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Ithiliel wrote on 2011-11-01 20:13
HONOLULU (AP) — Nicole Leszczynski couldn't imagine that two chicken salad sandwiches would land her and her husband in jail and her 2-year-old daughter in state custody. But it happened five days ago, when the 30-weeks-pregnant woman forgot to pay for her snack while grocery shopping.
"It was the most ridiculous chain of events that happened," she said while sobbing Monday. "It's still hard to believe what happened."
Leszczynski, 28, and her husband Marcin, 33, were handcuffed, searched then released on $50 bail each. Their ordeal at the police station lasted a few hours, but their daughter Zofia spent the night away from her parents in a case that has sparked nationwide outrage and forced the Safeway supermarket chain to review the incident.
The family had moved to an apartment near downtown Honolulu from California two weeks ago. Still settling in, they ventured out Wednesday to stock up on groceries, took the bus, got lost, and ended up at a Safeway supermarket.
Famished, the former Air Force staff sergeant picked up the two sandwiches that together cost $5. She openly munched on one while they shopped, saving the wrapper to be scanned at the register later.
But they forgot to pay for the sandwiches as they checked out with about $50 worth of groceries.
"When the security guard questioned us, I was really embarrassed, I was horrified," she said. They were led upstairs, where the couple expected to get a lecture, pay for the sandwiches, and be allowed on their way.
But store managers wouldn't allow them to pay for the sandwiches, she said.
"I asked to talk to a manager and he said it was against their policy to pay for items that left the store," she said. "The security guard said we were being charged with shoplifting."
Four hours later, a police officer arrived and read them their rights. A woman from the state Child Welfare Services arrived to take Zofia away.
The pregnant mother said she tried to keep her composure until Zofia, who turns 3 in December, left the store. "I didn't want Zofia to be scared because she's never spent a night away from us. She didn't have her stuffed animal. She didn't have her toothbrush."
But as soon as her daughter left, "I got completely hysterical. I went to the bathroom and I threw up," she recalled.
A Honolulu police spokeswoman said it was procedure to call Child Welfare Services if a child is present when both parents are arrested. The store's management did not know the girl would be taken away, said Susan Houghton, a spokeswoman for California-based Safeway Inc.
The national supermarket chain said it was looking into the incident. "It was never our intent to separate a mother from her child. That was a very unfortunate consequence to this situation," Houghton said. "We understand the outrage. We are concerned about how this was handled."
Leszczynski called the incident "so horrifying, it seemed to escalate and no one could say, 'this is too much.'"
The couple was handcuffed and driven separately to police headquarters a few blocks away, where they were searched, had their mug shots taken and then released after paying bail. A police officer escorted them back to the store — which banned them for a year, Leszczynski said — where they picked up their groceries and walked home just before midnight.
"We basically stared at each other all night. We woke up at the crack of dawn and called (the state child welfare office)," Leszczynski said. While they waited, Leszczynski vented about the experience on babycenter.com and contacted a lawyer for help with being reunited with Zofia. At the lawyer's suggestion, they took their story to the media.
Zofia was returned after an 18-hour separation from her parents.
The couple is charged with fourth-degree theft, a petty misdemeanor, and has a court date on Nov. 28, according to the city prosecutor's office. The family hasn't decided whether it will pursue legal action against Safeway.
Houghton said the company will review the police report and store security footage before deciding whether to press charges.
Seriously Safeway? How ****ing ridiculous are you? They buy $50 worth of groceries and yet because they FORGOT about the sandwiches which were only $5 you're charging them? How ridiculous. The family was even wanting to pay that $5.
Oh America, the country where you forget to pay $5 and you get thrown into jail and yet big companies can steal billions and get away scot free.
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Cynic wrote on 2011-11-01 20:15
Yup~ our law system is lovely. They care about nothing but money, even if you're innocent.
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Eyeoftiger wrote on 2011-11-01 20:21
That's tragic. No business has to be that OCD efficiency-wise to not stop and say "Maybe this is too much."
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Sleeperdial wrote on 2011-11-01 20:23
Forget it, the terrorist can have America, I don't want it anymore.
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Paul wrote on 2011-11-01 20:37
I find this hilarious, why? Cause I work at a Safeway part time.
Personally, I don't find what happened overall to be that wrong. The biggest thing that this person did was that he chose to eat the sandwich before paying while shopping. That right there is more than enough to get the security guards on you. You think because you worked in the Air Force you'll get some special treatment? A smart person would go pay for the sandwich and then chose to eat it while having the receipt.
Need another example? Do you think it's fair if someone walks into a game store, takes out their PSP and takes one of the PSP games off the shelf, opens the package and start playing it on their PSP while still in the store? Eventually to the point where he/she walks out without paying for it regardless of leaving the game behind or not.
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Cucurbita wrote on 2011-11-01 20:57
Quote from Cynic;644982:
Yup~ our law system is lovely. They care about nothing but money, even if you're innocent.
Its not the law system. This shouldn't have happened, and they can probably even sue for it, with a good lawyer.
And in this particular case, money had nothing to do with it. The manager didn't even accept the payment on the 5 dollar sandwiches. What happened here was cynicism. The manager refused to believe the story, refused to take the money, and believed that the family was legitimately trying to steal, and charged them with what he believed to be his own version of justice.
He had nothing to gain by doing this other than a sense of heroic deed, putting the bad guys behind bars.
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MareneCorp wrote on 2011-11-01 21:07
I am just--- I-... can't speak. This is sooooooooooo stupid. I can't even sigh at this... ugh.
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Cynic wrote on 2011-11-01 21:12
Quote from Cucurbita;645027:
Its not the law system. This shouldn't have happened, and they can probably even sue for it, with a good lawyer.
