What am I demanding? Justice? Consistency?

Today at the store, I really needed relief for my sore throat, but I knew I still had to purchase my prescription later, so I thought it would be ok to take just the one, and then buy the box with my purchase. We've all done that before, right? I've seen others do it many times. I've done it myself more than once.

Well, for some reason, I wanted to be extra up front about it so as to not make anybody feel nervous if they happened to see me break into a box I hadn't purchased yet so I asked the lady.

"Would it be ok if I took one of these now and payed for the box with my prescription that you are filling?"

"Yeah, sure, you just need to pay for it now."

OK... First of all, the answer is No, which is the opposite of "yeah, sure". Secondly... consider this, Mrs. checkout lady... Someone comes in to pick up a prescription and hands you an already opened box of lozenges as if to pay for it as well. How would you react in that situation? No reaction at all, perhaps? Certainly you wouldn't hand them over to security or even give them a lecture about what they've done.

Why then, is this situation really that much different? Sometimes I feel like people are running on some kind of script and are otherwise totally incapable of thinking even the simplest things through without a backup script that fits the situation.

You may say, well, she can't condone that, she would be responsible. Would she not also be responsible for turning in a known "thief" when they attempt to purchase goods which they had previously stolen?

OK, so maybe it's not the lady at fault, but the store policy that thwarts honesty and does little to nothing to catch actual law breaking.

Either way, I lose and the people who aren't so considerate win (in addition to those who are actively trying to steal... as if a thief would ask permission first).

Anyway... just wanted to rant about that. Cheers.