Is this stealing?

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sarahq

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I volunteer weekly at the hospital, where I visit the terminally ill. My question is, the management offers free bus tickets to reimburse volunteers for their transportation. Is it stealing to take them even if I walk and don’t take the bus?

Thank you
God bless.
Sarah
 
What are you planning to do with the bus tickets that you’d be receiving?
 
Just use them in my daily life, like sometimes going to volunteer, but also for other purposes like going to class and to doctors appointments, etc.
 
Great question! I wouldn’t think so as they are offering them to you. The best way to go would be to tell them your situation.
 
I don’t see a problem. The volunteer program at our Catholic hospital gives out “community dollars” or vouchers which are redeemable at any business in our city.
 
Hold on a minute here…


  1. *]Bus tickets are given by the hospital to reimburse volunteers for the cost of getting to the hospital to volunteer.
    *]The volunteer walks and does not use a bus ticket so no reimbursement is due.
    *]The volunteer takes the bus tickets anyway and uses them instead to get to work, go shopping and visit grandma.
    *]The volunteer’s conscience bothers him enough so that he comes to a Catholic website to ask if it is stealing.

    Does anyone see a problem here?

    Christ said, “Be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect.”

    Sarah, If you are worried about your salvation over some bus tickets then don’t take the bus tickets and you won’t have to worry about it.

    -Tim-
 
Thanks Tim,
I think you are right – it must be bothering me for a reason. It seems obvious when you put it like that.

Thank you
God bless
 
sarahq said:
I volunteer weekly at the hospital, where I visit the terminally ill. My question is, the management offers free bus tickets to reimburse volunteers for their transportation. Is it stealing to take them even if I walk and don’t take the bus?
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Sarah, remember the bus tickets are not “free”. The hospital **purchases **them.

They are then given to you to reimburse/offset your actual cost to volunteer.

When you take them unnecessarily, you are costing the hospital money and are being dishonest by taking and using the bus passes for another purpose.
 
sarahq said:
I volunteer weekly at the hospital, where I visit the terminally ill. My question is, the management offers free bus tickets to reimburse volunteers for their transportation. Is it stealing to take them even if I walk and don’t take the bus?

Thank you
God bless.
Sarah
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yes, nobrainer
 
1ke said:
Sarah, remember the bus tickets are not “free”. The hospital **purchases **them.

They are then given to you to reimburse/offset your actual cost to volunteer.

When you take them unnecessarily, you are costing the hospital money and are being dishonest by taking and using the bus passes for another purpose.
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Volunteers are given these passes by the hospital. Sarah is a volunteer at the hospital. As a volunteer she is able to use these passes. She says nothing about taking more than she needs or unfairly getting passes on days she didn’t volunteer. Unless the hospital has explicitly stated that these passes are only for getting too and from volunteer work and for nothing else, she is free to use them as she sees fit.

Is Sarah really volunteering so much that she can ride the buses all day long without having to pay? I sort of doubt it, she’s probably only getting a handful of trips a week and if she has to ride the bus as her main mode of transportation then it’s costing her more than what she gets from the hospital.

I’d say she can use the tickets in good conscience, but if it truly bothers her to that much of an extent then she should stop taking them.

ChadS
 
ChadS said:
Volunteers are given these passes by the hospital. Sarah is a volunteer at the hospital. As a volunteer she is able to use these passes. She says nothing about taking more than she needs or unfairly getting passes on days she didn’t volunteer. Unless the hospital has explicitly stated that these passes are only for getting too and from volunteer work and for nothing else, she is free to use them as she sees fit.
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See first post: the management offers free bus tickets to reimburse volunteers for their transportation

She does not have transportation to and from the hospital, she walks. Therefore, she needs no bus pass for her volunteer work.
ChadS said:
I sort of doubt it, she’s probably only getting a handful of trips a week and if she has to ride the bus as her main mode of transportation then it’s costing her more than what she gets from the hospital.
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The point remains that she is not using the bus to go to/from the hospital and therefore is wrong in taking bus passes provided for the purpose of getting to/from the hospital.
 
sarahq said:
I volunteer weekly at the hospital, where I visit the terminally ill. My question is, the management offers free bus tickets to reimburse volunteers for their transportation. Is it stealing to take them even if I walk and don’t take the bus?

Thank you
God bless.
Sarah
Click to expand...
Does the management know that you walk? Did you tell them?
 
