[OPEN] [CL] NPCs take food ordered by active Sim

This is really annoying. I remember this happened ALL THE TIME at the Sims Sessions festival. Please fix this so that townies don't just go around taking random sims' food at the vendor stalls. This is not realistic and I'm not willing to just brush it off as "intended behaviour".

NPC is stealing my sim food too. Nothing much, I just find it a bit annoying.

It's not just you!

I did a rags to riches-esque thing with a "homeless" teen (I gave her a house because I did send her to school--I gave her the Admiral's Shipwreck and no money).  She was a kleptomaniac and made most of her money stealing.  (Her buddy that I also played rotationally was a "homeless" teen with a child-aged brother who lived in the Shipping Views (which I made haunted and gave him no money) and made most of his money dumpster diving.)  I say "homeless" because I was pretending they were squatters.

When I let my klepto teen go to a festival (partly to harvest plants, partly because she needed fun and social), I also let her order food... and Mortimer Goth made off with her dinner.  I shouted, "Hey, that's my shtick!" at the screen.  😉

Product: The Sims 4
Platform:PC
Which language are you playing the game in? English
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
What is your current game version number? 1.79.93.1230
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? Cats & Dogs City Living Cottage Living Discover University Get Famous Get to Work Get Together Island Living Seasons Snowy Escape Dine Out Dream Home Decorator Jungle Adventure Outdoor Retreat Parenthood Realm of Magic Spa Day Cool Kitchen Stuff Fitness Stuff Laundry Day Stuff My First Pet Stuff Nifty Knitting Perfect Patio Romantic Garden Toddler Stuff Courtyard Oasis Kit Vintage Glamour Stuff
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Go to South Square Coffee in Windenburg and order a coffee from the barista.
What happens when the bug occurs? Someone always steals the coffee that was ordered immediately before my Sim even has a chance to pick it up. It's like she's buying coffee for everyone but herself!
What do you expect to see? My Sim should be the only one to be able to pick up that coffee, or it should at least give her 30 minutes to get it before someone else does.
Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Never used.
Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? Yes
Please describe the patch or change you made. I'm not sure, but this didn't use to happen.

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This also sometimes happens at bars, but usually there aren't as many people around so I have a better chance of grabbing my Sim's drink before someone else does.

If you think it's bad with a mundane sim, that's nothing on playing a spellcaster!

Order food.

Pay for food.

Transportalate to a seat as far away as possible.

Walk back.

Wonder why your food isn't on the vendor stall counter any more.

Repeat.

I even saw another member of my own household steal her food one time. But once they've got it, you can't make them give it back - if you stop them eating something at a public venue they'll just wave their hand and the food is gone.

Theft is theft. If they're not a klepto, they shouldn't be able to steal other people's food. I don't mind them sharing when they're at the park and someone cooks a big platter of something on the barbeque, but stealing a freshly-paid-for single serve of something off the vendor stall counter is not okay. And if they're at the spice festival, there's plenty of free food on offer anyway!

This is happening in my game now, too. My (spellcaster) sims are at the Humor & Hijinks Festival. As soon as they order food, they hop on their brooms and fly all the way across the street to the bar/art center building, an NPC takes their food, and then they slowly walk back to the festival to get food that is no longer there. 

After trying to order food 6 times (consecutively) and having this happen EVERY time, I finally had to give up and cheat my sims' hunger needs so they didn't starve to death while squandering their life savings to feed the entire NPC population of San Myshuno. That ended up being the whole festival experience. 

I guess I'm off to find a mod that unlocks those recipes, since learning them is only possible by eating food it's no longer possible for our sims to eat. 

* Slow clap * 

From the looks of this thread, it appears this has been an issue for THREE YEARS.

As much as your customers have paid for this game and all of the DLC, we deserve a product that actually works. 

Fix it.

I do find this annoying. As nice as it might be to see the animation of the vendor putting the food on the counter and a Sim pick it up, I’d really rather it just work the same as vending machines. Take my Sim’s money, and put the food in my Sim’s inventory. That way NPCs don’t have a chance to steal it, and I also have the ability to direct them to go sit down at a table or something before eating - or can even pass the food to a toddler who’s unable to order for themselves. As is, food stall food ends up extremely expensive because you need to order multiple times before you successfully grab the plate before a random NPC can, and then you just have to wait and not touch anything once your Sim actually does have the plate, because if you tell them to sit or talk to someone or just “go here” there’s a 50/50 chance they’ll disappear the plate without eating it and you have to start over…