Take the child to the supermarket, because many things have not been purchased, it is expected that it will take a long time to shop, the child is thirsty at this time and wants to drink water, first open the bottle of water for the child to drink, and then check out together after shopping;
Take the child to play outside, thirsty, no water, there is no small shop nearby, only a big supermarket, go in to get the water to settle the bill, find that the queue is very long, open the first for the child to drink, row to the place and then checkout;
When shopping in the supermarket with the child, the child saw the snacks he wanted to eat, and put the child in the shopping cart, he did not have the patience to wait, crying and shouting that he had to open and eat at this time, and was unwilling to wait until the end of the shopping......
Parents who have experienced bringing children have a familiar feeling when they see similar scenes like the above?
I didn't think there was anything wrong with it, and I used to check out smoothly in this way occasionally, until I saw a treasure mother who did the same thing on the Internet, and was rejected when she went to the cashier with an empty bottle to check out, and was asked to be punished by 10 times the price, I began to think deeply.
The event passed
The general story of the incident is that when a mother led her 5-year-old child to the supermarket, the child was thirsty, so she took a bottle of water from the shelf and opened it and drank it.
When the empty bottle was handed to the cashier, the cashier first asked what was going on, and the mother explained that the child opened it first when he was thirsty when he was shopping.
The cashier said on the spot that the bottle of water could not be checked out normally, and informed the mother that if the goods were opened and used without permission before the checkout, it would be equivalent to stealing, and according to the rules of the mall, compensation would be made at 10 times the price.
When the mother heard the cashier say this, she knew that what she was doing was not very appropriate, and under normal circumstances, the things in the supermarket should indeed be paid for before use, so she apologized to the cashier and said that she would strictly abide by the supermarket rules in the future.
Unexpectedly, the cashier did not accept the mother's apology and insisted on paying 10 times the price.
Seeing this situation, the mother was also angry in front of many people: Although the water was drunk, I kept the bottle and took the initiative to come to checkout, why do you say that I stole it?
As he spoke, he took out his mobile phone and turned on the video recording function and said to the cashier, if you insist on doing 10 times the penalty according to your regulations, then you can, let's record it as evidence, and I will go to the Price Bureau for evaluation.
Seeing this, the cashier suddenly felt weak, and quickly settled the bill at the normal price, letting the mother take the child away.
Can the practice of using first and then checking out be considered stealing or illegal?
This incident has aroused tens of thousands of onlookers and discussions on the Internet, and most netizens have chosen to stand on the mother's side and disagree with the supermarket's punishment regulations.
There are also some netizens who said that the ownership of the things in the supermarket belongs to the supermarket before payment, and if it is used before the purchase, there is no legal basis to support this behavior.
The problem is that people didn't pat their butts and leave after eating and drinking, but took the initiative to check out at the original price, can this be regarded as stealing?
Friends in the legal profession have also interpreted this matter from a legal point of view. Roughly speaking, the crime of theft must satisfy the four criminal components, the subject and subjective aspects, the object and the objective aspects.
The mother did not hide the empty bottle after the child drank the water, nor did she leave the supermarket, but took the initiative to go to the cashier to ask for the payment, so the mother subjectively did not have the intention to take possession of the supermarket's property without compensation.
Objectively, the dispute between the parties occurred at the cashier's counter, and the mother asserted that the payment, the person and the goods were within the control of the supermarket, and the mother did not carry out the act of causing others to lose control of their finances.
Just like eating in a restaurant, some restaurants pay the bill first and then eat, and some restaurants can also eat first and then check out, so whether it is in a restaurant or in a supermarket, as long as you take the initiative to check out at the end, it cannot constitute an illegal or criminal act.
It's just that the checkout procedure of the supermarket, just like the convention, is to check out first and then use. Even if sometimes it's the other way around, it's still seen as feasible.
The helplessness of supermarket managers
A friend who does supermarket management once mentioned the difficulties of supermarket management that supermarkets will conduct inventory every month, every quarter and every year, and every time there will be a batch of missing goods.
There may be theft in which some are directly stolen, and through observation, there are also people who are similar to theft, after opening the package directly in the supermarket and eating it, hiding the packaging bag to avoid checkout.
Once he secretly observed a parent who helped his child open a package of snacks that were not a sample, and after the child finished eating, the parent secretly walked out of the supermarket while the staff was not paying attention, threw the bag he was holding outside the supermarket, and returned to the supermarket.
The whole process was seen by this friend, he secretly picked up the bag and brought it to the parent, the parent instantly blushed, and the supermarket did not embarrass her, but just let her settle the bill normally.
So this friend said, it's not that you can't finish eating and then check out, but I'm afraid that there are such unconscious parents, if everyone uses first and then pays, it will greatly increase the difficulty of supermarket management.
Therefore, many supermarkets cannot make clear regulations on this kind of use-first-pay-later behavior, in addition to monitoring methods, can only hope for the level of moral quality of customers.
But then again, the vast majority of people will consciously check out, and those who deliberately do not pay out are a few after all.
What to do as a parent
After this incident, it was found that behind a small behavior, there may be a lot of problems involved. Although it is not right for the merchant to impose a 10 times fine on the above pair of mother and child, as consumers, in order to avoid similar problems, we should also pay more attention to our behavior:
1. Let children strengthen their awareness of rules
Although some problems do not touch the law, there are many places in our lives where we need to use moral norms to restrain our behavior, otherwise it will affect the social order or bring a lot of trouble to others.
Just like the children in the article, they take the goods on the shelves and open them to drink at will, which is the embodiment of no sense of rules.
As a parent, you should explain the rules of the supermarket, the process of purchasing and using goods, and tell your child that you cannot open and use it at will before payment.
If your child is thirsty and can't check out the bill in a short period of time, you can be flexible and solve the urgent need first, but it's best to say hello to the supermarket staff first to let them know about the situation.
At the same time, it also lets the child know that it is only a special case to open the goods before payment, not a regular practice, and it is best to let the child see and know when paying.
2. Parents should lead by example
Parents' words and deeds, words and deeds are seen and remembered by children. As a parent, you must first be a role model for your children and strictly follow the supermarket shopping procedures. Make arrangements in advance before going out, such as bringing water for your children, etc., to avoid breaking the shopping order.
If you find that your child is behaving inappropriately, stop or correct it promptly. I saw a parent in the supermarket before, leading his child, holding a bag of food, from the outside into the supermarket to check out, at first the supermarket staff did not know what was going on, the parent explained, just now did not pay attention, only to find that the child was holding a bag of snacks in his hand, did not check out the bill, so returned to check out.
The supermarket staff and customers present expressed their appreciation for the parent's approach, and at the same time, they also felt that the child's future would not be bad under the influence of such a parent.
3. Pay attention to the safety of children and goods in the supermarket
The supermarket is crowded, especially on holidays or shopping peaks, take your child to the supermarket must take care of the child's safety, the supermarket shelves are full of goods, the child is easily attracted by a certain product, parents must follow the child closely, do not let the child out of their sight.
There are a lot of fragile and fragile goods in the supermarket, try to keep children away from these commodity areas, one is easy to damage the goods and cause disputes, and the other is to avoid unnecessary trouble caused by children's injuries.
What do you think about the situation where the supermarket goods are opened and used without payment?