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“Today I Messed Up By Going To A Supermarket Chain And Admitting I Shoplifted For 2 Years”
When they got into serious money trouble during their university years, Reddit user Syranog resorted to stealing. And did so for two years at the same supermarket.
Eventually, things worked out, they got a decent job and could move on with life. However, the guilt that compiled during the shoplifting didn’t subside and Syranog thought the only way to get rid of it was to pay back what they had taken.
But when the Redditor went to the supermarket to give them the money they had saved, things took an unexpected turn. A reasonable one, but still unexpected.
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In the face of financial hardship, this person started stealing from a supermarket
Image credits: rawpixel (not the actual photo)
After two years, they couldn’t handle the guilt and tried to pay them back, but it didn’t go as planned
Image credits: rawpixel (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Syranog
Many commenters couldn’t understand why Syranog felt like they had to admit their crime. But guilt is a common feeling of emotional distress that signals us when our actions (or inactions) have caused or might cause harm to another person. Because it typically occurs in “micro-bursts” of brief signals, we often underestimate the rather significant role it plays in our daily lives.
“Guilt is not a nice feeling,” F. Diane Barth, L.C.S.W., who is a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City, said. “We try to avoid it, and when we can’t get away from it we try to get rid of it, sometimes by trying to put blame on others – it’s her fault, not mine, we say. I’m really an innocent victim here. Or we look for absolution, forgiveness.”
We want to know that we’re not bad, or at least not entirely. Like so many painful emotions, guilt is actually important to our well-being, and a part of healthy psychological development. “Freud saw it as a signal that an individual had begun to take responsibility for himself, for his feelings and conflicts, and for difficult decisions he had to make,” Barth pointed out. “Carl Jung said that development and growth only occur when we are able to recognize and attempt to rectify our transgressions. And Melanie Klein saw guilt as part of the healthy acceptance of the ‘depressive position,’ which she believed was a sign that a person could manage a realistic mix of emotional experiences, accepting that she is neither pure and always good nor evil and always bad.”
Guilt is a tool for recognizing that we have not lived up to our own values and standards. It’s an opportunity to acknowledge and rectify mistakes, and was completely valid in the Redditor’s situation. However, it sounds like they didn’t think this all the way through.
Here’s what people said after getting familiar with the case
Others even shared similar stories to make the OP feel better about their situation
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What do you think ?
UpQuarkDownQuark 2 years ago
They’ve taught this person a horrible moral lesson: if you do something bad, never come clean, and never try to make amends. The store manager said an àsshole, and I really hope they find a judge who dismiss the case or suspend the sentence. Their job should realize they actually have themselves a catch: someone willing to grow and take responsibility.
Becky Samuel 2 years ago
What exactly was the store manager expected to do with this idiot then? It's not as if you can just go to the tills and input a random amount of money under the "numpty who shoplifted" button. If you want to own up to crime, then you need to accept the consequences of that crime, whatever they may be.
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OmBoyGanesh 2 years ago
The ethics aside, how jaded must a person be to think the likely outcome in this situation would be anything other than what happened? I’m more concerned for their decision-making skills of keeping a spreadsheet & offering it up whilst admitting to the crime than I am for their choice to steal in the first place. The assumption that a corporate entity functions by the same moral code as does a decent individual, with the same consideration for wellbeing, is so far from realistic that it calls into question the persons basic logic. I get the idea of karma or wanting to make right, but at what expense? Housing, employment and freedom???
Lemon Beans 2 years ago
I think they're the opposite of jaded lol, it's a pretty innocent view of the world to think that admitting to stealing would end with the company thanking you for your honesty
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Yoga Kitty 2 years ago (edited)
Honestly, I don't believe this story as it is told - neither is the manager allowed to record the conversation without him knowing, nor could that be used in court. Also, you are not going to jail for such a small amount of money in Germany, especially if you confess or turn yourself in. And why would he lose his job over that? His employer will never even know... Sorry, but to me this sounds either completely made up or very much exagerated. Maybe the manager really called the cops, fine. So they came, wrote a protocol, asked him to sign it and told him that everything will now be processed. Case will be closed in a few weeks time because the amount is very low and there is not even a real damage because he paid for it. If the supermarket can no longer book the money in they will donate it to something useful like Die Tafel or the Flüchtlingshilfswerk or something and have the local newspapers print a lovely story about it to polish their image.
UpQuarkDownQuark 2 years ago
They’ve taught this person a horrible moral lesson: if you do something bad, never come clean, and never try to make amends. The store manager said an àsshole, and I really hope they find a judge who dismiss the case or suspend the sentence. Their job should realize they actually have themselves a catch: someone willing to grow and take responsibility.
Becky Samuel 2 years ago
What exactly was the store manager expected to do with this idiot then? It's not as if you can just go to the tills and input a random amount of money under the "numpty who shoplifted" button. If you want to own up to crime, then you need to accept the consequences of that crime, whatever they may be.
Load More Replies... OmBoyGanesh 2 years ago
The ethics aside, how jaded must a person be to think the likely outcome in this situation would be anything other than what happened? I’m more concerned for their decision-making skills of keeping a spreadsheet & offering it up whilst admitting to the crime than I am for their choice to steal in the first place. The assumption that a corporate entity functions by the same moral code as does a decent individual, with the same consideration for wellbeing, is so far from realistic that it calls into question the persons basic logic. I get the idea of karma or wanting to make right, but at what expense? Housing, employment and freedom???
Lemon Beans 2 years ago
I think they're the opposite of jaded lol, it's a pretty innocent view of the world to think that admitting to stealing would end with the company thanking you for your honesty
Load More Replies... Yoga Kitty 2 years ago (edited)
Honestly, I don't believe this story as it is told - neither is the manager allowed to record the conversation without him knowing, nor could that be used in court. Also, you are not going to jail for such a small amount of money in Germany, especially if you confess or turn yourself in. And why would he lose his job over that? His employer will never even know... Sorry, but to me this sounds either completely made up or very much exagerated. Maybe the manager really called the cops, fine. So they came, wrote a protocol, asked him to sign it and told him that everything will now be processed. Case will be closed in a few weeks time because the amount is very low and there is not even a real damage because he paid for it. If the supermarket can no longer book the money in they will donate it to something useful like Die Tafel or the Flüchtlingshilfswerk or something and have the local newspapers print a lovely story about it to polish their image.
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