That’s Outrageous

SCRIMP ’N SCHEME

Earlier this year, a US supermarket owner proved a little saving can really add up. Michael John Mihelic is accused of ordering employees at his Shop ’n Save locations to cut coupons out of unsold newspapers.

Employees would then skim a corresponding amount of cash from the registers and hand over the coupons to Mihelic, who submitted them to manufacturers for credit. The pilfered profits eventually amounted to more than US$306,500 – a sum worth thinking about before you toss this week’s coupons.

HIDDEN HISTORY

For some transit riders in Gloucester, UK, the commute to work got more interesting in

January. The city’s archaeologists confirmed suspicions that something more than dirt was sitting under a bus station: the remains of a 13thcentury Carmelite monastery. According to historic maps and evidence from other local digs, the old monastery belonged to the Whitefriars monastic organisation, who lived outside the city to avoid its ‘sinful’ influence. Who knows what kind of sinning they might have gotten up to if they ever managed to catch a lift into town.

GHOULISH RULES

If you’re over the age of 12 and head out doorknocking on Halloween in Chesapeake, Virginia, you could be in for more of a trick than a treat. Since 1970, the town has had a law that penalises teenaged trick-or-treaters. Offenders could receive a fine up to US$100 – or even face jail time.

Residents needn’t get too spooked: no one has ever been arrested under this law, which aims to deter teens from crime on Halloween. Still, after a parody video went viral and earned the policy bad press, the town said it would revise the rule.

Meanwhile, the true Halloween criminals continue to go free: the people who hand out healthy snacks instead of sugary treats.