I have a friend who admitted to me she routinely steals from Walmart and other large stores like Kroger or Winn Dixie. It’s nothing she necessarily needs, as she receives around $1,500 a month in food stamps, but it’s random items she doesn’t want to pay for like a pack of Oreos, a t-shirt, a pair of headphones, a new Xbox controller. Some cheap things, some expensive.

I was very taken aback, because I always thought she was a pretty moral, ethical person. But she said she doesn’t think it’s wrong because Walmart and similar big box stores are multi million dollar companies and they’re not going to miss the items she steals. She also says she likes giving the middle finger to capitalism.

I’m still unsure how to proceed with this because I was raised that stealing is wrong in 99.99% of cases unless you’re basically starving and need some food.

Where do you stand?