Is It OK To Steal From Work?
Posted by: Ami Angelowicz
Filed in:
news
2:00PM, Tuesday September 8th 2009
Friskians, pop quiz time! (Disclaimer: If your boss is standing nearby, please close this window ASAP. But then again, you would never cruise the internet during work hours would you?) Imagine you work in an office: You consider yourself a dutiful, honest employee, though you may have taken an extra granola bar or two from the office’s kitchen stash. In your spare time you have taken on some volunteer work helping out a non-profit company with a special project. You are tasked with making 10,000 copies for an upcoming meeting at the non-profit. Do you:
A) Go to Kinkos and pay way too much for the copies.
B) Ask your employer permission to make 10,000 copies for a “good cause.” Corporations love “good causes.”
C) Sneak into the office wearing all black at 9 p.m. when the last workaholic has gone home and make the copies.
D) Tell the non-profit company that you can’t afford to volunteer for them anymore and that they should find richer volunteers.
I’ve already fessed up about my shady shoplifting past, so now it’s time to come clean and tell you that when I was personally faced with the above dilemma, I chose “C.” Before you judge me, check out this new study that reveals that four out of five people in the U.K. (80 percent!!) think that it’s fine to steal from their place of employment. But are we talking toilet paper here or cold, hard cash? Here are some confessions from other hardened workplace thieves.
[Daily Mail]
“I always take pens. There, I said it. I need to keep one in my purse at all times to jot ideas down. And I’m always losing them. Plus, work always has the fancy inky kinds I would never splurge on.”
“I worked at a country store in high school and several of the young men on staff used to steal packs of cigarettes. They’d leave at the end of their shift and grab a pack off the shelf without paying for it. The boss eventually caught on and made me count the packs every night, check it with the number of sales, and report to him if there were any discrepancies. I thought he should have just fired these losers. I, personally, paid for every teeny, tiny little thing at that job. I felt silly putting 75 cents of my own money in the cash register to pay for some Dunk-a-roos, but I figured it was better than getting yelled at.”
“I am the office manager for my company and in charge of ordering all supplies from Staples. Let’s just say that once a month I have a field day ordering a few extra goodies to take home with me. I love me some neon Post-It Notes and Sharpies.”
“At the movie theater I used to work for there was no ticket-taker, meaning that if you were working in the box office, you [would] print the movie ticket, tear it in half, and give one part to the customer. I thought I’d devised a genius scam whereby I’d tear the ticket and then sell the second half to another customer and pocket the money. I’d do this a few times a night—basically enough to go buy myself dinner. I sometimes felt bad about it, but hey, I got paid minimum wage for the four years I worked there. Also, after year two, I caught another co-worker doing the exact same thing. Turns out like eight of us had concocted the same plan. Guess I’m not the most original thief.”
So what do you think? Have you ever stolen from work? We promise not to tell your boss.
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MsMami
wrote on September 8 2009 @ 01:08 pm: [report]
I just take a few stamps here and there, and i am on the FRISKY the whole day, its kinda slow, so I have nothing else to do.
Humble Bee
wrote on September 8 2009 @ 01:09 pm: [report]
Not even! my first job was with my dad’s company, they never had anything worth stealing, lol.
My current job is just me and another girl in an office all by ourselves, also, nothing worth stealing. lol They have a bottle of whiskey, that I could steal… but I just sipped it when I was stressed once.. okay maybe twice. I actually buy my own pens thank you very much.
MsMami
wrote on September 8 2009 @ 01:13 pm: [report]
@ Humble bee
Me too! My first job was with my mom, and like you said, nothing worth stealing. And now i work for my uncle, and its just me and another lady, but the only thing good here is that i get to be online the whole day, and when my bills are do, i take a stamp or two lol.
spatula
wrote on September 8 2009 @ 01:48 pm: [report]
just pens and envelopes. I never have envelopes for some reason.
*sam*
wrote on September 8 2009 @ 01:55 pm: [report]
My first job was at Arby’s and I ate for free every day, and not the ‘old’ stuff either. and, when I worked at the animal hospital, I would occasionally take a CapStar or two and one of the ‘free samples’ of Frontline when I was short on cash and my dog needed a flea treatment. I would also bring mine and my family/friends’ dogs in on the weekends and bathe them for free.
Queen Frostine
wrote on September 8 2009 @ 03:31 pm: [report]
Considering all the things that roll off the color printer here: department store coupons, personal emails, bridal shower invites, baby photos, wedding programs, love letters, home address labels and etc. all on company stock, I print without hesitation.
effing hickster
wrote on September 8 2009 @ 08:15 pm: [report]
Used to work at a company that never really had anything worth stealing besides Post-Its. However, whenever the receptionist filled the candy dish, it was always empty within an hour.
Look on the bright side, though. As they say: “Those who don’t steal little, steal big.”
fallonthecity
wrote on September 8 2009 @ 09:17 pm: [report]
I stole a lot of ear plugs from the engine plant I interned at. They came in handy in the dorms when the fire alarms would go off every other night at 2AM. And some fancy safety glasses… still use those.
mysedai
wrote on September 8 2009 @ 09:42 pm: [report]
I never really stole anything, but when I used to run a movie theatre, and when I’d buy office supplies, I’d shell out the company’s money to buy the pricey gold Sanford Uni-ball Deluxe pens I liked, rather than the Bic ballpoints.
Once, during an audit, my District Manager asked if he could take a couple with him because they were his favorite pen, but his office couldn’t afford them any more.
I never stopped buying the good pens, and he never forbade me to do it, mostly because he would stock up every time he came to audit!
I also kept at least one of every, single promotional item that came through the doors of that place; banners, one-sheets, cds, books, video games, t-shirts, hats, collectables… I don’t think that was exactly stealing, but it might have been a little shady.
MimsieSky
wrote on September 9 2009 @ 09:20 am: [report]
I worked for a radio station doing promotional work. We’d get bins of CDs, DVDs, Video Games, t-Shirts, and Movie Passes to give out at events. Before we took the stuff out of the van, we would all go through it and claim our item(s). We had to make sure there was still stuff to give out, but I often came home with some pretty cool stuff! Everyone did it, we called it a “perk” of the job…however no one ever told us that we could… so I suppose that would be considered stealing. But we got paid peanuts, so I felt okay with it.
Oliveira
wrote on September 9 2009 @ 12:04 pm: [report]
I once took a mousepad from work.
*phew* That was worse than coming out. Now I’m all sweaty.