More on the big sandwich case, but first: As of this morning, Romeo’s wake-up video had jumped to 19,635 views. That’s just shy of 1,000 added views since yesterday morning at this time.
Now, on to Safeway country.
• Can you believe that I’m almost feeling sorry for Safeway? I’m not sure what’s the worst part for the company–becoming a lead story on national news, or becoming an object of scorn at BabyCenter.com, where other expecting mothers are taking turns giving Safeway’s reputation a good smack and talking boycott?
• Bloggers are abuzz over the incident, if you hadn’t noticed. A quick blog search turned up 1,280 results.
• For those readers who didn’t have any sympathy for the couple arrested by Safeway because “stealing is stealing,” do you also agree that people should be ticketed and fined for going five miles per hour over the posted speed limit? One mile over?? Honolulu’s Talivans were driven out of business by the negative public reaction, as I recall.
• And perhaps you noticed the juxtaposition of the Safeway incident and the case involving the son of an HPD deputy chief accused of stealing $800 of merchandise from Nordstrom?
According to Hawaii News Now:
Some officers questioned whether there was preferential treatment given since the suspect was released at the scene, allegedly after he identified himself as the son of HPD’s second-highest ranking officer, Delbert Tatsuyama. The department denied any special treatment.
I guess there is a little discretion on the part of those officers responding to shoplifting complaints after all!
• The “Ethics Alarms” blog referred to the Safeway sandwich saga as “an example of the kind of injustice that occurs when the law is enforced without concern for proportion, intent, or common sense.”
By what possible reasoning process could it have made sense—to anyone, from the manager to police, to subject a family, including a pregnant woman and young child, to this ordeal as the result of the failure to pay for two chicken sandwiches? Even if the family had been planning a brazen chicken sandwich heist all along, the sensible, logical, reasonable and caring response would be to give them the benefit of the doubt. Is Safeway concerned about a possible rash of sandwich thefts? Did they need to make an example of someone, and decided on the Leszczynskis?
Ethical decision-making is often difficult, but it shouldn’t be difficult in a situation like this. Any thought at all, other than an undifferentiated no-tolerance reflex, should yield the right answer. This is a sub-set of the duty of competence: the duty to think.
Duty to think? That’s pretty radical.
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Per TV news, Safeway just dropped the theft charges and apologized. I’m proud of the parents for standing up for themselves. Sadly, this is probably all that will be accomplished from $5-Sandwichgate.
Zero-tolerance policy will continue to have supporters, even though it carries severe consequences, for both the accuser and the accused.
The really scary thing is trying to type the lady’s name fast. “Leszczynski”. I mean, Vanna, give me a few more vowels!
Per AP:
Safeway is declining to press charges against a Honolulu couple whose arrests over stolen sandwiches led state workers to take their 2-year-old daughter and sparked nationwide outrage.
Safeway told Honolulu police today that it won’t press charges against Marcin and Nicole Leszczynski, company spokeswoman Susan Houghton told The Associated Press. The couple were arrested last week when Nicole, who is 30 weeks pregnant, ate a sandwich while shopping and walked out without paying.
Their daughter Zofia was taken away by state Child Welfare Services officials. She was returned to her parents 18 hours later.
Karl Schroeder, a Safeway division president, called Nicole Leszczynski today, and, “He apologized for what she’s been through,” Houghton said.
Houghton said management followed routine shoplifting procedure by contacting police, but Safeway regrets not foreseeing that doing so would cause a child to be separated from her parents.
“We want to do the right thing here,” Houghton said. “Families are important to us.”
Right. So is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
He apologized? Wow how big of him. When I was yelled at by an overworked employee at a local homedepot (I wanted to find some adhesive for plastics and glass) and complained they apologized and gave me a $50 dollar gift certificate.
Safeway ‘apologizes’ and gives nothing. They NEED to be sued. My brother is a lawyer and he said they would easily be able to compensated to the tune of several thousand for this obvious abuse.
