Question?! Answer: Ask TuffyLuv@collegecandy.com.

Dear Tuffy Luv,
I never thought I’d be writing you, but I’ve been reading your advice for quite some time and I think you might be the only person I trust to give this kind of advice. To sum up my situation, I have a best friend who I’ve had since my first semester of freshman year. This best friend of mine, P, has a girlfriend that he has been with for over two years. She doesn’t go to our school and I’ve only met her once.

To give you all the details, P and I are very close and before we were really friends, he cheated on his girlfriend with me, he later found out that she has cheated on him too. You should also know that I now have a serious boyfriend that I’ve been with for almost a year, so this is not a jealousy issue. P and I are always together and people have begun to associate us with one another.
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While I’m not known for having tons of morals, standards, or values, I do know the difference between purchasing something and stealing it. However, for some reason, taking things without exchanging money at college is not considered stealing. It’s considered hilarious, thrifty, and even heroic in some cases.

Throughout the past four years I’ve improved my stealing skills and I can now easily slip an entire overhead projector into my pants while distracting my professor with nonsensical questions about alternative office hours. And the best part about taking things at college is that it’s not the use that’s important; but rather the obscurity. A traffic cone? Awesome! Frat Composite? Sick! A wheelchair? Stellar!

But now as I sit in my living room looking at the stolen fishbowl full of billiard balls, the cabinet filled with dining hall forks, and the freshman we took to do the housework, I’m starting to realize that it’s soon time for me to stop grabbing everything I can put my hands on. I didn’t realize it had become a problem until I was home over winter break in the mall and I found myself straining to pocket everything that wasn’t nailed down to the floor. I would walk down the supermarket aisle with my mom and whisper “pocket the apples, frozen peas in the purse.” She not only did not abide, but she questioned how she raised me so wrong. ( I have a long list if she’s truly interested one day, but that’s another blog.) Read More »

Sure, times are tough right now. Money is tight. But that is still no excuse for the 20% increase in shoplifting this holiday season. What is wrong with people? Have they learned nothing from all those episodes of family shows where the kids went to steal something, got caught, almost got arrested and then learned the important lesson that stealing is bad?

No? Didn’t watch TGIF? Well, then CollegeCandy is going to teach you a lesson about why shoplifting – especially for the holidays – is bad:

1. No Gift Receipt: How embarassing is it for the person who gets that stolen gift and tries to return it without a gift receipt? Best case scenario: they get a really crappy deal (like store credit on the new clearance amount). Worst case: someone at the store figures out that the gift was purchased with the five finger discount and arrest that poor recipient.

2. Embarassing for You: Imagine getting caught. In your neighborhood Target. Stealing Christmas cards. While all your parents’ friends and neighbors (and your old teachers) stand around watching it go down.

3. So Wrong!: Besides being illegal, it’s Christmas season! This is the season of giving, not taking without paying. What would Santa think?

4. It’s not what the holidays are about: If you can’t afford to get your brother Mario Kart for the Wii, grabbing it and running out of Best Buy with 12 members of Geek Squad chasing you is not the answer. Make him something, get him something cheaper, or just remind him that it is far better to give than to receive. He’ll understand (maybe).

5. It’s a lot of work: The planning, the baggy and unflattering clothes, the running away from the Popo…is it really worth it?