Disagreement with friends / moral issue

[alltoomuchrightnow]

I work for a large, successful retailer (non essential retail, ie not supermarket kind)
A recent discussion ended up with two friends saying that stealing things like baby milk from a supermarket is fine, you should never tell anyone if you see it. ie Anything essential is acceptable.
But big companies like mine... even if non essential - it should also go unreported.
That people steal to order also, so they must be desperate for the money and
therefore turn a blind eye to whatever the goods are..
I know many do but I've been in retail for decades.. definitely some do it just
for the kicks. Some items can't be sold on.... eg small cheap things , someone
fills a bag of and each item is under £1, they are hardly going
to go round the local pubs flogging that?. Many lift just because they can.
In the past I've known rich bored people who did it too.

I said my company donates a lot to charities and is also pretty much non profit (I dont want to name them as outing) as they put most of it back into the business.
I mean, this keeps me and my co workers in a job!
Even if that wasnt true (that they are a quite ethical company), how are they fair game? Most companies do exist to make profit! For the record, I don't chase
up shop lifters, I leave that to security. If we are told to be vigilant of course
we have to report suspicious behaviour..but never in my life have I confronted anyone directly.
If everyone stole, these companies would go under. We'd have no shops left. Friends say it's wrong for eg the corner shop owned privately to be targetted but not the big guys. Should we give everything away for free then?!
I know shops often put prices up if there is big loss. But it's also us staff who
suffer. eg if we are seen on camera not reporting suspicious activity.
And I've worked for plenty of small places went out of business... for one,
a gift type shop, shoplifting was a huge factor in closure. They could only
afford to employ one person (me) and I couldnt keep track of what was going on.. cameras don't deter either, that doesn't give a name or address...
I shouldn't be so hurt and sensitive but I am. One friend doesn't work and never has in retail. Has a rich spouse.
The other has only ever been a civil servant. They say they've never shop lifted
themselves. They don't know each other and are worlds apart in lifestyle.. I feel pretty hurt by it but wonder if too sensitive
It's like they are saying shop workers like me are nothing so it doesn't matter
if our work places go under

I guess I'm posting this as seeing friends in a new light... they don't see
how it affects everyone inc minimum wage staff like me

You're not wrong, people shouldn't steal from any shop regardless of the size but doesn't sound like either of your friends said you should lose your job

You're taking it a bit too personally

You’re right for some folk it’s an abstract ideological argument.Retail manager told me most shoplifting is for resale/criminality or addiction. And some folk get a thrill. The minority of theft is the desperate and hungry stealing to survive
we all pay for shoplifting as a premium is applied to goods

Well they have a very different moral code to you so maybe not such great friends. In most cultures stealing is seen to be wrong. Like you say, they are only thinking very narrowly, not what makes society best for the most people.

I font thinknanyone should shoplift anything, and I never have.
However, friends can hold whatever beliefs ( within reason) they wish I am not so narcissistic to think they have to align with mine , or I won't be friends with them.

I'd personally never say anything as a member of the public but if it meant I would loose my job for not reporting then yeah I'd report it. I wouldn't intervene though , no job is worth that risk.

You are probably in a majority with your views on shop-lifting and your friends are in a minority. Either way, it's up to you I guess how strongly you feel about this issue - you can't expect to agree with all friends on all points so it depends how strongly you feel. I couldn't be friends with someone homophobic for example, or extremely right wing - but other things like views on aspects or personal morality like cheating I am ok to disagree on? There is no right or wrong OP, it's your choice.

I don't think they are getting at your personally or that they think you are worthless though, OP. I don't take that from their views at all.

Yeh I'm probably majorly stressed out right now as had abusive customers and I work horrible hours so I didnt need this from friends too.
Probably time for a career change after so long on and off in retail...
I took it personally as it does affect me and they don't see it day in day out
but when you get it from customers (I mean abuse in general.. threats are far worse than shoplifting.. sometimes actual violence too) you just want a bit of support from friends

Friends are both see themselves as very very woke and that basically
everyone should be allowed to do as they wish.. and we should feel sorry for the shoplifters. I've been way too kind and lenient in past as many times I have turned blind eye.. not good ! But as Zone says.. the minority...
most do because they can, the thrill or ease, obviously some places are far easier to target than others..

I know the type. Your pal will be well insured eh? So presumably if someone nicks their car they’ll just say perhaps the poor thief needed to get to their shift/take their kid to A&E? I mean, it’s only the insurance company who actually pay 😜

They’ll be all like yea,all property is theft ,until their property is stolen then it’ll be Rwanda fir all and mandatory death penalties

Sounds like they were aiming at an abstract debate about whether stealing can be justified and you took it as personal criticism.

Absolutely, Noooo and Zone.
Both said they interacted in past when security was being 'unfair' to shoplifters. And also offered to pay for the goods even if non essentials
as the shoplifter must need it on some level, even if they are rich.

One said, even if I take the blame (for not stopping a shoplifter) that's not as
bad as how the lifters are treated
I have always been too lenient as I say, to my detriment. I hate confrontation and get enough aggression in my job as it is. Maybe it's time to toughen up
I really struggle with ill health on min wage and I don't steal. End of. I'm alone,
pay my bills solo, sometimes need to use a food bank, so ... stealing food doesn't sit right with me the way it used to

Yes I took it personally because of my job... I think understandable....
and the grief I get in said retail job, I fully admit that

baby milk is almost never stolen by mothers desperate for it who otherwise can't feed their children, it's stolen by professional thieves because there's always a market for it, it's easily transportable and non-perishable.

stealing is wrong, end of.

Yadnbu
It just shows them up as being quite dim, as they clearly don’t know the far reaching very negative consequences shop lifting has.

So they are happy to pay more for goods to cover the costs of the stock that's stolen? Because it's the consumer, not the retailer who pays for it.

Not everyone does steal??

They're the kind of people who haven't factored that the cost of all stolen items gets passed back to customers via store prices.

I can find a lot of faults with their thinking and sounds like they have fewer brain cells than others but I would not any of it personally that is odd

I said my company donates a lot to charities and is also pretty much non profit (I dont want to name them as outing) as they put most of it back into the business.

There's a huge difference between 'Non profits' and companies who put their profit back into their business to grow it.

I'd like to be more sympathetic to someone stealing baby milk, but they should never had a baby in the first place if they were in that situation, and I'll bet they still manage to find money for booze and fags ...

Ms Hopkins?katie Is that you?