It does not matter whether the volunteer walks or takes the bus to the hospital. The hospital offers the bus tickets as an inducement to volunteers to encourage them to volunteer, and as a “thank you” to the volunteers. That “thank you” is just as applicable if the volunteer saves the ticket today and uses it for something else tomorrow.

If the hospital set out an explicit condition that the bus ticket was only supposed to be used for that particular trip, that might be a different matter. But I can’t imaging the hospital doing that. Their only concern is to thank volunteers. How those volunteers use that “thank you” is their own concern.

What if I live close enough to walk, but take the short bus ride anyway? Would that be any better? It seems silly to waste the bus ticket on such a short ride. And what if I live further away, but I am rich and can easily afford to buy my own bus ticket to the hospital? Would it be immoral for me to use the one given by the hospital anyway? I don’t think so. Well, being fortunate enough to live close enough to the hospital so you don’t need to take the bus is just like being rich. In either case the volunteer is fortunate enough not to need the gift from the hospital. Now it would be a nice act of generosity to refuse the gift. But such generosity is not required.
 
LeafByNiggle said:
It does not matter whether the volunteer walks or takes the bus to the hospital. The hospital offers the bus tickets as an inducement to volunteers to encourage them to volunteer, and as a “thank you” to the volunteers. That “thank you” is just as applicable if the volunteer saves the ticket today and uses it for something else tomorrow.

If the hospital set out an explicit condition that the bus ticket was only supposed to be used for that particular trip, that might be a different matter. But I can’t imaging the hospital doing that. Their only concern is to thank volunteers. How those volunteers use that “thank you” is their own concern.

What if I live close enough to walk, but take the short bus ride anyway? Would that be any better? It seems silly to waste the bus ticket on such a short ride. And what if I live further away, but I am rich and can easily afford to buy my own bus ticket to the hospital? Would it be immoral for me to use the one given by the hospital anyway? I don’t think so. Well, being fortunate enough to live close enough to the hospital so you don’t need to take the bus is just like being rich. In either case the volunteer is fortunate enough not to need the gift from the hospital. Now it would be a nice act of generosity to refuse the gift. But such generosity is not required.
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It does matter. The OP is saying they get the tickets as reimbursement for having already paid out and not given tickets as an incentive or a thank you to volunteer.
Your situation may be different.
 
Thank you everybody for your responses. And thank you to those who defended my taking the bus tickets. Most recently, the receptionist did know I was walking and offered the bus tickets anyway, but she was encouraging me to take the bus at the same time.

All in all I don’t think taking the tickets is really stealing, but I’ve decided not to take them anyway. I’d rather not gamble with my soul. It bothered me enough to post about it, after all.

God bless everybody
Sarah
 
TimothyH said:
Hold on a minute here…

Sarah, If you are worried about your salvation over some bus tickets then don’t take the bus tickets and you won’t have to worry about it.

-Tim-
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Isn’t that a saying that may lead to being scrupulous? Just a thought…
 
sarahq said:
I volunteer weekly at the hospital, where I visit the terminally ill. My question is, the management offers free bus tickets to reimburse volunteers for their transportation. Is it stealing to take them even if I walk and don’t take the bus?

Thank you
God bless.
Sarah
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I would consider Quote the “The crafty steward"Quote be as crafty as the snake”
 
sarahq said:
I volunteer weekly at the hospital, where I visit the terminally ill. My question is, the management offers free bus tickets to reimburse volunteers for their transportation. Is it stealing to take them even if I walk and don’t take the bus?

Thank you
God bless.
Sarah
Click to expand...
Probably it is not stealing but it can be a deception or an implicit lie. Big sins develop from tiny little sins. It is like an avalanche.

I think that you are doing an outstanding job in forming your conscience, because this kind of issue would not be considered by a lot of people.👍

If I were you I would try to refrain from taking the tickets and every time that you have to buy a bus ticket offer it to God as your little sacrifice in your daily life.
 
Cristiano said:
Probably it is not stealing but it can be a deception or an implicit lie. Big sins develop from tiny little sins. It is like an avalanche.

I think that you are doing an outstanding job in forming your conscience, because this kind of issue would not be considered by a lot of people.👍

If I were you I would try to refrain from taking the tickets and every time that you have to buy a bus ticket offer it to God as your little sacrifice in your daily life.
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Thank you so much! That’s a good idea. 🙂
May God bless you abundantly!

Sarah
 
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