I was 18 years old when I stole my first and only item. I was a bagger at a local grocery store. The store had some small battery operated record players that played 45s. (For those too young to remember what 45s were, they looked like bid CDs with a hole in the middle.) A lot of the record players did not operate correctly so they were stored in the basement for disposal.
One night before leaving the store I pushed one of these small players through a slot in a back door and drove my car to the back of the store and retrieved it. Fortunately the one I got played. I never felt guilty or worried about being caught. Soon my indiscretion was forgotten.
I eventually became a store manager with this same store. After an inventory it was discovered that several hundreds of dollars worth of meat products were missing. Since I was one of a few who had keys to the store I became a prime suspect. I was asked by the owner to submit to a polygraph test. Being innocent I readily agreed.
As the examiner began the test, he informed me of the questions he would be asking. The first question was "Have you ever stolen any merchandise from this store?" That indiscretion so easily forgotten suddenly came rushing back. I knew to answer "No" would show as a lie and
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