After reading about Flynn’s misadventure at Night ‘n Day, Ruby and Angus reached out to Critic Te Arohi to share their suspiciously similar stories. Turns out, there are quite a few people who have faced a saucy fine from the 24hr store.
Ruby described going to the Night ‘n Day on Regent Street on a warm Friday night in February. Ruby took a packet of sauce, apparently without realising she had to pay for it. Upon being apprehended by a security guard, Ruby apologised, explaining that she had simply made a mistake and was more than willing to pay for it. In response, Ruby said that the security guard called her a “stupid, selfish student”, and continued to say something along the lines of “I bet you’ve come here from a big oversized party. You won't even feel bad when we have to shut for 10 days because you’ve selfishly brought Covid in.” In reality, said Ruby, she was wearing a mask, obeying all Covid rules, and had not been to any party.
Just like in Flynn’s story, the police soon responded to the scene of the alleged crime. Ruby described one officer telling the manager to let Ruby pay for the sauce and that “from their point of view they did not believe I was trying to steal.” Things appeared to be looking up for Ruby as she was allowed to pay and the police left. However, before she knew it, Ruby was slammed with the classic $300 fine plus the price of the allegedly stolen sauce, and a trespass notice.
Ruby, shocked and taken aback by the course of events, called the Night ‘n Day head office the next day to recount the story. The receptionist told Ruby they would “be in touch”. A few days later, having heard nothing, she called again but to no avail. Fast forward a week, Ruby received an email from the proctor saying that the incident had been reported to him but that he wouldn’t take action. It has since been over 3 weeks since Ruby’s last call with Night ‘n Day, and still she has heard nothing, with the fine apparently having been due on 4th March. Critic Te Arohi wonders if Night ‘n Day has the same admin system as StudyLink.
The sauce continued to thicken with Angus’ story. Angus tucked a sauce packet into his pie bag and paid for whatever the cashier charged him, assuming the sauce would be included. He was stopped at the door and informed that he had tried to steal the sauce. “I giggled and said ‘sorry I will go pay for the sauce if I haven’t’,” said Angus. And again, Angus was issued a $300 fine and a trespass notice. Despite thinking “it’s a total joke,” Angus paid the fine quickly, fearing the prospect of going to jail or facing a further fine if he didn’t pay up.
Critic Te Arohi reached out to the Otago Law Department for some expert advice on the issue. Fines are typically imposed through the justice system and not by a private company. Dr Simon Connell said that while Night ‘n Day are “probably entitled to issue a trespass notice,” in terms of enforcing their fines, “they are not on especially solid ground”. Dr Simon Connell raised the possibility of “approaching the Commerce Commission on the basis that there might be an unfair contract term”.
Tim Mackenzie, a barrister at Canterbury Chambers, told Critic Te Arohi that he is happy to assist students being hassled for “fines” by Night ‘n Day for free. “My initial advice is – just do nothing. Don’t pay it, ignore them,” said Tim. Night ‘n Day would apparently have to go to the trouble of filing a civil claim in the Disputes Tribunal if they want to try to enforce their “fines”.
With all this in mind, we had a yarn with Matt Lane, the manager of the store. He was sympathetic to the plight of accidental student sauce thieves, but maintained that intentional student theft is a problem that these unfortunate cases have gotten mixed in with. Matt said that “Students are a really important base for us, they have been for the last 30 years. We know that 99.9% of them are great, and we love them, but there are some that cause problems with us, mostly when alcohol is related and mostly during big party weeks. I don't like issuing these fines, but it's more of a deterrent than revenue collection.”
Coverage like these articles, Matt said, does help reduce the theft rate. Last year, for example, we published an article about a student who was too drunk to remember to pay for an “awesome” Thai green curry pie that he’d eaten in the queue. He was slapped with the same $300 fine, and after our article came out, Matt said that pie theft rates plummeted.
Matt has already spoken with security guards about determining the “intent” of people in this specific situation, but there are pitfalls. “I think it's important to know when something is a genuine accident, but also, it's really easy then for people to know that we'll forgive an accident and take advantage of that”, said Matt.
As an example, Matt described a different sauce theft from earlier this year. There were two perpetrators. According to Matt, a security guard overheard the first person say to his mate “watch – I’m going to take this”, before hiding a sauce packet under his pie bag. Matt said he “went to the counter, made no attempt to show or disclose it and left without paying. While he was at the counter, his friend put six [packets] in his pocket and also left without paying.” If Night ‘n Day made it known that they’d forgive sauce fines, Matt was worried that students like these would be able to say “oh, just a mistake” and ruin it for everyone.
There is a solution, Matt said. Night ‘n Day could just “move the sauce packets behind the counter”. That way, you can’t just grab one and assume it’s free. In the meantime, if it’s not already clear enough, sauce packets from Night ‘n Day are not free.