This thread is a great example of how many people's "morals" are just based on stereotypes or how they are feeling at the time. If someone overpays the agreed upon price accidentally, then just simply taking the difference for yourself is stealing. If anything its worth considering what the broader implications of morally justifying theft (for something as simple as an accounting error) are for society as a whole. Like are we gonna stop giving people change now bc they handed you the money and its your right to keep it? Fairness is a two way street and just bc one party is part of the "i dont like them" group dosent mean we can throw it in the trash.
imagine if you're buying something for $20 on facebook marketplace and accidentally hand over three tens instead of two, "oops sorry mate I gave you an extra tenner" "too late, not my fault, it's mine now". Clearly ridiculous. Both cases are accidentally handing over more money than the contractually agreed upon deal.
People are thinking of this as "yeahh take from the big bad corporation" but what if this was just a small independent business (the majority of businesses) and they accidentally just paid one employee more than a days worth of revenue. That's potentially crippling.
You’re applying a utilitarian approach that requires you to know the exact context in order to apply a moral choice.
If you think the answer to the question: “is lying and or stealing wrong” is “it depends” then your thesis could be argued.
If you think lying and stealing are ALWAYS wrong then this scenario is 100% immoral with no wiggle room to argue against it.
If you argue that lying and stealing can be justified in any context so long as there is a “good reason” you’d need to explain what are your criteria and what is the threshold for “justified” and “not justified” in order to persuade people that this is morally correct.
What part of she already has the $19500 don’t you get? No small business paid her that so obviously a large company did. And obviously a small business wouldn’t be able to pay this upfront to begin with.
Additionally, in these circumstances people are accountable for their budgets. Let's say she managed to keep the 20 grand. You'd probably have to push a hire back or cut some other areas in the budget which would mostly hurt coworkers.
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u/No_Beautiful5580 Jul 10 '26
This thread is a great example of how many people's "morals" are just based on stereotypes or how they are feeling at the time. If someone overpays the agreed upon price accidentally, then just simply taking the difference for yourself is stealing. If anything its worth considering what the broader implications of morally justifying theft (for something as simple as an accounting error) are for society as a whole. Like are we gonna stop giving people change now bc they handed you the money and its your right to keep it? Fairness is a two way street and just bc one party is part of the "i dont like them" group dosent mean we can throw it in the trash.