You Can't Keep Stuff You Don't Pay For, and Other Basic Life Lessons

I'm an attorney, but I didn't need my law degree to figure this out: when you take stuff home from the store, you're supposed to pay for it.

I actually grew up thinking that sort of thing was apparent to everyone, and then I went into the practice of law and I encountered a lot of people who had hard lives and felt like they were getting screwed by the system, and so thought that justified a little self-help that fudged the rules from time to time.

Recently, though, I've encountered something much more astonishing--another group of people to whom the issue is equally unclear, but for different reasons: reasons that, frankly, I haven't seen or heard adequately explained anywhere.

Since you're reading this, I'll assume that you read blogs. Since that's the case, I'll assume that you haven't been able to escape the recent buzz about the Pennsylvania blogger who accidentally stole a toy duck from The Gap, then rallied bloggers across the country to tell her that there was no reason in the world that she should either return it or pay for it.

There's been a lot of fuss about people on the "other side" (that is, people who think you should pay for what you take home from the store) making such a big deal about a toy valued at less than $7. But that isn't really the point, is it? The point, it seems to me, is the astonishing number of people running, jumping and shouting to justify keeping the duck. The issue in my mind isn't whether or not a small toy is a big deal--it's why so many people are tripping over themselves to convince themselves and everyone else that theft is okay if it's not BIG theft.

The law doesn't really support the distinction, but that's another argument for another blog.

The big question in my mind here and now is, "What part of 'not yours' don't you understand?"

Yes, I understand that people sometimes make mistakes like this. And I even understand that sometimes circumstances don't allow you to immediately correct the situation. Once, when I was teaching at a business college in Indianapolis, I stole a fountain coke from 7-11. I didn't mean to--I just went in and got my coke, and then I noticed that the line was very long, so I started browsing magazines and greeting cards, waiting for it to get shorter. But that took a while and suddenly I looked at the clock and realized I was running late, and I left. About halfway to work, I realized that I hadn't paid for the coke.

No, I didn't turn around and miss my class to pay for it. I stopped in the store on my way home from work that afternoon and paid for it.

Was that overly scrupulous, for $1.19?

The more important question, I think, is whether it would have been okay NOT to pay for it. Of course not. It would have been UNDERSTANDABLE, certainly. It would have been NOT A BIG DEAL to the store, given the value of the coke. But neither of those things would have made it legal. Neither of those things would have made it ethical.

It would have been a minor evil, a petty crime. One, I'm sure, that many people wouldn't have bothered to fix. And I accept that, even though it troubles me. But I never expected so many people taking the position that theft is somehow the right thing to do if it's inconvenient to follow the law and respect other people's property.