[tater]

Perhaps it's just the ingrained notion that larger entities should give you stuff, "free?"

I should add that it never even occurred to me to take anything from a hotel.

I was hosting some Soviet students years ago (when there was a CCCP) from Moscow Aviation Institute (nuke-Es (space nuclear power, specifically)), and they arrived a day apart. So I take 2 guys in my car to pick up another at the airport. I push the button to get the time slip at the parking lot, and one guy instantly says, "this would never work in Soviet Union."

I was entirely perplexed and asked, "Why not?"

"We would walk back and get new ticket before leaving."

I'd been getting parking slips for years... and it had never occurred to me to rip it off for a couple bucks. LOL.