U.K. Store Brands 2-Year-Old a Thief for Eating 40 Cent Candy

Woolworths may have closed down here in the U.S. over 10 years ago, but the chain still lives on across the pond in the U.K. And that’s where today’s awful story comes to you from…

Two-year-old Isra Khan was shopping with her mother Aishah in Woolworths in Blackburn, Lancashire. Mom had taken her and her siblings out to buy some coloring books.

As they were making their way through the store, the little girl reached out and grabbed a false tooth-shaped candy from a “pick-a-mix” bin and popped it in her mouth without her mother noticing. The candy was worth 20 pence, about 40 cents, U.S.

Within moments, a Woolworths employee rushed over and shouted “That’s theft!” in front of a group of shocked customers. He then proceeded to berate Mrs. Khan and her children with a lecture about health, safety, and the proper rules of buying and paying for “pick-a-mix” candies.

Kahn told the Daily Mail,

Anyone would have thought we had stolen the crown jewels but the fact is my daughter was simply doing what a lot of other kids often do. I’m sure a lot of little children interfere with stock in a shop when they are running around - no matter how much we tell them not to touch things sometimes they are too young to understand. At first I thought that it was in a wrapper and she could put it back. But it was in her mouth and I wasn’t about to make her take it out. She’s only two. She didn’t know that what she was doing was wrong and that when you look at the sweets you can’t just take one.

Kahn, who was planning to pay for the purloined candy, was incredulous at the treatment she received from the employee.

When she contacted Woolworths’ corporate office about the decision, they also repeated the same line about the health and safety of dealing with open candy, and the regulations stipulating that all candy must be purchased before being consumed.

Woolworths did not apologize for the heavy-handed actions of its employee.