# 'Scuse me, but that's stealing **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 31, 2006, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674 "2006-07-31T05:52:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/61 "2006-07-31T21:30:15Z")
Does anybody really take a lot more than a few swigs? However, one thing that does bother me (related in an unrelated sort of way) when someone specifically asks for water at a fast food restaurant, get a cup and they proceed to fill it up with soda. Now that’s stealing! ---
**Author:** ![Diamonds02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/62 "2006-07-31T21:39:49Z")
> [@Gangster Octopus](#): > > Does anybody really take a lot more than a few swigs? > > However, one thing that does bother me (related in an unrelated sort of way) when someone specifically asks for water at a fast food restaurant, get a cup and they proceed to fill it up with soda. Now that’s stealing! That’s really dumb. Are you talking about those tiny clear clups at Panera Bread? To get caught stealing 6 ounces of coke isn’t worth it. Now if they gave us like a 64 fl oz. cup for water and we fill it up with soda, then I think it is worth taking a chance. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/63 "2006-07-31T21:43:32Z")
> [@minlokwat](#): > > But I have to add that this OP and DWC’s one follow-up, in my time here, in all seriousness, qualifies as the absolute stupidest thing I’ve ever read on this message board. don’t read here much, eh? (ftr, I think the OP’s nuts, but nowhere near the stupidest thing I’ve read here.) ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/64 "2006-07-31T22:50:40Z")
Is it me, or are their a lot of soda-related rants lately? Who would think a fizzy beverage would inspire so much emotion? Not to mention profound ethical debates about how much you can slurp and refill before you’re a thief. If I were to have a dog in the fight, it would simply be that given the vast size of many soda fountain containers, it’s overkill to slurp and refill, and many of the people doing it really DON’T need those five extra calories. There may also be a line you’re holding up. Outer ring of hell for you, sorry. You’re probably the same guy who spends five minutes elaborately supersaturating his coffee with sugar while I’m trying to get around your great big ass to get my splash of skim milk. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Swan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_Swan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Swan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/65 "2006-07-31T22:57:35Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > Wow. You managed to that exactly wrong. In this thread, **danceswithcats** is complaining about behavior that a lot of people do, and few people think is wrong. **Excalibre** used “recreational outrage” to describe pit threads about things that not one in 10 million people do, and that everyone agrees is wrong. You must have had to really work at it to get it that screwed up. S/he may have used the phrase in a different context, but it still applies. The OP certainly contains Moral Absolutism & Recreational Outrage. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/66 "2006-07-31T23:16:26Z")
If the owners don’t consider it theft, it’s not theft. End of fucking story. ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/67 "2006-07-31T23:22:01Z")
I occaisonally find loose change on the ground. Dimes, nickels, pennies, sometimes even quarters. When I do, I’ll just pick it up and put it in my pocket. I won’t even try to determine who’s quarter it is. This money doesn’t belong to me, I didn’t earn it. Someone else earned it, and never consented to me taking it. Clearly this is theft. This is theft 25 times bigger than the theft posited by the OP. Will the OP pit me for finding coins on the ground? ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/68 "2006-07-31T23:25:06Z")
Did you find a Ohio quarter from the Denver mint? Because I lost one. ---
**Author:** ![Diamonds02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/69 "2006-07-31T23:42:52Z")
> [@Taber](#): > > I occaisonally find loose change on the ground. Dimes, nickels, pennies, sometimes even quarters. When I do, I’ll just pick it up and put it in my pocket. I won’t even try to determine who’s quarter it is. This money doesn’t belong to me, I didn’t earn it. Someone else earned it, and never consented to me taking it. Clearly this is theft. This is theft 25 times bigger than the theft posited by the OP. Will the OP pit me for finding coins on the ground? Good point. Sometimes I see loose change and even loose dollar bills around the house. Sometimes I happen to find the bigger bills under rugs and mattresses. How they get there? I don’t know. I just scoop them up. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/70 "2006-08-01T00:14:40Z")
> [@The Swan](#): > > S/he may have used the phrase in a different context, but it still applies. The OP certainly contains Moral Absolutism & Recreational Outrage. If by “Recreational Outrage” you mean, “someone I disagree with,” then you’re absolutely right. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/71 "2006-08-01T00:25:09Z")
What is happening to the pit? What’s next? “I pit the air for selfishly taking up all the extra space?” “I pit portraits for staring at me all the time”? “I pit people for breathing their greenhouse gases near me”? “Taking a picture is stealing”? I thought the “cruelty to babies by anti-Bush liberals” thread was as stupid as it could get. Boy, was I wrong. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Swan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_Swan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Swan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/72 "2006-08-01T00:48:08Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > If by “Recreational Outrage” you mean, “someone I disagree with,” then you’re absolutely right. No. By “RecreationalOutrage” I mean someone who is angry enough about a certian action that they take the time to start a thread in the "BBQ Pit"section of an internet message board. ie. there is some sort of “flame” involved. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/73 "2006-08-01T00:52:57Z")
> [@The Swan](#): > > No. By “RecreationalOutrage” I mean someone who is angry enough about a certian action that they take the time to start a thread in the "BBQ Pit"section of an internet message board. ie. there is some sort of “flame” involved. Ah. So every thread in this forum is recreational outrage. Gotcha. Completely unlike what anyone else would take the prhase to mean, or uses it to mean, but what the hell. **Excalibre** is a descriptivist anyway, so what’s he gonna say? ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/74 "2006-08-01T01:31:53Z")
