I popped in a supermarket today, and while walking around choosing what to buy for a snack an interesting question appeared in my mind.
Imagine you are doing some shopping in a supermarket. It's not a prime time, so there are not many people around you shopping. You enter the household chemicals aisle and this is where you find a product that in no way belongs in this aisle. Let's say, it is a pack of chips lying on the floor, small enough to fit in your pocket. It can be any other product that happened to be in the wrong aisle though.
Question 1: Would it be considered a theft if you picked up the product that shouldn't be there and take possession of it?
Now, what if it was a kind of product that you know for sure that the supermarket you're in doesn't retail?
Question 2: Can I get a hold of the abovementioned product without being considered a thief?
Question 3: Would I be a thief if it was a kind of product that the supermarket retails, but that wasn't there if it were not for an incident (e.g. somebody had dropped a box of matches before I appeared and I picked it up)?
Question 4: How do I prove I'm not guilty if I get caught "red-handed"?
Thanks in advance, and my apologies if my English was ungrammatical.