Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

My baby sister and I went to the grocery store this morning to pick up a few last minute items for mom. Just as we were pulling into the parking lot, a guy in a ski jacket comes bolting out the front door and running through the parking lot. As he passed us, a guy in a white shirt and tie came running out of the store chasing him.

Now this stuff usually only happens in the movies, but just at the exact moment the ski jacket guy reaches the street, a cop car just pulled up directly in front of him. I swear it was absolute perfect timing.

My sister and I watched this and started laughing our asses off. I mean honestly - when have you ever seen a cop arrive right in the knick of time? Well anyway, we got a good laugh about it while we did our shopping. About 15 minutes later, we were back out the door.

The cops are still parked at the edge of the parking lot. We get in the car and pull out, taking our time to drive past slowly so we can see what's happening. Ski jacket guy is standing next to the cop car with his hands cuffed behind him. Shirt and tie guy is talking to the cops. And on the hood of the cop car, we see 6 cans of soup.

We stopped laughing and didn't say much on the ride home.

Happy fucking Thanksgiving.

CJ

11 comments:

Sucre said...

It's terrible. 6 cans of soup.

If only they would have some holiday spirit and make him do some community service for it.

Anonymous said...

When I worked in retail, I used to just advert my eyes when I saw someone steal some sort of 'necessity', food, diapers, soap, toothpaste... Let the guy have his soup.

Anonymous said...

To be fair here, we don't know that thats all he took. He may have also had cash, which would not have likely been on the hood of the car. I don't think someone typically uses a ski mask to shoplift soup..

Anonymous said...

That makes more sense, I misread it. Thank you for being so kind in your manner of pointing that out.

The point still stands, we don't know that that was all that he took.

Maybe I'm a hardass, but if I worked there I'd have tackled the guy. Nobody is starving in the streets in this country, and I have friends who have used food banks. No need to steal.

Anonymous said...

Actually Reflex, I'm sure some people are coming pretty darn close to starving in the streets. Maybe he couldn't get to the soup kitchen, or didn't want to take his family there on thanksgiving, or was ashamed. I'm not condoning the man's actions (obviously stealing is wrong) but you are exactly right; we don't know his situation. So we shouldn't cast judgement in favor or opposition.

Anonymous said...

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2008/11/17/Report_36_million_Americans_food_insecure/UPI-62681226973657/

"CHICAGO, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- More than 36 million Americans, including 12.4 million children, are food insecure, officials of a U.S. non-profit group said."

and that was in 2007. it's probably double.

I'm not skipping meals, but, i'm seeing people
who are.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, but having had experience with people who come from nations where starvation is real, I don't take it seriously in this country. A buck buys you a value menu item that has more calories than much of the world gets in a week.

I'm not saying nutrition is universal, but people are not starving to death. And a lack of 'food security' is not the same thing as starvation. I also highly doubt the figures they are tossing around, 36 million people would imply that 12% of the country is in that position, claiming it doubled would mean that nearly a quarter are. That strongly sets off my bullshit meter. There are no emaciated adults or children wandering around here unless they are meth freaks.

And once again, if someone feels to ashamed to go to a food bank, shelter or aid agency they need to get over it. Calling your family from jail is far more humiliating. When I was a kid my mother used to have to take us to the food bank(single mother, four kids, divorce after seven year marriage that happened right out of high school). No, it wasn't great, but it kept everyone fed until she could build up her skills and get a decent job. Such is life...

Anonymous said...

reflexVE:

look, having lived in countries where starvation
was common, and having starved my way through
college, yes, I know the difference.
I wasn't living on 1500 calories a day in college,
but, i did, beg more then one meal from the
cafeteria that was going to the dumpster.

i ate about 30% of my meals one year by raiding
college soirees and living on cheese and cracker
leftovers.

the USDA defines Food Insecurity here
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/FoodSecurity/labels.htm

98 percent reported having worried that their food would run out before they got money to buy more.

97 percent reported that the food they bought just did not last and they did not have money to get more.

94 percent reported that they could not afford to eat balanced meals.

96 percent reported that an adult had cut the size of meals or skipped meals because there was not enough money for food.

87 percent reported that this had occurred in 3 or more months.

93 percent of respondents reported that they had eaten less than they felt they should because there was not enough money for food.

65 percent of respondents reported that they had been hungry but did not eat because they could not afford enough food.

45 percent of respondents reported having lost weight because they did not have enough money for food.

29 percent reported that an adult did not eat for a whole day because there was not enough money for food.

22 percent reported that this had occurred in 3 or more months.


do i know people starving to death, like I saw in
india or the Phillipines? Nope.

Do i know people who have to skip meals to make
it to monday? Yep.

Are more people living on Ramen and Mac/Cheese?
yep.

Are more americans living on unnutritiuos and
unbalanced meals? Damn straight.

having lived off a food bank, it's all sugar and corn syrup. It's why the poor are obese. Protein is expensive.

Is the story CJ tells tragic? Yeah.
some poor bastard sounds like he freaked out
and stole some bread and soup.
Who knows we may have to execute him.

ReflexVE sounds like he comes from the
Marie Antoinette school of management.

People are rioting over rice in Egypt, and
the Phillipines, give it some time,
those riots will come here.

Anonymous said...

While the economy is certainly in poor shape, and while it is true that it may indeed reach our shores, that does not change the fact that no one is starving to death, and there is little excuse to steal soup or anything else from a store.

Ultimatly that is my issue, the idea that some people seem to think that is acceptable. I want to know, did this individual sell their posessions? Did they sell their car? Did they make any sacrifice at all before resorting to theft of another's property? For all we know this person is a meth addict who is in that position by their own poor choices, rather than by the ecocnomic hardships many are facing.

I'll save my pity for those who have demonstrated that they deserve it. The people I feel sorry for are those who are on the streets because of mental illness. For those who lost limbs due to war, poor adherance to labor laws or random chance. For those who live in this nation in fear simply because our government has unjustly labeled them 'illegals' even though they prop up our consumer economy.

I do not feel sorry for those who make poor choices. At the end of the day no one should escape the consequences of their actions.

Anonymous said...

So does your sister and family know what you do for a living, and how do they feel about it?

Anonymous said...

ReflexVE

There are lots of people who made poor choices,
and God knows our Society does a lot to help
them screw up. Shows like Lifestyles of the
rich and famous, Property Ladder, My Super
Sweet Sixteen. 4 credit card offers a day.
(I used to use these as fire starter until
our town started paper recycling.

I"m going to look at someone who steals food
as commiting a social sin not a social crime.
Are these the people we should be locking up?
I hope the cops have some sense of decency
and let him walk after a warning, or give
him a break.

Did you ever see that movie "The Pursuit of
Happyness"? Chris gardner is a black man
on marginal times with a kid and a lousy job.
He finds himself having to screw a cabdriver
out of a fare in order to survive at one point.
Was that a crime? Sure. Why was there? how
did that happen? He used the cab ride to
get a job interview.

Are there some people on the edge who
make desperate calls? Yep. And you are
going to see a whole lot more.

And it's easy to be down on the poor.
But it's a lot harder to be down on the
rich and well connected.

What is wrong where we can bail out
wall street for 8 trillion without a blink
but we are horrified about opening
soup kitchens for the poor?

i've been exton PA, there isn't much there
for social services, and it's just getting
worse fast.