sbkline
Well-Known Member
Good points. I honestly see valid points on each side and kind of go back and forth on the issue, myself. Right now, for some of the reasons given, I lean toward the position that "mug abusing" could be viewed as the de facto policy, although I must admit that I'm not 100% convinced, myself. I just love the ethical debate and the chance to view and discuss it from all different angles and give myself some good food for thought to chew on all day at work, or as I sit and watch TV, or whatever. :lol:
I have to admit, one flaw in my own argument is that, as a walmart employee, I'm not trained nor authorized to run out after someone and make a stop. So if someone walks right by me with an item, all I can do is ask to see the receipt, but I'm not allowed to chase them into the parking lot if they don't produce it and walk on by. Or if I see someone yank a pack of gum off the shelf and walk out with it, I'm probably not gonna say anything to them and I know that management isn't going to trouble themselves over a 25 cent pack of gum. Yet this apathy doesn't constitute a policy of welcoming people to take gum off the shelves. I guess in my mind, part of what makes it different is the fact that it goes beyond simple apathy, into a seeming policy of telling CMs to tell people that it's okay to bring mugs back. If, indeed, CMs are telling people that it's okay, and further, if they are actually being told to do so, then that makes alot of difference in th discussion, IMO.
Another thing to consider, is in what ways are every one of us guilty of some kind of "theft" along the same level of mug abuse? While, on the one hand, a low price tag doesn't justify theft (as in a 25 cent pack of gum from the store). Yet, on the other hand, I'm sure even the most die hard anti-mug abuse people here wouldn't think a thing of doing some of the examples I am about to give.
Having lived a few places, growing up, with a field next door, we didn't think anything of pulling a few soybeans off the crops and eating them. Or pulling off an ear of corn here and there. It wasn't our field, so technically it would be theft, but rightly or wrongly, most people don't think of it as such, since it is but one or two ears of corn out of a 40 acre crop. How many in this thead have done the same thing and never thought a thing about it?
What about taking a few extra minutes (either on purpose or by accident) on a paid break period, or stopping to chit chat with a neighbor while on the clock? We all do it, but technically, you're using work time for personal visiting even if it is only a few minutes and thus only 50 cents or so. Yet, none of us would dream of clocking in and then leaving the building and running around for 8 hours, then coming back to clock out. And we actually had someone fired for that a few years ago at my workplace, believe it or not. :lol:
None of us would dream of going to the WDW food court and opening the napkin container and taking the entire contents home so as to avoid buying a package of napkins on our next trip to the store. Yet most of us wouldn't think anything of taking a handful of napkins on our way out to stuff in the wife's purse to use as kleenexes for the rest of the day.
None of us would even think about going to the supply cabinet at work and taking a box of staples home to use on our personal stapler at home. Yet how many of us wouldn't think twice about using the office stapler for personal use here and there, using paper printed from the office printer, to staple personal stuff, such as forwarded jokes, or whatever else you may be printing. Even if it is only one staple here and there, it could still be considered "theft" since it is office staples.
Again, regarding the paper, none of us would even think of taking home a ream of paper from the office to fill our personal printer at home, but I bet most of us wouldn't think twice about checking personal email at work (see second example above), and printing out a joke forward, or maybe using slow time at the office to print off real estate listings in your search for a new home, or whatever. Again, not only are you "stealing" office time for personal use, but you're stealing paper.
What about paper clips, or an occasional ink pen from the desk that we may take home for personal use?
We wouldn't even think about taking a mass quantity of any of these things, yet few of us would raise any serious moral objection to the occasional use of the office stapler, or a few extra napkins from the food court after we're done eating, etc.
Again, I'm not trying to say that theft is okay as long as it's in small quantities, but on the other hand, it's worth considering in what ways all of us are guilty of taking things here and there, without thinking a thing of it as theft.
Most "mug abusers" wouldn't even think about going to the general store in their resort and shoplifting a case of soda, but most of them don't even consider their actions as theft, just as you don't think you're coworker is stealing time if he stops and chats a few minutes with his brother while on the clock. Rightly or wrongly, we just don't classify that in our minds as being the same as clocking in and then sitting in the breakroom playing crossword puzzles for an hour.
