Every Saturday morning, Beth’s father walks to the neighborhood Kroger, eats some donuts, pays, and walks home. Two weekends ago, a security guard stopped Beth’s father, accused him of shoplifting, and banned him from the store.Here’s the letter Beth sent to Kroger:
Dear Kroger Executive Director—Our family loves Kroger. We live about a mile away from the Indianapolis store on 79th Street and Fall Creek (#965), and we often walk to the store to get small items, prescriptions, and do banking at the attached 5/3 Bank. We have been loyal customers since 1997, and I worked at the store as a nonfoods and photo clerk from 1997 to 1999.
Recently, my dad has made an effort to exercise more, and so, every Saturday, he walks down to the store and eats 2 or 3 donuts at the tables next to Starbucks and then goes to the U-scan to pay for his order. He did this today (and paid for 3 donuts in cash) and tossed the receipt in the trash next to the cashier station at the U-scan. As he headed out the door, an officer (Jay Wanner, a private police officer) stopped my dad and asked him to come upstairs with him. When upstairs, the officer said that store employees reported that my dad had been stealing donuts during his weekend visits. My dad told the officer that he had paid for his 3 donuts, and asked if he could return downstairs to get the receipt from the trash, but the officer told him no. When my dad got upset, the officer told him to not return to the store and, if he did, he would be arrested.
My dad graduated from Notre Dame with high honors and has worked as a financial planner for more than 30 years. He is the most honest person I know, and would never steal anything from your store. Our family has had friendly relationships with many long-term workers in your store (especially in the pharmacy), and we would never violate that trust.
After I heard his story, I went back to the store and retrieved the donut receipt from the trash. It is for 3 donuts for $2. The receipt is dated for 1/24/09 at 10:22 a.m. and the numbers on the bottom read 965 83 31 999. If you are to look at your receipt records on Saturday morning at the U-scan, you are sure to find records for this same purchase, sometimes with an additional muffin he buys for my mom.
I, my mom, and my dad are very hurt by this incident, and now we all feel like we shouldn’t go to your store anymore. We have made phone calls to the manager and officer, and they have basically said that they didn’t want to further the conversation: that my dad stole the donuts (or ate more than he paid for) and that he was forbidden from going into the store.
If your Kroger store was one we didn’t frequent often, we may be able to just write this off as a very unfortunate misunderstanding. However, we have been very loyal customers, and feel like this incident needs further investigation.
When Beth first emailed us, it had been a week since she complained to Kroger and she’d gotten no response. A few days later, Beth emailed us to let us know that Kroger finally apologized:
Kroger did respond by calling my Mom and Dad today. The head of security apologized and asked my Dad what they could do to make him feel better about the situation (Dad said an apology from the manager and officer).
(Photo: u2acro)
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Holy crap, I shop there. I was just there the other night buying bread. Wow.
Sue the rent-a-cop like the door guy at that Wal-Mart is doing to the cop that pushed him around.
@ShirtMac:
He didn’t push him around. Thank god for small miracles, eh?
I know this is a different situation, but back in the day when I worked at CVS a coworker of mine was fired after picking up a drink in the back of the store and opening it on the way to the front to pay for it. A loss prevention manager saw it happened and the guy was in the office and fired within 20 mins.
doesn’t jive, or the dad has no balls. seriously if you had dropped the receipt in the can you’d just grab the stupid security guard by the freakin arm and lead him to the garbage can. if that doesn’t work you demand video footage.
you freakin force them to prove you didn’t pay for it if you are innocent.
@Justifan:
I agree that people not standing up for themselves is a problem, and affects us all. Let us not blame the victim though. K?
A Kroger manager tried to arrest me in 2003. I used the U-scan and didn’t use their bags, because I avoid wasting bags. I waved to the U-scan overseer while paying to make it clear I was paying, just not using their bags. The manager chased me down in the parking lot, and accused me of theft. After insisting I had paid for the items, he agreed he would take me inside, check their records, and not call the police if there was a record of my purchase (my receipt was already in the car, and I could not find it in the dark.) I waited in a chair inside the Kroger while the manager checked the U-scan records. The records confirmed my story, and, bizarrely, the manager was incredibly angry at me. He told me to leave and never come back. If I had known about Consumerist at the time, I would have written in.
@Christovir:
Yeah. He was mad because he felt like he may have been acting like an asshole, and the tape proved that assumption to be correct.
I do shit like that all the time. Grab a coke out of the fridge in the 20OZ bottles and drink it while im shopping, then pay for it at the end. I remember someone telling me they somehow LOSE money from this.
I dont see any harm in it.
@boxiom:
That’s because there isn’t. If you want customers to shop at one end and pay at the other then don’t put food racks and dining areas at the entrance. You can’t feed off of people’s impulses for profit and then chastise it when it doesn’t suit you.
I thought everybody knew that you have to pay for something before you eat it in a grocery store? Where is it okay to eat the food in the grocery store first and then pay?
I can see that it is the poor guys ritual, but maybe he could walk over to pay first and then eat it?
@Margaret Powell:
It’s not O.K. It’s gross. It also is irrelevant to how the guard reacted.
