Stealing From Work and Corporations...Good or Bad?

Originally posted by bacci0909 It is NOT that big of a deal

Except for the inconvenient fact that it's simply wrong.

I can't believe we're still arguing over right vs. wrong in this matter... I was hoping this thread would quickly evolve into a place to share stories in which we or people we knew had ripped off the corporations that control our government and erode our economy..

OOhh!! I have one...

A friend of mine used to go to Wal-Mart late at night when just tired idiots were working the cash registers.. he'd take the barcode sticker off of something extremely cheap, like a single blank plastic cd-case or a box of 3 pens or something that cost under $2.. and he'd put it on a new dvd. When he went to the check out, his brand new dvd that would have cost him $24.99 or god knows what, would magically ring up as $1.49! He said he did it several times and not once did the cashier notice anything weird. I asked, but what if at some point one of them notice? He said who cares? You just say 'wow that's weird, I don't know why it would do that'. They can't prove anything.

Genius.

And the thing is... Wal-Mart is asking for it. They have enormous ware-house sized stores that you could get lose in or be in an aisle for an hour and not see an employee. This could never work if my friend tried to do it at a small, independently owned video store where the person at the counter can see every square foot of the store from where they're standing. And these small video stores are the very places that a corporation like Wal-Mart puts out of business. To me, that's what makes it justified.

reply to post by TechVampyre


If you had 100,000 dollars credit card debt from the various banks and could not pay it off, you may legally default it. It is a way of stealing from the banks. But the banks gave you the loan without asking collateral in the first place, so there is no violation of law for you to do it. After all, the banks loaned you the money out of no balance in their balance sheet.

But stealing from the job? I don't think it is morally acceptable. It will eat away your soul in the end.

Originally posted by kosmicjack

Originally posted by bacci0909 It is NOT that big of a deal

Except for the inconvenient fact that it's simply wrong.

hahaha... that's funny. Look.. I'm not saying I do it. In fact, the only time I tried to steal I experienced what was in my opinion, instant karma. I was at an airport looking at magazines when I realized nobody was paying attention to me and I didn't want to pay $4.95 for something that would only keep me occupied for an hour-long flight, so I walked out with it. I then went to starbucks and paid around $4.95 for a drink, only to walk up to my gate and see that we were boarding. Before I could take even a sip of the drink that was still too hot, I was told I had to throw it out and board. I thought that was funny, and have never stolen since.

I just think who are we to claim that something is 'simply wrong'? Killing somebody, sure, absolutely 'simply wrong'. But when talking about stealing from corporations that exploit natural resources and cheap labor for monetary gain, who knows?

Originally posted by SearchLightsInc



ahaha, You call me a monkey yet YOU are the "educated" sheep that has had the wool pulled over there eyes. You CONDONE slavery, it makes me laugh. You cant explain to me why everyone shouldnt have a livable wage without falling back on typical textbook "Because my professor told me so" BS.
Why dont you have a sit down and use the free mind you were born with.
Tell me, WHY should people work for NOTHING?

Not sure what professor it is you are talking about since I never went to college.

People don't work for nothing. They are paid a wage that the business has deemed that position is worth.

The very fact you cannot understand the simple economic idea that higher wages will result in higher prices and less jobs is evidence enough that you will always be low paid, because you lack the education and skills to make yourself more valuable in the marketplace.

Originally posted by NoHierarchy
reply to post by ExCommando

 

Stop being a whiny p**sy and try FOR ONCE to fully consider the entire system and the fact that THERE IS A GRAY AREA.

If you are against "theft" in ALL cases, then you're a complete idiot who has ZERO understanding or compassion for the masses versus those who own all of the resources, property, and consumer necessities.

If you want to censor this thread by calling like a little child for daddy mods (who will hopefully never play the daddy role for you) then just screw off... we don't need you here, your contribution to the discussion is black, one-sided, and disgustingly rooted in the larger system which calls on the majority to play ball with a game that forces a losing hand upon the rest of us more often than not. Might as well be playing the lottery. Meanwhile... if somebody steals from Wal-Mart, I'll be much more likely to high-five them than condemn them like a lock-step idiot.

