Give me your possibly spoiled food for free!

[Nashida]

Here's a little gem I felt was good enough to share.

I should go into some background info before getting into the juicy stuff. Our store has a policy called B.O.B - Bottom of Basket. If a customer has something left over in their basket/cart, we should point it out and ask "Do you plan on purchasing that?" or something along those lines. It's supposed to reduce shrink (lost profits) and shoplifting. Usually, they'll say no and hand it to us to toss into the backshop cart.

Also, around this time we had a kiosk outside the store with corn in it, and a bin so you could husk your corn here at the store before you bought it. Our customers seem to like it, so we try to put it out there as often as we can.

About a half hour before we closed this old SC pulled into my lane and started unloading her cart. It looked like it was going to be a smooth transaction....but when is it ever really one?

I notice she has two husked and one clean ears of corn in the child seat part of her cart. I ask her if she is interested in them. Here's where the fun begins.

Me: Well, me.
CL: Corn Lady
D: My floor manager on duty at the time.

Me: Ma'am, do you want that corn in your basket?
CL: Oh, yes, I almost forgot about them.
Me ... (waiting for her to hand them to me)
CL: ...
Me: Could I have them so I can ring them up?
CL: Oh, I'm not paying for them, I found them.
Me: I'm sorry?
CL: I found them in this cart when I nabbed it. I want them for free.
Me: I can't give them to you for free. I don't have the power to give away free product.
CL: I shouldn't have to pay for them. I found them.
Me: I'm sorry, but I can't give them away for free.
CL: But I found them!
Me: Ma'am, if this was one of the carts outside then the corn might not even be consumable.
CL: Get me your manager!

I flipped on my light at my lane, and D came over within a couple of minutes (around which time the customer was asking what the blinky light does)

D: What seems to be the problem?
CL: I want this corn!
D: That's....not much of a problem...(gives me an odd look) Let me ring it up. (holds hand out for the corn)
CL: NO! I want it for free! I found it! Why don't you people get that?
D: (under her breath) So this is the problem...( a little louder) We can't just give this to you.
CL: Why NOT?!? I told you, I found it!
D: You are in a store, ma'am. When you shop, you look for things. You find them. That's how shopping works. If we gave away everything for free because people found them, we'd be out of business.
CL: But they were in my cart when I got here!
D: Where was the cart?
CL: In the parking lot.
D: In the sun?
CL: Yes.
D: Then the seagulls could have been at it, or the pigeons, or whomever had the cart before you. It's not safe to eat anymore. We'll have to throw it away.
CL: Why do that when I can have it?
D: Because you'll end up getting sick.
CL: I don't care! I found it, I should get it for free!

Lather, rinse, repeat until closing (at 10) until she finally gets the hint, gives the corn to my boss, and leaves with the rest of her groceries, stomping and whining all the way.

Some people....

[Record Store Tough Guy]

WTF? If they had found a box of crackers in their cart would they have expected to get them for free?

If she wanted it that bad, she should have put it in her car before she entered the store with it.

[Pagan]

I don't get that it's "bad" though. You can tell if birds have been at it and just sitting in the sun's not going to make it spoil.

Now, it being in the cart already, it's still the store's property at that point you dink! I find a lot of stuff at stores, but I don't expect to get it for free! Idiot.

[Bright_Star]

AND if she had gotten it & ate it THEN she would have gotten sick & guess who she would have put the blame on? So you did the right thing.

[tropicsgoddess]

You and your manager did the right thing. If that old bat got the corn and ate it, she could've been sick sued your store for that. I still can't fathom how somebody could be so cheap that they would demand to get food that only god knows how long it was sitting out in the sun in a cart that animals or germs of any kind could've touched it.

[aurelemsrealm]

Shoot, all I ever find in shopping carts when I go to the store is trash that some lazy turd couldn't bother to throw away. Why can't I find something that would be worth keeping so I can whine about wanting it for free?

