People Who Shoplift Regularly Explain Why They Do It
"Reddit user WineOhCanada asked: 'People who shoplift on the regular: why do you do it?'"
Shoplifting is a prevalent issue, but why do people do it?
Some reasons can be as banal as boredom, but other are far more intruiging.
Redditor WineOhCanada wanted to understand why people steal, so they asked:
"People who shoplift on the regular: why do you do it?"
I loved shoplifting.
Until I was caught, that is. I was a price tag switcher.
I apologize.
So Excited
Happy Thomas Lennon GIF by ABC NetworkGiphy"It makes me feel alive. Jk I don't any more but as a kid, it was for sure a thrill thing."
silly-billy-goat
The Need
"I’m going to give an actual honest answer as someone who has not done this in many years… it becomes addicting."
anewchapteroflife
"Came here to say this. Back in my high school days, I would do it all the time. It's like a rush. Now my shoplifting days are when I forgot the can of soup on the bottom of the grocery cart and don't realize til I'm loading it in the car."
TheRumpleForesk1n
"I used to work in loss prevention. A lot of times we would let you go; especially teenagers. We knew you would be back and have pictures on the wall of you. We focused on shoplifting rings with a higher dollar amount and employees. Employees rob you blind."
taco_cop
The Hit
"I was greedy and had poor impulse control. While shoplifting was terrifying... having the shiny new thing after gave me a dopamine hit. I got caught three or four times and I thank Christ I was under 18 each and every time."
happyele
"It was less about greed for me I think, I've never been addicted to any drugs, whenever I got caught I would always test negative for anything, the custody sergeant who would take my fingerprints/DNA/drug swab would say 'Sean you're the only one that comes in regular that's not on any drugs, what's going on?' I explained that I was homeless, lost my job because the company I worked for folded, and life just kicked me in the butt."
"Flirty Chez I called her, and she would always give me extra food whenever I was brought in, I just thought that was how she was, then one day she said I need a girlfriend and I shot her down, no more flirty Chez. She was shooting her shot and I rejected her without even knowing it."
hardcoresean84
Exchanges
"Much to my mom’s embarrassment, I was a serial shoplifter as a baby. At least I had the presence of mind to take off my socks and shoes and leave them scattered around the store in exchange."
UsualFrogFriendship
"I was once on a camping trip with my parents. We left the campsite for a day and when we got back our soap had been stolen from the tent. Just our soap, nothing else was taken, but we did find the shoes of the perpetrator!"
"This kid left them right at the entrance of our tent, so it was not difficult to find out who did it. When we went to get the soap back and give him back his shoes, sadly the kid threw it over a fence, so we never got it back."
ptbroeke
Influences
Breaking Bad Crying GIFGiphy"My easily influenced mind was corrupted by TV. If it's good enough for Marie Schrader then it's good enough for me."
DavosLostFingers
TV rots your brains and decision making capabilities.
Do the opposite of your favorite characters.
End of Times
Nbc Shoplifting GIF by SuperstoreGiphy"When I was bedridden due to Covid, I had a friend who shoplifted a whole damn box worth of medicine from different drugstores."
"I was very impressed and confused, as I didn't ask for it. Great friend though!"
pepper-blu
Criminals
"As a former loss prevention officer, most of the people I stopped were stealing to resell the items. Many people were clearly drug addicts and many people I stopped had meth and other drugs on them. Not every shoplifter is stealing to buy drugs, but a ton of them are."
"A lot of other people just stole items they wanted, and some people just have a stealing problem and would take whatever random BS they came across and thought would be easy to steal. If I ever saw someone stealing food I'd usually look the other way, but that was pretty rare to see someone taking food, it was usually clothes, electronics, makeup, or tools."
BigBudZombie
The Rush
"Addiction. And that's addiction to shoplifting, not drugs. It's a rush. Confidence grows with each success. It becomes an obsession. It brings an amount of power when stealing from giant corporations. For me, this question is similar to asking an addict why they are addicted to drugs or alcohol."
"I haven't shoplifted in three years. I attended Shoplifters Anonymous and continue to go to therapy which are both very helpful. I'm very lucky I didn't lose everything."
tacoterrarium
Self-Control
"In high school, I dated this guy who would shoplift and I got influenced to start doing it. After we broke up I kept doing it all throughout college since I was a broke college student who had no self-control. I only shoplifted from big retail stores and told myself it was 'okay.' Post college I stopped because the possible consequences as an adult and to my career were not worth it."
isatacobelle
There was no good in it
"I used to do it as a means to support my drug habit. I wouldn't call what I was doing shoplifting though. I moved the volume and high-end merchandise. Honda generators from Home Depot or Lowe's. Shopping carts full of Tide pods, and Similac baby formula. I'd hit Nordstrom during the holidays for their perfumes and colognes. COACH, Burberry for purses."
