I went to Idea u Belgraders yes, along with some other small things, I buy butter. I walk over to the refrigerated shelf where it sits and see that it is stored in plastic boxes, several packages in one. Why is this, I think, if it is not some modern way of stocking or promoting different producers.
I take the box with Imlek butter in my hands and try to take out one package. I turn it, look from all sides, press some plastic protrusions to make sure it doesn't open. No matter what. I'm starting to feel a little silly.
Then an elderly lady came. And she takes a plastic box with butter in her hands, tries to open it. "Neighbor, do you know how this is going," he asks me. "No," I reply resignedly.
What are you surprised about?
I see a girl working in a store and confront her with a problem. "Take the whole plastic box and take it to the register. They will take out as much as you need," he tells me. "Please!?" I said. "Well, yes, they have a key at the till," he explains politely, as if that goes without saying.
I put such a mysterious plastic box with four packages of butter of 200 grams each in the basket and headed for the cash register. I see an older seller and in disbelief I ask him if I really have to carry all that to the cash register so that they can open the locked box there. "Yeah, that's right," he tells me a little angrily. "Why," I ask, also a little angry. "Do you know how much is being stolen!?" he tells me reproachfully. "Is butter really stolen that much," I grumbled and headed for the cash register.
There I find a cashier I know. I show her that box of butter, make a face that should express my displeasure and amazement expecting her understanding. However, she is teasing me.
Do you know how much is stolen?
When it was my turn and I asked her why, aman, this method, she tells me as if this kind of protection of expensive butter is self-evident: "Neighbor, do you know how much is stolen here. They stuff butter in their pockets, wherever they go."
So what is being stolen apart from, obviously, butter? Cans with tuna and sardines, suits me, and cured meat cut into slices.
"Do you see that elderly man," he says to me and points his head at a really quite elderly fellow citizen. "Do you know what he does," he asks me. "I don't know," I answer. And she'll tell me: that elderly gentleman in a jacket put a box of ice cream on the bottom of the tank and covered it with a non-collision bottle of water. Then he comes to the cash register, takes out one bottle and says that he is being charged six, not to take everything out of the bag. But they broke it.
Humiliating poverty
I was overcome with sadness. I felt like going up to him and asking him if he wanted me to buy him an ice cream. Maybe he doesn't steal for himself, but to take to his grandchildren. And he can't afford it, if he has a small pension. I didn't do that though. It seemed to me that I would embarrass him.
In March 2025, the average pension in Serbia, according to the PIO Fund, was 50.686 dinars, I'll look it up when I get home. Almost 60 percent, out of a total of around 1.657.000 pensioners, have a lower than average pension. A total of 344.631 pensioners receive a pension of up to 30.000 dinars. According to official data of the Republic Institute for Statistics, a quarter of Serbian citizens are in at risk of poverty. Those people can't afford ice cream.
I think it's no wonder that so much food is stolen from stores. Sometimes people want to spread pate on bread. The very act of stealing is a humiliation for impoverished people. And they only risk being publicly shamed if they are caught in the act. They cannot answer criminally.
Because, according to the law, in order for theft to be treated only as petty, two conditions must be cumulatively met: one objective condition - that the value of the stolen items does not exceed RSD 5.000,00, and one subjective condition - that the perpetrator went after it to obtain a small financial benefit. Attempted petty theft is not punishable.
Annoyed by the plastic antelope box, sad by the gentleman who steals the ice cream, I forgot to be shocked by the price of 200 grams of Imlek butter - 398,99 dinars.
This October, "Vreme" celebrates and honors - as much as 35 percent discount for our 35th birthday! Valid for semi-annual and annual subscriptions. Subscribe now!
