Tic Tacs

A few weeks back, I was walking through Blockbuster with my friends at about 9:00 PM. We were the only people in the store besides two clerks behind the counter. I then did something incredibly stupid. I picked up a $0.75 package of orange flavored tic tacs and began emptying them into my pocket. A clerk walked up to me with an expression of mixed exasperation and disgust and told me to get out of the store. I was mortified, for he threatened to call the police and have them arrest me. At the same time, however, I realized that the police would probably not care. I offered to pay for the tic tacs, but he refused to accept the money. In his righteous wrath, he sent me out of the store and did not let my friends rent the movie. This episode ruined my night with my friends and haunted me for weeks. Even describing it now is painful. About a week ago, though, I came to realize that the clerk, who seemed to have such a powerful loyalty to his business, had actually hurt blockbuster much more that I had. Not only did he refuse to accept my offer to pay, he did not let my friends rent a movie. In total, I have accosted Blockbuster $1.50 (Yes, I had stolen orange flavored tic tacs once before). The financial damage that the clerk inflicted was roughly four times what I did. I am never going to shoplift again; there are much more intelligent ways in which I can make trouble. However, through this incident, I learned another thing: that righteousness clouds one's judgment and only causes conflict to proliferate.