"I made a good chunk of change from it, yet I was still homeless. Most of my money went to drugs, and hotel rooms at shi**y hotels. I'm no longer like this. I reached out and went to rehab this past July. I now have 132 days clean and sober, and work an honest job. My life's boring as hell now and I love it. Even though people on the street complimented and applauded my skills."
"I was never proud of myself for any of the stealing I was doing. There was no good in it. Now I feel good about myself and can be proud of what I do. It's a nice feeling to go into a store and not have to be aware of my surroundings and not tighten up when the greeters ask for a receipt. Because now, I can happily show them one. Lol."
Crotch-Monster
Think First
Steve Austin Wrestling GIF by WWEGiphy"I work for a 3-letter retail store in NV and we have a ton of theft. I see a lot of random products for sale on the FB marketplace. If it adds up to over $1,200 it’s grand larceny and you get arrested."
"Walmart also allows up to a certain amount to be returned with no receipt and you get cash back."
samisalwaysmad
What have we learned kids?
Theft never really pays.
Do you have any experiences? Let us know in the comments below.
Look, us here at George Takei Enterprises (not our official name) in no way support or endorse the actions described below. It would be ethically wrong and potentially incriminating to say that any actions describe thereafter are acceptable or endorsed by us, or society as a whole.
Still, you do what you gotta do. Life is hard. Get what you can out of it, right?
Reddit user, IFeelSorry4UrMothers, wanted to know what to keep their sticky fingers ready for when they asked:
"What's okay to steal?"
The thing is, sometimes the thing you're supposedly "stealing" is not really being stolen, per say, in that if the people who knew you were taking it would file charges or anything.
Sometimes they just don't care.
Getting The Work Done No Matter What
"WiFi from the Jack in the Box by my house."
KittenPics
"Got through grad school leeching from an unsecured signal"
cavegoatlove
"My first apt in 2010 didn't have wifi and there was no way 19 year old me could afford it. Luckly back in the day most people didn't secure their wifi so I had ~8 options."
pokemonprofessor121
We're All Under One Together?
"Living over a decade in Japan, I've come to the conclusion that umbrellas are fair game."
PM_ME_ALL_UR_KARMA
"Take an umbrella, leave an umbrella"
AZBreezy
Take As Many Pacifiers As You Can. Trust Me.
"After giving birth, anything in the hospital room that’s not nailed down."
MamaRebbe
"Kid was in NICU for two weeks after birth. The nurses would give me a new pack of preemie diapers every time I used more than 2 or 3 from a pack of 20, same for those Similac nursettes that came in six packs. I swear I went home with hundreds of diapers and formula bottles. Bless them."
Palolo_Paniolo
"It gets thrown away when you leave so…take it!! Less work for us. Also, formula and diapers are given free to hospital to create new consumers for that brand. We hand them off like hot cakes to help families but also, to screw the mega corporations. We are like drug dealers getting you addicted to pampers or Huggies, lol!"Sol_Luna70
The Office Space Is Entirely Open For Grabs
"Honestly? Where my fellow corporate office supply kleptos?? Don’t lie…"
C-O-double-M
"When I was getting out of the Navy packing up to move. I found about 150 black "For Official Use Only" pens. I kept 10 and took the rest back to the shop."
EducatedEvil
I Mean, Yeah, Sure
"2nd, 3rd, or home in a baseball game."
ElGrandeRojo67
"Stealing 1st would look hilarious because you know the pitcher would just be standing there like "tf do I do?""
orionthehoonter
"You can if the catcher misses"
Zkenny13
"For those not as well versed as u/Zkenny13, if the pitcher throws strike three and the catcher doesn't catch it, the batter may attempt to "steal" first. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen."
"If it does happen, the pitcher is still credited with the strikeout, but it ruins any perfect game attempt."
DasPuggy
It's Build Into The Price
"I have few,"
"Soda from McDonald, ask for water (free) and drain it or drink it and pour soda on it"
"Napkins from any restaurant"
"Ketchup"
"Plastic spoon and fork"
AllenProduction
That Ol' Moral Quandry
"Food. I feel like if someone is desperate enough to steal food they really need it."