Again. Paying BEFORE would have had NO effect. Nobody saw him pay… LOL!
RTFA!
So his exercise routine is to walk 2 miles and eat 3 doughnuts? So he burns maybe 200 calories and then eats about 600 calories, for a net loss of -400 calories. Being a Notre Dame alum, he must be following the Charlie Weiss workout plan:
[3.bp.blogspot.com]
Seriously though, the least Kroger could do is apologize and buy him some doughnuts.
When we were kids my dad would take us to the grocery store and buy the biggest box of ice cream sandwiches. We’d wander the store pounding them down and exploring the cool store there (I mean what kid DOESN’T like the lobster tank!?!) and eventually make our way to the front and pay for an empty box. We got some humorous looks from the cashier but no one seemed upset.
@rickatnight11:
Reason and courteousness? Psssshaw!
I don’t want to get into trouble by blaming the OP’s dad but he’s got to change his buying habits. From now on, pay for your freaking donuts FIRST, dad. Employees can’t monitor the guy 24×7 until they’re assured he paid for his donuts, and they can’t just assume he’s honest (I see these self-entitled blowhards walking around with their grocery cart, stuffing their faces and then dumping the wrapper all the time). It’s totally his fault for behaving in non-conformist manner (a bit of sarcasm intended there) but I can’t deny that the rent-a-cop should have checked with the donut cashier.
Since he paid for the donuts in cash, it’s not like he’s being inconvenienced by a complicated electronic transaction if he decideds to get another one or a muffin for mom after he’s already paid once before.
Kroger’s cop went over the top but at least he didn’t press charges.
@mariospants:
Wow.. RTFA..
He would need to pay first and then LEAVE before eating.. Paying after wasn’t the problem..so all this moral pontification about whether or not its ok to eat first is completely and totally irrelevant..
@LibertyReign: I disagree. The employees can’t babysit the guy, they must have thousands of customers and he’s not playing by the rules (this isn’t a sit-down restaurant where you’re stuck inside until you pay up). They can’t monitor him 24×7 so when he comes in, grabs 3 donuts and proceeds to slowly munch them (probably reading a newspaper courtesy of the store) you’re expecting them to watch him until he gets up and leaves. That’s expecting way too much. If he came in, grabbed and paid for his donuts BEFORE he ate them, then security could have moved on instead of wasting his time. What of this do you not understand?
This situation was mishandled for sure, but most supermarkets don’t want this going on. Sure there’s a dining area, it’s where you go after you pay for your items.
The guys not a thief, but there are people out there who try and take advantage of situations like this unfortunately. Old sweet lookin people in grocery stores were almost always the worst. Supermarkets don’t want to be operating on an honors system when it comes to checking out.
@glennski:
LOLOLOL!!! THEN DONT INSTALL A U-SCAN AHAHAHAH!!!!
and you obviously did not
R
T
F
A
Nobody saw him pay..if he went to pay, then came back and ate, he still would have been stopped when he got up and left… holy shit..
Ridiculous You pay for things and then use them. Maybe he shouldn’t be banned from the store just given a lesson in manners.
@wolfw:
..or been denied the opportunity to provide a receipt, or have been called a thief, or had the manager back up the guard’s bullshit actions..
oh btw, if you do want some food before paying, go to a safeway grocery store, and ask about the taste of something, whether it’s fresh or not, something like that, they have to offer you a sample of it.
Stupidest thing, if you get mystery shopped and don’t offer to cut up a 10 pound watermelon for a mystery shopper who asked if the water melons were any good you fail your shop, and incur the wrath of management.
@glennski:
Considering the obesity of major food chains these days, I find this policy refreshing..not stupid..and it makes me want to find a safeway just to give them some of my money..
How does being a Notre Dame graduate mean one cannot be a thief? Not to mention a “financial planner”. Look how much money has been stolen or otherwise handled dishonestly by those in the financial industry in the past year. Beth’s father probably IS a donut thief. At the very least, her defenses ring extremely hollow.
@ChandlerChryses:
I think the implication was that a college graduate who advises other people how to manage money can afford some Kroger donuts.. but A+ on nitpicking on the completely irrelevant..
For some stores the paying-for-the-item still doesn’t mean it belongs to you. I purchased an item at Best Buy once, and after checking out, I asked the cashier where the restroom was.
He told me and added, “You cannot take merchandise into the restrooms!”
I reminded him that the stuff in the shopping bag was now my personal property, not store merchandise, and I was going to take it into the bathroom if I wanted to and I invited him to voice his objections.
He didn’t.
@pwillow1:
Just another side-affect of giving doormen the impression they have police powers.. and yet another symptom of our cowardly society..
The first thing that went through my head when I saw the headline was “I wonder if that’s the Kroger near my house.” I am not remotely surprised that it was. This Kroger is the singularly most unfriendly Kroger I’ve ever been to – which says a lot, because, at least in Indianapolis, Kroger stores as a whole are generally unpleasant. Before anyone accuses me of generalizations, I’ve lived in Indianapolis for 40+ years and have been to many, many of their locations.
