Posted by Jim, Huntington Beach, CA on July 26, 2010:

I would never have taken you for a Beavis and Butthead fan! Mike Judge was a pretty talented guy. His other creation, Hank Hill would have held the guy for authorities, then probably would have bailed him out and given him a properly cooked meal of hot sausages. (Cooked with Propane, thank you very much.)

The load in his pants probably looked about the same as eating the darn things would have.

Sad to say, but I bet this guy sees more jail time for the theft of sausages then the raving lunatic in the preschool. (Tattooed Trespass)

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I've never seen Beavis and Butthead, but have caught a few episodes of King of the Hill. -rc

Posted by Pierre, Ontario Canada on July 26, 2010:

This story reminds of my brother, John. When he was very young, in the early 1950's, he worked for a fellow, who owned a restaurant. The restaurant was in the Maritimes, and the boss was a SKILLED thief. Let us just say that one day, my brother got one heck of a scare, and one heck of an education.

The boss took John shopping one day. The boss always wore a long trenchcoat (Phillip Marlowe Style), and long (to the knee) heavy duty knit socks, wherever he went, at all times of the year. My brother thought the man was eccentric....

While My brother was kept amused by pushing the cart around the grocery store, this guy took the scenic tour, visiting every aisle, and generally buying only one cheap thing from each aisle. The items were to stock up the restaurant.

One day, when they came to leave, they had just paid for their small order at the cash, and my brother was pushing the cart out the door, to "go home". Just then, a "bad" thing happened.

A large frozen chicken fell out of the trenchcoat onto the floor. In the shocking next few moments my brother's boss yelled, "Hey! Who threw that chicken at me?!" and "Run, John, run!"

My brother bolted out the door, and his boss followed him.

Now this being in the 1950's, all the doors opened automatically when you stepped on the black weather mat in front of them, and there were no video cameras.

They got back to the restaurant, and the boss "unloaded" all the items he had "borrowed" from the store from the "special pockets" of his trenchcoat (and the socks). The official grocery order was about $30 (Lots in those days!) The "borrowed" items, less that lost, lonely, wayward, chicken, came to about $120.

The police did show up. But he (the boss) was a respected (at least up till then) businessman. And recall, no video cameras. It was a case of "he said, I said, no proof". He got away with it, with a written warning, and a prohibition to visit that grocery store again for 3 months. My brother could still go, provided he wore no "conspicuous clothing".

John quit his job about a month later, citing psychological issues. He was little older, but much wiser.

Moral: Put the sausages in your trenchcoat, not your pants.

Posted by Robert in Missouri on July 26, 2010:

Sausages in his pants? I sure as heck hope he was wearing clean underwear! :-)

Posted by Jeff, Northern California on July 27, 2010:

Judging strictly from the picture, it looks to me like the guy was likely homeless and may well have simply been hungry. I'm inclined to feel sorry for him.

Not that that justifies theft, mind you. Just sympathy.

Posted by Mallie, Denver on July 31, 2010:

To Jeff-- if he IS homeless and hungry, it absolutely does justify theft. No one should be made to go hungry while entire grocery stores are stocked with food. While I do not believe that anyone should just take up stealing, I am more inclined to forgive and pardon theft if it's for food in desperation and not for any type of material gain, like say bankers who steal millions and billions of dollars to line their own greedy pockets.

Posted by Mike from Dallas on August 1, 2010:

Cool! So I can give up my job, and justify theft of food, clothing, & shelter because those are necessities and cannot be denied to me. And here I spent all these years actively employed to earn those necessities. What a waste.

I'm always amazed at the mindset. One woman declared to me, indignantly, that she NEVER stole! Well, except from the government and large corporations, but those don't count because they do it all the time to others.

Theft is theft, and there are always excuses. But enter MY home and try it. (Texas is a Castle Doctrine state.) And while you feel that stores have limitless inventory of food, SOMEONE has to pay for it. And what makes that particular store responsible for providing free food rather than the other stores?

Tell ya what, we'll just send ALL the homeless people to Denver since stealing food there is justifiable and entitled to forgiveness.

Posted by greg n TEXAS on August 1, 2010:

I realize Mike beat me to it but you know, my two cents and all.

So Mallie, the homeless are subject to different laws than the rest of us? There is no excuse for theft, be it for food, a pair of sneakers, insurance fraud or anything else. The end result is the rest of us paying higher prices to make up for the businesses losses. I already pay to feed people through income tax, church and other donations. There is no excuse for anyone in this country going hungry. I live in a fairly small city of about 120,000. There are literally dozens of churches, many who run soup kitchens who feed anyone who asks. There are food banks, the Salvation Army who will feed you and give you a cot. Go to the court house and you can leave with a card to go buy food. With just a little less effort this guy could have gone to any of these places and someone would have gladly fed him. And clothed him. And help him find shelter. This is a great and rich country and we take care of those who cannot take care of themselves and many who could. So Mallie, put a tourniquet on that heart of yours, would ya? Just sayin...

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I was waiting for someone to point out the services that people offer to the homeless voluntarily, rather than hitting on those who haven't volunteered (or have elsewhere!) Thanks, Greg! -rc

Posted by Stacey, Corpus Christi, TX on August 2, 2010:

I know stealing is not the answer but I also would be more inclined to pay for the poor man's sausage than to allow him to be arrested. I have done that a few times when someone, who is obviously down on their luck, is at the checkout and is digging for change to pay for something to eat. Actually, I have been REALLY down on my luck and trying to feed two children whose father was estranged. It was very hard to come up with something to eat... we live in HOT Texas, had no power and ended up cooking hot dogs over a candle flame. The kids were great but I just cried the whole evening. It is very hard, depressing and terribly self-demeaning to be in that shape.

Posted by Brent in Mobile on August 7, 2010:

Did anyone notice that this (assumed) homeless man was getting into a car? Not many homeless people have cars or ride in them to the grocery store. As previously mentioned, there are more honest ways of not starving than theft.

Posted by Robert in Missouri on August 7, 2010:

@Brent: That reminds me of a story regarding a panhandler who was later found out to own a brand-new four-wheel drive truck. I don't know how truthful that story was, but it made me think "If he's so hard up, where in heck did he get the money to buy the truck?"