Moral QuestionFollow

There's nothing moral about this decision. It would be just stupid to think you could steal money this way and not get caught.

Here was a moral dilemma I faced once. My kids were grade schoolish at the time. We had just pulled out of some fast food drive-thru. I pulled the car over to sort out the various food items before hitting the road with burger in hand, and there I see a wallet on the ground. I retrieved it and didn't even have to open it up to see the cash bulging out of the thing. So, what to do?

I could have easily kept the wallet or simply taken the cash and dumped the wallet. Honestly, had the kids not been with me, I might have - I don't know. Money was still kinda tight back then. But the kids were with me, so I brought the thing inside, insisting on only leaving it in the hands of the manager who assured me he'd contact the owner (with lots of witnesses around).

Of course they do. Then they match the time on the withdrawal up to the time on the video and you're busted! Come on this is like CSI 101 here...

Why would they be? They're pointed to see YOU using the ATM at the time of the withdrawal. Usually in the ATM itself pointing right at your face as you choose between English and Spanish.

The presented moral question isn't sufficent, since we have to contend with video cameras. And remarkably, the included drive-through parameter. Are we supposed to assume the teller makes no notice of our face so she can't hence give information to cops?

The real question is: If you have an opportunity to seize monies from another person absolutely without consequence, would you do so? I would. I've done it in the past, ironically in your setup, where me and another split a $300 deposit to an ATM that the fool actually didn't deposit. My barely moral justification then was: "This guy can afford to deposit $300, I can't afford $20".

If instead we were aware that pulling $300 from the atm or drive-through stopped a sorry soul from affording medication to thwart their death; or to prevent them from starving to death, that might give me pause. But this hasn't been presented. If the only question is taking random money from other people without consequence, of course I'll take it. I'll take $1 from everyone and have $7 billion. You wouldn't? Why not?

Hi Gbaji and everyone else.

I am your unacknowledged daughter. Why did you never write me, daddy? It took so long to find you on the internets. And now...i...i just don't know. do you ever think about me?

Like the majority of other people, I went with the last option. Maybe I was raised right or something; my father taught us all to respect other people's money. (He was a proper old school Republican, not the modern neo-con kind that respectfully relieve everyone else of their money through vulture capitalism. Where have you gone, party of Lincoln???) I'd do it even if I knew the security camera was broken.

If I did have a sudden moral collapse because I could use it for whatever I wanted with 0% chances of negative consequences, I'd probably do what the kids in Sneakers did, and make a large donation to Planned Parenthood in the name of the Tea Party for the lulz.

Kudos to Gbaji.

Edited, Jul 8th 2012 3:10pm by catwho

I was working in a Halloween store many many years ago and found both a Chick Tract and a credit card next to each other in our loading dock. The credit card wasn't anyone that I worked with so I have no idea how it got there. I just assumed it dropped off one of the delivery persons.

I kept the one that made a better souvenir.

Yeah, that's me. "Retrieve old account password" didn't work, period, so I went with the next option--the original name plus a number.



More like you were "raised right, to have food magically appear before you because your parents could afford it".

Sure, folks stealing Credit Cards in order to buy 25" plasma TVs should be condemned. But folks whose children or selves will literally die without food for another day/week? Stealing a CC from some "raised right" middle-class person, in order to survive?

Are property rights more moral than preventable death?

Or you could PM Darqflame and have her manually reset your password.

Ok, so, specifically, this:



You know, even when I was starving, broke, and about to become homeless, I wouldn't have used someone else's money unless they gave it to me and told me I could. I'm not above stealing a loaf of bread(harder to get away with than you might think, bread tends to be where there are lots of people and cameras for some reason), but it just doesn't seem right to me, to outright steal another individual's money.

No, it's easier to steal bread and milk, so they can use the food stamps for cigarettes and booze.

It's just obvious.