Mother sparks debate after letting her son eat in grocery store before paying

A mother has defended herself after she was confronted when she let her toddler eat in the grocery store before she’d paid for the items.

Samantha Mary took to TikTok, where she explained what happened when her two-year-old son Jack ate two baby pouches of yoghurt at Tesco, a UK grocery store chain. The mother said her interaction with the cashier when trying to scan the two almost-empty pouches “never made her feel so judged by somebody”.

She explained that, prior to taking Jack to the grocery store with her, he had been sick and not eating much. Although Mary brought snacks with her for him to eat if he got hungry, he wasn’t “interested” in them.

Jack did show an interest in the yoghurt pouches, which due to his previously poor appetite, she allowed him to eat. Mary then went to the register to pay and she said the cashier, “literally gave me the most disgusted look, didn’t say a word, scanned them, and threw them in the bin”.

After telling the cashier her son wasn’t done eating them Mary said she “tutted” and “huffed” at her, before pulling the pouches out of the trash and handing them back to her. While continuing to check her out, she recalled the cashier continuing to give her “awful looks”.

Eventually, Mary said she spoke up, recalling: “I said to her: ‘Look, I’m really sorry, I haven’t meant to upset you or put you out. I just passed them to you because I wanted to make sure you could scan them.’”

“I just don’t think it’s right that people let their kids eat stuff from the food shop on the way around,” the cashier replied, according to the TikToker.

At this point, Mary said her “mom button” was pushed and she said: “I don’t really think it is your job to be giving your opinion on what you think.” The two reportedly continued to argue until Mary was in tears, explaining how her son had been sick and not eating before she was given a “half-apology”.

The mother said she wanted to file a formal complaint but couldn’t because she had an appointment to get to. Mary wrote in her caption that she would file a complaint if possible.

Her TikTok went on to be viewed over one million times, with some people in the comments section supporting her anger, while others agreed with the cashier.

“I always let my son eat on the way round!” one fellow mom wrote in the comments. “Crisps, sandwich, yoghurt, drinks! Couldn’t care less, he’s happy!”

Some commenters explained that eating before paying can count as theft and the cashier might not have been happy to touch something that had been half-eaten by a sick child.

“I agree with Tesco on this one. Especially if you’re not carrying cash... if your card declines and you can’t pay it’s definitely theft. Pay then eat,” one commenter wrote.

Another commenter agreed, writing: “Wait so you’re upset that an underpaid cashier wasn’t thrilled at being handed half empty packets your snotty, sick child had been slobbering on?”

“So you gave her a half eaten spit covered yoghurt sachet to scan and you don’t understand why she would be annoyed by that? The sheer entitlement,” wrote a third comment.