Shopper issues humorous apology after accidentally stealing a Coles basket

A Coles customer has been left red-faced after she accidentally stole one of the store’s baskets while she was picking up groceries. 

Radio personality Amanda Blair said she absentmindedly put the basket full of groceries in her boot and drove home. 

The 54-year-old shared her gaffe blaming menopause for the ‘brain fade’ and said her whole family is now calling her a ‘basket thief’. 

The mum asked for forgiveness and promised the supermarket she would return the stolen basket but was comforted knowing her local store had many more to use in the meantime. 

‘Dear Coles. Sorry I came home with one of your baskets. I wasn’t thinking. The CCTV footage will show me just happily placing the basket of goodies in my boot then driving away,’ Amanda wrote in a Facebook post.

‘My entire family are now calling me a ‘basket thief’. I promise you I’m not. I’m just in the throes of menopause and experiencing regular brain fades. Forgive me.’

‘I’ll return it asap, in the meantime I’m sure you’ve got others you can use.’

Amanda’s hysterical post left thousands in stitches as many applauded the mum for her honestly and humour.     

‘Return it and get refunded,’ one woman said.  

‘NOPE! That was their only basket. What are the rest of us supposed to use?’ a second joked.  

‘I can empathise but I rename you as ‘The Basket Case’,’ laughed a third and another said: ‘Good peg basket!!’ 

‘You wouldn’t be the first and you won’t be the last person to do that – you’re a good honest person – I’m sure Coles will forgive you,’ someone else added. 

Amanda asked for forgiveness and promised the supermarket she would return the stolen basket but was comforted knowing her local store had many more to use in the meantime

Others shared their own shopping snafus including one woman who accidentally forgot to pay for her entire shop. 

‘Scanned my 10 odd items, put them in a bag got sidetracked chatting to a friend and left without paying. We stood out the front chatting for 15 minutes too,’ she recalled. 

‘It wasn’t until I got home that it dawned on me that I didn’t actually pay. I returned and they had my transaction at the service desk marked as a runner.’

Some had also stolen shopping baskets with someone saying: ‘I did this in Bunnings a few months ago – was too embarrassed to return it!’.

‘I accidentally did this one time and my adult son filmed me getting the basket out of the car and my reaction when I clicked what I’d done,’ a third customer replied. 

‘Return it. My toddler pinched a packet of three men’s hankies at Kmart West Lakes over 40 years ago. I didn’t return them and still feel bad,’ a mum said.