Being Honest in Your Dealings

[MorningStar]

I was just shopping at Fred Meyer and finally decided to buy some storage bins after looking for a good deal for a long time. They were a decent price, but still expensive. When I finished buying everything, I thought, "Wow, that's not near as expensive as I thought it would be. Maybe those were on sale?" I almost didn't look and just wanted to go home, but then I saw the four bins were not on the receipt, so I went back. They were worth about $60 total and it was so tempting just to go home, but I knew it would be wrong, so I went back to the checker and he scanned them.

I figured I need the blessings of being honest more than $60. Right? What's the most tempting situation you've been in where you could've gotten away with something?

[pam]

I had my car worked on a few months ago at a dealership where I'm pretty good friends with the owners. I paid the amount they gave me...picked up my car and started driving home. I kept thinking..that's wayyyyyy less than what they had originally quoted me. Like $200 less. I started looking at the invoice and they had only charged me for the parts and had failed to add the labor. Very tempting to just keep on driving...but I couldn't. I'm glad I went back. I felt much better. They even asked why I came back stating they would probably not have caught it.

[MorningStar]

Good for you! I was thinking, if I did just let it go, I wouldn't be able to look at those storage bins without remembering that I didn't pay for them.

[pam]

I wouldn't be able to look at my friends as they come into my store on a daily basis and make purchases knowing I had shorted them for the labor they put in.

[MorningStar]

No kidding!

[Heavenguard]

Same kind of thing. I used to read a lot and had gone to purchase some books from the bookstore. I got more change than I thought I should and said so. The fellow who'd rung me up thought that the books came from one section that was on sale, but they weren't, so we re-did it. The amount was small potatoes, though.

Edit: I used to work at a fast food burger place. I once had a customer tell me I gave him an extra 20 cents in his change! If it were me, I probably wouldn't have noticed such an insignificant amount.

Cheating through university would have been so effortlessly easy. You've probably heard stories where people go to great lengths to jot notes down in the strangest places in the tiniest font size possible. Well, my professors actually left the classrooms with no TAs around for 5, 10, 15 minutes. People pulled books and notes out of bags and asked each other for the answers. I took no part in that, and had no need to either, since I'd actually studied and done my work, and was prepared to accept the grade I'd earned for myself.

I recently had a job interview. Everyone always told me that I should just say that I know how to do everything and then just learn it all later if they actually hire me. It would have been really easy to do, since I actually do know enough of things to B.S. it, but instead I was honest and told them that although I'd previously learned some things, my experience was very limited. I thought it better to be honest now and not get the job than to lie, get the job, and then have to own up to it when I didn't know what was what. I got the job, and I'd like to think that my honesty was something that they appreciated.

[MarginOfError]

Discover once credited me almost $1000 that someone else wrote for their own account. I was sure they'd correct it on their own, but I called them anyway. When I talked to them they said, "oh, we won't do anything until the other person calls to report the error." Way to be proactive!

[Palerider]

A few years ago I went into a store to get a check cashed......it was a payroll check....I use to work at this stock car track on saturday nights that my neighbors own. When the girl gave me the money I noticed that instead of giving me a 5 dollar bill she gave me a fifty dollar bill. I called out to her and said....you might want to check this again....she looked and seen the fifty and said....HHmmm.....took the fifty and walked away...thats it....not a thanks.....get out of here....get lost...... nothing.......

[MorningStar]

A few years ago I went into a store to get a check cashed......it was a payroll check....I use to work at this stock car track on saturday nights that my neighbors own. When the girl gave me the money I noticed that instead of giving me a 5 dollar bill she gave me a fifty dollar bill. I called out to her and said....you might want to check this again....she looked and seen the fifty and said....HHmmm.....took the fifty and walked away...thats it....not a thanks.....get out of here....get lost...... nothing.......

I bet Heavenly Father thanked you though.

I had one situation where a teacher praised me up and down for letting him know that he had graded my test wrong and that I had gotten one more answer incorrect, which would've made my A a B. He said my score would remain the same for being honest.

