The Business of Doing Good

However, instead, we hear rationalizations for employee theft. Consider this Associated Press quote from a former Wal-Mart bakery worker in Texas, "I am not the type to steal, but because we are so mistreated, when I saw things I just didn't do anything." The old-fashioned response to a controversial corporate policy was to raise one's voice in complaint. The 21st century answer is to turn a blind eye toward pilfering.

I have news for the former Wal-Mart baker: many of us—customers and employees alike—disagree with some of the things that the world's largest retailer does. But the moral response is not to give tacit approval to stealing from the store aisles. Because, in the end, stealing from Wal-Mart doesn't just hurt the big executives. It hurts the senior citizen trying to earn extra spending money as a greeter. And it hurts the family of four down the road trying to buy enough groceries to keep going. And it hurts the kids who are looking to us adults to provide some moral compass for their lives. I would hope that the lesson to be learned from this is: thou shalt not steal from Wal-Mart—or anyone else.