To have felt a bit sorry for this shoplifter / drug addict?

[Estelvia]

I was in savers this afternoon and a man was caught trying to steal. The staff got the items back before escorting him out of the shop, as he was being lead out of the door he was pleading with them saying that he's ill / withdrawing and needs 'dark' (which is slang for heroin)

The employee told him to sling his hook and get a job, cue some swearing from him and calling them knob heads among other things.

We saw him walk up the highstreet and into Holland and Barretts where he presumably tried the same thing.

My initial thought was "scumbag" but then it hit me just how desperate somebody must be to resort to that and what an miserable existence it is having to steal to ward off painful withdrawals. I'm not condoning theft or any other crimes they commit to fund the habit.

Do you have any sympathy for these types of people?

I am sympathetic. Some poor guy was staggering along a line of traffic today, begging for a couple of quid.

He was younger than me I reckon but looked very ravaged by whatever has done him in.

I didn't feel sorry enough to give him money though. It just doesn't help.

I've only started to feel sympathy since I had my ds. Before then I was totally intolerant of people like that.
Now I just cant help thinking " he was a baby once , he was a sweet little boy ". What has happened in his life to turn him onto that path ? Maybe he wasn't loved and cherished enough . Makes me very sad .

Zero sympathy. These people make other's lives misery. There was a plague of burglaries by druggies where I live. All small independent businesses, big damage caused. Did they steal food? Nah. Did they steal valuables and change. Fuck yeah. Some even picked only certain brand of gin.

I have sympathy for addicts, to a limit, but not to the ones who just fuck everyone else. Why should I. They don't have sympathy with their victims either.

There needs to be more help for people with Addictions :( sadly there is not.

I do feel bad for them , not in the way that i would ever give them money to help fund it but in the way that i feel empathy for them and i understand how an addiction can completely take over your life.

It’s a 2 way street, isn’t it. The first things I always say think are“There but for the Grace of God.” People don’t choose addiction it chooses them. However if it were my 90 year old aunt Maude that one of them stole from any sympathy would go out of the window.

There is so much talk of how today's addicts have had some trauma which made them start taking drugs. There seems to be so many reasons why they became drug addicts.
The two youngish males who I know took drugs and committed suicide, one was from a very privileged background and was caught in possession of drugs, perhaps enough to supply others in the privileged situation. The other was an actor, not short of money and with a doting mother and other loving family. I have no idea why they chose to involve themselves in drugs.
I look at the people laying about on the pavements of the nearby city and I wonder about their backgrounds.
Then I think about the people who fought in the last War and how they were only teenagers. I know one man who was a prisoner of war and others who must have seen horrific events. A lot of those in the war joined the Emergency Services (key workers as they are known today). They must have seen awful sights even after the war. I did not know a single one of those people ever take drugs. There were people at home during the war wondering if husbands and sons would come home alive and worried if they and the children would survive the bombings, trying to feed the household on very little. I didnt know any of them to take drugs.
Why are the people of today so eager to turn to drugs at the least wee thing. I have been stressed, worried seen horrible things but never once did I think drugs were going to cure any of my problems.
I dont know what the answer is but I think it is a losing battle now. There should have been more serious penalties right from the start of the drugs scene.

Addiction has been linked strongly to childhood abuse

Can happen to anyone under the right circumstances. There is a link, but it's not strong.

I would have had every sympathy. Drug addicts are often victims of the most hideous childhoods, from the care system etc and yes, blah blah some folk turn their lives around against the odds but the vast majority can't and don't.

I also do feel for the shop staff, they are doing their job and it must be difficult for them.

No I don’t.
He or she made the choice to start taking drugs.

@annabel85 jeez, you sound nice
Did you miss the empathy when they were handing it out?

Of course I do. I would always have sympathy for anyone whose life has come to the point where they are stealing to stave off withdrawals. Who knows what led them down that path...there for the grace of god...

No sympathy for them.

I would feel the same as you. I think people who look down on drug addicts maybe don't have any idea that that could be any one of us- the addiction to the drugs might be more powerful than our willpower, however much we might like to think otherwise.

A close family member is a drugs worker and I've seen first hand the people affected- and devastated by heroin. Some of them are literally just kids when they get involved with it. I don't think many people choose that path.

Those with zero sympathy...just pray that this never happens to one of your children...this can be a path for people from any walk of life...

Absolutely no sympathy whatsoever

@TheBouquets Spot on

I do feel sorry for people like that but I also feel sorry for retail staff who have to deal with this stuff and the idiots who think that shoplifting (especially from a chain store) is basically a victimless crime. It’s not.

No one dreams of growing up to be a heroin addict and I'm sure most will have had a ghastly life which has led to their addiction. For that, I have sympathy.

Having said that, i don't want to be around those people. In some rough parts of town I've seen used needles on the floor and in places where children play. I have also had to step over someone shooting up in the stairwell of a shopping centre car park. He actually apologized to me but even so I don't want to see this nor do I think putting others at risk by their filthy habit is acceptable.

@Southwestten

People don't grow up hoping to be a drug addict and it usually stems from trauma

There must be some genetic aspect too, since as a pp says, lots of people have abusive childhoods and they don’t all become addicts.
Maybe their parents were addicts/alcoholics and that’s why they suffered abuse and neglect.
Also there are plenty of well off addicts but since they’re well off and can afford to buy drugs they’re not shop lifting and burgling so they don’t end up in court (unless they’re caught with large amounts of drugs)

Childhood trauma is common in addicts. Others are just born screw ups. Some people fall in with a bad crowd or just have a bad run in life. Some may have suffered grief and got into drugs that way.

Ultimately people do it because they like it.

Personally if I was working in a large chain store and saw a person shoplifting I'd probably turn a blind eye.

Those with zero sympathy...just pray that this never happens to one of your children...this can be a path for people from any walk of life...

On the flip side of that, I hope your children never have to experience working long hours building a business from nothing, only to have a large part of it stolen by a crackhead. Or far far worse be in the wrong place and the wrong time and lose their life to someone under the influence. Unfortunately, some addicts are just downright nasty people to begin with and the drug use exacerbates that.

My brother is an alcoholic. Saved by the Salvation Army who got him clean and back on track. He is university educated and speaks several languages. All addicts were someone, are someone. I cant pass a "wino" or a "pisshead" on the street without knowing it could have been my brother. It could be yours. A little empathy helps.

@formerbabe

Personally if I was working in a large chain store and saw a person shoplifting I'd probably turn a blind eye.

Do you think it wouldn't affect you in any way? Or other consumers? It does

I think we can spot on this thread people who, or someone close to them, were victims of a crime by an addict...

No sympathy at all.