FUCK ALL SHOPLIFTERS!!

People who defend shoplifting from stores. I had a minor debate with someone who was pridefully going on about how we should steal from stores to affect the profits of the CEO and “The Man”.

I had to inform them that stealing from stores won’t necessarily affect the payroll of the corporation. It will only harm the stores and the employees inside. Because each and every store is operating on a budget of their own and what they sell determines said budget.

So if groups of people decided to steal from that store, sapping up the budget and hurting sales, then it’s going to hurt the pay of the people working there. Making shoplifters look both like an asshole and a dumbass in one.

  • RememberTheApollo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Billionaire worshippers

    Politician worshippers

    Wealth worshippers

    Fame worshippers

    Basically people who defend people who don’t deserve or need to be defended. Wealthy people have lawyers to defend them, they certainly don’t need or want you, and they don’t need you to justify them making a million an hour in dividends or interest while sitting on their asses.

    Politicians work for you, why do you worship your employee?

    Famous people can fuck right off, especially influencers. Why do you defend someone destroying a $200k car or wasting absurd amounts of food?

    E: oh, Military worship, too. That shit is right up there with fascism and autocratic rule.

  • xkforce@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Eh… I think it depends on what it is. People stealing non-essentials or for reselling? Fuck them. People stealing baby formula so their baby doesnt starve? I didn’t see anything. If we had a robust safety net in the US it’d be different because there’d be no reason or excuse to do that but we’ve decided that we would prefer a dog eat dog world and I am not going to feel bad when the poor do what they need to do to survive.

    Anyway, I can’t tolerate people that defend the current healthcare system in the US. I don’t believe that a system that decides whether you get the treatment, medicine and preventative care that you need or not based on your ability to pay for it is a moral one. And the people least able to afford treatment are those that need it the most. i.e sick people. Especially given that most insurance is tied to your job and companies can and will drop you without consequence if you are too sick to work.

    • marlowe221@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’m with you there. I noticed someone shoplifting at a Walmart near me about a year ago. I took a second look and realized the stuff they were stealing was all food.

      I decided I didn’t see anything at all.

      I figure anyone stealing food probably needs that food and is in tough financial shape.

    • waterbogan@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’m surprised that there is anybody defending the current US healthcare system, its probably the worst feature of the US and the main thing putting me off from ever wanting to live there

    • ryan@the.coolest.zone
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      1 year ago

      You’ve eloquently stated what I came in to reply. To hell with this unequal system that all but forces people to steal basic necessities to survive. I’m certainly not gonna say “oh boy let’s shoplift for fun” but I’m also not going to condemn someone who’s doing what they think they need to do to help them and their family get by.

      We desperately need not only better healthcare (physical, mental, and dental), but a revamped welfare system (maybe to the level of UBI), a better low-income housing strategy, etc etc.

      Very few kids say “oh boy, I’m going to be a petty criminal when I grow up.” Society fails kids and they become desperate and jaded adults.

  • fubo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    “Well, you did something bad, so you deserve whatever happens to you.”

    No, that’s not how morality works, and it’s not even how law works either. The smallest rule-breaking doesn’t make you an outlaw with no rights.

    • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I want to add to this: “Well, if he didn’t want shot, he shouldn’t have been running from the cops!”

      Maybe not, but he’s innocent until proven guilty by a jury of his peers, and even if he is found guilty, his punishment will be decided by a judge.

      Not some Clint Eastwood wanna be who doesn’t like being told no.

      • xigoi@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        How exactly are the cops supposed to get him to the judge if he’s trying to run away?

        • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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          Yes. This is exactly what I was talking about.

          I understand wanting to get “the bad guy”. But they aren’t fucking cowboys in the wild West. Their job is NOT TO EXECUTE PEOPLE. If the guy is running away, do some goddamn detective work and go find him. Lazy fucks are just getting out of having to work. If they’re REAL lucky they get a bonus paid vacation as a reward for murder.

    • meco03211@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Just no. If you see someone shoplifting diapers, baby formula, or stuff like that - no you didn’t. If you see the brazen ass mobs stealing all the phones from an apple store, you can see them. You don’t need to do anything about it. You can choose not to see them, but I don’t think there’s some moral imperative to ignore that level of theft.

      • mrbubblesort@kbin.social
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        You say there’s no imperative to ignore, but is there any moral imperative to care about that level of theft though? Maybe if it’s a small local store owned by a friend or something, but if it’s one of the big box retailers or brand names … meh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They got insurance, worst that will happen is they get a bigger tax write off from their insurance bill at the end of the quarter

        • meco03211@lemmy.world
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          …but is there any moral imperative to care about that level of theft though?

          Certainly not an imperative. I just felt there needed to be a distinction.