[MorningStar]

Same kind of thing. I used to read a lot and had gone to purchase some books from the bookstore. I got more change than I thought I should and said so. The fellow who'd rung me up thought that the books came from one section that was on sale, but they weren't, so we re-did it. The amount was small potatoes, though.

Edit: I used to work at a fast food burger place. I once had a customer tell me I gave him an extra 20 cents in his change! If it were me, I probably wouldn't have noticed such an insignificant amount.

Cheating through university would have been so effortlessly easy. You've probably heard stories where people go to great lengths to jot notes down in the strangest places in the tiniest font size possible. Well, my professors actually left the classrooms with no TAs around for 5, 10, 15 minutes. People pulled books and notes out of bags and asked each other for the answers. I took no part in that, and had no need to either, since I'd actually studied and done my work, and was prepared to accept the grade I'd earned for myself.

I recently had a job interview. Everyone always told me that I should just say that I know how to do everything and then just learn it all later if they actually hire me. It would have been really easy to do, since I actually do know enough of things to B.S. it, but instead I was honest and told them that although I'd previously learned some things, my experience was very limited. I thought it better to be honest now and not get the job than to lie, get the job, and then have to own up to it when I didn't know what was what. I got the job, and I'd like to think that my honesty was something that they appreciated.

I was surprised to hear that a lot of people in college cheat. I remember in high school, we had a math teacher that let people share calculators during tests and he had no idea people were using them to give each other the answers.

[wokie]

I drive taxis and on occasion I've found the odd wallet thats been left behind(mainly because they've been drinking).

On one ocassion there was a large amount of money in a wallet.

Lots of $50's n $20's.

Could have pocketed the money and thrown away the wallet, but no sure as I do it'll come back to haunt me.

As it was 2 am I ended up leaving it in the mailbox of where I dropped them as they're regular customers.

Saw them a few day's later and asked if they got the wallet. They did. Money intact.

Told them I left it in mailbox as it was 2 am when I dropped it in mailbox and they woud have given me a knukle sandwich if I knocked on their front door!

Edited August 6, 2008 by wokie

[mightynancy]

I took my two kids to the art museum yesterday. The man at the desk looked at us and said, "Six dollars, please." I told him that it would be seven dollars. Adults pay $5 and students from 1st grade through 12th get in for $1...he must've thought my daughter was younger than she really is. My daughter looked at me like I was crazy, arguing to pay one more dollar than I could've gotten away with. I told her, "Darling, we're not going to trade our integrity for a dollar."

[breezygirl]

A few years back the local grocery store employees went on strike. I went in and bought $280.00 worth of groceries and paid with a check. I kept waiting for that check to clear but it never did. After 3 months I went back and spoke to the manager who told me that some of the temporary help they had working registers turned out to be relatives or friends of the people on strike and quite a few checks had disappeared.The temps were chucking them out in an effort to cost the store more money during the strike. The manager told me that a few people had come in and said their checks never cleared either. He said I could just forget it and thanked me for my honesty. I felt funky about it so I went to the local food bank and wrote them a check for $280.00 to kind of pay it forward.

[Over43]

I was in a Safeway once and got $40 in change back instead of $20. I didn't noctice till I got to work. So the next morning I took the extra $20 back. The Safeway staff was shocked. They offered me free coffee for a week.

O43

[Palerider]

I was in a Safeway once and got $40 in change back instead of $20. I didn't noctice till I got to work. So the next morning I took the extra $20 back. The Safeway staff was shocked. They offered me free coffee for a week.

O43

I would have held out for Root Beer....:)

[Heavenguard]

I had one situation where a teacher praised me up and down for letting him know that he had graded my test wrong and that I had gotten one more answer incorrect, which would've made my A a B. He said my score would remain the same for being honest.

