Shoplifting in Dollar Stores

Blame the government. It is partly responsible for homelessness and shoplifting, 

but we should also admit the wrong choices we make about money and the way we live.

Thieves are not the same. There are thieves, then there are ‘stealers.’ Thieves steal with the intention to use the merchandise, cook the box of macaroni and cheese or sell it.

Stealers steal because they are addicts. They steal because an item can be stolen. They’ll steal a camel although they don’t know how to ride it and find a water source for it. It is a hobby. Shoplifting is frightening. I once saw a woman in a wheelchair stealing at a drugstore’s make-up section and hiding items under her legs.

Before you say anything, we don’t know whether she has some disability or not. The misuse of wheelchairs by healthy people adds to their problem, which is being invisible. We don’t want to see them, as if they are lepers or something. Anyway, she looked at me with eyes as cold as iron. I got the message and moved to the next aisle.

Dollar stores have security guards now because of shoplifting. They patrol the aisles giving you the evil eye. First of all, dollar stores have upgraded prices so it’s impossible to find something for a dollar, on the shelves. But they are still cheap, so why steal? It’s not for lack of resources because in Canada, all sections of the population get something from the government: retired seniors, workers who lost their jobs when factories moved to India, Vietnam, China or Yugoslavia, families with more than two kids, students etc. We won’t discuss indigenous people because whatever they get is determined by Treaties.

Therefore, we end up stealing an item that costs $1.50 because we misuse the dollars we get from the government. Instead of paying rent or buying food, we buy frivolities that give us temporary pleasure. Let’s own up for once.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.