Where do you draw the line for other people's fixtures? I know some of you will steal fixtures from abandoned building. It is still illigal though, even if do one cares. How does this usually work? Any funny stories?

Would about fixing other people's lights? There is a park down the street from me, and they put 2 HPS wallpacks on opposite sides of the restroom building a few years ago. One failed shortly after it was installed and was never fixed. The other one resently started cycling. I feel like heading over there with a screwdriver and a step ladder, removing the cycling lamp, and replacing it with the one from the failed wallpack. That way at least one works properly. There is also a dayburning MV bucket light. Would love to stick a new PC on it, but it's about 20 feet up a pole.

Maybe you can offer your services to the place that owns the malfunctioning wallpack lights.They might even PAY you to fix them!Better to ask than do it on your own.Doing the work on your own opens you to risks.

I sometimes remove stuck starters or disconnect the tube (1/4 turn) in Switchstart luminaires that are glowing in the ends, to save the ballast. But i dont take anything from there. The most common place where i do this is in the fridges in the supermarket, where i just throw the bad starter into the shelf where all the products are. Few times did that also in places where i worked as IT, especially when a tube is flashing and is disturbing the users in the same cubicle where i am repairing the computer

Repairing "harmless" failure modes, or putting in an intact new tube, not my problem - Let that be done by whoever's job it is