Is this considered stealing?

[Tom]

dominosNbiscuts:

Am I to understand that the official CCC approved position with regard to stealing what you would consider a trivial amount of money in a fast food resturant is ‘Go for it - our relationship with God will remain intact’? How convenient!

The question is whether being concerned over $.40 to the point of distraction is more a sin. There are excesses in scrupulosity; Martin Luther suffered from from this. If you would go back to that restaurant and demand $.40 that they had overcharged you then, by all means, go back to return the $.40, if not give it a rest. Will you cause more damage to the environment by burning the gas in your SUV driving back to the fast food restaurant than the $.40?

 

[dominosNbiscuts]

Tom:

The question is whether being concerned over $.40 to the point of distraction is more a sin. There are excesses in scrupulosity; Martin Luther suffered from from this.

**Tom,

Gully how things have changed!

I attended Catholic school through sixth grade, back during the reign of Pope Vesuvius (actually Pope Pius XII as I recall). That was during WWII when many things were in short supply, including paper. I distinctly remember my first grade teacher, Sister Mary Sadist, insisting that everyone ‘write small and use both sides of the paper’. And if you happened to transport an insufficiently used piece of paper or a still useful stub of pencil too near the waste basket, she’d mop the floor with you, then drag you off to Mother Superior for some real discipline!

Now if Sister Mary were part of this debate, I can just here her admonition to take the 40 cents and walk it back to the fast food joint just to teach you to count more carefully in the future. Seems to me that she’d readily buy into Luther’s penchant for scruples, extreme though they truly were.

I guess I fall on the side of, above all - whatever your solution to the 40 cent problem – don’t allow yourself to profit from someone else’s inadvertent mistake. Return it now or when next you return to scoop up yet another mickey D, toss 40 cents in the poor box at church,…

Perhaps Jesus puts it into perspective in telling the Parable of the Talents where He says:

"His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ (Matt 25:23)

May He bless us all as we struggle to do His will,

DB

**

 

[jrabs]

bapcathluth:

It is heart-warming to read all these posts from honest people. I was raised to be very honest, and I agree that if it bothers you, you should return it. Since I am so careless, I probably wouldn’t even notice forty extra cents I am sorry to say.

Last year my children found a ten and five dollar bill in the parking lot of Target. Rather than just keep it, we turned it in to the info. desk until we finished shopping to see if anyone would come in and claim it. I figured nobody would, but I wanted my children to learn about honesty.

AWESOME lesson - bapcathluth.

 

[Benignus]

I really don’t consider it stealing, and I’ll tell you why. It’s not like you had the intent to steal, as if you went up to the cash register and pulled out a gun and robbed the place. It was THEIR mistake. However, if you wanted to go back and correct the error, and I think it would be a good and noble thing.

 

[Chris_C]

Keeping something that does not belong to you against the will of the owner is theft. how you came by it no longer matters. Now that you know that you are in possession of property that is not yours, you must, at least, determine the will of the owner. Since the sum is small, you are not bound to make a special trip, but on your next pass by, return the forty cents.

Do let your children in on the fact that you are returning the money.

For theft to be mortally sinful, by the way, moral theologians have usually set the sum at a day’s wage–obviously this means different sums to different folks.

Chris C.