Small signs of the decline: Who steals toilet paper?

I have this feeling in the back of my mind that as the economy continues to get worse, you will continue to see things just get progressively worse and worse. After listening to Aaron Clarey, DT and the Man, and Peter Schiff, I see the decline everytime I experience a traffic gridlock. Our country spends $300 billion a year on income security (welfare programs) and only spends $70 billion on infrastructure. Each time I hit pothole I say it is because of food stamps.

Service at McDonald's is kind of slow. I just think it is because the places are understaffed or the managers are off their game because staff had to be cut due to increasing costs of labor and supplies.

Internet or different websites crashed? It was because too many kids are majoring in sociology and not IT.

These are just the normal signs that I see. However I saw a more obscure sign last week.

When I go to the restroom at work, I would see the toilet paper to the right of me. It was on a simple fixture where you could just unspring the rod, pull out the roll, and replace the roll. Changing the roll would take less than 20 seconds. Over the last few weeks or months, I was hearing reports from my colleagues that there was some sort of mystery woman that was going to the ladies bathroom to steal toilet paper. The office space staff would ask my colleagues if they saw anyone stealing toilet paper.

Just two weeks ago, I went to the restroom and saw this mass of plastic surrounding the toilet paper and there was a small lock and key on the fixture. Later I came to the conclusion that these new fixtures were installed to prevent theft of toilet paper. And I think to myself....

Who steals toilet paper?

The stuff is really cheap. I went and bought 40 rolls just for $12. Each roll only cost about 30 cents. I can't imagine someone was stealing toilet paper just to sell it to random people. I don't really see the profit there. I could only guess that the thief was taking the rolls for personal use. Was the thief just really on the edge of financial collapse or was she just a cheapskate?

Even more bewildering was the fact that my office building is pretty nice. It has a lot of glass and marble and it is close to a large mall with a hundred different businesses surrounding it. This is the kind of area where you could walk to the mall to a Barnes and Noble, a California Pizza Kitchen, and a Bed Bath and Beyond in 30 minutes. This wasn't like Detroit or Compton where wild dogs are just roaming the street and little kids are playing with assault rifles.

I'll know things are getting really bad when fast food restaurants put the plastic forks, ketchup, soda fountains, and the napkins behind the counter instead of next to the tables.