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        riddles >> what happened >> Thief
        
(Message started by: maryl on Aug 23rd, 2003, 8:29am)
Title: Thief
Post by maryl on Aug 23rd, 2003, 8:29am
A lady was shopping at the market for some food. All of a sudden she saw some bread. She didn't have any more money so she took the bread and ran out of the store. The police saw her take it but didn't chase after her. Why not?
Title: Re: Thief
Post by Sir Col on Aug 23rd, 2003, 9:07am
Was it... [hide]a free sample of some very spicy substance on bread, which upon eating, was so hot that it caused her to run out of the store hysterically[/hide] ?
Title: Re: Thief
Post by maryl on Aug 23rd, 2003, 10:00am
You're half right. Well, actually you are totally right in saying-[hide]it was free[/hide], she just ran out cause-[hide] she didn't know it was free.[/hide]
Title: Re: Thief
Post by SWF on Sep 6th, 2003, 4:25pm
I thought I had a much more reasonable answer, but upon rereading the question see that it doesn't quite fit. Since I find my answer to be more satisfying than the one given, I am going to rephrase the question:   :)

A woman with no money (or other means of payment) on hand was in the shopping market and feeling hungry. All of the sudden she saw some bread. She grabbed it and ran out the store. The police saw her take it but did nothing to stop her.  Why not?

The answer I am thinking of is different from the one given by Sir Col and maryl, and in my opinion makes much more sense.  This particular store is like every one that I have seen: they do not have...[hide]free bread[/hide].
Title: Re: Thief
Post by maryl on Sep 7th, 2003, 8:57am
I see what you're saying with the supermarkets we shop in these days, but in smaller markets, and in some donut shops they give away "day old" bread for free.

As far as your answer goes, how about-[hide]she ate the bread so there wasn't any evidence?[/hide]
Title: Re: Thief
Post by SWF on Sep 7th, 2003, 12:36pm
Sorry maryl, the police know there is evidence of this on video. The situation I am thinking of is not so bizarre, and there is a good chance you have witnessed something similar yourself.

Here are some more possible explanations which fit the riddle but are not what I have in mind:
[hide]The police did not chase because they were preoccupied with a more serious crime in progress, or were possibly bound and gagged by another armed robber.

Or because the police did not want to get involved. For example they sometimes do nothing during rioting.

Or because the woman had a gun and hostage.[/hide]
Title: Re: Thief
Post by BNC on Sep 7th, 2003, 1:32pm
Because...[hide] they were nice guys, and saw the lady to be old, poor, and hungry[/hide]?
Or maybe, [hide]she was a friend / friend's mother[/hide]?
Title: Re: Thief
Post by SWF on Sep 8th, 2003, 9:28pm
Not what I had in mind, BNC. If you saw a police officer take the bread from the woman in this situation and run out with it himself, you might not be surprised.
Title: Re: Thief
Post by BNC on Sep 8th, 2003, 11:23pm
It was a gold bread...with diamonds -- very expensive. The lady saw the store catching fire, and she tried to save the bread...


Nah, just kidding. I have no idea....
Title: Re: Thief
Post by wowbagger on Sep 9th, 2003, 2:33am
What if there was [hide]a bomb inside the bread[/hide]?

I'm not sure this is something with "a good chance you have witnessed something similar yourself", but it's more or less reasonable. Hm, maybe more bizarre than the [hide]free bread[/hide] solution, though.
Title: Re: Thief
Post by SWF on Sep 9th, 2003, 5:12pm
No, it is not a bread bomb. My answer fits most parts of my modified question fairly logically, although there may be a little bit of irrelevant information. Perhaps comparing how the question was modified to make it fit this answer will give a clue.

Another hint: [hide]What kind of person would go into a market yet have no need to bring any money?[/hide]
Title: Re: Thief
Post by BNC on Sep 10th, 2003, 1:57pm
I have several ideas that match the riddle, like:

She’s an actress, and playing a part.

