RuthAnnHarnisch.com

Steal This

by Ruth Ann Harnisch on 02/12/10 at 11:15 am

Day 43

Someone I know had (what I thought was) an unusual experience this week.

He chose his little bottle of liquor from a hotel mini-bar, and it turned out not be be a little bottle of liquor. 

A previous hotel guest had apparently drained the bottle and replaced the contents with water.  When he told me about it, I was shocked.  I couldn’t believe someone would stay in a nice hotel and do something so – well, what would you call it?

I mentioned this to a hotel employee, and she was not shocked. She told me she used to work the mini-bars, and this happened every day.

Ohhhhh, that’s why some hotels use mini-bars that automatically register a sale if you simply pick up an item to take a look (even if you put it right back).  Mini-bar theft must be epidemic.

I can’t stop thinking about this.  Why do so many thousands of people feel entitled to steal hotel liquor and replace it with water?  Do they feel entitled to a free drinks because they think they’re being ripped off by the room rates? By the laundry prices? By the cost of room service? By life in general?

The old saying goes “If you spot it, you’ve probably got it,” so now I’m going to stop obsessing about rampant mini-bar theft and look to myself.

What do I feel entitled to take, either literally or figuratively?  Are there areas in my life where I commit what other people would call a crime, however petty or justifiable it may feel to me?

And is there any metaphorical way I take someone’s valuable offering and give back something false?

I hope someone else’s act of dishonesty will inspire me to be more honest. I don’t want to be stealing from the mini-bar of life.