Thank you for your honesty
I was at the supermarket this weekend and loaded up my shopping cart with all kinds of items. While the cashier was ringing up my items, I noticed that the 4 disposable aluminium pans I had stacked together to save space in my cart was rung up as 1 item. I immediately told the cashier that there was more than 1 pan and that they were stacked. She was so incredibly amazed that I told her the truth, she said "Thank you for your honesty!" 3 times over and handed me my receipt nicely folded with both hands. Those pans were just $0.35 each, I think.
Her reaction was rather flattering, I suppose. At the same time, it is a rather sad reflection of what people expect these days. I work in the service industry and see many times how people are constantly trying to get away with anything they can -- almost a daylight robbery -- even when they can well afford it. Better yet, some folks demand freebies whenever the slightest thing doesn't go their way...some times, it just feels like a complete set up. It's terrible to have to be this paranoid, but the repercussion of offering trust first can some times be an expensive bet these days.
Granted, there are many honest people in the world. It feels harder to spot them because when things run smoothly, it's hard to notice how many honest people we are indeed dealing with each day -- until they are put to some kind of test.
Then the question begs: if those aluminium pans were $100 each, or $500 or $1000...at what point will my honesty break down? Or is it the opposite? When it is so cheap (e.g. $0.10), one doesn't care enough to make the correction because it is not deemed as substantial enough?
The "last lecture" by Randy Pausch mentions that if he had just 3 little words to tell his children, it would be "Tell the Truth". But if he is afforded another 3 more words, he would add "All the time". I think that is just the best advice a parent can give to their children.
I some times feel it's time to take back the world and make it a decent place again. How about some honesty and truth for a change?
Her reaction was rather flattering, I suppose. At the same time, it is a rather sad reflection of what people expect these days. I work in the service industry and see many times how people are constantly trying to get away with anything they can -- almost a daylight robbery -- even when they can well afford it. Better yet, some folks demand freebies whenever the slightest thing doesn't go their way...some times, it just feels like a complete set up. It's terrible to have to be this paranoid, but the repercussion of offering trust first can some times be an expensive bet these days.
Granted, there are many honest people in the world. It feels harder to spot them because when things run smoothly, it's hard to notice how many honest people we are indeed dealing with each day -- until they are put to some kind of test.
Then the question begs: if those aluminium pans were $100 each, or $500 or $1000...at what point will my honesty break down? Or is it the opposite? When it is so cheap (e.g. $0.10), one doesn't care enough to make the correction because it is not deemed as substantial enough?
The "last lecture" by Randy Pausch mentions that if he had just 3 little words to tell his children, it would be "Tell the Truth". But if he is afforded another 3 more words, he would add "All the time". I think that is just the best advice a parent can give to their children.
I some times feel it's time to take back the world and make it a decent place again. How about some honesty and truth for a change?
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