I confess that I am a shoplifter, and it is becoming more frequent. It's been going on for a year now, but it's not a compulsion. It's more of a window of opportunity. Donuts and energy drinks are my top "choice", because when I go grocery shopping I can eat the donut as I shop and no one notices, and I have been caught twice at the self-checkout when they noticed I had an empty Redbull in my cart, and once because they saw me pull it out and drink it while I was shopping, but I played the dumb kid card "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot all about it!" There was a time at a thrift store where I was buying hair clips and they forgot to scan a couple and I said nothing. Today at Walmart, there was a huge line at the self-checkout, the worker was freaking out because two out of four of the checkstands were down, and right in front of them as I was checking out I realized that the shirt I wanted had no tag, and trust me, my first thought was to ask the lady for help, but clearly she was in a panic and the people behind me were angry because of the long wait, so I acted like I was scanned it twice, set it aside, then wrung up my other items.

I never walk into a store with the intention of stealing because when I go out I have a list of things to buy and 99.9% of the time I pay for everything. But this "window of opportunity" of getting away with free stuff keeps popping up and not only do I feel bad but I'm also afraid that one day I'll get caught and I'll get arrested, especially with the added Christmas security. What can I do? I think today at Walmart was just a hot mess. If it was a casual day, and all the self-checkout checkstands were open and no one was in a big hurry for the holidays, I would have asked for help or would have run back and got a sweater with a tag, but like everyone else I was in a hurry and stressed with my mind on making things perfect for my brother and just wanted to get home, but I still feel bad that I didn't pay for it. I just feel really bad and I don't know what to do.