...As you pass by 5 people at self-checkout doing tactical shoplifting.
Remember, if you see someone stealing food, no you didn't.
Also Remember, stealing from publically traded corporations is stealing from sociopathic thieves that have no problem hurting vulnerable people to get what they want, in the name of
insatiable greed"rational self-interest."They dictate the laws to their paid lackees in Congress. Equating legality with ethics or morality in this capitalist captured dystopia makes one a fool. Our laws are designed to defend the desires of property owners against the basic survival needs of human beings with nothing that our society has already catastrophically failed.
You can catch charges for the misdeed of feeding the homeless here.
(and to anyone who wants to chime in with "well feeding homeless people might make them linger, effecting property values which needs to be a consideration alongside feeding hungry poor people." 🖕)
Not just food. Any self care items or toiletries of any sort.
Food? What food? I didn't even know they had food...
They factor it into their decision to use self checkout. If the increase in shoplifting is less than they save on staff reduction (it is, significantly so), they consider it a tradeoff, so it's hard to call it unethical.
Walking through customs at the airport
Much more understandable though. Even without anything to declare, the "please come here" can mean that you'll lose the next 20 minutes looking at your dirty underwear with a stranger, while you are probably already kinda stressed from the travel.
20 minutes looking at your dirty underwear with a stranger
Some people pay good money for that, you know!
One time I got trapped in a store because the door was behind the counter where the register was and a guy was sitting there the whole time. I decided not to buy anything, but I looked around for a while so I felt like he might question me. So I just kept pretending to look around which made it even more awkward to leave empty handed.
I think I decided not to buy anything after 20 minutes but spent a whole hour in there trying to figure out how to leave
Legend says he's still stuck in that store to this day
Man I've done this before but maybe spent 15 minutes and that felt like an hour. A whole hour must have felt like a whole day.
My problem is that I AM buying something but I stand there analyzing all the options just walk out with 1 thing. As I'm checking out I start to wonder if anybody realized that I've just spent 15 minutes standing at one shelf to end up buying 1 bottle of infant cough syrup.
Why do you hate the econony, Kermit?
Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a bitch
When I shop without a cart or basket, the mental energy it takes to not put something in my pocket so I can hold things better is a lot more than 0
I regularly put stuff in my pockets while im browsing. Sometimes I even pay for it.
I accidentally put a product in my purse at Walgreens to get my phone out, and within 5 seconds an overhead page went off saying “code zero, code zero”. I quickly grabbed the product back out and half yelled “omg I’m sorry!” before going to the register to pay for it and also mumbling to the cashier who probably gave no fucks that I was sorry, it was very much an accident.
I have obsessive guilt about silly things, but even I cannot comprehend why people would feel guilty about simply not buying something at a store.
It might look like you stole something. And the more you think that as you walk out the door, the more you start to look like you stole something.
It's a consequence of our capitalist society, of how we're not allowed to just exist in most places without buying or consuming something. About the only places we have left are sidewalks, public parks, libraries, maybe a large mall. Anywhere else and you can potentially be asked to leave if you're not seen "doing" something or at least looking like you're going to buy something after awhile. If the staff don't care, you can "get away with it" (that is, get away with just existing), but more often than not you may be asked to leave. I'd try to test the theory out by just standing around for a few hours, but who actually has that kind of time?
My wife always feels guilty about leaving a small shop without buying anything and will say stuff like "We'll be back!". I have to remind her we're under no obligation to buy anything and you shouldn't feel guilty about it.
I won't let myself leave a local book store without buying anything, hence I only visit when I'm out of reading material.
Probably plays back into when I helped watch my father's and mother's trade show tables respectively. My father would sell sports cards back in the 90s and he was lucky to have one paying customer all day at an event we had spent all morning setting up for.
My mother used to paint whimsical designs on chunks of wood (toll painting) and set up a table of her painted wood art various church sales. I saw the hours my mom had spent tracing and painting those dumb little seasonal characters, only to see these rich bitches saunter by her table, turn her work over, say "That's cute!", And walk on.
To this day I will not walk into an antique store or junk shop or book store without at least ten bucks to burn. It feels gross to take up a shopkeeps time and space without buying something.
This reminds me of how I this summer I went to a store only to discover that they don't sell the ice cream I wanted to buy, so I just ended up buying some crackers to not feel akward. (but anyway, the crackers were good)
What it's like to have anxiety when doing anything
Those aren't Kermit's eyes!
Me when i walk in to get my daily powerade and they don't have my flavor. I'm in and out in 30 seconds flat but i feel so guilty over nothing.
It’s bad how we responsible for a businesses model.
I just leave without buying anything. Sometimes I go into a store just to use the restroom and then leave. It's perfectly legal.
It's not just legal—it's not even impolite.
Me, who has 13 salamis tucked in his pants: Oh, it's not wrong to steal? Whew. What a relief.
It's fine since you brought them from home
"These are my day-to-day sausages."
Whether you doing it because you're broke, or just love the thrill, remember:
Publix, Kroger's, and Walmart heirs have all donated to neo-Nazi causes so steal from them the most.
I would love to understand the psychology behind this feeling.
In my case I think it was being raised by an ex-Catholic. Whole lotta undeserved guilt trips in my household growing up!
Raised catholic here too, maybe catholic guilt but personally I think it's more so the pervading idea that people implicitly aren't allowed to exist in a space outside the home or offices unless they spend money and by walking out without buying anything bypasses the normal routine of going to a store to get something and going through some kind of checkout process.
yeah the more hours you spend outside without spending money the worse it gets
I'm afraid of other people.
😎
