.
But, of course it did not stop there. I realized how easy it was for me to get "free gas" that busy day and that made me want to do it again. In fact, I did it a few times after the first incident (two times to be exact). I knew it was wrong but it felt so right. It was easy and very beneficial. During my actions I never stopped to think about what would happen if I would get caught getting "free gas". The consequences were not put in to consideration because naturally I was only thinking of the pros rather than the cons. Clearly this was both illegal and deviant but yet I was so willing to repeat the behavior.
I was able to convince myself that it was not deviant and in fact it was not stealing. I really believed since I did not get caught stealing the gas, then I actually did not steal it. According to the reactive definition this action was not deviant since society was not able to react to my action, which took place in secret. .
I really believed that there was no wrong doing on my part at all. I basically put the blame on the gas station for not closely monitoring the gas pumps. The victim was the gas station and I, being the criminal in this situation, was blaming the victim. .
Today I can look back at my actions and admit that it was deviant. I am a little ashamed by my actions. I know that people, like me, played a big part in the reasoning behind the dramatic increase in security and advances in monitoring the pumps at gas stations. I consider my actions deviant under the simple or social definition of deviance. I know that if my actions would have been discovered by an employee of the gas station negative reactions would have occurred by the all of the observers. I would have been punished, condemned and possibly treated hostilely.
My purpose for stealing the gas made the deviant action even more deviant. It was not like I needed to steal the gas for a meaningful purpose.