A question of ethics

Alright, so I rented a bunch of movies last week on account of the short work week courtesy of Thanksgiving. I rented 4 VHS movies and a DVD (2 VHS or 1 DVD for .99 on Tuesdays at my local rental store.) I loved the DVD I rented, as in I would probably buy it at a later date. Anyways, I didn't really think much of it when the girl rang me out, but she told me the movies were all due back the following Monday (this week) Now, DVD's are always due back earlier, usually 2 or 3 nights only (depending on if it's a new release.) So, I checked my receipt the other day out of curiosity, and sure enough, the DVD wasn't on there. I don't know why, as I watched the girl ring it through the computer -- perhaps she made a mistake when factoring a late fee I had into the bill? At any rate, the thing obviously wasn't rung up -- so basically I have a really good DVD movie (and it's an Anime, so they're always more expensive to buy) with no record of the store renting it out to me. The girl (I assume unknowingly) effectively passed me a DVD around the alarm. So should I keep it or return it? On the one hand, it's a great movie, and the thought of someone else enjoying it as I did is nice. On the other hand, I really like the movie, and they messed up. Normally I probably wouldn't think twice about keeping it, but I guess I took a different view on dishonesty after I left my teen years (and yet oddly enough I, like many others, have little problem navigating my way about the wishy-washy world of online filesharing...)

Opinions?

You obviously don't feel 100% right about just taking it. That's why you made this post.

Personally I would return it, as I feel it is the honest thing to do. Just because you'd like to buy it, shouldn't make a difference. I personally would have this bad feeling every time I watched the movie afterwards, and I'd much rather pay $20 just so I wouldn't have the feeling.

If anything, just copy it onto ur computer. Personally I wouldnt keep it because Im the type of person if I do something wrong on purpose or whatever, Ill get a guilty conscience. But its up to you.

Hey man if the store doesn't know then it's fair game. Honestly I'd take it back because it's just bad karma. You do somethin fucked up, something even more fucked up will happen to you. That's my whole philosophy on situations like this. What goes around, comes around. Peace-

Why not just copy it and return it? Think of it as a backup service for the video shop in case anything happens to their original ;) And you're offering the service to them for free.

You obviously don't feel 100% right about just taking it. That's why you made this post.

Personally I would return it, as I feel it is the honest thing to do. Just because you'd like to buy it, shouldn't make a difference. I personally would have this bad feeling every time I watched the movie afterwards, and I'd much rather pay $20 just so I wouldn't have the feeling.
Very well said!

You guys suck. Keep the damn movie. Just think of all the times you've been scammed, jipped in your lifetime.

Think of it as payback. Because everyone is a crook, it just depends on what scale.

You guys suck. Keep the damn movie. Just think of all the times you've been scammed, jipped in your lifetime.

Think of it as payback. Because everyone is a crook, it just depends on what scale.


Just because you were either dumb/stupid and made a bad choice in your lifetime doesnt mean others have to pay for it.

Umm, you're going to tell me that you've made all the right choices in life and have never been screwed out of anything before? Cuz if so then you are being ignorant.

In your sig it says that you were involved in 2 accidents, unless you caused them then you were screwed out of a ride because of someone else...why did you have to pay for it?

Very well said!
:1::1:return it

Umm, you're going to tell me that you've made all the right choices in life and have never been screwed out of anything before? Cuz if so then you are being ignorant.

In your sig it says that you were involved in 2 accidents, unless you caused them then you were screwed out of a ride because of someone else...why did you have to pay for it?


I never said Ive made every perfect decision in my lifetime. I have never been scammed though.

Both accidents werent my fault, its because people are stupid and retarded. But my family has more then 1 car so I wasnt screwed. Their called accidents for reasons.

You were saying before basically that if you get scammed or screwed in any way whatsoever, its perfectly ok to do it to someone else. That is entirely wrong.

No, I'm saying that life isn't fair so you take every oppurtunity to try and equal things out for you. She already made the mistake, I'm sure the video store won't really care if they lose one movie, I mean with the ridiculous cost of memberships, late fees and whatnot, they can buy another one.



That's my belief, I could care less if no one agrees.

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So I can dodge the post eating signature.