But boycotting Safeway would punish the hardworking United Food and Commercial Workers International (UFCW Local 480) members because one poor management decision. [comment slightly edited]
The story is in Wednesday’s Washington Post and is no doubt spreading nationwide. Chortle.
“Manoa Safeway puts drink holders in its shopping carts.’ whuuhuhuuu! and they turn families lives upside down when someone uses the lil gadget. I am amazed at the kneejerk, unthinking mentality at play here. Each and every time I am asked by employees in chains: Didjew find everything ok here?” I always answer “No.” they either ignore the answer and continue as if unasked. OR they reply with something akin to “awww that’s too bad!” hahaha. So. WHY da hell they are told to ask this wasted question?
Because someday you may need help to your car. It’s important for them to ask. Personally, I try to make people laugh and feel comfortable in their skin. Especially the worker bees.
what does help to my car have to do with anything? Why would it be important for them to ask anything? It’s nonsensical and robotic. As they admit. And also each time I am in line we always have fun. We joke about that didjuh find everything? they laff too and say ” ya, we gotta say that. don’t mean nuthin’ tho.”
as many nationwide point out; it is…. The death of Common Sense:
http://wapo.st/smkZzs
http://news.yahoo.com/pregnant-mom-says-sandwich-arrest-horrifying-214407004.html
http://yhoo.it/uL7oDm
I can understand the theory of incremental justice and application of the law. After all, flicking your cigarette butt out your car window and dumping your old refrigerator on the side of the road are both littering but most people would think the latter is a tad more egregious.
That said, what should Safeway have done? I think the reaction is at least partly due to the fact that this involved a child. If it were a homeless single person, I wonder if the reaction would have been the same.
Most stores have signs that say shoplifting will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law or something like that. Maybe they should post signs that say “If you take something that costs more than $fillintheblank we’re calling the cops. Anything less than that, we’ll give you a chance to pay for it if you get caught.”
Or maybe another common sense solution would be to simply have a policy that says do not eat or drink anything before you pay for it. That would have avoided this situation all together, no?
As a mother and a grandmother, I was completely and totally outraged over this. I called Safeway headquarters and stated my boycott of the stores. Those of you so ruthlessly hard on this family, have you never made a mistake? Forgotten something in your cart? It happens…I reminded Target last week they forgot to scan a broom. And Safeway…I have found them forget to give me the right price, put a fruit under organic when it is not. It happens, and the only response to all of these is grace. I am sorry Safeway did this to this family. If it was my little grandbaby, I would stop at nothing to get restitution for this horror done to the child. Shame, shame on Safeway!
I like your line of thought. However, per “maybe another common sense solution would be to simply have a policy that says do not eat or drink anything before you pay for it. That would have avoided this situation all together, no?”
Unfortunately, humans will never live in a perfect world and we will make mistakes, just like this family likely made at Safeway. I’d rather have veins and fat and make mistakes then batteries and wires that are perfect yet inhuman.
To answer the general question: What is the common sense solution? The answer is that the answer is not something that can universally apply once written down in law or on a sheet of paper. This is why even the US Constitution changes over time (amen.) We simply need rational common sense and the freedom to use it, which has been communicated by many people who have been posting night and day about this $5 sandwich molehill.
To put it another way, more clearly, in America there is too much of a tendency to solve legal issues with even more laws that can’t be properly enforced. It would be way better to improve the laws and make them properly enforceable by chronically underfunded police.
But the lawyers would hate that scenario!!! As such, as another poster pointed out, we just print more laws. It’s a good think mankind invented computers, or all of the laws that regulate our species would eliminate every tree on the planet someday.