      • bane_killgrind@kbin.social
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        If you think luxury goods manufacturers engage in more ethical business practices than groceries and pharmacies… That’s not true.

        From the perpetrators side, nobody paid their rent pawning baby food. Or paid heat. Or paid for a car to drive to a low wage job.

      • Hildegarde@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Its not your job to do loss prevention work for free. Unless they’re going to pay you for the report, shoplifting is none of your concern.

        Do give corporations free labor.

          • Hildegarde@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Shops set their prices to what they expect will maximize revenue. The losses due to shoplifting are only a portion of their overhead.

            National chain stores do not operate on such razor thin margins that they have to modify their prices in response to shoplifting in order to break even.

  • bane_killgrind@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    it’s going to hurt the pay of the people working there

    So there are a lot of reasons to be against stealing, but this isn’t one of them.

    Wal-Mart and County-Wide Poverty https://aese.psu.edu/nercrd/economic-development/for-researchers/poverty-issues/big-boxes/wal-mart-and-poverty/article-wal-mart-and-county-wide-poverty

    Corporate owned stores like this are the ones that people are talking about stealing from. The facts are, the wages that are paid by Walmart can’t possibly be less. Walmart enjoys https://businessmodelanalyst.com/is-walmart-profitable/ being the most highly profitable in the list mentioned.

    If Walmart paid less, they couldn’t maintain their staffing levels. The workers would be even more highly impoverished, if they choose to stay.

      • bane_killgrind@kbin.social
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        Does that matter? In the context of sustained abuse of workers? Every dollar that is used for employees’ food stamps and other benefits is a dollar taken from tax payers.

        The difference between a shoplifter and Wal-Mart is a matter of degrees, not morality.

      • omnibelt@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That’s a easy statement to make with a full belly and no worries about where your next meal is going to come from.

        • infyrin@lemmy.worldOP
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          It’s an easy statement for me to make when I am responsible with my finances unlike most. You must be bitter about something, is it because you yourself, suck at financing so you’ve gotta steal? The fuck out of here.

          • omnibelt@lemmy.world
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            Yikes, that’s a lot of assumptions you made about me from one sentence. Personally I’ve never had to steal, I grew up middle class and had the opportunity to build up savings to become financially independent, just like you apparently.

            I just learned empathy while growing up, so I can understand that some people didn’t have the same opportunities I had, and now have to resort to stealing.

          • bane_killgrind@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            So you defend a corp taking advantage of poor people because poor people did it to themselves.

            Despite the fact that there is empirical evidence that when a Walmart is opened in some towns, local businesses are priced out, wages are reduced in that town and money is funneled away to the corporation instead of being spent locally.

            Poor people don’t want to be poor, the work available to them has shit pay. Should millions of people just move away from towns when a Walmart opens up? And where would they go? And how would they afford to go?

  • CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    After reading op’s comments in this thread, I’m going to just say they’re a piece of shit who has never had to make any hard decisions.

    • infyrin@lemmy.worldOP
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      I think it’s adorable how so many idiots think I’m some well-off CEO or executive. Bruh, I’m just like you, a person working a shitty job. I just don’t take dumb risks like you would. I know and care about the people I work around so I don’t do stupid fucking shit that’ll affect them like stealing from the store.

      Shitbags like you, sit there in your little internet armchair of knowledge, pretending you know it all but I bet you get welfare and foodstamps because you’re a deadbeat who doesn’t want to work. That’s why you think stealing is okay. That’s why you’re all up and arms to justify why shoplifting is okay. Because that’s where you probably are in life - at the damn bottom. Look at me, asshole, I get paid $17.82 an hour and my monthly expenses are north of $1,700. Do you have that kind of responsibility? Do you? No you don’t fuck ball, you don’t know a fucking thing about me, so sit down in that fucking little internet chair of yours and shut the fuck up. Go shove a dick in that run a mouth of yours, retard.

  • Sethayy@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Dude you can’t get paid below minimum, like all fucking stores do. This ain’t hurting anyone except those who are lucky enough to have something to lose

    • infyrin@lemmy.worldOP
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      Aren’t you an armchair knowitall? Okay bucko, how would you know whether or not it affects someone working? Do you even work? I doubt it by how ignorant you’re being.

  • purahna@lemmygrad.ml
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    1 year ago

    Defending US military intervention. I’ve heard people defend US intervention in Korea, I’ve heard people defend US intervention in Vietnam, I’ve heard people defend US intervention in the middle east, hell, I’ve heard people defend dropping the bombs on Japan. Shit’s wild.

      • purahna@lemmygrad.ml
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        1 year ago

        yeah, most of us over here tend to be upset about the fact that our tax dollars get spent on genocide and then people get defensive when we even say it. I’m frustrated by a lot of defenders but I answered the question honestly, those are the worst.