I was watching some church TV when I was flipping through channels last week and I happened across a preacher talking on the command “Thous Shalt Not Steal”. It was pretty interesting as he focused on different ways we steel from others besides the normal… I took a candy bar from a grocery store when I was 12. He talked about how some steal when they spend time with someone else’s spouse in an inappropriate way. He talked about how we can steal from God but not giving of our tithes or time. We can steal from others their joy or fulfillment when we trash or dump on others.
But one that stood out to me because I see it so often is when he talked about when we steal from work. Not pens and other office supplies though that would apply but when we steal time and money from our employer by being on Facebook, taking long lunch and sneaking back in, or maybe even reading this blog when you are on the clock. We can justify it so easily but it is theft none the less.
When I was about 20, I managed a tux shop where on Monday, they gave store managers two hours of paid time to go to “allied firms” (for example; a Bridal shop we worked with) and write contact information for brides and send it back to the head office for marketing purposes. We had a minimum of 2 pages of spread sheet we had to send each week. What myself and a buddy would do is go get eight pages worth and send them in two at a time. Why? Because then we could take the other three weeks where we didn’t have to go to an allied firm and go out to eat, play video games, or go see a movie on company time. The head office got what they expected… two sheets a week but I was taking advantage of the system. In all honesty, I was stealing from the company.
Maybe take a moment and reflect on this in your situation. Do you blow off work on company time? Do they pay to send you to a conference or a business trip and you blow off half of it to have fun? Do you spend an extra 5 minutes on your smoke break because no one is paying attention?
Thou shalt not steal…..
