Disinfectant Thief

You know how grocery stores now have containers of disinfectant wipes so you can degerm your cart? As I was leaving the store yesterday, I saw this guy reach into the container and pull out the whole roll of wipes. He slowly stuffed it in his bag as I gave him a dirty and disgusted look. Who steals a roll of wipes like that? As soon as I was outside the store, I felt terrible. I wished I hadn't given him that look.

For some reason, stealing the stuff meant for cleaning carts seemed more shameful than swiping a container of Clorax wipes from the Dominick's shelf. Maybe because if you got caught with the container, you'd have to return it. If you got caught with a roll of sopping, disinfectant-smelling wipes, what are they gonna do? Make you stuff in back into the container? So this got me thinking about why he was stealing them. Maybe he's got a kid at home, and baby wipes are not in his budget. Wet Ones ARE expensive. Or maybe he's homeless, and he uses these wipes to keep clean. There was something going on, and I didn't know what it was. Sure, it's wrong to take a roll of disinfectant wipes from the grocery store. But I still felt judgey and awful. I automatically judged him for doing something I do never do, but he probably has some problems I will never have.