Have you ever broken anything in a grocery store?

Las Pinas City, Philippines
September 14, 2009 12:58pm CST
I broke a bottle of deodorant in our local grocery store. It was an accident but nobody saw what happened. But I looked around to find if there's any grocery helper nearby. One of the security guards was there and I told him what had happened. He said it would be charged and be included in my bill. Yet he smiled at me and gave the cashier a cheaper price than what should be. I'm glad my honest was rewarded somehow. :) If you were in my place, would you do the same thing? or you'll just keep it to yourself and run away? Feel free to leave comments! :D
3 people like this
23 responses
@marctiu (829)
• Philippines
15 Sep 09
I accidentally broke a ketchup bottle once. I fell shy and embarrass at first, but I just picked up the bottle. Go directly to the cashier and pay for the ketchup and threw it in the trash can. I never really intended to break something that is why I have to pay for it.
2 people like this
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
But it was an accident right? anyways, at least, you're honest. :)
@jules67 (2788)
• Philippines
15 Sep 09
I remember once that I had the same experience. I was shopping for my personal effects and accidentally, one of the items I bought dropped and it got broken. I was told the same thing. I had to pay for it. Of course I did, good thing it only costs a little over 20 pesos.
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
Mine was 50 pesos. I felt a bit bad about it because it was for the next day's allowance. I suffered the consequence of budgeting my food allowance for the next day.
@mjmlagat (3170)
• Philippines
15 Sep 09
hello there! yes, i would do the same thing, i always believe that good deeds really pay. it happened to me once when i broke a bottle of peanut butter..i accidentally hit it with my bag when i turned to check on another item.. i paid for it the actual price but it's ok with me, it's just fair enough.
1 person likes this
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
Good thing there are still few honest people in this world. I'm not saying we should really pay for the breakage. Maybe the least good deed we can do is to inform them. :)
@Ruby722 (796)
• China
15 Sep 09
Wow.Good.Obviously you are honestly boy.If my memories i never broken anything in a store or shop.If that really happens i will do the same thing as you..Tell the assistant..Have a good day.
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Sep 09
wow...i find it so odd that so many people say that they have had to pay for something that was broken on accident. I work in a grocery store, and people break things quite often (when you are there over 40 hours a week...not a day goes by that someone doesn't drop something...) but we never make our customers pay for it....unless we see them PURPOSEFULLY throwing something on the floor and breaking things. Accidents happen and we figure in a certain amount of loss due to breakage, either by ourselves when opening cases and accidently slicing a box open, or something accidently falling from a shelf or getting knocked over by a customer. We figure this in just as we figure in a certain amount of loss due to product goig out of date etc. Its why a single can of corn might only cost us at the store 20 cents to purchase, but because of damages and the cost of labor to get in on the shelf and run the store etc it wonds up costing hte customer 85 cents. I am glad the security guard cut you a brak though! And thanks to all the people out there who immediately find a worker at the store and reportsomething that is broken or spilled so we can clean it up. It really sucks when half an hour later someone comes to the register and says..oh yea...by the way, when i cam in thestore a while ago there was some juice spilled on the floor. First off, it makes the store look dirty, and we don't want that, and secondly, someone could have slipped and fallen...and we CERTAINLY don't want that!
1 person likes this
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
As much as possible, I dont want to cause any harm to anyone. Reading your comment made me feel better. :)
@bmuchler (441)
• United States
15 Sep 09
My oldest son has broke a jar of applesauce once. Someone was near by to clean it up. I was not charged. They were more concerned if my son had cut himself. Luckily no wounds.
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
You're lucky enough to have accomodating grocery stores in your neighborhood. :)
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
14 Sep 09
I have never been charged for anything I broke. Usually it's the fault of the shelf-stacker or the stupid design of the jar that makes it fall. I have, I think, broken something only a couple or so times. I always immediately go and find a member of staff so that it can be cleaned up. Once (when I was working as a shelf stacker) a whole shelf of glass jars of pickles came down and most of them broke. That time I had to clean it up myself, though!
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
16 Sep 09
Did you know that the items the store wants you to buy are placed at eyelevel? You will often find the cheaper options and bargains are near the floor or well above eye level. It pays to crouch down or to be very tall when shopping! Yes, it's often the fault of the designer of the packaging that things get broken. Every store has a budget or 'margin' for losses and breakages. When you buy there, you are effectively paying for that, whether you break anything or not. Most stores (in this country, at least) will not expect you to pay for breakages, especially if it's an accident, and, knowing that they build such losses into their prices, I would not usually offer to pay!
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
oh... I see. Next time, I'll look for the items on the next floor of the shelf so I could get to pay for cheaper ones.
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
So it's the designer's fault! haha! Kidding aside, the bottle was stacked on the second level from the top. I can say it's too high for a breakable stuff.
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
15 Sep 09
Yes I broke a jar of spahgetti sauce once. It was quite a mess all that red sauce splattered all over. I told them right away, mostly because I was concerened about the shattered glass, I did not want any one to get hurt. They thanked me for telling them, and they went to clean it up, but they did not charge me for the broken product which was nice of them.
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
Yeah. It was an accident anyway.
@Tantrums (945)
• Philippines
14 Sep 09
Good thing if I only broke 1, but it was a stack of bottled vinegar they're arranging in the shelves, man, it was very embarrassing, not only i stenched my clothes, they made me clean it up, but good thing they didn't let me pay for it, it was totally an accident.
