteDon't admit doing that! I hate when people leave their carts lying around so they block parking spots or hit cars. I say leaving your kid strapped in the car alone for 30 seconds with the doors locked is definitely the lesser evil :P
DeleteI hate that too, and I almost never do it, but I was in a rush that day, and there was no nearby convenient place to put the cart (I blame the store). Of course, I ended up wasting more time chasing that cart down.
DeleteAnyway, apparently you can get arrested for those 30 seconds...
I agree with you Fizzy - it's too easy to forget about items you've put somewhere other than a cart or basket! When I was younger my mom and I were shopping at Costco, and we got this dress shirt for my dad that was all folded up in a nice package. I tucked it under my arm because I was carrying 3 boxes of contacts (which we had paid for already). I ended up going through the checkout and out of the store (past the receipt checker) with the shirt still tucked under my arm. I only realized I had it when we got to the car and it fell when I reached to open the door. My mom went back in to pay though.
ReplyDeleteI used to do plainclothes security and I can tell you, it's usually pretty easy to tell the thieves from those who accidentally fail to pay for things in their stroller. Many thieves actually bring their kids on their shoplifting excursions so they can claim they are just a distracted parent. But when you watch them in action, their eyes are darting all around, they carefully conceal the stuff they will say they "forgot about" under their diaper bag, and they tend to do it in a deserted aisle, usually intentionally waiting for the aisle to clear out before they do it.
ReplyDeleteThen there are those who use their kids to steal in a more direct manner, like taking the kid's shirt of and putting two or three store shirts on the kid before putting the kid's own shirt back on. Or one of my most favorite tactics - taking a bunch of small items (like earrings) into the fitting room, and then stuffing them down the kid's diaper. I could go on and on, I have pretty much seen it all.
So in the video I linked to in which they show of that woman who "stole" beer, does it look like she was doing it intentionally.
DeleteI don't see a video link, just a link to an article. Don't see a video link in the article, either. Can you post it again?
DeleteI once "stole" coldcuts. I had my son doing homework in the shopping cart and the bags from the deli slipped under him...I didn't notice - but one of the stores baggers chased me into the parking lot yelling:
ReplyDelete"Hey Lady! Were you going to pay for those?" then he escorted me back into the store.
I was mortified. Paid for the damn cold cuts and never shopped there again.
Yeah, lock me up! I deserve it!
There is some horror story out there about a mom who forgot to pay for something in a stroller, and she was arrested for shop lifting, and her 2 year old was taken by CPS. I feel sick even imaging it.
ReplyDelete