While I agree with most of what everyone said (and I live on an island so I am no stranger to internet sales), I think this is really overstating it. How have I caused them "economic harm" if the salesperson is just standing around there anyway? What if I'm just standing around and shooting the breeze talking about the weather and the [insert your local professional sports team] for an hour, am I still "stealing." What if I haven't prevented them from making any other sales? OK, I'm hanging out at the mall because I got dragged there by my wife, am I "stealing" because I kill time at the local "anything" store? Where is your bright line? Is it ok to ask the salesperson any questions? What about 30 minutes? What about 15 minutes. At what point does legitimate curousity about a product tip into "stealing." BTW, when did "stealing" become acceptable if you do it to a chain store instead of a locally-owned store?