Irish Woman Ends Up in Court for Opening a $1.95 Can of Pringles

Is it an exaggeration to say that even if you weren’t forming meaningful memories during the mid-90s, you still know that the slogan for Pringles for part of that decade was “Once you pop, you can’t stop”? No, of course not: Everyone has somehow learned that, in the same way we learned all of the words to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song, the specifics of Jessie’s caffeine-pill breakdown on that episode of Saved by the Bell, and the fact that Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin.

We hate to question the accuracy of a 20-year-old tagline, but it seems that sometimes when you pop, you can stop, possibly because you’ve been arrested and accused of property damage. On Friday, 24-year-old Kathleen McDonagh appeared in court in Cork, Ireland, facing a charge of criminal damage after she was accused of popping a package of Pringles at a Tesco supermarket in the city. The alleged incident happened almost two years ago, according to the Irish Examiner.

McDonagh has denied opening the chips, which had a retail price of £1.50 (US $1.95). The official charge against her is gloriously overwrought: “[McDonagh] did without lawful excuse, damage property, to wit, a foil lid on a box of Pringles partially removed, value €1.50, not resalable, belonging to Tesco shop of Mahon Point intending to damage such property or being reckless as to whether such property would be damaged, contrary to Section 2 (1) of the Criminal Damage Act 1991.”

Although McDonagh and her attorney were both in court, two Tesco staff members—the ones who saw her peel open that foil lid—didn’t make it. The Examiner reports that her case was postponed until November 27, when she and her attorney will have to appear in front of a judge again, as will the police inspector who was presumably testifying against her. (This all seems like a super use of money.) If the two witnesses don’t show for the second court date, the judge ruled that the case against McDonagh will be dismissed.

Hopefully, she will refrain from accidentally knocking a Tayto display over between now and then, or from squeezing an avocado too aggressively. If things get really bad though, her life could be flipped, turned upside down.