On soda fountains and water cups
Weirdly enough the melodramatically named thread at the SDMB Teaching a 4 year old to steal lit off a debate in chat over whether or not it's stealing to get a cup for water at a restaurant and fill it with soda.
Here in the US most fast food places, along with very casual places like pizza shops, have their soda fountains sitting out, self-serve style. The customer pays for a soda, gets a cup, and typically is allowed to refill it with soda as many times as they want during their visit. Restaurants typically, however, don't change for cups for water (which are usually smaller), or maybe charge a nominal fee of a dime or so, and the customer fills them from a water spigot in the same soda fountain.
Some of the amoral characters who tend to occupy chat were arguing that it's not theft to get a water cup and then fill it with soda. I don't really understand this at all.
Now, in my opinion, this is obviously theft -- the restaurant may well know that they're potentially losing some soda sales to this theft, and figure that into their accounting, and decide it's worth it. It's assumed most customers can be trusted on the honor system. But even if there's not an armed guard verifying people's soda purchases, if you've contracted for a free water along with your meal, or paid a dime for it, and you take soda instead, you're taking something more than the restaurant has agreed to provide. The losses to a restaurant on a few cups of soda are pretty small, but a small theft still constitutes a theft.
Right?