All we really need to do is look at your Avatar
"No masters"
"No slaves"

You, my friend, live in a deluded world - you cry foul of the mainstream, but offer ABSOLUTELY no solution.

Let me take a wild stab in the dark; your "solution", if you could sum up the 2 brain cells to think of it, would be to abolish the "system" as it is, and share the wealth of the world amongst all?

Correct?

Originally posted by bacci0909
I can't believe we're still arguing over right vs. wrong in this matter... I was hoping this thread would quickly evolve into a place to share stories in which we or people we knew had ripped off the corporations that control our government and erode our economy..

OOhh!! I have one...

A friend of mine used to go to Wal-Mart late at night when just tired idiots were working the cash registers.. he'd take the barcode sticker off of something extremely cheap, like a single blank plastic cd-case or a box of 3 pens or something that cost under $2.. and he'd put it on a new dvd. When he went to the check out, his brand new dvd that would have cost him $24.99 or god knows what, would magically ring up as $1.49! He said he did it several times and not once did the cashier notice anything weird. I asked, but what if at some point one of them notice? He said who cares? You just say 'wow that's weird, I don't know why it would do that'. They can't prove anything.

Genius.

And the thing is... Wal-Mart is asking for it. They have enormous ware-house sized stores that you could get lose in or be in an aisle for an hour and not see an employee. This could never work if my friend tried to do it at a small, independently owned video store where the person at the counter can see every square foot of the store from where they're standing. And these small video stores are the very places that a corporation like Wal-Mart puts out of business. To me, that's what makes it justified.

What you described could easily be interpreted by store or military security as "sweet hearting". It is a common and known technique of theft by employees. In most cases. The employee peels a cheap sticker and palms it over the laser scanner. For their friend ( "sweetheart").
How do I know this?
because part my job was to install surveillance cameras and such. along with remote readouts from the register.
So we have a suspected "bad cashier".We sit down and watch her shift on the camera: and steak steak, steak ham goes across the register while my superimposed videotaped data stream rings up : $1.69.$1,69 $1.69.$1.69!
a manager will close out her register drawer and seize the register tape. it and the video tape is processed as evidence. She s' going home early in handcuffs.

Originally posted by NoHierarchy

Originally posted by indigo21
Corporations employ, fund people's retirements and pay taxes to fund social benefits. Corporations are often owned by a vast number of people including workers themselves. Many working-class citizens own those corporations. CEO's get paid a lot because they are responsible for millions of dollars worth of hard-earned assets. Please don't steal from corporations as corporations don't actually steal; They buy low/sell high and that's how they fund your employment and your retirement.

That's such a poorly-informed, Disney version of corporations I don't even know where to start.

REALITY IS- most major corporations pay nearly NOTHING in taxes. There are things called OFFSHORE TAX-HAVENS and TAX LOOPHOLES which corporations take AMPLE advantage of.

They are the masters of sly, slimy, backhanded ways of "legally" stealing land, time, money, resources, lives, health, freedom, etc. from people (i.e. the masses of the Earth). If you haven't figured this out by now... please go back to your homework and return when you're finished.

You have got to be kidding me - is that from "communism 101"?

You attack others for their lack of "intellect", yet you sprout such absolute rubbish!

Corporations pay tax - plain and simple. Show me an example, where a major corporation pays ZERO tax, and I'll eat my hat.

Originally posted by ViperChili
They are paid a wage that the business has deemed that position is worth.

For most positions, especially low paying ones, this is not true. They pay what supply and demand or government will let them get away with. If there is a shortage of employees to chose from wages increase. When there is an abundance of employees wages remain flat or drop for these low paying positions. Then there is the minimum wage which makes them pay no less than a certain amount. You can bet in the current climate of unemployment if they could pay less than minimum wage they would and could.

Originally posted by spaznational

Originally posted by NoHierarchy

Originally posted by indigo21
Corporations employ, fund people's retirements and pay taxes to fund social benefits. Corporations are often owned by a vast number of people including workers themselves. Many working-class citizens own those corporations. CEO's get paid a lot because they are responsible for millions of dollars worth of hard-earned assets. Please don't steal from corporations as corporations don't actually steal; They buy low/sell high and that's how they fund your employment and your retirement.

