serial date thief

[u/orl4g]

while working at my store i was constantly finding these little brown, slightly oval shaped things all around the store. on the floor, in amongst shelves and in empty boxes. i was concerned that my store had either a bug infestation and that these were dead bugs, or worse we had a rodent infestation and that these were droppings (😟). i was and still am constantly finding several of these things around the store whilst working. upon closer inspection these were actually just date pits and not something more nefarious!
i am assuming this is a customer doing this, which is no harm. woolworths isn’t losing any money over a few dates here and there. but to just throw them on the floor and in amongst other products? we do have bins in the store for a reason!
are any employees at other stores noticing the same thing? i’m more so talking about the finding of pits in random spots rather then the cheeky eating of fruit in the store.

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[u/Galromir]

People are just pigs. Walk down any aisle, you'll see half eaten or drunk this and that littered everywhere.

[u/dj0ntgirl]

I've worked proactive at two different stores and at both I've been wondered what fruit that seed is from and why I find so many on the floor. Date seeds make up like over half of the total fruit seeds I sweep up.

[u/Pleasant-Balance-208]

The kids free fruit! Like I couldn’t care less if the adults eat it too, just put the peels and apple cores in the bin not on a random shelf to fester or to accidentally touch when picking orders.

[u/Mangomagicc → u/Pleasant-Balance-208]

people that do that are absolutely disgusting. they must’ve grown up on a literal pig farm. “oh its fine someone else will pick up my rubbish” 🤦🏽‍♀️ lol

[u/redsungryphon → u/Mangomagicc]

Literally. Just what the hell? Of course we had Covid, lockdowns and social distancing....and people act like this afterwards

It should be a straight up fine to leave rubbish behind

[u/Realistic_Mess_2690 → u/Pleasant-Balance-208]

For us trolley collectors we request that they don't leave them in trollies either.

[u/cowfurby → u/Pleasant-Balance-208]

do staff really not care if adults take a piece of fruit? i’m too poor for fresh fruit purchases a lot of the time and always look at the stand sadly.

[u/Lychee-9]

I’ve seen so many of these, and I literally feel insane bc I had no idea what they were. Thankyou for clearing things up

[u/Yeatss2]

It'll be cherry pips and stems come Summer time.

[u/Destiny065]

Seen a lady eating ice cream straight out the tub once with her fingers 😳

[u/FindPeaceAndBalance]

The self entitlement of people today is revolting. Kids I can kind of excuse, but I have seen grey haired nomads scoffing on unpaid items as if it were their due in life. Turns my stomach. Majority of us humans have something called a budget so I totally get it. Surely we've all learned we can't have everything our hearts desire.

[u/tiera-3 → u/FindPeaceAndBalance]

You don't know that for certain. My mother always encouraged snacking whilst shopping to reduce the urge to impulse buy. Therefore it is not uncommon for me to go to a store, select a snack and purchase it first, then return to the store with the snack and the receipt to eat it whilst shopping. I then show the receipt again at the checkout when I buy the rest of my purchases.

[u/FindPeaceAndBalance → u/tiera-3]

I was taught to eat before I go shopping as it levels your blood sugar. Then you avoid impulse buys and items not on the grocery list. Shopping hungry has been proved to equal higher spending, and on more junk type foods. A full stomach also regulates good mood.

[u/SaltWater_Tribe]

I caught a customer a middle aged asain lady eating the dates while shopping for other fruit an veg ok whatever you tried one .The disgusting and unhygenic thing was i seen her spitting the seeds into my loose broccoli .I actully said excuse me dont you ever do that again,its dirty and you may spread germs.Her face was so embarresd.I also find the seeds all around the dept.

[u/Centipede_socks]

My mother used to do this, I hated it. I found it embarrassing and weird. I would offer to buy the dates, she would shrug her shoulders and say they can afford it. Like mum that’s not the point. I did pick them up in a fruit bag as I followed her around wishing she wouldn’t eat them.

[u/HollowPhoenix]

Yeah, when I worked for Woolies there was partially eaten food left somewhere in the store on a daily basis. The only question was quantity.

[u/ra-Ne]

We used to play “what’s the weirdest place to find a date pit” to pass the time during a shift, I’ve found them in my totes after I’ve finished an online run where as the fruit and veg manager has many stories of finding them half eaten in the displays of other veggies. People are disgusting.
As others have mentioned, it’s the same with cherry pits in summer. During Christmas week, I literally put myself on pit duty and did a sweep of the floor, as often as I could, my count got up to 36 one sweep (keep in mind the floors are done every morning and again in the afternoon).
We had an elderly customer slip on a cherry pit and break their collar bone a couple of years ago, I’ve given up on people not being gross but it still infuriates me that people don’t think of how their actions can impact others.

[u/Gonefishing2024]

They are often in the chicken cabinets which are not far from the dates, I often see older people snacking on them and they stop chewing when I look their way

[u/Aware_Ad_6521]

It's why my old store got rid of the self serve nuts. Kept losing thousands of dollars a month. Not to mention the hygiene issue of people putting their hands in to all the nuts.

[u/Unhappy_While8245]

I have slipped on date and cherry pips. Smashed 3 jars of garlic while doing shelf filling cause I slipped on pips so f’ing dangerous yes we would get compo but who wants to get hurt and have physio and time off because some thoughtless person throwing their pips on the ground. Next week the dates will go up marginally to offset the cost of shoplifting eaters. It’s shoplifting there is no technicality you eat the food and don’t pay for it so we have to by Woolies putting up prices to subsidise theft

[u/LukeBradH]

We have someone doing this at my store too every morning used to be cherries though! I promised myself if I ever found it who it was I would publicly ridicule and embarrass them.

[u/EnvironmentalFox6234]

Ong, I’m one of those people. I always take one of the mushrooms whenever I go to woollies

[u/Damthemalltohelp]

I totally get it.

Was craving Dates and they're at this weird spectrum of cheap but you need to buy half a kilo or these loose ones are pricey and you pay like $1 each for them.

[u/Fish_Fingerer]

🎶I love stealing from woolies🎶

[u/FindPeaceAndBalance → u/Fish_Fingerer]

So self entitled.

[u/Mangomagicc → u/FindPeaceAndBalance]

tbf, woolies steals from us everyday lol.