GD judgement: is this moral/immoral, legal/illegal

cheesyboy

cheesyboy

cheesyboy

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I'll try and keep this brief

I attended a festival over the bank holiday weekend. A mate managed to get served food for him, his wife, and child without being charged by the food outlet. He did this twice (one each at two outlets), both times realising, as he walked away with his food, that he had not paid.

I was, initially, rather envious - it's not cheap, this festival food. Giving it some thought, I started to wonder whether he was just an immoral git.

So, GD, is it ok to walk away from a festival food seller if they don't actually ask you to pay? Both in a moral, and legal sense.

Further info;
First time, he was not asked for payment at all. Second time (different outlet) a price was mentioned, but the server seemed to forget to actually take his cash.

TL;DR:
Is it ok to walk off with your food without paying, if the retailer doesn't ask for payment?
 
If he was meant to have paid, then it's Theft either way.......no-one asks you to pay in a shop, but walking out without paying is theft.

So no....its not moral and could be considered illegal.

What i cant get my head round is why the food seller didnt ask for payment....was it that busy?
 
If you actually know you aren't paying and walk off then yeah it is immoral.

I've had this happen in a shop and I had to tell the lady behind the counter she hadn't charged me. She could have lost her job as it wasn't a cheap sale and she may of already had disciplinaries against her.
 
You actually cared enough to post this question. That's the amazing thing.
99.9% of people would see it as a great saving. You aren't going to get arrested for it.
 
I think this has happened to me before, though I didn't realise that I hadn't paid until after I had already left. It was only three double cheeseburgers from McD's though. :p
 
Glaucus said:
You actually cared enough to post this question. That's the amazing thing.
99.9% of people would see it as a great saving. You aren't going to get arrested for it.
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It's been tearing me up inside.

I'm pretty sure, there in the moment, with real money AND food in my hand that I would want to have my cake and eat it. I would walk away and call it a win.

But I would feel a little guilty.

I'm interested on what others think, and would do.

btw, I've probably done my mate a disservice. slightly. I think he actually only noticed he hadn't paid the first time once he had walked away and sat down to eat. 2nd time he knew all the way, though.
 
francky said:
What i cant get my head round is why the food seller didnt ask for payment....was it that busy?
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It's a festival: it's always busy. Probably staff hired for the event too.

pooley said:
Of course it is not moral, I'm surprised you had to ask...
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Well, probably you're right. Would you walk away with the cash, though?

On a slightly philosophical point: if the retailer doesn't notice the loss (which they won't, as such), and my mate gets a lot of happiness from the freebee..... surely the world has gained?
 
I would take the food and not be too worried about it. I'd be interested to know the legal situation of them physically handing food to you but not asking for any kind of payment for it. Isn't requesting payment a vital part of a contract?
 
I'm not too sympathetic about captive market, cashier's error both times, but Cheesyboy's friend shouldn't be making a habit of this. The main thing though is that you have made him aware.
 
Dunners said:
I would take the food and not be too worried about it. I'd be interested to know the legal situation of them physically handing food to you but not asking for any kind of payment for it. Isn't requesting payment a vital part of a contract?
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I would think so. Prices displayed on a board are an "invitation to treat" and not legally binding, price is agreed at point of sale.

In 2nd example, I suspect it may have been theft. 1st time, where no price was discussed, I'm not so sure.
 
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