Or, she’s a known mob leader, and the police is afraid.

Bur neither fits the hint SWF gave:


on 09/08/03 at 21:28:09, SWF wrote:
If you saw a police officer take the bread from the woman in this situation and run out with it himself, you might not be surprised.


What is she’s a policewoman herself? The bread may be evidence of some sort. Maybe “bread” here is used as slang for “cash”.
Title: Re: Thief
Post by BNC on Sep 10th, 2003, 2:01pm
Here’s another one. The story took place some years ago. The queen of England was visiting her subject, and went down to the local market. She saw nice-looking bread. She ordered her (female) servant to get her that bread – NOW! Her servant ran to the store, grabbed the bread, and ran out to give it to the queen.
Title: Re: Thief
Post by SWF on Sep 10th, 2003, 8:51pm
BNC, you are getting a little bit closer with that last one, but your creative answers are causing you to forget the mundane.

The woman's career is not an actress, police officer, or mob boss. A clue to her occupation:[hide]A word (longer than 4 letters) describing what she does for a living (or at least the most likely fit, in my opinion) appears somewhere on this page if you scroll up. It is not a word in anyone's guess, but coincidentially appears as a portion of a longer word. However, I am not certain this word is common outside the USA.[/hide]

Compare a portion of the orginal question:

Quote:
A lady was shopping at the market for some food. All of a sudden she saw some bread. She didn't have any more money so she took the bread and ran out of the store...

to the changes I made to make my answer fit:

Quote:
A woman with no money (or other means of payment) on hand was in the shopping market and feeling hungry. All of the sudden she saw some bread. She grabbed it and ran out the store...
Title: Re: Thief
Post by Icarus on Sep 12th, 2003, 3:23pm
Since no one has said it yet, and to celebrate getting back into the forum (at least temporarily): [hide]She owns the store.[/hide]
Title: Re: Thief
Post by Sir Col on Sep 12th, 2003, 4:09pm

Quote:
A woman with no money (or other means of payment) on hand was in the shopping market and feeling hungry. All of the sudden she saw some bread. She grabbed it and ran out the store. The police saw her take it but did nothing to stop her.  Why not?


That'll teach me for not coming in this section for some time. I hadn't seen SWF's new version. I was going to suggest that answer too, Icarus. The other ideas I had, although a little obscure, were...
::[hide]
a) She had a tab with the storekeeper and took bread each day to eat on her way to work. She would settle the bill at the end of the week.
b) Being a baker's, they receive daily deliveries of fresh bread. The lady was delivering the bread and got into a lengthy conversation with the storekeeper. Suddenly her tummy started rumbling and reminded her that not only was she hungry, but she was falling behind with her deliveries. She grabbed the old bread, that the shop was unable to sell yesterday, and ran out of the shop to continue delivering to other baker's

In both incidences, the police were enjoying one of their regular morning coffee and doughnuts, and knew the lady.
[/hide]::
Title: Re: Thief
Post by SWF on Sep 12th, 2003, 6:48pm
That guess b) by Sir Col is pretty good. At least it fits several aspects of the question, like explaining why she would be running. It also fits one of the clues given earlier, but not all:[hide]
Fits the clue about what kind of person would be in a store and not need money: somebody who is not shopping.

One clue that it does not fit: I don't see "baker" or some similar term hidden in a longer word above.

Here is another clue: the question says she suddenly saw some bread, implying that seeing the bread was unexpected and this triggered her to grab it and run.[/hide]

By the way, I am finding that dragging out an answer by giving many clues is a more effective method of building post count than solving hard problems like Abel's Wire Problem (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1061633861). It gets more responses too.
Title: Re: Thief
Post by Sir Col on Sep 13th, 2003, 2:00am

on 09/12/03 at 18:48:35, SWF wrote:
By the way, I am finding that dragging out an answer by giving many clues is a more effective method of building post count than solving hard problems like Abel's Wire Problem (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=riddles_hard;action=display;num=1061633861). It gets more responses too.

