MithraPride

OK, so almost everyone has stolen something in their lives. Me, I make up for those who can't or won't

I've stolen my fair share of hearts, along with hours of music and movies thanks to Torrents and LimeWire, but there's one story that I have about my first big "Theft" that people seem to connect with and love so I thought I'd share it.

Well, when I was a kid everyone in the neighborhood had Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES. Well, everyone but me. I wanted it so bad but my parents didn't ever have the money (Well, that's what my mom said) so one day I was out at Sears playing the games on the demo thing they had; it was a TV with an NES and a adapter thing that had ten cart's plugged into it and you could change games by hitting this button below the TV or it would randomly change after 15 minutes.

So anyways, I was there playing The Legend of Zelda when the guy running the game department opened the case to get a game. As he was doing this, a customer called him over and he left the case open. Well, I seized the moment. I grabbed one of the SMB3 cart's and a poster because the bin that held them said "Free with purchase" so I said "Why not?" The poster was a Nintendo character collage and it was full-size and had the Sears logo on it I think.

So anyways I ran out of the store with the cart and poster and headed home as fast as I could. Home was at least a fifteen minute drive from the mall where the Sears was so it took me a good hour to get home and, of course, being Seattle, it was pouring rain and freezing cold. I get home to find no one there but there was a note from my family. They went bowling with the neighbors and would be back around dinner time.

So I changed, threw my wet clothes in the dryer, hung up the poster in my room and played my very own copy of Super Mario Bros. 3. The game I had wanted to own so badly since I skipped school to see "The Wizard" on opening day with my friends was finally mine. I played that game all that night and all the next day. I remember the joy I felt when a few weeks later I finally beat it.

Sadly when my family and I moved to California I somehow lost that cart and poster. I never bought a replacement copy because I felt that I had earned that copy. I was worried that if I played another copy I wouldn't get that same feeling; that it wasn't the ones and zeros I loved, it was that cart.

I too have a story of theft I'd share for the same reasons you shared yours. Because everyone I've told it too gets a laugh out of it and generally believes kharmic justice was visited upon the poor sap I tricked. However, Goldess won't let me. :p

So I'll just have to say that actual stealing was wrong, I would have snickered had you got caught, and because you didn't I hope you feel dirty inside for the immoral thing you did.....but it is an awesome game though, isn't it? ~.^

Eviticus wrote:I too have a story of theft I'd share for the same reasons you shared yours. Because everyone I've told it too gets a laugh out of it and generally believes kharmic justice was visited upon the poor sap I tricked. However, Goldess won't let me. :p

So I'll just have to say that actual stealing was wrong, I would have snickered had you got caught, and because you didn't I hope you feel dirty inside for the immoral thing you did.....but it is an awesome game though, isn't it? ~.^

I don't feel bad at all. The store security had plenty of opportunities to see me and catch me yet I got away with it. I was like 12 or 13 at the time and it wasn't planned so its not like I was some master shoplifter that once again conned the system. I was a kid who grabbed a game and a poster and made a run for it.

In the end, I feel that Sears owed that to me. Thanks to them, I spent most of my childhood in god-awful-colored shirts and pants that were as stiff as a board because, as my mom put it, they were a great deal. I feel that by stealing that game I balanced out the universe. That was for every kid that was a victim of that cheap crap they sold; for every boy that had to deal with that underwear Sears sold for $.50 each that would wrap around your testicles at the worst possible moment leaving you in extreme pain as you worried about how you may be a eunuch thanks to your parent's penny-pinching.

No, I do not feel bad. The only thing I feel bad about is losing that game and poster. If I still had them I would proudly display them.

Oh, and everyone laughs when I mention that I stole the poster because the bin holding them said "Free with purchase." My thought was "If I'm going this far, why not go all the way?" Also, my parents never noticed that I had the game, or if they did, they never said anything about it.

In the end, its not the worst thing I've done.

What about that time you went on a killing spree?

Kitties will always be forgiven....(well, almost).

Awwwwwww, so cute, it is a kitty from the clan of grey cats.

Gah, I thought you were going to tell some nifty story about how your family came home from bowling and surprised you with a copy of the game (the one you just stole) and you felt sooo guilty about stealing.

BTW, I'm one of those people that just detests thievery -- always have even when a little kid. Wasn't that I was taught that way or caught and "scared straight" or anything; it's just the way I am. Anyway in the spirit of the thread, here's my funny theft story:

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When I was around 4 years old, my bicycle was stolen. As usual, my folks just said if I had taken better care, it wouldn't have happened. I pondered it a bit and they were right, but as a kid I was hoping they'd do something. So, next day I head out to play -- walking down street to friend's house (sans bike ) and see MY bicycle across the street in front of this other kid's house.

His own was next to it, so he wasn't the thief. It was obviously someone that knew him and was over to visit and just left it there when they went inside. I only reconized two of the bikes out front and I knew all the kids under 10 on my block. I ran it over in my head and couldn't figure out who it could be unless it was one of the much older kids -- kids who were waaay too big for me to beat up on, which was my first desire. My second was that I wanted the bike back but that it was across the street and I wasn't allowed to cross the street without parents around (was one of the things they harped on over and over).

So, I dithered for a few secs before crossing and taking my bike back. I finally decided that what my parents didn't know couldn't hurt me. Weird thing was, my parents never said anything when I suddenly had my bike again and I certainly didn't bring up how I got it back -- fearing punishment for crossing the street unchaperoned.

Okuza wrote:Gah, I thought you were going to tell some nifty story about how your family came home from bowling and surprised you with a copy of the game (the one you just stole) and you felt sooo guilty about stealing.

My parents are the "No means no" kind and they mean it. If, by some miracle, they did come home with the game I would have dropped dead from shock and my last thoughts would have been "Who the hell are these people?"

No, all they came home with was the scorecards from the bowling alley and pizza for dinner.

As for your bike, I don't see it as stealing. I see it as "Recovering your own property." Like Police Chief Wiggum said: More people need to learn to take the law into their own hands.

Hehe chief wiggum for teh win

Still think stealing that game was wrong, balancing the universe my ass you still stole it there is no way to justify that.