Am I a bad person for doing this?

Question

I'm at the supermarket with my mother. We have a basket of shopping, we're walking up the sweets aisle. I spot some chocolate I want, pick it up and turn round to put em in the basket. My mother is nowhere to be seen, but there is a basket where she was. I dump the sweets in it, thinking its my mums, and walk around the aisle to find her.

I find her on the next aisle, with her trolley. Weird I think, so I walk round to see if the other trolley is there, thinking woops, put my sweets in the wrong trolley. By the time I get round the corner, a woman is wheeling the trolley away.

I watch and dither for a while, wondering whether I should own up, when the woman notices the sweets and starts shouting at the kid really nastily accusing her of putting them in there, the kid gets told she isn't getting any sweets for the week. I felt awful, but I couldn't muster up the courage to own up.

Does that make me a really cowardly mean person? Would you have walked away?

Answer 1

you should have probably said something. but hey who wants to face an angry mother. Your not a bad person, you just avoid confrontation.

Answer 2

You should have said something, if only to watch the mother get all apologetic with her child . That kid would have probably got the sweets you put in the trolley, just because the mum would have felt so bad after her outburst !!
No, you're not a bad person, maybe a bit of a coward though ??? I mean that in a nice way .

Answer 3

I was in the supermarket weeks ago and i walked away down the isle to get something or other anyway when i got back to where my trolley was I put the stuff in, Anyway I'd started pushing someone Else's trolley around it wasn't till a few isle's later that i noticed i don't eat pasta or Muller rice so what do i do? i ended up just putting back the things i didn't like and kept shopping!! i didn't go back to find who's trolley it was i felt to embarrassed and dumb when i got out of the shop i couldn't stop giggling to myself at the thought of what had just happened and just how often this sort of thing really happens?

Answer 4

LoL.. i think it's ok.. u know why? because you can use this to Learn from ur mistakes.. the fact that u feel bad about it is Awesome. u have a conscience. next time, just make sure u do what u can to be as honest, helpful, positive as possible...that way u won't look back (like this!) and regret what you Didn't do! :) it's ok. u never know, the mother may have not even listened to u. however, it is true that if u had done something, u wouldn't be regretting it right now. you are not a cowardly mean person! because you can Change it! tomorrow is another day~~ :)

Answer 5

I think you should have owned up because;
1. The child was getting blamed and punished for something she didn't do, that will make her very confused and sad because she won't be able to figure out what she's been punished for.
2. It was a simple error and you hadn't done anything really wrong, it was a genuine mistake.
I suggest that you join an Assertiveness class, then you'll learn how to negotiate with ppl to get what you want in life. You will be more confident incase you need to be fair with someone like that little girl in the future.

Answer 6

I did a similar thing whilst on holiday in Florida. When I eventually found the incorrect trolley it was being pushed by a really nice looking man who thought I had done it on purpose as there ,singles did that to meet people. I think in your case I would have owned up just to stop the child being told off.

Answer 7

No it doesnt. Although Ive never been in such a situation, it took me a long time to bring up courage to say some things that I would not have done in the past. I still cant say everything I think I should in certain situations.... but the fact you felt bad about it is the most important thing I believe...I think yes the best thing would have been to say something, but I am not saying that I would have been able to at that moment....

Answer 8

What an awful mother, kid's will be crafty after all. You are not responsible for her temper, but you should have apologised and explained the situation. It would have embarrassed her and made her feel like a rotten mother, and serves her right. Poor child, with a mother with such a vicious temper like that, it sounds enough to make anyone cower.

Answer 9

I would have done exactly the same thing as I'm too shy to own up to a total stranger.
But now you know that next time, it will help give you the courage to own up to something before the damage is done.
Your confidence will build up, just treat this as a mistake.
A mistake that you will try not to make again. :)

Answer 10

I think the fact that you asked this q shows you really know the answer. It was not fair to allow that child to be punished. I am sure the mother would have respected you, and apologised to her child if you had confessed. In future, think things thru. No you are not a wicked person, just made an error of judgement.

Answer 11

You should have definately said something. It would have been awkward but atleast the kid wouldn't have been punished. But my philosophy is as such: What's past is passed...you can't change it. Have you learned from this? Will you do this differently next time? If you said yes, definately then you should stop feeling bad and smile. Stuff like this happens all the time. As long as you can do better next time, you're fine.