The famous novel and arguably even more famous musical, Les Misérables, centers around a man condemned to years of imprisonment and hard labor for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving child.

It’s a story about law, mercy, order, cruelty, and kindness.

This story from Reddit user @Hedonism_Enjoyer, on the other hand?

I honestly have no idea what to make of this one.

AITA for hurting my friend’s feelings by criticizing her shoplifting?

I (27M) have a friend (23F) who lives in California.

She frequently shoplifts from major retailers, justifying that she can get away with it both because of the state’s questionable theft laws and for the fact she’s “less likely to be profiled” on account of being a white woman.

Most of our arguments have made for several hour long back-and-forths, often to no avail.

So far not too complicated.

A lot of people shoplift, and even more people don’t see it as a huge deal.

Recently, my friend met another woman who she intended to be in a relationship with.

This woman checked off a lot of boxes, and I could tell my friend was particularly excited.

However, when my friend’s crush learned that she was a shoplifter, she broke off contact because she didn’t want to be exposed to a “bad influence.”

So this woman lost a chance at a good relationship because her prospective partner thought her behavior was sketchy.

Quite a blow, and maybe an opportunity for some self-reflection?

My friend returned to me, complaining about this falling out and how upset she was over it.

After I asked her to explain the reason and she did, I told her that most people don’t support stealing.

(especially because she’s not exactly stealing to survive. She mostly pilfers books, makeup, and other recreational products that she does not want to pay for with her full time job).

I then asked Friend if there might be something to learn from this, to which she replied, “Keep things to myself / lie more.”

When I told her that might not have been the right message, she groused that, “She doesn’t know why she tells me things.”

So now we’ve got someone stealing for fun who would rather lie about that than stop and have a good relationship.

This is getting messy.

Considering that Friend is Christian and constantly argues against “sinful” behavior (such as premarital [intercourse]), it’s extremely frustrating to me that she can’t seem to grasp why stealing is wrong.

Am I wrong to have brought it up when she complained about her failed crush and should I have been more supportive?

Or is she simply refusing to learn a basic lesson about morality and social contracts?

…Huh.

So we have a Christian  who likes to steal and has no problem with lying, but condemns heading to the bedroom with the woman she wished she had lied to about all the theft.

And also is aware of her white privilege but only insomuch as she likes to take advantage of it for illegal purposes.

This is a layered character.

Let’s see what the comments think:

Some clutched the heck outta their pearls:

Others were concerned for the writer’s safety:

Most, like me, were bemused by this particular combination of attributes.

And not everybody was so worried about the crime itself:

There’s judgement, and there’s concern. You can at least try offering the latter if you’re really worried.

One thing’s for sure, I’m gonna be thinking about this one for a while.

Because it’s kind of a lot.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.