That's such a poorly-informed, Disney version of corporations I don't even know where to start.

REALITY IS- most major corporations pay nearly NOTHING in taxes. There are things called OFFSHORE TAX-HAVENS and TAX LOOPHOLES which corporations take AMPLE advantage of.

They are the masters of sly, slimy, backhanded ways of "legally" stealing land, time, money, resources, lives, health, freedom, etc. from people (i.e. the masses of the Earth). If you haven't figured this out by now... please go back to your homework and return when you're finished.

If you think that's the Disney version then you have been terribly mislead by the anti-corporate movement, a subset of the Progressives.

Indigo21 is correct. I don't care how many Michael Moore films you watch... reality remains reality. When I pay a grievous income tax on dividends please again explain to me how I'm a slimy thief who's stealing land, time, money, resources, lives, health freedom, etc from the mass of the Earth.

Thanks to corporations I can have this conversation on the internet using affordable computers. So much for stealing!

Ok, you know what, I'm not done. Now I'm a little angry. This kind of idiotic hatred you spew shows either profound ignorance or deep-seated misanthropy. The advances of technology the world has enjoyed almost entirely through capitalism has done more to alleviate poverty and disease, and raise the standard of living, than any religion, philosophy, or philanthropic movement EVER. You are so blinded by hate you can't see the nose on your own face. People spread these "Progressive" (AKA anti-human) ideas like a cancer of the mind, and it's any easy bandwagon to jump on for anyone who's looking for a scapegoat for their own malcontent; and reality be damned!

edit on 11-5-2011 by spaznational because: bad spelling

Brilliant - absolutely brilliant.

Good work.

Live by the sword die by the sword. People that praise capitalism like it is the ONLY true creative force in human society will be in for a rude awakening when the system implodes on itself. Collapse is bound to happen as sustainability is impossible to achieve in an infinite growth model (our current economy and what it is based on) versus a finite based environment. When the resources run out then what?

believe it or not I support you on this.

I have had jobs where i know they have taken off my paycheck and hours because they think your stupid.
they steal from people all the time, im just getting back whats mine, what they owe me and what they do to people/

reply to post by MegaMind


Absolutely.

Companies deem a burger flipper position as a minimum wage job. Turnover is high because there will always be someone to fill that position.

Without question, if they could pay less than minimum wage and there were people willing to take that job, lower wages would be offered. A burger flipper job does not require higher education, or a rare set of skills. Thats why people like SearchLightsInc will always be low income earners, they lack or refuse to get the skills and education necessary to make themselves more valuable to an employer.

Instead of doing something to make themselves more marketable, they whine about wanting more and more money for a job a well trained monkey could do.

Originally posted by ViperChili

Originally posted by SearchLightsInc



ahaha, You call me a monkey yet YOU are the "educated" sheep that has had the wool pulled over there eyes. You CONDONE slavery, it makes me laugh. You cant explain to me why everyone shouldnt have a livable wage without falling back on typical textbook "Because my professor told me so" BS.
Why dont you have a sit down and use the free mind you were born with.
Tell me, WHY should people work for NOTHING?

Not sure what professor it is you are talking about since I never went to college.

People don't work for nothing. They are paid a wage that the business has deemed that position is worth.

The very fact you cannot understand the simple economic idea that higher wages will result in higher prices and less jobs is evidence enough that you will always be low paid, because you lack the education and skills to make yourself more valuable in the marketplace.

I believe that to be a lie dreamed up by the lucky few to keep wages low. God knows they've done worse things for profits. Its not that i dont understand business jargon, its that i dont accept it. Theres a huge difference there.
Can i ask you, why do you think unions were invented?

Originally posted by ViperChili
reply to post by MegaMind

 

Absolutely.

Companies deem a burger flipper position as a minimum wage job. Turnover is high because there will always be someone to fill that position.

