DEAR MISS MANNERS: I was in the grocery store produce department and witnessed a woman sampling cherries before selecting a bag for purchase. I was actually repulsed, because I wondered how many other people sampled without paying.

Any other shoppers who followed would not have received the same amount of fruit for the price (the cherries were sold by the bag, not the pound), and they would risk whatever germs that woman was carrying.

I didn’t say anything, but I tried to select another bag farther into the display. Should I have said something? She was actually stealing from both the store and the other shoppers.

GENTLE READER: “See something, say something” does not require you to say something to the perpetrator. Miss Manners reminds you that the person with whom to speak, if you chose to, would be someone in authority, such as the store manager.

No good ever comes of grocery shoppers trying to shame one another, no matter how well deserved. In keeping with the general irritability of the populace, grocery stores have become areas of contention, and everyone is armed with ramming carts. So please stop confronting one another.

Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, [email protected]; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.