I think there is so much stealing because it’s human nature in a way to try to get a way with things. I stole a Barbie doll at 7 years old from a department store and my parents caught me. I had to take it back and apologize. I have never stolen again. So why was I compelled to do that at such a tender age? I had no reason to.
Because people are sinful.
To be fair a lot of high end hotels sell their towels…they weren’t necessarily stolen.
^^ I threw my back out last summer as we were moving my son into his dorm. I had a miserable night at the hotel-- I tried sleeping on the floor, you name it. I was in real pain.
I went down to the desk (in tears) to ask them to add the price of a towel to my bill. I needed it for lumbar support on the way home. (They very kindly offered to run to CVS to get me some meds, but we were already planning to stop there.)
But they were stunned that I offered to pay for the towel.
Another story: my daughter keeps her tips from her job in a mug in the room she shares with her sister.
A few months ago, she realized she was missing $700-- from her bedroom!!! We’ve done everything but pull up the rugs; the money is not there. And there’s no way she could have miscalculated-- this was money she had been saving for a car. So either one of her friends, or one of her sister’s friend, helped themselves to $700 of a friend’s money. (Of course, we replaced the money, and now she’s very conscientious about getting to the bank.) But it still blows my mind.
Perhaps the church he attends should have a sermon on Exodus 20:15.
https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Exodus%2020:15
http://biblehub.com/exodus/20-15.htm
" To be fair a lot of high end hotels sell their towels…they weren’t necessarily stolen. "
@gouf78 , I forgot to add that he admitted to taking them.
In January , my daughter and I stayed at a hotel in Iceland. I wanted to bring back a wool throw for our sofa…I looked at a few in shops and none of them really went well. The one in the hotel room as really nice and I wanted to buy it. The staff looked into it but were told they couldn’t sell it…so that was the end of that. I could have taken it but that isn’t me
I know that the property was indeed yours, but just a a word of caution – it would have been better for your husband to have gone to the police about the stolen property. Depending on circumstances he could have gotten in legal trouble (for trespass or even burglary) – and also put himself at physical risk, if for example the owner or occupant of the beach house had confronted him with a gun, or worse, even shot at him.
You know the that the property was indeed yours, but that doesn’t meant that the beach house owner or occupant couldn’t have claimed otherwise. They could have lied (claiming they bought the property), or could have been legitimately the victim of a fraud (if they had indeed purchased the property from a thief). (A third party purchaser of stolen goods has no legal right to retain the goods, but there is a also a greater chance that the person could present documentation that would at least support their claim, such as a receipt-- and that in turn would need to be settled in court).
So in the future I’d suggest that if anything like that happens again, that you or your husband snap a picture of the item (in case it gets moved) … and then call the police. If the police are unwilling to take action on your behalf, then ask for the police to at least accompany you or your husband while they go the house to recover the property. The better, safer course of action would be to knock on the front door with the police standing by, tell the occupant that the property is yours, and that you are there to recover it.
Sadly, I agree with the above post, for your and your H’s safety. There are a lot of violent scary folks out there who believe they can do whatever they want to “protect property.”
The hotel chain that we stay in a lot has many items in your room that you can purchase (umbrella, robes, yoga mat for e.g.) I’m sure anything taken just gets charged to your card on file if anything is missing and not paid for. We once checked in early and were able to get into our room. Shortly after someone came and counted all the items for sale in the room and the mini bar to see if anything was taken and to replace what was missing. I’m sure they check the invoice of the previous guest to see if they were paid for items or stolen. And the stuff isn’t cheap either. One tiny bag of mixed nuts was $12! We were at this hotel this weekend and I get a $10 mini bar credit but that only was enough for a water ($7) without going over.
@lje62, do you charge the renter for the cost of the item if it’s lost or stolen while in their possession? I hope so.
The stepsons of one of my sisters has stolen cameras, cellphones and cash from most of my family at various points. When they come to my dad’s house (where we congregate for the holidays), we all put our stuff in our cars and lock them. My sister and her DH had to ban the young men from her house it had gotten so bad.
Wow–theft by family members in homes is awful and very sad!
@emilybee , we do charge however, we had a glitch in our inventory tracking program briefly, causing it to malfunction.
The guy told us that his daughter , who rents her property had it at her house
People are basically greedy. All of us are, to some degree. Wealth is no protection against this desire. But most people are taught virtues like empathy and self-control, not to mention basic right and wrong, that allow us to overcome our natural tendency to want to take what isn’t ours. The rest of the people just help themselves.
And I think most people have shades of morality that permit them to, say, steal a pen or sheets of printer paper from work, but not to steal the whole box of pens or the ream of paper. In reality, though, stealing is stealing.
I think there is a segment of the population that feel entitled …like assuming a company or individuals are rich and that they won’t miss that item or the money . When a cashier charges the wrong price and the customer makes the decision to point it out or walk away ,knowing that they got something for the wrong price. I am the customer who points out the error. I am not looking to get something free because someone goofed up. I see it as potential for employee to getting trouble for goofing up.
@Massmomm , you are right …stealing is stealing
Too many people believe the saying, “Finders keepers, losers weepers.”
Heard this used in the military once. Didn’t go over well when it involves military equipment with serial numbers.
I grew up in a blue collar neighborhood and most of my friends were petty criminals. Their parents generally weren’t any better. Mom’s car lost a hub cap? Car needs a new battery? A crate of Alpine stereos gets delivered to the warehouse but the boss isn’t around? We were semi-feral and it never occurred to us that it was over-the-limit wrong.
My best friend started doing drugs in 10th grade and had to be banned from our house. I’m now OCD about not stealing and have raised some exceedingly honest kids. As such, they get stuff stolen from them pretty regularly.
Being honest does not require that one be careless about keeping thieves away from your stuff.