Without question, if they could pay less than minimum wage and there were people willing to take that job, lower wages would be offered. A burger flipper job does not require higher education, or a rare set of skills. Thats why people like SearchLightsInc will always be low income earners, they lack or refuse to get the skills and education necessary to make themselves more valuable to an employer.

Instead of doing something to make themselves more marketable, they whine about wanting more and more money for a job a well trained monkey could do.

First off, dont insult me to other members, Thats going to far. And secondly, "People like me" arent just few and far between, people like me are everywhere, infact, we make up a good margin of the workforce. I didnt get into uni and now the fees have gone up it defeats the purpose of going - I'd consistantly be in debt for the rest of my life so theres no point. However, i would LOVE to learn a skill. I'm 22/f hard working, willing to learn new things and put in the hours so long as the job pays adequately, What do you recommend i should try and become skilled in? Should i take an advanced course in burger flipping? Get myself a degree in mcdonals?

reply to post by SearchLightsInc


Hypothetical: Lets say you worked for me and I paid you a wage of $10 an hour. Someone comes in and offers to do the same job that you do for $8. Why should I not fire you, hire him, and plow that $2 an hour savings back into the business? That extra $4000 could definitely come in handy for marketing, bonuses, etc etc.

Unions once had a time and a place, and both of those have come and gone. Initially, they were a good thing, implementing protections for workers from hazardous working conditions etc etc. These days. for the most part (not all), they are nothing more than bastions of losers, degenerates, and those who cannot survive on their own.

Take a section of the FMLA for example. Why should a business owner be forced to do without an employee because they made a personal choice to have a baby? Why should a business owner be forced to hold a position open while having to hire another to fill that void, all because an employee made a personal choice?

reply to post by ViperChili


So basically a company can steal labor from someone because they get away with it. If minimum wage laws didn't exist then the theft would be even greater. The excuse for doing this is that they are worthless people that are not really any better than apes. Your attitude sucks. You are really no different from this guy who wants to steal from companies. It must suck to work for you.

I have worked for people with attitudes just like yours. I'm nearly certain one former employer of mine would have no problem being a plantation owner with slaves. Slave owners also like to denigrate their slaves to make them seem less human. Also didn't slave owners argue that they wouldn't make it if they had to pay their slaves?

reply to post by SearchLightsInc


a) I will use you as an example because you are a prime example of why people do NOT deserve to be paid more. You lack the skills, education, and common sense to make yourself worth more money.

b) You have an internet connection. As I told another poster, that means you have a wealth of information available at your fingertips. Hell you can teach yourself computer programming (a steady and well paid job). Start a blog and monetize the hell out of it. Hell, start your own porn site. There are countless opportunities available.

As I asked that other poster (who has yet to respond):

What are you doing at this very moment to improve your workplace marketability? What steps are you taking to make yourself more valuable?

Whining about wanting more money for an entry level job doesn't count.

Your sight is tarnished by economics my friend, I am sorry to state the obvious. You deal in numbers that are imaginary, while looking at people and believing they are imaginary. Do not lose your humanity for the sake of being on top of business. Honestly I feel bad for you, because in your world you view people as simply parts of a machine, rather than living things. Business practice and how it is done is not an excuse for treating people like garbage no matter how hard you try justifying it with the numbers game.

Originally posted by MegaMind
reply to post by ViperChili

 

So basically a company can steal labor from someone because they get away with it. If minimum wage laws didn't exist then the theft would be even greater. The excuse for doing this is that they are worthless people that are not really any better than apes. Your attitude sucks. You are really no different from this guy who wants to steal from companies. It must suck to work for you.

I have worked for people with attitudes just like yours. I'm nearly certain one former employer of mine would have no problem being a plantation owner with slaves. Slave owners also like to denigrate their slaves to make them seem less human. Also didn't slave owners argue that they wouldn't make it if they had to pay their slaves?

Wrong. As you stated in your previous post, supply and demand will determine the wages. If nobody accepts that less than minimum wage offering, the business will have no choice but to increase the wage in order to attract applicants.

I am not denigrating anyone. Hell I worked for minimum wage when I was in high school (you know, in an ENTRY LEVEL job). From there you move on to bigger and better things.