DEAR ABBY: My 16-year-old son and I are having a debate and would love your take on the matter. I think if you stand in a grocery store checkout line and read a magazine without buying it that it's stealing. He doesn't agree. What do you say? -- JUST LOOKING
DEAR JUST: If your son is reading the magazine from cover to cover, then I agree he's helping himself to something he's not entitled to. If he is only "sampling" to see if there are enough articles in the magazine that he thinks it's worth buying, I wouldn't call it theft. Using your yardstick, judging from the number of people I have seen at checkout counters with their noses buried in the tabloids, that would make us a nation of thieves.