Hey **DWC** , I was thinking about you today after my run when I went to 7-Eleven and sipped an inch of soda to test the mix before filling up. Didn’t bother me at all 🙂 On a side note, a month ago they were selling this massive mug called the “Ultimate Gulp”, and I purchased one. It looks like it holds a gallon of soda, but that is deceiving since it has insulated sides. Even still, it holds 64oz of beverage, a solid half-gallon. Every time I fill the darned thing up, they try to charge me something different, mainly because they don’t know what to make of the huge thing – they must not have sold many of them. I calmly point to the “Refills .89” sign and explain that its 64oz content is the same as a Double Gulp, which they offer refills for. Folks stare as I walk out with this mug in my hand. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/75 "2006-08-01T01:52:51Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > If by “Recreational Outrage” you mean, “someone I disagree with,” then you’re absolutely right. I was using the phrase to mean “someone who is outraged over something which doesn’t affect them at all, for the sole purpose of wallowing in their own moral righteousness.” Not quite the same thing as “someone I disagree with.” Now, if **Excalibre** disallows this use of the phrase, I will of course retract it, unless of course the two of us can work out some sort of licensing arrangement. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/76 "2006-08-01T02:25:00Z")
> [@Ghanima](#): > > What is happening to the pit? > > What’s next? “I pit the air for selfishly taking up all the extra space?” “I pit portraits for staring at me all the time”? “I pit people for breathing their greenhouse gases near me”? “Taking a picture is stealing”? > > I thought the “cruelty to babies by anti-Bush liberals” thread was as stupid as it could get. Boy, was I wrong. You need to do a browse through **danceswithcats** ’ Pit threads. Your threshold for stupid will be immeasurably enhanced. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/77 "2006-08-01T02:46:58Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > To address some posts: No, I don’t own a convenience store. Too bad if you feel this is a lame pitting. The mindset displayed by many posters to this thread is indicative of a societal problem. Let’s rationalize our way out of this. How in hell does the profit margin on a product justify the theft thereof? Oh-he’s marked this up way more than I think he should have, so fuck him, I’ll take it. :rolleyes: > > Is this the kind of shit you teach your kids? Seriously. Think about it-your values will likely be adopted in part by your offspring. When little Billy and Suzie see you steal, it becomes okay in their minds because Mommy or Daddy did it. My parents advised that honesty is like pregnancy-either you are or you aren’t. Well…as several posters have already indicated, in my neck of the woods it is expected and done with the full blessings of the store in question. Many fountains even have signs that state something the effect of “Refills for current visit only” or some such. I would wager that not all “sipper/stealer’s” are doing it to “stick it to the man”, but because they are used to places where free refills are the norm. And by the way, if I get one of those “18 ounces of ice 2 ounces of soda” cups from a drive through? You can bet I’ll be going back and getting a reasonable amount of soda. But I won’t be all sneaky about it either, I will tell them that they’re replacing it with an actual drinkable amount of soda, and tell them why. $2.39 for even a small soda? SHEESH, I could have a cold 16 oz. Diet Rockstar (with vitamins and everything) for that. Unfortunately, most drive-throughs don’t have DRs. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/78 "2006-08-01T02:58:18Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > I was using the phrase to mean “someone who is outraged over something which doesn’t affect them at all, for the sole purpose of wallowing in their own moral righteousness.” Not quite the same thing as “someone I disagree with.” > > Now, if **Excalibre** disallows this use of the phrase, I will of course retract it, unless of course the two of us can work out some sort of licensing arrangement. As I said, he’s a descriptivist. He can’t disallow anything. However, the phrase is usually reserved for threads such as: [And the teacher of the year is](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=381778) [Talk About a Wicked Stepmother](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=380883) [Baby Raper kills 17-month-old boy](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=380540) Nobody is contradicting the OP in these threads. There is no pro-babyraping position, no pro-peeping argument, no defensible position that involves deliberately straving children. This thread, by contrast, has people saying it’s not stealing, and people saying it’s stealing but so what, and people saying it’s stealing just like a cat burglar in the Louvre is stealing, and a few beleaguered sensible souls asking for a point at which taking free soda without asking becomes stealing, irrespective of whether it can get you arrested. This thread is not an opportunity for us all to get together and express our disgust at the latest outrage that someone stumbled across in the _Outrage Gazzette_. You can still call it recreational outrage if you like, but the phrase then becomes meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Swan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_Swan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Swan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/79 "2006-08-01T03:22:39Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > A > > This thread is not an opportunity for us all to get together and express our disgust at the latest outrage that someone stumbled across in the _Outrage Gazzette_. You can still call it recreational outrage if you like, but the phrase then becomes meaningless. So, if the phrase is used to describe something different, then it becomes meaningless? Got it. This whole exchange is ridiculous enough as it is. When you went off to school, how many degrees in “Nerd” and/or “Hair-splitting” did you earn? ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674/80 "2006-08-01T03:55:49Z")
> [@The Swan](#): > > So, if the phrase is used to describe something different, then it becomes meaningless? Got it. Well, yes. If I say “My truck is a Ford F-150,” and you say “My truck is a Mazda Miata,” then “truck” is a meaningless distinction. > [@](#): > > This whole exchange is ridiculous enough as it is. Truer words were never spoken. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scuse-me-but-thats-stealing/366674.md?page=5)