DonAskren
"Sanitary products, diapers, baby food. If you ever see a poor-looking/homeless person stealing these expensive necessities, please do not report them to the store manager. These are essentials, most of which happen to be expensive. And if it’s baby-related, don’t report it for the sake of the baby :/"
Ligma_ballz973
It's "The Code," Apparently
"I’m a young female and one “ girl rule “ I would say is common to know is if you see a woman steeling period products( such as pads or tampons ) or baby products like milk or diapers, you do not say a word. You don’t know if that might be a mother who can’t care for her child because of financial problems or mental health. It could be a woman who can’t afford menstrual products. Even if it’s neither of these you never know a person’s situation and it’s better to stay silent."
Cheesefan1
Weird Some Places Put Laws On This
"Trash. It was thrown away, so no one needs it anymore. Stealing trash is actually illegal in my home country, Germany."
DartmitBart
The information super highway is a glorious thing, allowing you access to a myriad of products with a click of the 'Purchase' button...
...most of the time.
Where All My College Students At?
"Academic papers and textbooks. The actual authors don't see a cent of it, it all goes to the publisher who gets to charge like 40 bucks to read it once. Oh and also in order to submit to those journals, you have to pay for it."
Inkuii
"Definitely don't ever type "sci-hub.se" into your browser of you're looking for access to a paper. It certainly doesn't have a database of pirated journal articles, or really practically anything with a DOI..."
"ETA: you also definitely can't download the file as a PDF. And clicking the source on the left side will NOT copy the citation to your clipboard. And it's absolutely NOT mirrored at sci-hub.st or sci-hub.ru if your ISP blocks it........."
Lestalia
"For academic articles, if you email the authors they'll almost always send you their paper for free and be really happy about it too"
fluffytedy54
Higher Learning Should Never Be That Much
"E-Textbooks"
-ImpliedConsent
"Pearsons can go f* themselves."
lorenzomofo
"YES. The online textbook viewer is awful too."
"Once I had to buy a $230 Pearson math textbook, I hated it, and it had multiple wrong answers in the practice question answer key... I returned it 2 weeks later and just found a pdf online"
Taco_Guy3
Up, Up, Down, Down
"Old Nintendo games. If they refuse to maintain their old game systems then there's nothing wrong with emulating them."
User Deleted
"Yeah if you can't even buy a game anymore, there is no ethical argument against pirating."
"Technically you can track down an old physical copy, but at that point you're only benefiting some reseller, not the people who actually own the rights to the game."
itsamamaluigi
When You Absolutely Have To Edit A Picture
"Adobe products"
dansla116
"I’m still using a copy of Photoshop 6 that fell off a truck back in 2000."
mandobaxter
"I’m in my 40’s and pirated my fair share of adobe products over the years. A few weeks ago my teenager was trying to find an old pc game on steam etc. and couldn’t even find a way to buy it. I showed him how to sail the high seas and find it. Today he came to me and said “dad, I found cracked adobe premiere and got it to work”. Don’t think I’ve ever been prouder"
Trill_McNeal
This "Stealing" Is Certainly A Lifestyle Choice
"i think its okay to steal anything. the punishment you get for stealing shouldnt be because you stole. i think it should be because you got caught. think about it, if you steal a twix bar no one is harmed by it. there are millions more being made and thousands more at stores. as long as you dont get caught stealing or harming anyone, ANYTHING is okay to steal."
waq_lol
Just a reminder: The law is there for a reason.
But, you know, be smart about it.
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An unsolved crime is the most terrifying loose end there is. For as long as the perpetrator remains unidentified, we're left knowing that there is someone out there roaming among us, hiding in plain sight as they carry that bleak past.
The most terrifying cases are, of course, murders and disappearances of people.
A recent Reddit thread asked users to share the most gruesome and unnerving cases that still lack a suspect. The thread reads like a real life list of horror vignettes.
It may lead you to walk around a little paranoid for the rest of the day. After all, you never know if the killer is living right around the corner or you bumped into them along your commute.
Cantthink90 asked, "What cold case or unsolved crime still gives you chills?"
The Story Continues to Unfold
"Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès."
"He killed entire family and vanished. He has been looked for over a decade and even today french media brings new info about his troubled past, money and marriage problems - that gives you chills."
-- MSchmidt8080
Not Always Murder
"The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist:"
"On the night of March 18, 1990, museum guards allowed two men dressed as police officers to enter Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. They were fake cops and immediately tied up the guards and set about stealing 13 art works worth a half-billion dollars."
"Despite the $10 million reward, the case remains unsolved."
-- Back2Bach
Poof
"The disappearance of Brian Shaffer"
"He went out drinking with friends, entered a bar and never came out again. Nobody knows what happened to him and there were no other exits inside. He just disappeared without a trace."
