Stealing

Is it stealing to print off a personal document at work (like a resume or a baptismal programme)?

16 thoughts on “Stealing

  1. Yes! It is stealing.

    If the owner or organization manager has indicated some personal use is OK, then it is not stealing. Otherwise, yes it is stealing.

  2. when we lived in Regina and I worked as a nurse I was in for a temple recommend interview one day. The Stake President was going through his list of questions and came to the one about being honest with my dealings and I said yes without thinking about it as I always thought I was.. he sat quiet for a moment making me sweat then said you work as a nurse right and I said yesssssss and he said do you tend to stick pens and bandages and other small things in your uniform pockets throughout the day and I said yessssssssssss and then he asks do you empty your pockets BEFORE or AFTER you go home..

    It was my turn to be quiet for a moment (you know that moment of quiet your child gives you when you have asked them if they did something wrong and they are trying to think of a good answer and they paused one moment too long?) and I said well both.. I try to empty them before I leave the floor but if I have worked back to back shifts or OT or it is summer and I go home in my uniform and don’t change etc I tend to not empty them till I get home. He went on to ask what I do with the stuff from the hospital and I said well they go on my vanity table and when I think of it I take the things back. He asks do you take everything back every single time and I did that moment too long thought again and I said I would have to say no I don’t not all the time.. then tried to do the justification thing with the but but but,, it’s just a pen or one bandage etc and he asked how many employees were at that hospital. I said several hundred and he said what do you think the cost would be if everyone took 1 pen home twice a week?

    I said wellllll when you put it THAT way…. then I looked at him and said so can you ask me the question again and so he did.. he asked was I honest in all my dealings and I answered “as best as I can and will continue to get better at it”. He signed my temple recommend and it was a lesson never forgotten.

    So do I think it is stealing? In my honest opinion yes it is… for me..

  3. My honest opinion is that your Stake President was a knob.

    Stealing requires intent.

    If you intend to get something through illegitimate means, then you are stealing.

    It sounds to me like your SP was acting more like a business manager than a SP.

    Back on topic though, if no arrangement has been made in regard to personal documents being printed at work, then it’s stealing.

  4. “My honest opinion is that your Stake President was a knob”

    Rick is not afraid to say what many of us were thinking.

  5. hmmmm I never thought he was a knob even 20 years after the fact. I have always thought that had he felt that too many people (especially those that have had TR for a long time)tended to go through the motions of answering yes yes yes no no yes no yes no no to the questions. I have always thought about my answers since that day and no longer am quite so quick to reply.

  6. Is ‘everyone’ your manager as well.

    If management does it and makes no bones about it when other people do it, I’d probably chalk it up to an ‘unwritten policy’; ergo okay.

  7. I never thought I would quote my mother but “si tout le monde a sauté du pont fait cela signifie que vous devez aussi?”

  8. “Stealing requires intent. If you intend to get something through illegitimate means, then you are stealing.”

    If you intend to get something (such as toner, paper, and the benefit of wear and tear on a machine) through illegitimate means (such as by taking it without the permission of the owners of the toner, paper and machine) then you are stealing.

    So it IS stealing. Thanks for clearing that up, Rick.

  9. Taking it without the permission of the owners isn’t necessarily illegitimate, depending on the context. For example, music sharing is not illegal in Canada.

  10. Since you already gave the exact context, I rather thought that was the one you were discussing. Are you talking about some other context? Or are you talking about making prints/copies of personal material on company time using an employer’s equipment?

  11. Nowhere in my post did I say anything about taking something from someone else as being an example of illegitimacy.

  12. Kim, unless I am heavily sedated, your original post asked, “Is it stealing to print off a personal document at work (like a resume or a baptismal programme)?”

    My reply, in comment #10, was that if the printing involves taking of toner, paper, electricity and machine wear (or any one of those things) and if it is done without the permission of the owner of that which is taken, then it is stealing.

    If you know someone who’s found a way to produce copies at work without using toner, paper, or electricity, and without causing wear to a machine, please let me know. (Especially if it’s a Canadian inventor. Their protections on intellectual property appear rather weak, so I may be able to patent the invention for myself!)

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