If your anything like me, and your having second thoughts go ahead, abd bring it back.

One time I stole this $0.99 buddha key chain deal from the dollar store. It was a privatley owned store, ran by the middle aged asian woman, and her husband. After leaving with my bounty I started to feel bad about. Everntually I came back, and sneakily returned it to it's place.

After that I had three counts of bad kharma. My buddy also had the same kharma after stealing a key chain. Anyways that was the first thing I ever stole (at 18yo), and I don't think it'll happen again.

You stole from a video place so that's not the same as stealing from a moom and pop store. If you have a guilty concious though take it back.

I wonder if they would charge you for the rental if you took it back and said something about it. (If so, screw them, keep the DVD, it was their mistake).

Tough call. I would probably return it. Cuz karma's a bitch.

I didn't purposefully "steal" the thing -- the girl messed up and didn't charge me for it, and it didn't really register to me until a day or two later. But yeah, that karma thing has always kinda hassled my ass. I found two dollars in the parking lot near Christmas time last year, and instead of keeping it I put it the Salvation Army pot on the sidewalk. And do you know what I said to myself? "It wasn't mine anyways, so karma says I'll benefit in the long run."

The catch is, what would karma think if I made a copy of the DVD on my computer THEN returned it? I AM making a copy of it for my own use, but I'm also returning the original to them... would that balance out? :sly:

I didn't purposefully "steal" the thing -- the girl messed up and didn't charge me for it, and it didn't really register to me until a day or two later.

Sounds like you're trying to justify keeping it.



But yeah, that karma thing has always kinda hassled my ass. I found two dollars in the parking lot near Christmas time last year, and instead of keeping it I put it the Salvation Army pot on the sidewalk. And do you know what I said to myself? "It wasn't mine anyways, so karma says I'll benefit in the long run."

The catch is, what would karma think if I made a copy of the DVD on my computer THEN returned it? I AM making a copy of it for my own use, but I'm also returning the original to them... would that balance out? :sly:


There's right and wrong. You know the right thing to do.

Well, you're not really doing anything bad except saving some money. Just depends on how you feel on it and sounds like you want a copy for yourself.

Bah. It's already gone back. I didn't really have the desire from the beginning to keep it (which as already noted was probably why I initially posted this) and I decided against copying it (I'm not so cheap a person that I can't just buy it.) Plus I've never been a fan of making copies of movies and whatnot, not so much because of copyright/piracy issues (want to guess how much the artists see from the sale of used CDs/DVDs?) but since I'd rather have the pretty packaging as well :icon16:

burn a copy of it, then return it. you both will be happy
edit: return the original of course


sorry, just saw your previous post..... didn't mean to voice my opinion a little late

There was a new teller at our bank who quickly became known for being rude to customers. Once, in the drive through, she gave me two one hundred dollar bills for a $200 withdrawl. I handed one of the bills back and asked for change. She huffed, grabbed the bill and then made me wait while she continued with another transaction. When she finally came back to me she inadvertently gave me $200 in change! At first I wasn't sure if it was a mistake (since I was withdrawing $200) but then I asked my wife if she had kept one of the bills. She confirmed that she had. Since all my paperwork was correct, there was no way the one hundred shortfall could have been traced to us. Normally I would have given the money back right there, but because of this tellers record I went inside instead. While returning the money to the bank manager I was told that there had been several complaints about the new girl. A couple weeks later we never seen her again.

On the flip side I once left my wallet in a phone booth. It was returned intact, all the money included.

There was a new teller at our bank who quickly become known for being rude to customers. Once, in the drive through, she gave me two one hundred dollar bills for a $200 withdraw. I handed one of the bills back and asked for change. She huffed, grabbed the bill and then made me wait while she continued with another transaction. When she finally came back to me she inadvertently gave me $200 in change! At first I wasn't sure if it was a mistake (since I was withdrawing $200) but then I asked my wife if she had kept one of the bills. She confirmed that she had. Since all my paperwork was correct, there was no way the one hundred shortfall could have been traced to us. Normally I would have given the money back right there, but because of this tellers record I went inside instead. While returning the money to the bank manager I was told that there had been several complaints about the new girl. A couple weeks later we never seen her again.


Thats an awesome story.