I had a stealing "phase" when i was around 13yo and i regret it
About 4/5 years ago, when i was about 13, i had a phase (if you can even call it that) for stealing things. I wasn't in a situation where i needed to do that; all the items weren't necessary for living. So i guess i did it only for the thrill of it.
It started small. There was a blind spot in the store i found one time when shopping. I also knew the anti-theft gates beep when the security sticker goes through them. A thought formed in my mind: i took a small lego set, broke the packaging open and hid the parts in the sleeves of my jacket. Then it was sweets, mostly bigger, flat packs that were easy to hide in the backpack. They were easier targets since they didn't have the security stickers on them. Once i got real cocky and filled my backpack to the brim with all sorts of trash food.
I stole some medium sized lego sets, and i guess getting away with it so many times gave me the stupid courage to go for the grand prize in the eyes of a young shoplifter. I decided to steal a console, one from the newest geneartion.
I prepared myself mentally, as it was more serious. I made a whole plan as to how i would do it. I went inside with a shopping cart and put the console inside it, along with other groceries that would hide it. I went around, looking at the aisles while breaking the console's box with a small knife. It had the string security tag around it, so it was more challenging than what i've stolen before, but it wasn't hard. I looked up what the inside of the box looks like beforehand for easier access.
Finally i managed to take it out — the console, controller, cables. I went to the blind spot and waited until there were no people, then hid it in my backpack. After that i hid the broken box and the tag under the shelves, took the rest of the groceries to the self checkout and went home.
My older brother found out and was trying to tell me that they could find it through a serial number, and so i ended up selling it for 1/3 of the retail price to some friend of his.
Looking back, i'm just ashamed by myself. I definately wouldn't do it again, since i'm not as stupid as i used to be, and now i think stealing is just wrong, especially when it's luxury items like these. I guess some good came out of it too, since after some time i went back to this store and saw they placed a camera over the blind spot, so noone is going to use it anymore.