And in this particular case, money had nothing to do with it. The manager didn't even accept the payment on the 5 dollar sandwiches. What happened here was cynicism. The manager refused to believe the story, refused to take the money, and believed that the family was legitimately trying to steal, and charged them with what he believed to be his own version of justice.
He had nothing to gain by doing this other than a sense of heroic deed, putting the bad guys behind bars.
The Law system itself is a broken, twisted system regardless. Also, Cynicism is knowing the world sucks and not trying to sugar-coat sh*t with lies and delusions, and yet still trying to do something about it. So no; this was pessimism.
The fact remains that they were going to pay, so even if they were trying to steal, it should have made no difference as the people WERE going to pay and offered to do so. That alone gives no just cause for having them arrested.
Seriously. It should be illegal to separate a family from their child unless the crime is violent.
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Navy wrote on 2011-11-01 21:18
Quote from Paul;645007:
I find this hilarious, why? Cause I work at a Safeway part time.
Personally, I don't find what happened overall to be that wrong. The biggest thing that this person did was that he chose to eat the sandwich before paying while shopping. That right there is more than enough to get the security guards on you. You think because you worked in the Air Force you'll get some special treatment? A smart person would go pay for the sandwich and then chose to eat it while having the receipt.
Need another example? Do you think it's fair if someone walks into a game store, takes out their PSP and takes one of the PSP games off the shelf, opens the package and start playing it on their PSP while still in the store? Eventually to the point where he/she walks out without paying for it regardless of leaving the game behind or not.
after jogging I go shopping and while I'm in the store I open a cold bottle of water while I'm shopping
the store officials don't give a **** as long as I pay for it at the end, which I always do
and I've done with tons of stores
what has that have to do with want special treatment?
and that psp argument is invalid because people people don't open sandwiches, take a bite, and put it back
the family took out the sandwich, ate it and were going to pay for it
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Cucurbita wrote on 2011-11-01 21:32
I never said the law wasn't broken. But this particular case was in sense had nothing to do with the law.
They forgot to pay, but they intended to. They even offered to pay later, but was rejected.
What is going on through the mind of the manager who decided to file charges of shop lifting to this family? It could've been any one of these.
1. "I have to follow the rules to the most strict and OCD way possible, as presented by company guidelines"
If this was the case, the man has no soul. Still, this has nothing to do with the law.
2. "These people made a mistake and if they're telling the truth, I'll scold them a bit, have them pay for the sandwiches, and let them be on their way"
If this was the case, this entire accident would not have occurred.
3. "I can't believe they tried to steal from my store, and they even tried to come up with a lie about how they were intending to pay"
How far away from cynicism is pessimism? The general outlook is identical. This man couldn't accept the excuse which could very well have been a lie. But when he rejected the payment of the difference made on the sandwich, he was now no longer treading "greed" but more in the lines of "misconceived justice".
In this man's mind, was probably the thoughts "Trash parents, stealing right in front of their kids".
I've seen it happen, and I have thought these thoughts. A mother brings in her two young children to burger king, holding hands, and then proceeds to steal through lies and slander. Then she starts selling fake home-made coupons to the other customers who are eating nearby.
In a case like this, the only thing going through my mind is "these poor children need to be separated from this scumbag of a mother asap, lest they become corrupted like her".
Being a manager at a store, you tend to see these things often. It warps your opinion and view of others significantly.
What other reason do you have for following through with what he did in this article? He probably thought he was doing the world a favor. He probably thought he was being heroic. He probably thought what he was doing was justice.
He was horribly wrong. He will probably lose his position as manager. But to say that this was a case in which the law was broken, and that greed was involved, would be absolutely wrong.
There are better examples of greed or poorly made laws, but this just isn't one of them.
This article is a pure case of cynicism.
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Tarvos wrote on 2011-11-01 21:53
Since when are people just allowed to open wrappers in super markets and eat food before paying? I'm not saying this whole situation was overblown, because it is, but, the manager was just doing his job and things got way out of hand. It's very easy to just say "oh he should break the company rules because they're heartless and make no sense!" But the fact of the matter is, these people have bills to pay just like everyone else, and a pass on something that could be regarded as theft can and is enough for anyone to be fired, especially if a higher up or an auditor were around or tipped off by a vindictive employee who happened to have seen the situation. They have to protect themselves somehow.
Surely, it was all an accident, but, adults are adults and have to pay the consequences for their own screw ups. It's sad how something can spiral out of control, but, that's life.
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Cucurbita wrote on 2011-11-01 21:57
Quote from Tarvos;645069:
Since when are people just allowed to open wrappers in super markets and eat food before paying?
I don't believe people should, but I've seen it done many many times.
My mom does it too.
Its a common occurrence. Its just one step above getting yourself a slurpee at a gas station and sipping on it while you grab the rest of the groceries to pay for at the counter.
Of course you could just not do it and avoid any confusion.
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Kollin wrote on 2011-11-01 21:58
I have never been in a store that allowed you to drink/eat any consumable product before paying for it.
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Tarvos wrote on 2011-11-01 22:05
Quote from Cucurbita;645073:
Of course you could just not do it and avoid any confusion.
This is my point pretty much.
On grabbing something at the counter or a slurpee, etc., that's a tad different then shopping around away from employees that can't see you. Those products are put up near the registers as last minute grabs so it's a slightly different situation. I still never recommend anyone open anything before you buy it unless the staff okays it though... Especially in a corporate run store.
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RicochetOrange wrote on 2011-11-01 22:08
My mom wants me to get a job at Slaveway.
:B