Why do/did you steal stuff?

In My Humble Opinion
41

Only once. In seventh grade. For twenty minutes.

Sheer childish selfishness, and nothing more.

My grandfather gave me a pocketknife when I was little, instilling me me a lifelong affinity for all things cutlery. I collected many types and odd pieces here and there, but I liked modern folders as well. I choose daily from this small group. I have hundreds more stashed away.

The military school I attended was in a small town 30 miles from my hometown.
There was knife store in this small town. I often stopped in to browse in the 2 hours we had to kill every day before the bus left for home. One day, my strict rule-abiding upbringing left me, and I asked to see a particular pocketknife valued at about 30 dollars. When the owner turned away to help someone else, I bolted. With said knife.

After a week or so, the guilt was killing me. I couldn’t show anyone, I couldn’t just be cool and whittle something or someone would KNOW! I decided to sell it to get rid of it.

I went to an all-boys military-type school with an iron-fisted honor code. It was hard-core. If you did it, you’re out. If you saw it, but didn’t report it, you’re out. If you knew about it, and didn’t snitch - you’re out. No refunds, no second chance.

I sold the telltale knife to a senior at the school for 15 bucks. Naturally, one wants a sheath for such a knife, but where to find one? Yep. Store owner asked where he got this knife and he told the truth. He gave the knife back and instead of coming to pound me, he called my mom and laid out the whole thing. Not as revenge, but because it was the correct and honorable thing to do. I had to re-pay him of course, and my mom dragged me to the knife store to apologize and take whatever came.

I never stole another thing in my life, and I’ve thought about that boy at least once a month for over 30 years. Even though my influences were a Navy officer dad, super strict mom, and a federal agent grandfather - strict and devout Christians, all - it took an honest 17yo boy to show me what honor was firsthand.

How many teenagers do you know today with that kind of integrity and honor? I only know a small handful, and two of them are mine.

42

“Who leaves a cold, untapped keg unattended on their front porch at 2am on a dark street in a college town?”

Someone less thirsty than us, it turned out.

43

Leaving a keg tap out in the open in a College town pretty much says “Hey dude, take this tap, it will eventually be stolen from you as well.”

44

I don’t get the whole ‘punishment doesn’t work’ assertion of the OP. Punishment WORKS. Of course, if you’ve let your kids get by without punishment for any wrongdoing their whole lives, it might be hard to institute at this point, but why are you giving them a free pass?

If my daughter was caught stealing repeatedly as a teenager, I’d start taking pretty much anything of hers that we’ve provided her…car, phone, until the point is gotten. If that doesn’t get the point, and you find out they’ve shoplifted, call the police. Seriously. Your kids need a wake up call, and if you just go on saying, “well, you really shouldn’t do that”, they’re just going to keep on doing it, because there haven’t been any real consequences. Talking about why you’re punishing them is important, and there needs to be discussion, but if there are no consequences to their actions, how do you expect them to associate that it’s a bad idea to do bad things? Telling a teenager “it’s bad to steal, and wrong, and you could get in big trouble”, while simultaneously instituting no actual repercussions other than a little talk is sending very mixed messages. To the kid…they may hear that bad things COULD happen to them…but none of these bad things ever HAVE happened to them as a result of their actions, so why not just keep doing it? I mean, they’re getting free stuff, right?

I stole one thing as a child (I was maybe 5 or 6)…a Chinese jump rope from our local pharmacy. I asked my mom for it, she said no, and I tucked it under my shirt and walked out with it. But…we were walking next door to the grocery store, and I knew I couldn’t keep it hidden for that long…so I asked my mom if I could just stay in the car…or go to the car real quick. She must have seen the guilt on my face, or seen the bulge at my side, and she looked right at me with eyes boring through me and said, “Did you take something?”

I burst into tears and ran back to the pharmacy. She made me apologize to the owner. She then told me if she ever caught me stealing again, she’d personally call the cops on me, and I believed her. (though I doubt I’d have been thrown in Juvi at 6 years old…probably just would have had them scare the snot out of me). I never had a compulsion to steal again.

