[tuq]

Hopeless,

I don't think this act necessarily makes a career thief. When I was a kid I came across a huge jar of change at a friend of my parent's house and pilfered a bunch of quarters to use on arcade games. I was probably only 8-9 at the time and got caught and was punished. Maybe I was too young to know the difference between right and wrong, and at 14 he should know better, I dunno. But present a kid with a chance to score a lot more money than he is ever given and it's awfully tempting.

I never stole anything after that (well, besides music online, heh), never shoplifted anything, never had the urge. It was just like that scene in Boogie Nights where Don Cheadle is the lone person standing after the donut shop shootout; the temptation to steal the register money after the bank declined him for a small business loan was too strong to resist. And of course he went on to start a fantastic electronics store and the donut shop was probably insured so it all worked out for the best.