-- honeybeeMA
Right Before Our Eyes
"Missy Bevers."
"The footage of her attacker wandering around the church in riot gear, waiting (?) for her to arrive. Horrifying. The fact that they are on crystal clear video yet still has not been identified. Just wtf all around."
Fantastical Horror
"In 1932, a woman living alone in Stockholm was found bludgeoned to death in her apartment. The discovery of a blood-covered gravy ladle led police to believe that they had found the murder weapon, but this was not the case."
"The murderer had used it to drink her blood, and had successfully drained the corpse of nearly all liquid before fleeing the scene."
Tending Towards Conspiracy
"The disappearance of Louis Le Prince. Most people refer to Thomas Edison as the father of motion pictures simply because he patented the idea. Louis Le Price invented a motion picture camera before Edison could but one day he boarded a train and that's when he was last seen."
"His wife couldn't submit the patent for the camera as she needed to wait a year ( maybe four i think?) to submit a mission person's patent. That's the same time as Edison invented his own motion picture camera/ device whatever they referred to it as back in the early 1900's."
"If i recall correctly the famous Patent wars ensued and Thomas Edison was regarded sole inventor of motion pictures."
-- ZLATEN_DAB
A Local Loss
"Elizabeth Barraza & her husband lived in the neighborhood behind me. On January 25, 2019 someone drove up to the house as she was setting up for a garage sale. The person got out of their truck & walked up and shot her several times and then drove away."
"We have surveillance video from a neighbor & it shows the whole thing. But there still hasn't been a suspect named, the Harris County police are at a loss. It was so early in the morning that the light was still low so it's hard to tell if the person is even a male or female."
"Elizabeth was a wonderful person, she was heavily involved in a volunteer group that would visit hospitals dressed as characters from Star Wars. Her marriage was great, there's just no reason for someone to want to kill her."
"So over a year later there's been nothing, all we know right now is that a random person just drove up and shot Elizabeth in her driveway."
WHAT.
"The USS Cyclops disappearance, a US navy ship vanished without a trace with over 300 men on board in the Bermuda Triangle in 1918. What's even creepier is that two of her sister ships also vanished on that same route in the 1940s."
"Her other sister ship was renamed the USS Langley and converted into America's first aircraft carrier. The loss of the Cyclops is the largest non combat loss of life in navy history."
-- yumbatsoup
A Bold Appearance
"The Lake Bodom murders."
"Four teenagers, 2 young couples, were brutally attacked while camping. The sole survivor underwent hypnosis to try to identify the murderer."
"Many criticised this method and dismissed it as nonsense noting the sketch didn't really look like a real person, except for the fact that a man who looked just like it was photographed at a memorial service for the murders. He was never identified."
-- holdnofear
A Fallen Polygot
"The Isdal woman."
"She was a foreign woman found burned to death at a remote area in Norway in 1970. She visited Norway twice in 1970... once in March 1970, and then in November 1970. The Isdal woman stayed at various hotels around Norway under several false names, and supposedly possessed false passports."
"Hotel staff reported that she kept to herself and spoke to them in German and broken English. She was also witnessed conversing in French with a man at a hotel lobby."
"The Isdal woman stood out in Norway because she looked foreign and dressed very stylishly. She was also a lone woman staying in hotels, which was unusual in 1970."
"After her death, it was rumored that she was a spy from Israel or Russia. Nobody knows who she is and why she came to Norway."
Triple Disappearance
"The Beaumont Children - they were three Australian siblings (aged 9, 7 and 4) and they just disappeared on Jan. 26th 1966 (Australia Day) from Adelaide, South Australia."
"There were several witnesses who saw the children hanging out near Glenelg beach with a tall and blonde thin-faced man who was tanned and had a thin-athletic build in his mid 30s it's been 54 years and it's still a cold case that boggles my mind."
Chilly, to be Sure
"The Anchorage flagpole jumper, some buck naked duded climbs to the top of a flag pole in the front of a McDonald's and then jumps down face first and kills himself."
"To this day his identity is unknown."
-- tacopig117
Dreadfully Comfortable
"A family of four was murdered in their home in Tokyo in 2000. The killer stabbed the parents and older daughter and strangled the youngest and then remained in their house for hours after. He used the computer, ate food, used the toilet (and if I recall correctly, didn't flush)."
"Lots of DNA was recovered, along with other clues, but they never had a match. There's still a reward."