The other thing about this particular location is that it is always dirty. This makes no sense, since it is the nearest grocery to one of the wealthier areas of the city.
Even though it’s the closest grocery to my house, I avoid it like the plague. The only time I go there is to buy loss leader items. If they’re going to treat me like crap in a dirty store, I’m only going to buy things from them that make them lose money.
To the OP: I realize that it’s convenient, and you have a history with the store, but please, please give them up. They’re not good for you. Shop at Marsh or Meijer on 96th. Meijer typically has lower prices and Marsh is locally-owned (and has incredible customer service). If you have to go to a Kroger, go on up to 116th. Kick this loser of a store to the curb!
@IndyJaws:
word
Here’s an Idea, PAY FOR YOUR CRAP BEFORE YOU EAT IT! Honestly if he’s been sitting there eating donuts for a while how can he prove that he didn’t eat more than he paid for? Why would you eat them first and then go pay? That’s so stupid.
@Huabtais:
LOL! Are you an idiot? How does paying firs tprevent you from walking out of the store WITHOUT paying after you are done eating? It’s WORSE..it makes you look like MORE of a thief..stop using your personal opinion on eating a grocery store to justify a guard’s ABUSIVE actions..
This is ridiculous. You should buy the goods before you consume them. Kroger may have over reacted, but that still does not justify what he did. Im sure that the old man had good intentions, but the food is not yours until you pay for it. And the same goes for all the posters that said they do similar things. Just because you do it doesn’t mean its right or okay. And to the jackass who said the rude comments about cops, you are an idiot. You are insulting people that protect our safety. You’re a big man there keyboard warrior. Unless you’re still 15 years old, its not cool to hate cops anymore. They are people just like you and me.
@Dan25:
Hey..that’s a really great post..and still completely irrelevant.. he was stopped for eating in the store and walking out.. not for paying after eating..
This man used the self-checkout right? When I lived in Murfreesboro, TN I shopped at a Kroger and used the self-checkout. I had to weigh everything before paying. How did this guy eat his doughnuts and then pay for them? It has been a few years since I’ve shopped at a Kroger. Do you print a UPC at the doughnut location?
@Keliken: At mine the bags you put the doughnuts and rolls into in the self-serve area of the bakery have 4 digit product codes that are entered onto the self checkout touch screen.
After you enter the four digit code it then asks you how many and you enter that number.
If you have a bakery person bag your items (they cannot accept payment), they put a label with a scanable code on the bag. Those labels are simply scanned at the self-checkout.
Normally at that point it will instruct you to place your item into the plastic bag, but you can tell it to skip that and then pay via card or cash.
====
One suggestion for the stores to help eliminate this exact problem of customers eating before paying:
Put the tables for consuming food and drink OUTSIDE the registers and self-checkout instead of 70 feet INSIDE as they are at my local store… Duh!
Tom
@Tijil:
They want you to come in and sit down and eat.. it encourages impulse buying..this is about the guard..not the policy, or the sequence of payment..
its not shop lifting if you dont exit the store geniuses. Secondly, dont they have video cameras in place to back up their claim of theft?
I frequently visit indianapolis and people out there do things differently than in NY. So eating your donut and paying for it shouldnt be a problem.
I have shopped at this store – There is a cafe type area with tables literally 15 ft from where the donuts are, and in general most of the items you might consume at this area are in the same area as the donuts.
Maybe a sign clarifying what you can eat in this area and can not should be posted?
Also, Marion county indiana, where this store is located, has an interesting system. Most rent-a-cops actually have police powers. They have a program that allows you to obtain the status of Special Deputy Sheriff. These individuals have been granted limited police powers to adequately perform police duties for private employers. The employer just has to pay a fee, and have insurance.
@PatriciaEscardadente:
Isn’t fascism grand!?
Your dad is a crook. Eating the donuts before paying for them is crazy. Oh wait…your dad is special…not like everyone else and can just go around doing what he wants. Then he cries like a victim when someone calls him on it. Your old man (and YOU apparently for defending him) need to get with the program.
@btdown:
crook –
[krook]
a dishonest person, esp. a sharper, swindler, or thief
Let’s review.. he was honest about his purchase, he paid for it, you can’t steal something without leaving before paying for it..
hmm
You also obviously didn’t read the post. He paid, and no one saw it..so paying first, would have been irrelevant..
therefore..
your post – see slander
slanâ‹…der
  /ˈslændər/
-noun
1. defamation; calumny
2. a malicious, false, and defamatory statement or report
and..
btdown -
-adjective
1. lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned
2. lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact.
3. uninformed; unaware.
4. due to or showing lack of knowledge or training
Now, the next time you think you want to verbally attack a senior citizen and his daughter..just save us all the typing and STFU..
Maybe the gentleman pays for the doughnuts after eating them because the U-scan is toward the front of the store and the doughnuts and the tables are toward the back. He picks up the doughnuts, eats them at the nearby table and then pays on his way out the store….
@Tonguetied:
Applying logic to a problem is hardly a solution..
You’re probably a donut burglar just like this crooked old man..
/sarcasm