Well, time for breakfast. I think I’ll pass on a sandwich.
here’s another quizzical element to this wild triple standard. along with creeps stealing our time and geetting away scot free with 20 plus tgings in the 15 or les line, they are worried about the loss of a 2.50 sammitch but if you enquire about fruit or veggies, the kids in that dept guide you to it and then ask, would you like to have a sample? I always s say no I dont wanna waste a whole apple on just one taste slice. I mean add that up. This loss would then reflect on higher prices, thereby stealing from every shopper in essence.
The SA has a massive, growing list of vastly varying viewpoints about Safeway’s sandwich-scandal:
NOT AN ACCIDENT
on November 2,2011 | 08:46AM
Shh wrote:
I still find it hard inside of my heart to have any sympathy for this couple. Why? Because I don’t know how they could FORGET to pay for something they ate and did not pay for. Honestly for one thing I find that it is rude for a person to eat in the store and shows no class. But besides that, I find that it would be difficult for a person to simply FORGET that they could be charged with shoplifting if they walk out the door without paying for what they ate! NO WAY a person would forget that! They got caught and I hope the judge sees it that way no matter what happened after the fact. Why should Safeway apologize? The couple should have not shoplifted. Now look what happened! DAS Y HARD! Aye soos! And to think they had their child with them to take a chance like that makes them UNFIT PARENTS! My heart goes out to the child for their parents irresponsibility!
IT WAS AN ACCIDENT
on November 2,2011 | 08:49AM
GeoDiva wrote:
Obviously none of you who are crying theft have ever been pregnant. Only those of us who have, understand why she had to eat something imediately. It was a honest mistake and I hope whenever you find yourself in a situation where common sense is thrown out the window, because of a “zero tolerance” policy you will finally understand.
COMMON SENSE, PLEASE
on November 2,2011 | 09:02AM
KoreAmBear wrote:
The point is not that she committed theft. She technically did. But we all technically commit violations all the time – jaywalking, speeding, etc. Taking a 3 year old child away for a night should be of last resort, not something you do by the book — not for something so stupid as this. There are too many people in these kinds of positions, wielding their authority like they enjoy it, to show others how much power they have. I would guess that they were suppressed at some point in their lives and see it as their turn to rule with a scepter. If Safeway wants to save some goodwill, that manager needs to be fired, and there needs to be more of an apology than, “families are important to us.” Talk about clueless.
I NEED TO GET OUT MORE!!!!
on November 2,2011 | 08:45AM
Vivgie wrote:
Marcin and Nicole Leszczynsk are from Monterey? I hate Monterey! Visited there back in 1999 to see the famous aquarium. The residents are so snotty. Wouldn’t even talk to me when I heard John Denver was killed in a personal airplane crash. I asked for help finding a place to stay after a reservation was messed up, and the store people put me in a taxi destined for the farthest motel from the town. Yelled at the taxi driver so loud she redirected me to a closer one and didn’t!t charge me. Bus driver gave me wrong advice where to get off and ended up walking two miles back to my motel. Funny thing I ran into a pretty girl dressed to go out walking in the same direction. I asked her what her name was because she looked so much like TV star from soap opera show I never watched much. She just smiled at me and didn’t know who I was talking about. As we walked through a very nice neighborhood we had a nice flirty conversation about anything and everything. I liked looking at her colorful sun dress, high heels, and puffy blonde hairdo. Who was she? At the end of the walk.just as we were to split up and visit the open air market celebration on a Friday evening she leaned up close to my ear and whispered inherent sexiest voice, “I think the star you are thinking about is Morgan Fairchild.” and with that she smiled and walked off. God! She was indeed beautiful! That salvaged my trip to Monterey.
Damn good session here. Good work everybody, it must be hard Ian, but you have a great group of contributors.
Ian’s original point, that ordinary citizens and well-heeled individuals and corporations like Safeway receive differential treatment when engaging the Police seems to be lost on the “stealing is stealing” crowd. Whatever the merits, or lack thereof, of Safeway’s “case” against the couple in question, the point remains. And many ordinary citizens (such as me) who have had dealings with the local Police over property crimes we have been victims of can attest to this.