At one hotel I went to the shampoo was labelled "the best you've ever stolen" or words to that effect. It actually annoyed me because as they were individual containers (tubes so not easily refillable) they must budget for a new one each time. They're not going to leave a half used one with suds and strands of hair round it!
Just surmising, but I wonder if there may be some psychology at play here. It might be a deliberate establishing of boundaries - i.e. if they have a little joke about 'stealing' the consumables that are included in the price, that may give people pause for thought before actually stealing non-consumable items.
let’s not start getting offensive over some hotel towels
How am I the one being offensive and not the one committing the theft?! Depending on how much stealing may or may not otherwise be a routine part of your lifestyle, try that one as a defence with the police: tell them that they are the bad guys for trying to stop you and not you for actually breaking the law.
I also hope no one here has ever paid for their shopping but purposely didn’t scan the 20p shopping bag they’re meant to pay for. Seeing as ‘theft is theft,’ you’re nothing but a hypocrite
But like with the theft of glasses from pubs, you're assuming that those of us condemning thefts of higher-value goods must also be stealing lower-value ones - which you obviously consider pettier - without any grounds for it.
Adults know that the shopping bags now have to be paid for - the shop is legally required to do so. They actually usually give you two opportunities to 'not forget' - by allowing you to scan them as part of your shopping before going to 'Pay now' or afterwards, when they ask you to confirm how many new bags you used (if not already scanned). You have to actively select 'no bags' if you brought your own, so no excuses that you forgot whatsoever.
As it happens, I saw a woman in Asda a couple of weeks ago being stopped by security as she tried to leave the store and it was clear from the noisy altercation that everybody stopped to watch - between her, the security man and the till attendant - that she'd taken several new bags and deliberately not paid for them. She was blustering that she 'hadn't realised' you had to pay, then changed her story to make out they were being petty when she'd spent however much with them. Her two young kids were upset and crying at it all, and of course she blamed them (the store staff) for that as she played the 'young mum' card.
She was taken back to the till to pay for the stolen bags - luckily for her, the store didn't take it any further than that - and she scurried out with her kids soon after, looking utterly, utterly humiliated and extremely embarrassed. As I said, it was just the store complying with the law as required of them as retailers - for which they can be harshly punished if they don't. Just think: YOU could be her, if that kind of treatment floats your boat. Personally, if I forget to bring my bags or buy more than I planned, I prefer to just pay the 20p or 40p price and leave the store legally, quietly and unchallenged.