This is why I don't like zero tolerance policies . . .

[Sandra Craft]

http://www.charter.net/news/read.php?rip_id=%3CD9QNLEAG2%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=1011&page=1

I realize stores take a dim view of shoplifters, and so do I for that matter, but it seems fairly clear to me that the sandwich was merely forgotten and not boosted.  And even if it had been stolen, this is a lot of trouble and expense to cause over $5.

[xSilverPhinx]

Don't the police and justice system have better things to do other than prosecute a couple for not paying or forgetting to pay for a $5 sandwich?

Or are they just bored?

[Attila]

With a Polish name like Leszczynski, it's a good thing this didn't happen in Alabama.

[Asmodean]

With a Polish name like Leszczynski, it's a good thing this didn't happen in Alabama.

Would get blasted upon with guns, you think..?  ???

[Xjeepguy]

Here in the states many stores have gotten this way. I am a large man with a shaved head and tattoos, so I am quite used to being followed around wal mart by a plain clothes security officer.

[Whitney]

I know that I would totally forget to pay which is why if I'm hungry I buy whatever it is first, eat, and then continue my shopping.  Of course, I'm also not pregnant with a young child so I may not feel nearly as rushed to combine activities.

[DeterminedJuliet]

At the very least, it is a very dumb PR move.

[Sandra Craft]

At the very least, it is a very dumb PR move.

I think it comes down to people, and businesses, not being willing to make judgement calls and to a certain extent I can understand that -- nobody can see into the future and people can get burned when a judgement call goes bad.  But something like this nonsense (or the 6-yr old boy who got suspended from school on sexual harrassment charges after kissing a female classmate on the cheek, or fill in your own example of zero tolerance lunacy) just seems worse than the risk of a bad judgement call.

[DeterminedJuliet]

At the very least, it is a very dumb PR move.

I think it comes down to people, and businesses, not being willing to make judgement calls and to a certain extent I can understand that -- nobody can see into the future and people can get burned when a judgement call goes bad.  But something like this nonsense (or the 6-yr old boy who got suspended from school on sexual harrassment charges after kissing a female classmate on the cheek, or fill in your own example of zero tolerance lunacy) just seems worse than the risk of a bad judgement call.

Yeah, I guess that's the thing. Middle-management isn't empowered to make those kinds of judgement calls - it's just drilled into them over and over again to follow policy no matter what. Even if those policies taken to the extreme are pretty ridiculous, which, in this case, it was.