Circumstantial Theft: Would you do it?

The Circumstance:

You are the employee of some sort of retail store. You look in the computer and certain items aren't there. Would you take them?

I would, and have. I could not steal from someone personally, but if it's a corporation and it makes a very insignificant difference, then I don't have good enough morals not to take it.

Obviously the bible thumpers would say no, and the cleptomaniacs would say yes, but what does the GFF general public think? Why or why not?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Arainach

Theft or Copyright Infringement? They're not the same thing.

Personally, I wouldn't. In this age of surveillance states, the odds of getting caught are too high and the permanent repercussions even if they don't press charges (which they would) are too damaging to my reputation to risk it.

As I should have stated in the original post, in this particular situation the security cameras are out of service........

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by a lurker

See, that's interesting. I wouldn't steal from my friends or people I know, but I wouldn't care if I was stealing from a corporate entity. Why are you afraid more of the consequences of corporate theft than of personal theft?

We are on the same page a lurker. A corporation has no feelings and people do. If you take let's say... a DVD from a corporation, the 19.99 loss is split between the ownership shares eventually (although corporations have a fund for pilferage already, so unless you broke their max, they're not paying anymore) and is extremely insignificant due to the vast number of shares and owners of those shares. However, you steal a DVD a friend or other people, they lose all of the 19.99. The difference is plain to me.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.