Surprised Shopper Catches Rat on Camera Trying To Steal Cheese from a Grocery Store
There’s a famous adage about why the robber targeted the bank: “Because that’s where the money is.”
For creatures of the lower orders, their bank might well be the supermarket. And if that animal is of the order Rodentia — say, a rat — the vault is pretty much the cheese section.
One rat in Alsip, Illinois, is going very viral for its gutsy decision to pull a heist at the Food 4 Less there. And he might have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for a pesky customer with a smartphone.
According to Fox News, the video even managed to catch the attention of the local health authorities — although they assured everyone that things were under control.
The video, posted to Christopher Allison’s YouTube account on Oct. 9, shows the rat trying to open a package of pre-sliced cheese in the deli section.
“I was going to grab some pre-sliced meat and cheese from the ‘grab & go’ section when I saw this scruffy old mouse/rat scurry out from the middle of this center-floor cooler,” Allison wrote in the YouTube description.
“Completely ignoring me Ralph (yes, I named him) went right for a package of Swiss (obviously) and went to town on the plastic wrapping. No matter how close I got Ralph fearlessly ignored the camera and proved once and for all why the store is appropriately named, ‘Food 4 Less.'”
As Ralph tried to get into the package of Swiss cheese, Allison provided narration.
“Oh man, that’s wild,” he said. “Check that out.”
At least one employee did; after coming over to take a look at the situation, she went to find some assistance in dealing with the rat.
“That rat knows what it’s getting into, it knows it’s getting into that cheese,” Allison added in the video.
Even though Allison seemed to get in pretty close, Ralph was unperturbed. After all, he was about to make the score of a lifetime; why shouldn’t he be?
“Talk about ‘grab & go,’ this mouse is going for it,” Allison said.
The video ends when an employee tells Allison he’s “going to have to ask you to stop because I’ve got to take care of this.”
In a Facebook post, authorities said that they had looked into the rodent issue and it was properly dealt with.
“In response to a YouTube video showing a rat trying to open a plastic bag full of cheese, in the pre-wrapped meats and cheese department at Food-4-Less, Alsip … Mayor Ryan dispatched both Building Commissioner Rodger Early & Health Inspector Linda Calvillo the store at 8:30am, they inspected the store and spoke with the store manager, who confirmed the incident took place on Tuesday 10/8/19,” a Friday Facebook post from the Village of Alsip read.
“Mayor Ryan visited the store again this morning and witnessed new product being placed on the emptied shelves,” the post continued.
“The store manager and HR person confirmed the original products were destroyed, the display has been sanitized, pest control was dispatched and the pest control log book is up to date and reflected 2 visits this week to address the vermin issue. No one has any knowledge of how the rodent accessed the store.”
As for Allison? “I passed on the deli and bought some chips and dip instead,” he wrote in the video description.
Sounds like a wise move.
As for the rat, one hopes that it survived.
Sure, it got caught in the midst of a crime that, for most pests, would equal capital punishment. However, when it comes to a robber this brazen, you almost have to respect it as a folk hero. It would be a shame if Ralph didn’t get to live on in something other than a video.
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