;D

Okay, how about... ?
::[hide]
a) The woman was a vagrant and, walking through the shopping market, she spotted through the window of a food bar someone get up from their table to leave. She noticed that they had not quite finished their sandwich, so she sneaked in, grabbed the bread from the plate, and ran out of the shop?
b) Still on the vagrant theme, she noticed some bread on the floor; perhaps a bread roll that had dropped and fallen under a table?
c) Walking home on her lunch break (feeling hungry), she noticed a small crowd outside a cafe. Upon investigating it appeared that one of the customers had swallowed a fish bone and the waiters were flapping about being no help. Being a first aider, she knew what to do: she ran into the cafe, grabbed some bread off the counter and took it outside, calmly advising the victim to swallow small pieces of bread to help dislodge the fish bone?
[/hide]::
Title: Re: Thief
Post by maryl on Sep 13th, 2003, 8:43am
Maybe [hide]she was blind and everybody knew it, and she suddenly saw the bread; or possibly an anorexic who finally decided to eat. Maybe she had a screaming baby waiting outside who was driving everyone nutso...[/hide]

Do I get another "thumbs down?"
Title: Re: Thief
Post by SWF on Sep 14th, 2003, 11:05am
Sorry, maryl, I have to give another thumbs down. Thumbs up may be near after this next clue:
[hide]After seeing the far-fetched answers proposed, I was beginning to wonder if the answer I am looking for not so good an answer afterall. While in the supermarket I considered trying to cause someone to suddenly see a loaf of bread, grab it, and run out the door, just to prove my point. Although I chickened out and did not try the experiment, I believe there is a reasonable chance I could intentionally cause this to happen (no bribes, threats, or lies allowed).[/hide]

I like Sir Col's most recent guess c). Although it is an unlikely series of events, it fits most of the clues pretty well. Also, I don't think using bread on a fishbone is useful as emergency first aid.
Title: Re: Thief
Post by BNC on Sep 14th, 2003, 11:46am
There was a large notice next to the bread saying "You just found one of the hidden price breads. If you'll be the first to bring it to the check point, you'll win the grand price."
::)
Title: Re: Thief
Post by Speaker on Sep 16th, 2003, 7:48pm
Well [hide] she saw the bread, and right next to the bread the sign that indicated that the bread was free, one loaf each for the first ten customers. Noticing that nine other customers were already on their way out of the store, she grabbed a loaf and hot footed it out the door. [/hide]
Title: Re: Thief
Post by Speaker on Sep 16th, 2003, 7:50pm
Okay.

[hide] The loaf of bread had been forgotten by another customer. She was just returning it. The good Samaritan and loaves and fishes combined. [/hide]

This is about as mundane as you can get. And, would be seen in almost any store in any country. Of course, her profession does not matter, so it is probably not the answer that is being sought.
Title: Re: Thief
Post by SWF on Sep 16th, 2003, 9:34pm
Very good, Speaker!  That is correct:[hide]

An employee of the store would have no reason to have money with her, since she is working not shopping. Looking at that food all day is bound to make her hungry (this was the irrelevant clue). Suddenly seeing forgotten or dropped bread, makes sense since the bread would be in a place where it does not belong. Running would be necessary to catch the customer before he drives away. I was thinking the employee most likely to do this would be the one who last deals with the customer:  a bagger (the one who puts the purchases in bags). The other clue I gave refers to this word appearing in wowbagger's name[/hide].
Title: Re: Thief
Post by wowbagger on Sep 17th, 2003, 3:43am
What an honour! :)

That scenario is not bizarre indeed.
I think the reason I didn't get that hint is that there usually aren't any [hide]baggers[/hide] over here. ;)
Title: Re: Thief
Post by maryl on Sep 18th, 2003, 4:26pm
"DOH!"


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