OFF-TOPIC Integrity Poll ... Who has it?

[MJ DeMarco]

After reading the story about Andres car getting tagged and no one taking responsibility ... I thought I'd post a poll about Integrity.

This happened to me 2 days ago and I'm curious how others would react. Please be honest in the poll.

Here is the story ...

I'm at the marble/stone store and I purchased 800 tiles of small stone tiles. Each tile was 45 cents. I also purchased 10 decorative marble tiles which were priced at $7.99 each.

I explain to the sales rep that I have 810 tiles ... 800 and 10. She tells me the amount I owe and I pay. She gives me the receipt, says thank you, and walks away.
As I start rolling out of the store, I glance at my receipt and realize that I was charged 45 cents for the $7.99 tiles. Basically, I was undercharged about $75.

I stop in my tracks and immediately react ... no internal thinking or pondering ....I yell half-way across the store, "Excuse me, I think you rang me up wrong".

The lady turns around and gives me somewhat a grimace, obviously jumping to the conclusion that I think I've been overcharged. I tell her that I was undercharged and that the expensive, decorative tiles weren't charged correctly, she immediately looked like she seen a ghost. She says "Wow, thank you so much for your honesty" to which I replied "Its the only way to do business".

10 minutes later and $75 more, I was on my way. It feels great to live a life of integrity which is why I believe I am blessed with richness in life, happiness, love, and money.

Question is, how many others would have done the same thing? I would speculate 5% of the world would "Do the Right Thing" and that, makes me sad.

 

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[WheelsRCool]

I know I would, because I did once (though not for nearly that large a number). I was at the gas station and the guy gave me more money in change than he should have, and I gave it back to him.

UNFORTUNATELY, this happened right in front of the owner, so I made the cashier look very bad because of this

But I kept my integrity intact, so I am overall happy

I was once in the gym and dropped my wallet somewhere and practically panicked when I discovered this, so I went to the counter where they hand out towels and such and asked if anyone had turned in a wallet, AND THEY HAD! and no money had been stolen from it either, so I was happy to have had an integrity person there

Regarding the poll, I would reason it's the store's fault, but I'd still go back in and tell them.

 

[andviv]

When I was in high school (I was probably 13) and my mom sent me to the bank to pay for my tuition (private school, like almost everybody back in my country) and when I did, the cashier made a mistake and gave me back something that my be the equivalent to $50. Imagine you being a 13 year old with a $50 bill in your hands!!! I pretty much ran from the bank and got in the car where my mom was waiting for me. We got going and 5 minutes after we left I told her what had happened. She braked so hard I almost ate the windshield. She took me back to the bank and pretty much forced me to give him the money back and get the $5 that i should have gotten hadn't the guy made the mistake. That taught me the lesson.

When I asked my mom why I had to return the money she said that it was just the right thing to do, besides, that guy would have to pay that money to the bank, as it was his mistake.

After that day I return back and pay what is right, because it is the right thing to do. And yes, people look at you weird when that happens. Too bad, but is true.

 

[Bilgefisher]

At the barber shop getting a haircut with my dad. I was around 7 or so. My dad didn't have the correct change for the haircut and the barber didn't have the correct change in the register to break a larger bill he had. She said no problem and told us to not worry about the extra 2 dollars. Next thing I new we were at the gas station getting 2 dollars in change and taking back to the barber.

I'll be honest though, I can remember a few times that I didn't bother to tell the cashier I was undercharged. Probably wrong and never in the amount of $75. My mentality has changed as late though. I grew up with the us verse them mentality, not very good. I do think about those things a lot more now.

 

[Runum]

Last week I bought 3 mailboxes from the local HD. I knew one of the boxes sounded funny when I shook it but the box was sealed up with tape just like the other two boxes. When I got to the property and began installing the boxes I found out one of them had been stuffed with a lot of extra merchandise. I figure someone stuffed them and was coming back for them but I happened to be the one that picked it up. I returned the unpaid for hardware and told them what happened. I figure you reap what you sow.

 

[kimberland]

Well, honestly if I didn't notice the under charge in the store
(when I paid),
I likely never would.

If it was scanned and undercharged,
I wouldn't raise a fuss either.
Half the time, the shelf tags are wrong.

Wrong change?
If I notice, yep, I always give it back.
The cashier usually has to make up any shorts.

BTW... I always tell the cashier what I'm giving them.
Having documented cash controls,
one of the tricks is to claim the customer gave a $10 bill
when they really gave a $20
(most people won't question it).
Saying it out loud prevents that.
I always get a receipt also (another audit control).