45

A shop assistant told me once that is why they keep the condoms next to the cashier. They are expensive, small and easily concealed, but most of all, first-time buyers were embarassed to buy them, and stealing seems less embarassing.

Schools really should put condom machines inside the stalls. Would save a lot of trouble.

46

It can also be about asserting your dominance and seeing just how much you can get away with.

I was never a big thief. I may have stolen a candy bar or two from relatives.

Stealing is for low-level wannabes that provides little challange. Anyone can take a rock and bust someone’s car windows and steal their CDs. Skillful conning, hustling, and hacking are the true arts of taking something that isn’t yours. :wink:

47

As a kid my buddies and I would go through the parking lot of a local bowling alley looking for open packs of ciggs in cars that were not locked. They were only about .35 a pack but that was more than we usually had. Right before I retired I took a few little bags of the pouch pack coffee from work, maybe $2.00 worth and really felt guilty about it but I knew I was going to miss the coffee from work.
30 years ago I purchased a gallon of paint from a now defunct hardware chain, the paint would not cover and they refused to refund my money because I had used it all. I got mad and shop lifted a pair of side cutters close to the price of my paint and felt no guilt.

48

Mostly because they were items I would be unable to purchase. Porn, alcohol, ammunition, etc. The trick was hitting big box stores in dirt poor urban neighborhoods, as typically the staff would also be robbing the place blind. If you weren’t sweating bullets over getting caught, you could easily get away with it. The key was having plausible deniability.

I admit I still do it on occasion, but primarily as a means of avoiding long lines.

49

Honey Badger don’t care. Honey Badger don’t give a shit. He takes what he wants.

50

I was a good shoplifter until early college. I did it because I wanted stuff and didnt have cash and it was exciting and addictive. Didn’t really stop until my girlfriend was busted for doing it at dept store and came home in tears. We both quit after that. Scared us straight.

51

Ironically I stole “Hot Wheels” from the local drug store and supermarket as a kid simply because I could. Although that happened maybe twice.

The bigger crime in high school was lifting credit card carbons out of the dumpster at a music store back in the early 1980s. Our justification was that “oh the credit card company will have to pay for it, not the person whose card we used”. To further ‘justify’ the theft, it was largely to help a ‘poor’ friend of ours. Indeed, none of us were really poor. My other friend and I could afford to get CBs for our junker cars (remember, this is a good decade before cell phones) and wanted to be able to talk between our cars at great distances. Our third friend had a car, but no spare money to buy a CB. So we ordered him one that was much nicer than either of ours and gave it to him as a gift. In case you’re wondering, this fraud was done via mail order and sent to a vacant house with a note conveniently left on the door with a fake signature in the name of the cardholder, who claimed they were just moving in and it was a housewarming gift.

Beyond that as an adult, I never stole anything unless you count music and movie online, although I did steal toilet paper from stalls at school during college so I didn’t have to buy it at the store.

52

I had an early taste for porn, and buying it at age 11 would have been impossible. But I didn’t stop at skin magazines. I stole all kinds of stuff (games, toys, candy, stationery) from stores. But I also browsed through my parents’ personal stuff and sometimes took what I liked (small, unused items like pocket knives etc, never money), and even occasionally stole cool little toys from my friends, which even I felt crossed a nefarious line. I would use the store-stolen stuff with gusto and for many years, knowing I wouldn’t have what I did without stealing, as I had no money.

I was a very materialistic kid growing up in the 80’s, and was poor compared to my peers who had professional, working parents. I was ashamed and jealous, and wanted the cool stuff, too. Still, I feel the overwhelming reason for my stealing was the utter emotional void I was living in, as a psychologically neglected child.

I stopped at age 15, when I got caught, my parents were informed and I knew I would face adult penalties in the future. I have respect for other people’s stuff, now, and hate (adult) shop-lifting freeloaders.

53

I enjoy stealing.
It’s just as simple as that.
Well, it’s just a simple fact.
When I want something,
I don’t want to pay for it.

54

These are not your original words, you stole them.