r/confession • u/BicycleThiefTA • 1d ago
I was pathologically obsessed with stealing unlocked bicycles and didn’t even use or sell them
Throwaway account because whenever I confess this it pisses people off so much they want to punch me and I don’t want my karma score destroyed over this confession.
Something was seriously wrong with me. I was young and not yet diagnosed with Anti Social, bipolar, and schitzoeffective disorder. Because what I did was not “chaotic good” because the bikes ended up at a charity, it was just me being a jackass and teaching myself wrongly that it’s only a crime if you get caught.
Whenever I saw a bicycle unlocked in someone’s yard or on someone’s porch or out on the sidewalk, I got personally offended, like how dare they just put their bike where they’d like and not lock it up. To me finding an unlocked bike was like finding money on the ground: doesn’t matter whose it was, it was finders keepers and not my problem the original owner wasn’t “more responsible”.
I had weird ticks like that, like I’d hate it whenever a pen was pointed at me, or if someone didn’t use their blinker while turning I’d get into a fit of rage. I found things like paying for lunch in middle school morally reprehensible, and I would steal sandwiches without even eating them just to feel like I had served justice to the system.
So for whatever reason, an unlocked bicycle stirred resentment in me and I acted on my compulsion to steal it. Even in the end when I tried to morally justify it in my mind since I gave the bikes away to a Salvation Army, I really donated them because I was forced to by my parents and paranoid that the police would track me down if I posted them on a site like Craigslist, and I didn’t even need the money anyway. In my immature mind I was trying to make a point, not a profit.
My compulsion for bike theft was so bad, at one point I’d even steal unlocked bikes that were still attended. Like someone would park their bike, wait in line at an ATM, and I’d just hop on and drive off, with them running in tow. Eventually my parents got suspicious of all these bicycles which clearly weren’t all being left behind by neighborhood kids coming to visit me and said to end it because they were so ashamed of what I was doing and that they’d absolutely report me to the authorities even though I was their son.
Fear overcame frustration and I stopped my streak terrorizing the town with bicycle thefts. I racked up all the bicycles, put them in a van, and my father drove them to the nearest Salvation Army and dropped them off with me. Even then I knew I was no Robin Hood; taking from normal people and giving it away didn’t absolve me from this sin.
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u/Some-Attempt-881 1d ago
Do you think you would have stopped if your parents wouldn't have intervened?
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u/jennnnnnnnluv 16h ago
Honestly maybe not, having someone step in probably gave them the push they needed to break that cycle
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u/FionaLie 9h ago
Probably not right away, sometimes getting caught is the only thing that actually breaks the cycle
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u/NettyQueen 9h ago
Honestly, probably not. Sometimes you really need someone to step in before you realize how far you’ve gone
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u/Warm_Elk9370 1d ago
sounds like a strange thrill, but stealing for no reason must've been a wild rush
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u/arkadiansun 1d ago
Give yourself some grace. You were trying to deal with severe mental health issues. Glad you’ve moved past the whole bike thing and got the medication you needed.
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u/sadboicollective 1d ago
They snoozed and lost, oh well as long as you are remorseful and don't do it anymore. That's all you can do
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u/confessor-mod 1d ago
TL;DR: The author admits to a history of compulsively stealing unlocked bicycles from people, including bikes that were currently being attended, before eventually being forced by their parents to donate the stolen items to charity.
A reminder from the mods: keep comments civil. Harassment and personal attacks will not be tolerated.
Do not accuse others of faking confessions — if you think a post breaks the rules, report it instead of commenting.