Dilemma

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Today I was queuing in my local shop. The queue was really long. The guy in front of me told me that he was in a rush and asked me to pay for his takeaway Costa coffee and gave me £3. Then on his way out of the shop he shouted to the checkout person "that lady's gonna pay for my coffee". He then just disappeared out of the door.

Anyway when I got to the checkout I just paid for my own stuff and pocketed the £3 he gave me.

My dilemma is: has there been any crime committed here?

Last edited by envirozentinel on 20 May 2023, 2:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.: Spelling was challenged

Not a lawyer.

I think the guy committed a crime by leaving the shop before paying.

You however are just morally corrupt

This sort of reminds me of this story

Yeah that's what I was thinking. So I effect I got my bread rolls and bag of apples for free.

I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. "Mistakes cannot be corrected after the customer has left the premises," as businesses are fond of warning us. And I can't see the police getting off their butts about £3. Morally I suppose you may have sinned very slightly, but if the guy pushed the agreement onto you, it hardly matters. It's also hard to know how it would have gone if you'd tried to pay for his drink. Maybe they'd have just accepted the money, maybe they'd have been stumped and delayed your exit while they scratched their heads about what to do. If it was a relatively large, successful business, a £3 redistribution of their profits would seem a good thing. And I expect the guy himself will never know that you didn't comply with his request, and probably doesn't care.

Yep, free food.

Worst Case Scenario:

An eagled eyed CCTV operator notices that the guy takes the coffee from the machine, chats to a mysterious enigmatic stranger , gives them something then leaves without paying.

Next time the guy uses the shop he gets accused of leaving without paying which he disputes and mentions that he gave someone money to pay for it.

Yeah right says the shop - you are barred - steal your coffee from somewhere else.

The shop was so busy anyway so the cashier will probably forget about it.

I reckon he made off with a box of doughnuts too.

What! Doughnut thief? This changes things, he is scum and deserves the death penalty.

Now I feel stupid bc it wouldn't have occurred to me to keep the money.


*Applies to The Babybird School of Get Rich Quick for one-on-one tutelage.*

^ If you can bite into your bread rolls and apples and not taste any guilt, it's the course for you.

Will you be the Head Master?

Life's to short to feel guilt

I got home from the store and there was a bag of taters in my groceries that wasn’t mine.I had no way of knowing whose and not about to drive around 12 miles back to store.

Yep. I'll watch out for his face on crimewatch

12 miles?

Well that was the decision I had to make between him giving me the money and the two people in front of me getting served.