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I thought about doing this, but at the same time this is a question I want to ask the book universe. Frankly I found the matter funny and while I was shopping at Meijers. When I was looking through their YA section I found this Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan book. However if you look at it, it clearly came from Sam's Club. My question is is this book even their to sell, or do they have the ability to sell books from another store? I mean if a special edition book from Barnes and Noble ends up on Walmart's shelves, does that give them the right? Now don't get the wrong idea by this topic, I bought the book, and didn't question it there, because frankly they will of course say they can sell it.
Wrong Book/Wrong Place?
So the meat and potatoes of this story is, is Meijer allowed to sell me a book that for a lack of better words came straight out of Sam's Club. The picture is there, I took the sticker off cause frankly I hate the damn sticky sons of ... Now my first question is is this technically considered stealing? I mean I bought the book, but what if someone left it there and they didn't know any different. Well the cashier commented on it, but went about her job as normal like nothing was happening.
steal [steel]
verb (used with object), stole, sto·len, steal·ing.
- to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, especially secretly or by force: A pickpocket stole his watch.
- to appropriate (ideas, credit, words, etc.) without right or acknowledgment.
- to take, get, or win insidiously, surreptitiously, subtly, or by chance: He stole my girlfriend.
- to move, bring, convey, or put secretly or quietly; smuggle (usually followed by away, from, in, into, etc.): They stole the bicycle into the bedroom to surprise the child.
- Baseball. (of a base runner) to gain (a base) without the help of a walk or batted ball, as by running to it during the delivery of a pitch.
I don't consider it stealing, I mean I didn't walk out with the book. I legitimately paid for the book. However I believe that something is amiss in this case. I mean I don't believe they should have been allowed to sell me the book in this case. If you think about in a reverse case, they just stole the sale from Sam's Club. Now don't get me wrong I am not trying to get either of them in trouble. I am curious to see what some others would have done.
The options for this are simple:
- I shouldn't have been able to
- I should have been able to
- I should have but at a discount
- I should have brought it up, and questioned the cashier
I am not sure what I should have done looking back on it. I mean buying the book as a consumer is beyond a doubt the right answer, but morally should I have stood up for Sam's Club and brought it to the attention of the Meijer's employee? I don't believe it's my responsibility for that, but what if it was it was the book of some child that was left behind? How would I have known, and no one questioned me about it, not even the cashier. Frankly I don't believe I am at all at fault, I don't think there was any way to know anything else other than try to buy the book at a foreign store. I just laughed.
Feel free to comment and berate if you feel like it. I want to know what you think and ultimately to see if what I did was overall morally correct. I can't get past how hilarious it was.
