Have you ever stolen anything?

[inthislight]

This is I guess sparked by the thread about the friend taking glasses but I don't want to derail it! All of the responses have been so shocked and severe... all cut her off this is unthinkable.

But it just reminds me of an incident when I was 17-18 where I did steal £30 from a friend. I of course accept now that it was unjustifiable but I had ways to justify it in my head at the time - I was annoyed at her, she was much richer and flash with her money, she was careless and wouldn't even notice the money was missing, she'd messed up my evening (she'd got into a state on a night out and I'd taken her home - which I now realise makes it even worse in that I took advantage of her vulnerability, god that bit still makes me feel a bit sick that she was probably grateful the next morning I was there to look after her), she'd been a bit lax in paying me back for something else because money just wasn't a big deal to her. I felt really bad in the aftermath - I probably spent most of it buying her drinks! And even now when I treat her to something I think about it sometimes.

I've grown into an adult who is scrupulously honest (I think actually more so than some people I know). I wouldn't dream of doing something similar now. But then again I also have plenty of money now so I'm not tested in the same way - I feel confident that I wouldn't do something like it though even if I was on my uppers. I'm so grateful that she never found out as 15 years on I feel confident in saying it was a momentary lapse. We've got such a close friendship and been there for each other through thick and thin. I always had less money than my peer group and I had a moment of weakness after a few drinks.

So, I'd be interested to know if anyone has anyone done similar? I guess I'm struggling to believe that I'm the absolute minority in having done something so utterly shameful like that... maybe I am?!

Packet of custard creams up the old sleeve

This sounds so rude.

Not the wizards sleeve. That would fit a tube of Pringles.

Yes, I stole all the time when I was in my teens. I'd been kicked out of home and was very insecurely housed. I didn't know how to manage money at all, plus I barely had any. I was raped and abused by men who saw how vulnerable i was and in a way i think that fuelled the stealing, too. It's like I didn’t deserve anything but at the same time I felt entitled? I think it kind of became a compulsion. It was a bad time.

I finally ended up going to uni and took a vow of honesty, which I've kept ever since. Like you, I'm scrupulously honest now and won't steal so much as a carrier bag!

Hehe very British - I like that the mostly minor childhood thefts have a couple of serious adult thieves in amongst the posts and nobody is commenting on them…like stealing large amounts from an employer and nobody would suspect them…

I accidentally stole some vanilla extract the other day, it had gone under one of the bags in the trolley and I’d just missed it. Call it a freebie I guess 🤷🏼‍♀️

Bet you're fun at parties

only hearts

A mascara for well under a fiver was at the bottom of my trolley and I didn't put it on the belt to go through ( genuine mistake) it was kind stuck at the bottom under the child's seat part so easily missed.
It was pouring down and the car wasn't parked close to the doors , so I didn't go back to pay for it and just felt guilty about it all the way home!

I used to Rob my sisters clothes but tbf she used to do it to me. I've had it away with a few pub glasses but my goal in life was always to pinch one of those little upholstered pub stools I never dared to and I haven't seen them in any pubs recently (,maybe they've all been stolen 😆)
A few years ago my (now retired) OH, who was in a highly respected profession, stole some Stella Artois glasses from a pub.
I was mortified !! I still can't believe it and they are still in our glass cupboard 😂😂

I used to work at a lotto / news agent shop when I was 15. Me and another similar aged girl used to get the scratchie tickets and scratch some then if we won money, we would ring it up on the till and pocket the cash. Gosh I was so dumb, and feel guilty every time I drive by that area but I couldn't own up to it!

Accidentally, some sausages slid under ds’s car seat when he was in one of those shallow trolleys that I had just plonked him in to get a few bits.
got to the car, unloaded the shopping and lifted up his seat to put him in the car and discovered the pack of sausages. Shoved them in the bag and came home and told the family what I had done! Felt a small twinge of guilt for about 3 minutes and that was the end of it. My kids still make me out to be a master shoplifting criminal.

Returned stuff to Boots when I noticed dd has swiped a few bits while I was stood at the tills.

As a teenager I had friends that shoplifted makeup testers from Boots, just seemed a bit grim to me and never appealed. I would have been terrified of my mum finding out and walloping me too!

Emptied out a pub that closed down. Wasnt much left but cigs, 20ps in the pool table and a few bottles.

It's true! I'd love to hear more from those people who have admitted to greater acts of dishonesty. What their thought process was/how they justified/if they also regret or no!

But on the plus side no one has been horribly judgemental about it which I kind of expected!

I'm so sorry that happened to you.

Mainly drinking glasses from restaurants and hotels.

Twice but returned and paid for one item and just returned the second.

Dc1 was around 2 and in a pram. Went into mothercare and noticed a lot of chattering going on, more so than normal spun the pushchair around to see that he grabbed a toy. Took it straight back and apologised profusely.

Second time in fucking Asda of all places. Had dc1 with me again and was buying cheap ish stocking stuffers and obviously didn't want him to see, (this was before self scan) stuck a pack of crayola markers down the side of the cart. Paid for everything and didn't find them until unloading into the boot. Took them back super red faced and paid. He obviously saw and ended up with an early Christmas present.

Sweets from our own shop, the shop keeper (dad) caught me. I thought I could just take it as it was ours. But no. 😂

I stole a pair of hockey boots at school. I really only meant to borrow them and put them back after my lesson - I had forgotten or maybe lost mine, I didn't want to get in trouble, and they were lying around in the locker room. Unfortunately we had a kit inspection to check we had our name in everything, so I "had" to pen my name on the inside of them. I then tried to put them back where I had found them but because they had my name in them helpful people kept giving them back to me. I was absolutely consumed with guilt for years and years and hid them at the bottom of my wardrobe. I don't know now WHY I didn't just scribble my name out, or Tippex it or something, and hand them into lost property.

I also stole a laminated menu from a cafe in Portugal as a souvenir in my 20s, but I can't imagine they cared that much.

Food from roadside stands when I was a kid, we couldn’t afford to buy enough.

When we were in the UK jars of pureed garlic, it didn’t scan on the app so I used to hope it was never one of their random scans, and it paid off.

Yes, quite compulsively for a couple of years, maybe 15 years ago. For many reasons, I was in a very bad place but none of it was justifiable. Food, money, clothes.

A colleague stole from work several times a week. For years and years. Many people knew about it and one said she had done it for 30 years. Toilet paper etc.
Then her bike was stolen and she was so pissed off that people couldn’t tell mine from yours.

Not intentionally but a couple of times I've realised that I hadn't scanned something and I didn't go back. I blame the shop for their scanners not working properly, half the time there's some issue so a member of staff has to come over. I'd feel more guilty stealing from an individual person than a chain supermarket, but I wouldn't have the nerve, even if I was tempted.

Yes

My then fiancé and I went on holiday in 1989 and spent a day in an iconic European city, where we went to an iconic hotel and each had a cup of coffee and a slice each of the iconic cake it served in its iconic café. It was so expensive that I declared that the ashtray on the table, with the hotel's insignia on it, must be included in the price, and slipped it into my handbag. My fiancé disapproved, but he married me anyway and he must have kept the ashtray when we divorced.