7 Sins of Robb - Kleptomaniac

As you may have figured out by now, I'm a person who doesn't enjoy living a life of lies. That being said, I'm very capable of identifying my own weaknesses or bad traits in life. Some of them can't be helped, while some are dependent on situation while some are totally outrageously wrong which I have fixed.

This will spin 7 blog posts of my most hideous human side. I have no expectation on what you guys may react from these blog posts, but I'm prepared to be bombarded with criticism that may make my mum cry.

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Hi everyone,

My name is Robb and I am a kleptomaniac and a thief. Okay, I WAS cause I think the last time I stole anything was about 2 years ago in some convenient store.

To start off the story of how my kleptomania tendency begun, let's rewind to Billy's chapter, shall we? Remember how I enjoyed frequenting Triple Net everyday after school? My allowance wasn't that much to begin with thus I had to resort to 'taking' money from my parents wallet/purse. I guess that's when it begun.

But of course, this was theft and not kleptomania. By normal definition, kleptomaniac steal things not because of their monetary value but just for the thrill of doing so. I was both a kleptomaniac and a thief if you ask me.

Let's start with kleptomaniac behaviors.

• I used to sneak Snicker Bars out of every single convenient shop I went into
• I stole ketchup and chili sauces from KFC to use in my house. After I finished using them, I brought the empty bottles back and exchanged with new ones. XD
• I stole Zach's heart when he was hosting my holidays in Penang. :P
  

And for thefts I've done.. my god. I'm such a sinner. Lol.

Pornographic VCD
I was 14 okay? I was curious!! Some cute guy (yes, Lih Pin, you were cute in my eyes back then) was my partner in crime when we did that. It was in a VCD Rental shop where they rent out drama series but there's one corner that has porn!!! We were underage thus the fat guy manning the counter (as if I wasn't fat) didn't let us rent pornos. Thus, I came up with a plan. Lih Pin would go distract the fat guy by taking off his pants and shaking his penis asking him enquiries about other VCD at another corner far from the porn corner and I'd quickly grab 1 or 2 of the porno VCD into my pocket. You know how big my waist was when the proportion of the pockets that came along with it could fit a VCD inside. XD

It was straight porn though. Lol. Never got caught. :P

Mobile Phones
Your opinion on me might change greatly after you read this. I kinda betrayed my friends over the theft of 2 mobile phones.

First one when I was 17. I was using a not so cool phone, but still thankful for it [Thanks Konrad :)] and I had no side income that can actually allow me to purchase a new phone. I was then called up for an interview camp at UTP for Petronas scholarship which I went together with a few of my schoolmates. It was a fun camp and I did pretty well on the interview. In fact, right before the interview, something happened. I was walking along the corridor heading out to the building where the interview will be taking place and I passed by a room with its door opened with no one inside. Somehow, there was a phone, on the table and it was a decent phone too (can't remember the model, sorry) back then. I didn't even have to think twice as I quickly grabbed the phone and put it into my pocket. I turned it off and I went for my interview which eventually got me into the very same university. I liked the phone very much and I decided to use it as my own.

On the very first day of orientation when I entered UTP, I found out that the owner of the phone, Shern Shiou (found out from his old data from the phone) was also there and I knew that he was the previous owner of the phone. I was worried that he could recognize his phone in 1 glance but he did not as it seemed common for people to have that phone model. He then became a friend of mine but I tried to keep a distance from him due to the fact.., I owed him big.. for stealing his phone. I did not have the courage to admit or let him know till a few weeks before I left UTP. Yes, I was a scum.

That covered the first phone I stole. The next one is from one of my friend's brother. He was fetching me out with his dad's car. We were supposed to go watch a movie but he had some errand to run so he left the car for awhile to pick up some stuff from a grocery store. I was all alone in the car. Suddenly, I heard a mobile phone rang. I looked for the source of sound and I found a mobile phone behind my seat. It was some Nokia phone which was quite popular back then. Market price was about 1k if not mistaken. Back then a 1k phone was like a super high class phone (nowadays if you don't hold at least a 1k phone, you'll probably be smirked upon). My klepto instinct kicked in. I took it, switched it off and pocketed it.

When he returned, we went ahead to the movies and he fetched me home after that. An hour upon reaching home, he gave me a call and asked if I've saw his brother's mobile phone in the car. He told me that his brother insisted that he left the phone in the car and since I was the only outsider who've been in that car, I was a thief who took the phone (which was true). I told him I didn't see any phones and asked if his brother was sure that he did leave it in the car. I was calm in sticky situations usually (normally lying, which I'll cover in the next 7 Sins of Robb) and he was convinced that I didn't do it. He in fact, defended me from his family's accusation. I escaped unharmed. The Nokia phone I took.. I sold it off as a second hand phone to mobile phone dealer and got myself RM700.

..............

I knew in my heart that this behavior is intolerable. Theft is wrong no matter what justifications you have (unless you're stealing because you need to feed your children and the cost of food is too expensive which your wage can't sustain). But to be frank, I've actually looked deep within me what actually caused my kleptomaniac and theft habits.

My kleptomaniac habit kinda began when I started to take small things from random places and managed to escape with it. It grew worse as I was getting better at doing it till Zach actually put a stop to my behavior.

As for theft habit, I'd personally think it was due to my curiosity (for the pornographic VCD, Lol) and lack of ability to purchase (mobile phones) that pushed me forward to have done what I did. I was teenager surviving from allowances from my parents. Frankly speaking, my parents weren't exactly wealthy to begin with (not to mention they have super duper heavy loans and commitments) and boy was I glad that I actually managed to get scholarships for my studies (else wise, it's F6 and public university for me, which was a route I wasn't keen).

I know, no matter how I put it, what I did was wrong. But hey, this post is supposed to let you know that I'm not perfect but a sinner. In fact, I'm a super heavy sinner that I bet some of you guys might be cursing me that I get my mobile phone stolen to enjoy the karma. Guess what? It happened. I lost my LG Viewty once when I was on a bus trip back to KL from Ipoh. I felt the pain.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. What I'm about to share with you guys in the future.. might change what image you have of me all along. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I just wanna be honest in my life (especially after all the lies I've put front at the beginning of my life).

Sinner
Robb