Ah, yes, something like that's happened to me more than once. I once had a perfect score on a math test in high school, but I found a mistake that my teacher had marked as correct. Well, I couldn't very well go around with a false perfect ... my teacher let me keep my marks for my honesty. I think she also wanted to reward my hard work, as I'd failed the previous quiz with a 46% and I put in so much effort to do well on this test. It was the only perfect score I've ever received in my life till now :)

[Misshalfway]

I dropped my wallet in an Old Navy the other day. It was packed with back to school shoppers and I didn't notice it fall because my arms were full of clothing and needy kidlets. A woman watched the whole thing happen and followed me around the store to give me my wallet back. She saved me a world of hurt!

[breeb]

I love the Jeff Foxworthy routine where he talks about being the designated driver, and he stops at every gas station on the way home to pretend to fill up so he can get about $100 out of his friends. Is it really dishonest to take advantage of your friends when they're wasted?

[NeuroTypical]

A lady in our ward tells a very cool story where she walked out of a Sears in California paying $50 less than she should have. That state of affairs sat in the back of her mind tweaking her conscience for a decade or more. She got married and had kids with that thing back there, chewing away at her happiness.

She finally decided to go to her local Sears and make good. She fought for three hours, refusing to accept every refusal she encountered. The high school chick couldn't figure out how to make the computer work. Her manager couldn't either. Nobody wanted her money. There just wasn't any way to make it work without screwing up the inventory levels or inviting some audit from the accountnig department. The store manager got on the phone with the regional guy. I forget the details, but they finally figured something out like charging her $60 for a $10 item, refusing to take the extra $10, and begging her to call it good and leave before everyone got fired.

She says it was worth every single minute - she would have spent 6 hours if necessary. The burden has been lifted.

LM

[Vort]

About four months ago, a friend asked me to help move her refrigerator, so I arrived and saw it on her driveway next to her neighbor's new car. I stuck a handtruck under the fridge to move it and promptly dropped the fridge on the neighbor's new car. A dent, a deep scratch, and I knew it would be hundreds of dollars (at least) to fix. Neither I nor my friend had any insurance that would pay for this.

In that moment, I realized that no one had seen what I did, and if I simply walked away, the neighbor's insurance would pay for the damage. I knew with utter clarity that if I kept my mouth shut and left, no one would be the wiser, the neighbor wouldn't even see the damage until getting to work the next day and assuming it happened there, and everything would be juuuuuust fine.

So I did the only reasonable thing I could do.

I immediately went to the neighbor's door and told him I dropped a refrigerator on his car.

Cost me $1400 out of pocket. Three weeks later I was laid off.

Edited August 6, 2008 by Vort

[Heavenguard]

I immediately went to the neighbor's door and told him I dropped a refrigerator on his car.

Ignoring the $1400 price tag on it ... you do have the awesomeness of being able to say you've dropped a refrigerator on a car

[tomxsumm]

Almost tried to sell a case of Xango juice to a neighbor, gave it back to my in-laws and told them to get lost.

[Over43]

Almost tried to sell a case of Xango juice to a neighbor, gave it back to my in-laws and told them to get lost.

That there's funny, I don't care who you are! By the way, what is Xango juice?

O43

[tomxsumm]

That there's funny, I don't care who you are! By the way, what is Xango juice?

O43

MLM fruit syrup, also known as one of the Gadianton Juices....and they are the Pro Soccer team in Utah - "Xango Salt Lake"

[cintiejo]

I went to Fred Meyers to buy a birthday, as usual I end up buying more stuff then what I go in for. As I was loading the bags into the car, I noticed the birthday card laying at the bottom of the cart. I looked on my receipt and noticed that I had not paid for it. I went back into the store. Stood in line to pay for the card. When I got up clerk to pay for the card, it was the same clerk, she made a comment about forgetting to buy the card and having to come back in to get one. I said no. It was in the my cart but it wasn't rang up when I came through the first time. She looked at me like you such an idiot. I told her that I wasn't going to go live the devil for the price of a birthday card.

Another time, I went thru the drive through at the bank. I depoisted a check and asked for $300 back. When I got back to my office, I counted the money and found out I had recieved $400 instead of the $300. I looked at my check withdrawl, and it said $300. I called the bank and told them about the mistake. The lady couldn't believe I called. She said they would have never be able to find the mistake. She thanked me.

Being honest is worth it.