The End of the Game
"The death of Erin Valenti"
"She was a CEO at a tech company that was studying brain machine interface technology, or simply mind control, at the time. While on her way to a business conference in another state, she called her mother and her boyfriend."
"Her last words to the both of them were, 'Its all a game, it's a thought experiment, we're in the matrix.' Police found her in her car a day or two later dead in the backseat.
"No sign of a struggle, just a healthy 33 year old who died of suspected 'natural causes.' There's a great video on YouTube by blameitonjorge who explains it better than I ever could."
Devastating Consequences From Such Minor Actions
"The Tylenol poisonings. No one caught and I don't think it would be that hard to do again. Who poisons a random number of bottles and just never does it again?"
"First thing I thought of and no one has said it yet."
-- saturnspritr
The Line Between Truth and Justice
"My sister's. She was poisoned with a large amount of morphine so her boyfriend could get insurance money. He had already previously beaten her several times and we had warned her that he would likely kill her."
"Even the detective in Clarksville said he did it but proving something takes money and clout, 2 things my family has always been short on."
Ending on a Lighter Note
"The Max Headroom incident."
"Doctor Who was being aired on a TV station in Chicago when it was interrupted by a person wearing a full head Max Headroom mask who mocked the Coke catchphrases and then got spanked by a flyswatter."
-- WDJam
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We're Officially Obsessed With This Guy Who Straight Up Refused To Hand Over His Louis Vuitton Bag To An Armed Robber
An attempted robbery didn't go the way the robber intended. When the perpetrator tried to take his victim's bag, he found more trouble than he expected.
Jerad Kluting was walking home from running errands when he saw a man approach him.
The attempted robbery was very quick.
Man dodges bullets during robbery attemptwww.youtube.com
Kluting told Buzzfeed News,
"It's like a premonition when you feel a threat."
The would-be robber covered his mouth with a bandana and pulled a gun from his waistband. He then demanded Kluting's Louis Vuitton bag.
It was obvious the thief wasn't messing around, but something clicked inside Kluting.
"You're not getting my Louis Vuitton,"
He told the robber.
"I worked very hard for this and this bag I've had forever and it means a lot to me."
Kluting had coveted the bag long before he owned it. He spent time saving up over $1700 to purchase the designer accessory.
Can you really blame him?
i mean...same https://t.co/APmAYPYBvf— Melissa Donnelly (@Melissa Donnelly) 1558552473.0
@BuzzFeed Can you really blame him?— Chrissy B. (@Chrissy B.) 1526942105.0
My Spirit Animal!! #buzzfeed https://t.co/KKMFVw08yZ— saltysavagebitch (@saltysavagebitch) 1558555685.0
This didn't impress the perpetrator. He fired two shots next to Kluting and demanded the bag again.
"That's when I turned and ran north. He pursued me that time and he fired two more shots. On the fourth one his gun jammed and he had to reload it."
Kluting was scared a shot would hit him. However, when he turned to look back, he saw the robber running away from the scene.
After, he was able to report the incident to the police who quickly found and arrested a suspect. The 21-year-old who was arrested had a stolen handgun on his person.
In the aftermath, Kluting has said this wasn't really about the bag.
"Yes, I do love Louis Vuitton, but I wasn't going to be intimidated by this bully."
"That bag has even more meaning to me now, but it was about not backing down. It was the difference between right and wrong. In that moment, I made a split-second decision."
After his story started getting national attention, Kluting said he's been called a hero.
@jeffgiesea His accent...the way he says it. It’s amazing. I feel the same way about my LV.— Jay Collinwood (@Jay Collinwood) 1558531281.0
What a mood https://t.co/HznLFf2Mg4— Ohlivia (@Ohlivia) 1558557874.0
I love this guy's energy. https://t.co/ZzBXJBHe4J— alistarlien (@alistarlien) 1558506348.0
#wednesdaymotivation https://t.co/BSCd8BdZXV via @tanya_chen— ɛγ Songg™ (@ɛγ Songg™) 1558514054.0
However, he doesn't consider himself one.
He said:
"Gun violence is a national issue,"
"The kids and parents of Santa Fe and Parkland are heroes."
His story happened just days before the shooting at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas. Ten people died in the incident.
Kluting feels lucky, as he believes the first two shots were merely warning shots, but the next ones were meant to kill.
While he has no regrets about how he handled the situation, he does admit that he would probably give it up should he be attacked in the future. It's the safer option.
Scams are everywhere and the internet has led to increasingly sophisticated frauds that can fool even the most hardened skeptics. Be careful out there - these people have warned you.
BetterFroyo asked the good people of Reddit: What scam did you fall for?
Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.