On 18 Jul 2005 21:11:14 GMT, Chuck Sherwood wrote:
And how would you feel if you were that RR company, and you
found out that folks were stealing your resources (coal)
and giving them away?
You'd fire that thief right away, wouldn't you?

You guys covered that in a tangent to this thread.
I feel it is significanly different than our original discussion
but how about we turn it around and see how it plays out.

You are a blacksmith. One of your employees
is taking home coal from your forge. What do you do?

Does he have permission?

You own a lumber yard. One of your employees
is taking home lumber. What do you do?

Is he paying for it?

You own a trucking company. One of your employees is filling
his vehicle from your pumps. What do you do?
Another employee is using company trucks and fuel to
deliver meals to the elderly. A good deed; but he is
using your vehicles and fuel without your permission. How
do you feel?

Depends on what the agreement is regarding use of that company resource.
Our cellphones, for instance: the reimbursement is for 90% of the bill,
for an approved plan. They need us to have a cellphone, and we all have
lives and use it for personal calls from time to time. It's a win-win.
If I have a call to make and I make it, I don't have to record what, to
whom, and for how long, because that falls into that agreed upon margin.

In the railroad example, if the crews were given leeway to interface
with the public along the rails in such a way as to give positive P.R.
for the railroad, then they were doing just that by trading lunch for
coal.

You own a mcdonalds. one or your employees makes himself a
sandwich and eats it. Is he guilting of stealing?

These all depend on the agreement between employee and employer, don't
they?

So how do YOU define what is acceptable? When is it OK to
push coal over the edge for the poor folks and when does it
become stealing? IS one pound ok, but 100 lbs is stealing?

Thank you for illustrating the stupidity of zero-tolerance laws,
although I'm not sure that that was your intent.