It always amazes me that people do things like this. Even moral quandaries aside (certain people can talk themselves into almost anything), the risk/reward ratio on this is terrible. Security cameras everywhere, using a company credit card to buy the goods, etc. You’re gonna get caught sooner or later.
If that same guy happened to attend Harvard and work on Wall St, he’d make many millions doing something similarly shady, and would eventually be caught. The difference is only whether you go to prison or not at the end.
This guy was stealing toner for 12 years before they caught him. Had he stopped after a decade he would have gotten away free and clear. This might be a case where someone higher up in the chain retired and someone competent took over and started actually doing the job.
Free and clear with… a couple thousand bucks? For which he was risking his entire livelihood? Just because he did happen to get away with it for a while doesn’t mean the risk/reward gamble wasn’t stupid.
…happen to get away with it for a while doesn’t mean the risk/reward gamble wasn’t stupid.
Greed does funny things to those mental calculations. It changes ones perception of risk and the false sense of security when their successes start to add up.
I know store asset protection officers that will allow the repeated thievery to continue, keeping a detailed video log, until the total loss crosses into felony grand theft. This is because misdemeanor petty theft isn’t worth the paperwork. Notes are often traded with other stores of the same chain for a big picture view of the miscreant.