• United States
15 Sep 09
wow...i cannot believe that they made YOU clean it up......that is just crazy. But then i work in a grocery store in the united states, and mayby our policies are different than yours....
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
man, i cant imagine how you smelled while cleaning it ALL up. LOL
• Boston, Massachusetts
15 Sep 09
hi debbie_19, you're so lucky for having that discount! as for me, i broke a bottle of cologne and the saleslady saw it. i was so embarassed and asked the saleslady what to do. she directed me to the cashier and i paid the full amount of the said product. oh my, good that i have an extra money because the cologne was quite expensive, i really felt bad about what happened but i don't have the choice then but to pay it.
• Boston, Massachusetts
17 Sep 09
owwww. wow, really?!!!! that's so nice of him. again, it was your lucky day!
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
It was a bottle of deodorant that I broke. I broke the expensive one but he gave the cashier the cheaper one. Thanks to him. :)
@Lucky09 (1763)
• Philippines
14 Sep 09
hi debbie^^;; oh i had the most terrible experience when i broke the cover of an expensive set of pyrex glass cooking ware..(maybe around $35). At that time i didn't have money and the sales assistant insisted that i should pay the whole thing and i was like oh my God!..i told them i didn't have enough money and if i could pay only for the cover but she said no..so i was trying to call my friend. They called the owner of the shop, and the owner asked me where i live and how much cash do i have. After that, the owner let me go without me paying it. Ofcourse, I was so thankful she spared me..whew!relief! I just realized sooner that her husband was running for a mayor in our hometown and that it's like one kind of their campaign.^^;; After that incident, i'm very careful when i'm near a glass of something on display...LoL
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
you were lucky enough. LOL when i broke it, the cashier insisted that i should pay for it. :( unfortunately, nobody came to the rescue.
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
Politics is Politics. haha.
@Lucky09 (1763)
• Philippines
16 Sep 09
yes debbie. maybe if the incident happened not during the election campaign, i guess the owner asked me to pay it. but well, they were protecting their good and humble image..haha!^^;;
@rg0205 (2636)
• Hong Kong
15 Sep 09
Ive never broken anything in a grocery store but I would've done the same. :-) Kudos to you for being honest about it.
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
Thanks. I just dont want to feel bad about it. :)
@rg0205 (2636)
• Hong Kong
16 Sep 09
I'm the same. I have a nagging conscience.
@hexeduser22 (7253)
• Philippines
15 Sep 09
I can't recall breaking something in a grocery store but something tells me I have had this experience before. Maybe it was so embarrassing then that I had to forget about it.
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
It was really embarrassing especially when you attract people's attention.
• United States
15 Sep 09
I made a whole shelf collapse at a grocery store and had to pay for it. i thought i could get away with it, but with the mannager right next to me, it was impossible to get away.
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
Wow... You paid for the items on the WHOLE shelf. Rich kid... LOL
• United States
14 Sep 09
I didn't really break it at least I don't think so. I was looking at a bottle of shampoo in the store and I put the bottle back onto the store shelves. Well. I picked up a different bottle of shampoo and walked away and as I'm at the end of the isle I hear a loud crash and see the bottle on the floor, the lid knocked off and leaking all over the place. I just kept on walking because I didn't feel like I really broke it and I figured that someone would figure it out eventually and clean it up. And they did. Someone came a few minutes after it happened.
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
Good for you. It wasn't really your fault anyways...
@Shebang (244)
• Philippines
15 Sep 09
Mine was not in a grocery store. One time, in an appliance center, I had broken a chime embelhished with crystals. I was only 14 years old then shopping for a gift for our christmas party. I wasn't able to buy a gift that time because I had to pay for the broken chime. Then just months ago in a bookstore I had broken a bookcase made of plastic. I was in a hurry at that time so I was not aware I had broken something. The lady guard ran after me on my way out of the bookstore. It was so embarrassing. LOL =)
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
You're bad. LOL just kidding... I thought you broke an appliance. haha
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
15 Sep 09
hi debbie__19 yes I accidentally broke a jar of peanut butter as it'slipped through my fingers but it happened in front of a'clerk who looked at the bottle and told me he would not charge me as someone had opened it and not closed it properly and there was oil all aroung the edges,thats why it slipped out of my hand.so I did luck out there, I did have to get some kleenex and wipe my hands off. but that was'okay.
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
Good thing it didn't cause you any cut or wound. Accidents happen. :)
@hotsummer (13837)
• Philippines
15 Sep 09
no i have not broken any thing yet. and i am very careful actually on the items i pick up on grocery shelter as i don't want any thing slip from my grip specially anything with bottle container . as i don't want to attract attention and i don't want to pay for it and i feel ashamed to do that actually.
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
I think you have the presence of mind taking care of your moves. :) Good for you.
@piya84 (2581)
• India
15 Sep 09
yes i have acted silly many times .lol I remember while hunting for gifts in one mall i have broke cup and saucers.I was trying to take out something but it shook that shelf and few cup and saucers fall down on floor.That owner was mad at me.I said him sorry for my mistake and then paid for it.
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
Maybe the owner doesn't have a budget for accidents like that. Were you looking for new stocks or other designs? you should have sought for assistance. :)
• Philippines
15 Sep 09
I broke a bottle of mayonaise one time in grocery. Many people witnessed it so I had no choice but to pay for it.
• Las Pinas City, Philippines
16 Sep 09
whew, they say you shouldn't pay for accidents... but surely, your honesty would be rewarded in time.