You're in a grocery store, the person Infront is 5 dollars short , do you offer to pay the 5 dollars?

[fortwildernessishome]

Yes, of course and I have done it probably 6-7 times over the years. Last year my husband paid for the guys groceries in front of him when he was short. He used our credit card, because he didnt have any cash.

My favorite story of doing this was a couple of years ago at Rite Aid. There was an older man checking out and he was short almost $20. He had a few small treats, milk and hearing aid batteries. The clerk was getting annoyed with him. There was a long line. I finished up with another clerk checking me out. I walked by and put $10 on the counter and said that I hoped this would help a little. When I did that another lady stepped forward and said, "I'll give you the other $10" and put it down, as we both exited the store.

Twice I have tried to help people and they refused and ended up leaving their items behind.

I am always happy to help.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

Grocery stores haven't sold any tobacco products in my part of California in years.

They do in NH and I am sure many other states as well.

 

[luvnwdwgal]

Depends on the situation. I’m not going to help pay for cigarettes or alcohol.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

They sell both tobacco products and alcohol at my local ShopRite. You have to buy the cigarettes and cigars at the courtesy counter and the booze at a special register.

Anyway, to answer the question, I've done it, and would do it again. I don't care what kid of food is up there-it's not for me to judge a person's food choices...I'd just hand over the money without much fuss or ceremony if I had it to give. I don't usually carry too much cash on a food shopping trip. I'm a SNAP recipient and most times I only have my food card with me.

 

[BayouQueen]

Yes, I'd pay the five dollars, but others bring up a very good point. I'd probably quickly eyeball what they were buying to see if any nonessentials like booze or cigarettes could go back.

 

[cjlong88]

Yes.

 

[Silver saucer]

Yes, and I have done so. There was a time in the not-so-distant past that I had unexpectedly nearly been in that position myself. That changed the way that I viewed hardship.

 

[ronandannette]

Yes, without question. I've done it lots of times but more seldom now that most people are paying electronically.

 

[Genie+]

Yes. Doesn’t matter what they’re buying either. It’s not like it happens regularly. If that person is short, $5 isn’t going to change my life and if it can help smooth their day, why not.

 

[DVCjj]

Definitely if the groceries aren’t tobacco or alcohol.

 

[JLTraveling]

Just curious, why are some people so judgmental? What does it matter if there's junk food or tobacco or alcohol? Yes it's your money and you have the right not to give it away, for any reason or no reason at all. But it just comes across as a power trip, like I will help you if I deem your lifestyle worthy. What if they have a jar of pickles and you hate pickles? Or whatever your least favorite food is. Do you refuse to pay for that too? I don't get this business of examining strangers' lifestyle choices. Help or don't.

 

[TippyThomas]

Just curious, why are some people so judgmental? What does it matter if there's junk food or tobacco or alcohol? Yes it's your money and you have the right not to give it away, for any reason or no reason at all. But it just comes across as a power trip, like I will help you if I deem your lifestyle worthy. What if they have a jar of pickles and you hate pickles? Or whatever your least favorite food is. Do you refuse to pay for that too? I don't get this business of examining strangers' lifestyle choices. Help or don't.

I expected some of the "I would, but only if..." replies that we see in this thread. I don't understand it either to be honest.

 

[morgan98]

For $5, most definitely. Not to mention just for the ease of proceeding through the line! Time is money.

I wouldn't want to be behind them trying to take this off the order, put things back and all of that either. For $5 I don't particularly care what they are buying either.

 

[Cheburashka]

I have never seen this happen. Almost everyone pays with cards, not cash, and I usually use self-checkout, anyway. Occasionally the store sells pre-bagged groceries that they will give to the poor and I've bought those for the store to give away a few times.

 

[Cheburashka]

Just curious, why are some people so judgmental?

Pretty predictable that some posters would make a point of being judgmental about other posters being judgmental lol. Happy Thanksgiving, Disboards!

 

[disneychrista]

Depends what they are buying. Cigarettes and alcohol - NO. Diapers and baby formula- YES.

I was on a date with a guy and we stopped at Walmart and the guy in front of us was short. The guy covered the rest. I thought this must be a good guy. He ghosted me a week later.

 

[disneychrista]

Just curious, why are some people so judgmental? What does it matter if there's junk food or tobacco or alcohol? Yes it's your money and you have the right not to give it away, for any reason or no reason at all. But it just comes across as a power trip, like I will help you if I deem your lifestyle worthy. What if they have a jar of pickles and you hate pickles? Or whatever your least favorite food is. Do you refuse to pay for that too? I don't get this business of examining strangers' lifestyle choices. Help or don't.

If you have limited money, there are better things to spend it on the cigarettes and alcohol. I also won’t give money to the guy on the corner looking for handouts. It is my money and I work hard for it. I get to choose what I use it for.

 

[loves to dive]

Yes, I've done it and will do it again. I rarely have cash with me but I have told the cashier to just put it on my bill. I've also paid a couple of times for the entire bill for the person in front of me. Once the woman got all the way through the check out and realized she didn't have her wallet with her. She asked the cashier to wait while she ran to the car to get it and the cashier refused. It was only something like $20 or so, I just said I'd pay and ran my card. She was so thankful and asked me to stay there while she ran out to her car, she would leave her groceries with me so I wouldn't think she was lying. I told her not to worry about it to just pay it forward some time later. Another time the woman in front of me was digging around in her bag trying to come up with the rest of the cash, she had a couple of kids in her cart who were getting restless, she was obviously upset and the cashier was getting snippy and the line was getting long. I just told her to put her money back in her wallet and I'd pay for all of it. It really wasn't much, not more than $30 or $40 and I've been there. She was in tears, partly embarrassed and partly thankful. I just told her to get those kids home and enjoy the rest of her day.

 

[dreamer17555]

If I have it I would. I’m all for helping out when able

 

[disykat]

It surprises me that so many people have run into this at the grocery store. I've been shopping at least once a week for over 40 years and have never run into this situation.

It probably wouldn't even occur to me to offer and I wouldn't have cash on me if it did. By the time I noticed they were short they would have probably already dealt with the situation by removing something from their order. Isn't that what most people do in that situation?