What's it worth?
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
While I was getting gas recently, I sent my son into the store to get us each a bottle of soda. He did as he was told, and came out and handed me the change. There was more change than we were supposed to have. It wasn't much, only like a dollar or two, but still.
I was in a hurry. Did I go back into the store? Or did I hurry on to my appointment, because we were already late?
I quizzed my son, while I finished pumping the gas. Did he think this was more money than he should have gotten back? He just looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno Mom".
I ran into the store and told the woman that she had given my son too much change back, and I handed her back her dollar. She looked at me rather funny and said: "It's just a dollar. No one would have known", as she snatched the dollar from my hand.
"That's true. But, now my son knows that I am honest. That matters more to me than keeping a stupid dollar." and I turned and promptly left the store.
Thing 2 was interested as to why I did that. The lady didn't care, so why did I? "Because", I told him, "it is the right thing to do. Even when it is not popular. It's always the right choice to be honest. No matter what."
Later that week, I was shopping at Wal-mart... alone. That is something that rarely happens. Me + alone.
I had made all of my purchases and as I was loading them into the cart, I noticed a small $2.00 item that I had neglected to put on the shelf. I grabbed it and said "Oh. This slipped through. I need to pay for this too."
There was a rather long line behind me and the man whose turn was next, sighed and said quite loudly "It's just two bucks. They would have never known, nor would they miss it." Then, he spent the few seconds it took me to take care of that final transaction huffing and puffing.
He was right.
Wal-mart would have never missed my $2.00 Burts Bee's Wax that I was buying. It was a huge pain to pull my wallet out again, and I made everyone else wait. But, I would have missed that little piece of integrity that would have been lost had I not been honest.
What an interesting study it was for me to see that "just a couple of bucks" meant to several people it was OK to not be honest. Is it ever Ok to not be honest? I don't think so. What you trade is your integrity. That is something that is more important to me.
We were late for our appointment, my son and I, but he now knows that his mother is honest.
I made all the people behind me in the line at Wal-mart wait. But now I know that I am honest. Not because anyone else was watching, but because it was right.
I was in a hurry. Did I go back into the store? Or did I hurry on to my appointment, because we were already late?
I quizzed my son, while I finished pumping the gas. Did he think this was more money than he should have gotten back? He just looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno Mom".
I ran into the store and told the woman that she had given my son too much change back, and I handed her back her dollar. She looked at me rather funny and said: "It's just a dollar. No one would have known", as she snatched the dollar from my hand.
"That's true. But, now my son knows that I am honest. That matters more to me than keeping a stupid dollar." and I turned and promptly left the store.
Thing 2 was interested as to why I did that. The lady didn't care, so why did I? "Because", I told him, "it is the right thing to do. Even when it is not popular. It's always the right choice to be honest. No matter what."
Later that week, I was shopping at Wal-mart... alone. That is something that rarely happens. Me + alone.
I had made all of my purchases and as I was loading them into the cart, I noticed a small $2.00 item that I had neglected to put on the shelf. I grabbed it and said "Oh. This slipped through. I need to pay for this too."
There was a rather long line behind me and the man whose turn was next, sighed and said quite loudly "It's just two bucks. They would have never known, nor would they miss it." Then, he spent the few seconds it took me to take care of that final transaction huffing and puffing.
He was right.
Wal-mart would have never missed my $2.00 Burts Bee's Wax that I was buying. It was a huge pain to pull my wallet out again, and I made everyone else wait. But, I would have missed that little piece of integrity that would have been lost had I not been honest.
What an interesting study it was for me to see that "just a couple of bucks" meant to several people it was OK to not be honest. Is it ever Ok to not be honest? I don't think so. What you trade is your integrity. That is something that is more important to me.
We were late for our appointment, my son and I, but he now knows that his mother is honest.
I made all the people behind me in the line at Wal-mart wait. But now I know that I am honest. Not because anyone else was watching, but because it was right.