So, by using this woman's logic, I should be able to keep any wallets full of money or other lost valuables I find because, after all, I found them. It doesn't matter that they did not belong to me, but someone else, before I found them. Finders keepers!

[Nyx]

As a customer told her son just the other day at my store "finders keepers losers weapers doesn't apply to stores".

I don't get that it's "bad" though. You can tell if birds have been at it and just sitting in the sun's not going to make it spoil.

Now, it being in the cart already, it's still the store's property at that point you dink! I find a lot of stuff at stores, but I don't expect to get it for free! Idiot.

True, since it's corn sitting in the sun won't spoil it (matter of fact corn right off the stalk is mighty tasty ), but who knows who touched it? And if they gave it to her and she happened to get sick from anything else she probably would have blamed them any way.

[edible_hat]

I once had some drunken bozo leave a spray pack of tyre shine in the public bathroom. Another drunken bozo brought it up to the counter and said "I found this, it's mine and I'm taking it."

My co-worker literally distracted her with a shiny thing while I put the tyre shine back in its proper place on the shelf.

[Nashida]

I don't get that it's "bad" though. You can tell if birds have been at it and just sitting in the sun's not going to make it spoil.

Now, it being in the cart already, it's still the store's property at that point you dink! I find a lot of stuff at stores, but I don't expect to get it for free! Idiot.

See, it was in the middle of the parking lot, and there's a Mc. Duck's in the same lot. We have seagulls, pigeons, other birds, etc. flying around, so we just made a guess to try and avoid having a lawsuit if she did eat it and got Avian Flu for all we knew. I doubt the sun would've done much more than scorch it, it was just whatever else was out there.

[rerant]

That's it, I'm going to Best Buy and waiting around until someone walks away from their cartload of expensive electronic goodies and demanding them for free because LULZ I FOUND DEM!!!

[LiberryWorker]

To borrow from Penny Arcade: That's not corn. It's litter.

The comic in question

[iviles]

I was thinking the same thing as you rerant Im going to sit out side the grocery store and when someone walks away from their cart It mine! What a loser! Worse yet she found it in the childs seat. Last report I read thats one of the dirties germiest public places Yuck!

[tamezin]

I find a lot of stuff at stores, but I don't expect to get it for free! Idiot.

I was thinking the same thing...You can 'find' all kinds of things in a store...I want to shop where 'finding' = FREE.

I wonder if this particular bleachbrain thinks 'finding' items misplaced on the shelves in wrong areas of the store also equates to find=free.

My co-worker literally distracted her with a shiny thing while I put the tyre shine back in its proper place on the shelf.

Funny.... The mental imagery on this is great.

[BlaqueKatt]

Also, around this time we had a kiosk outside the store with corn in it, and a bin so you could husk your corn here at the store before you bought it. Our customers seem to like it, so we try to put it out there as often as we can.

Gahhhhh evil...evil...evil

sorry-but anyone who knows anything about food production should know that once you strip the husk from corn all the nice happy little sugars(that make it "sweet corn")begin to oxidixe into unsweet starches. You should never husk corn until you are ready to cook it. try this experiment-remove the husk from one ear of corn at the store-mar it somehow when you get home(cut the "stem" at a point or something)-remove the husk from the rest you plan on cooking right before cooking-try both the earlier husked corn and the just before cooking husked corn-there will be a massive difference in taste.

[draftermatt]

If I were the manager I would have gone into the office and typed a letter that said:

"I, SC, claim to have found corn in the parking lot of STORE, and I want to take it home and consume it. I wish to do so knowing that the corn may have been tampered with or may have spoiled.

I do this under my own power, despite multiple warnings from the staff and management of STORE. If I become sick or otherwise incapacitated from said corn it was due to my own actions and in no way the fault of STORE or it's staff or managment. Therefore I hold STORE completely harmless"

If she signs that, I still wouldn't give her the corn, I'd take the corn from her hands and throw it out.