A "bitter and twisted" Palmerston North man decided to get back at his boss by stealing bottles of champagne on his last day at work.

Judge Jennifer Binns said Lance Adam Bassett was "a man of expensive taste" when he appeared in the Palmerston North District Court on Thursday.

Bassett, 34, pleaded guilty to theft after he was caught taking two boxed bottles of Moet champagne from New World Feilding.

According to a police summary of facts, he was working at the supermarket on the morning of February 26 when he took the bottles and put them in a cupboard.

He went back to the cupboard during his shift to put the bottles of booze in a bag.

Once finished for the day, he picked up the bag and walked out the door without paying.

He told police "my employers take and take", and that they were "not nice people".

The judge asked if he had "given himself a farewell gift".

Defence lawyer Phillip Drummond said the circumstances of the offending were "slightly unusual".

"It was his last day at the supermarket.

"He had resigned because of the number of days he worked, the pressure he was under and the way he felt he was being treated.

"He was bitter and twisted."

Bassett was having "unusual thought processes" at the time, Drummond said.

The judge remanded Bassett until July for sentencing, with restorative justice to take place before then.