7-Eleven Owner Gives Shoplifting Teen Food Instead Of Calling The Cops

It's notable that in today's society this kind of altruistic act makes headlines. When an employee alerted a 7-Eleven owner in Toledo, Ohio, that a teenager was shoplifting in his store, the owner opted to give the young man food instead of calling the police.

As CNN reports, when owner Jitendra Singh "asked why he was stealing the merchandise, the teen said it was because he and his younger brother were hungry." When the teen revealed that he was only taking candy, Singh gave him more substantial food instead. An employee was on the phone to police, but Singh told him to put the phone down, explaining to CNN, "At least (he) won't go to jail... Once you go to jail, you'll have a criminal record later in life. You're not going to be able to get any good job or anything."

A customer watched the entire transaction and posted it to Facebook (in enthusiastic all-caps), adding, "Some young people just need to know that somebody cares." The post has been widely shared and received mostly positive responses, but Singh tells CNN: "Customers are now coming back and saying, 'You're a good guy and you did a good thing.' For me, it was not a big deal... I did what any normal human being would've done in that situation." Well, we'd all like to think so, but if we lived in Toledo, we would go out of our way to shop at Singh's 7-Eleven from now on.