No it’s not fair at all, if you break something you don’t actually have to buy it. It’s the merchants liability for allowing things to be within reach of customers. Just walk out and don’t negotiate at all.
Is that just your own personal moral judgement or a legal assessment? Because I don't think this will actually work in practice when the police are called for property damage.
Are we talking about the US now? Because I’m pretty sure that where I live (Germany), if the stuff you break is valuable enough, police will definitely arrest you if you try to leave without paying after breaking something.
Depends on where you are. Many cities have under resourced police departments that have reputations for ignoring and refusing to investigate non violent crime.
That’s a fact, not a personal opinion. Unless the damage was done in malice it’s not a crime. It’s the owners negligence for not protecting their property
No need to downvote just because y’all don’t know the law, lol!
> Unless the damage was done in malice it’s not a crime. It’s the owners negligence for not protecting their property
Well that’s just wrong, the damage itself is not a crime but the leaving without paying part is. If I accidentally fall onto your parked car and leave a dent, do you think I can just leave because it wasn’t intentional?
Stores and public places are different things, when you let customers touch your merchandise that’s your liability. You don’t have to like it or agree with it, but that’s the law.
As a non-lawyer, when I had researched it, it is considerably more complicated than that, the answer seemed to be in which party was neglectful or negligent.
I imagine this being the case every time I am forced to walk through the retail area in an airport to get to my gate. They should expect some travellers to be in a hurry and they deliberately put things in their way. I understand their reasons but it should definitely be at their sole risk for any accidental damage.
The crime isn’t the damage but the „leaving without paying for the damage“. If you damage something accidentally and replace the cost of the damage, it’s not a crime. If you just leave and refuse to pay, it is a crime.