My 83-year-old grandad steals jam and eggs from honesty boxes – I’m mortified

In our Money Secrets series, we ask people to confess their furtive money-related secrets which they are hiding from loved ones or that people do not know the full extent about. Today, we speak to Jennifer, who has discovered her 83-year-old grandad is regularly taking food for sale outside people’s homes but failing to pay for it. She is so appalled and embarrassed by his behaviour, she has kept it a secret, even from her parents. Shorts My grandad has always been a true gentleman. From my earliest memories, he has been a polite man who holds open doors for strangers, smiling and nodding at everyone he passes in the street. I have always been close to him and since my grandma died a few years ago, I have been making an effort to visit him when I can in the little village where he has been living for more than 30 years. My grandad, now 83, worked hard all his life, has always been honest and paid all his taxes. He has never done anything dodgy or unethical and is appalled at the thought of anyone cheating in any way. I went to visit him over the summer and walked around his village. As we went down one particular cul-de-sac, he told me there was a woman who made lovely blackcurrant jam and he wanted to get a jar to have with his toast. There was a quaint little cupboard outside with rows of jam, chutneys and an honesty box for people to post their money through. Living in a city myself, I think it’s lovely that people in small villages can do this without fear of people trashing their homemade produce or stealing the money. I watched as my grandad selected a jar of jam and one of tomato chutney too. He put one jar in each pocket – and proceeded to walk off. “Grandad, you forgot to put the money in the box!” I said running after him but he did not seem concerned at all. He tried to tell me that the honesty box was just for contributions – you didn’t have to put in anything if you didn’t want to. I told him that clearly wasn’t the case as the jam had a label on saying £2.50 whilst the chutney was £1.80. My grandad brushed my concerns aside. We came to another house with a little hut outside it. He said: “Oh these are always nice” and opened the door to reveal a packed cupboard of brownies, blondies and cakes. He helped himself to a couple of brownies and once again left without putting any money in the box. A bit further on, he stopped outside an honesty box selling eggs and picked a few up – without paying any money of course. It soon became clear this wasn’t his first time doing this and his daily walks consisted of a series of thefts. I was shocked and appalled. These were food items that people were spending time and money making, relying on people’s honesty to pay for them. It is not as though my grandad is hard up in any way, however, he has always been careful with his money and likes a bargain – or even better, something for nothing. Whenever I had gone to a cafe with him, he had always put the sugars and milks into his pocket. When we went to a family wedding a few years ago, everyone chuckled when he packed up the teabag and coffee sachets as well as the spare toilet roll from his room saying he had paid for it in the price of the room, so he may as well take it. But I never thought he would stoop to stealing. You would not think it to look at him as he seems such an innocent and friendly man. The people living in the village are all so lovely, they would probably give him their produce for free. However, he doesn’t need handouts as he has a decent private pension and the state pension, whilst he and my grandma built up quite a lot of savings during their lifetime. I have no idea why he feels the need to do this and I feel absolutely mortified by his behaviour. I don’t know if he’s just a bit bored in his old age and gets a kick out of it or if he genuinely believes he isn’t doing any harm. I warned my grandad that some houses have cameras but he told me the people in the village don’t bother with door cameras as they all trust each other which seemed a bit ironic. I have felt so guilty about the people who spent money buying ingredients and time cooking things, only for my grandad to swipe them without paying, that I have actually gone by myself on a couple of occasions to post a tenner into their honesty box. But I can’t keep doing that as it will cost me a fortune. I haven’t been able to bring myself to tell my parents about my grandad’s antics (he is my mum’s dad), as I don’t want it getting blown into a big thing or for him to feel that I’ve gone behind his back. I just can’t believe my respectable grandad is effectively stealing from his neighbours. Share your Money Secret by emailing: Aasma.day@theipaper.com. Identities will be protected.