I don't lie and I don't cheat (intentionally).
Don't have a good enough memory to do either successfully.
Honesty is simpler.

 

[SteveO]

I pointed out an error in the sellers deposits on a recent transaction. He had the deposits listed a couple of grand lower than we found on our lease audit. By letting him know, he was able to correct the problem. That did not stop him from trying to grind other funds out of me at closing. Fortunately, he was not in a position to twist my arm.

This was a situation where integrity was shown and not reciprocated.

I just closed a deal where the agent saved the buyer 10K through information found in the loan docs and a savings on certain termite treatment. The buyer refused to pay 11K to the lenders attorney at closing because he thought it was too high. He told me and the agent to ante up or he would not close the deal. The agent was willing to kick in but I wasn't. I also told the agent to remind him of the money he already saved him and suggested that he should not contribute. It was not our bill to pay.

The deal closed without the ridiculous request being granted. Not a lot of integrity on my part but I did stand up for the sales agent.

The world of commercial real estate does not see a lot of integrity in my opinion. You have to work hard to cover your a$$ so it doesn't get smacked. :smx6:

 

[biophase]

I would not have gone back and told them.

 

[S928]

Depending upon the day, I might've gone back. Probably a 50% chance.

Now, what happened to Anviv is different. Whom ever did that was plain wrong to leave the scene and not take any responsibility whatsoever. That person was a scumbag that should do hard labor for the rest of his/her life.

 

[SteveO]

I would not have gone back and told them.

Don't get me wrong here. I was honest as was appropriate. But, in the other parts of this transaction, I was able to negotiate many more discounts from the seller. I have no problem with taking MUCH more when it can be pushed for. The inaccuracy of the deposit accounting was symptomatic of the seller's entire operation. :smx8:

 

[Rawr]

The thing is - there are situations vastly more gray than the one above. What if the example was grayer - for example, the cashier was on the last warning and would be fired if you pointed out her mistake?

If I was already at home - most likely no, I wouldn't return. Otherwise if $75 isn't an issue I would.

I've been fooled by wrong tags before and charged 300% the amount, sometimes things like these make it even.



You find a briefcase with $500,000 deep in the snow one day, there is 0 chance of anything bad happening if you keep or give away the money. Does that change things?

 

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[kimberland]

Well, that $500,000 is likely drug money
so I'd hand it over to the police.

Add drug lords to my list of people not to mess with
(along with custom officers and tax auditors,
oh might as well add organized crime folks too).

 

[mtnman]

"Integrity is one of several paths, it distinguishes itself from others because it is the right path, and the only one upon which you will never get lost." -M.H. McKee :smx9:

 

[Yankees338]

I would have gone back and told them 90% of the time. I hate dealing with a guilty conscience. Sometimes, though, it depends on the store. I'd be much more inclined to go back and return the money if it was a local, neighborhood shop, especially one I visit frequently, than a big company owned store like a BestBuy.

Different people obviously have different views on this, though. For instance, I was walking back from one of our school football games on a Friday night with some friends. I looked on the ground and found a wad of cash, totalling about $100. We were right across from the police station and I wanted to bring it in, but my friends wouldn't let me. They just told me to keep it, but I figured whoever it belonged to probably needed it more than I did. I couldn't deal with the potential guilt, so I gave about half of it to my friends and then went to Dunkin Donuts with two of them and treated them for some food. It's always better to give than receive, IMO. One of my other friends, though, the scumbag that he is, took a $20 bill from the wad as I was picking it up.

 

[JesseO]

I was at a bowling alley over Christmas vacation and got undercharged. The clerk accidentally left out a number and only rang me up for 37 cents instead of $3.75 for a drink. I showed him the mistake and he was happy to correct it for me ;-)

 

[bflbob]

I was at a bowling alley over Christmas vacation and god undercharged. The clerk accidentally left out a number and only rang me up for 37 cents instead of $3.75 for a drink. I showed him the mistake and he was happy to correct it for me ;-)

Well of course you'd point it out -- to him!:iagree:

 

[JesseO]

Thanks for noticing the typo It has been fixed!

 

[JScott]

A little different, as he likely wouldn't have been able to actually cash it, but here's a story of a fast food worker who found a check for $185,000 and returned it:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/01/02/ct.check.returned.wfsb

 

[Diane Kennedy]

Here's another question...

My son David and I went to Best Buy yesterday. David had gotten a gift card for Best Buy and was using it to buy some things. I just went along for the ride.

Anyway, the clerk rang the stuff up, took his card, gave us the receipt, bagged the purchases and just said "thank you." David was looking closely at the receipt and I didn't pay much attention to what he was doing but it just seemed strange that the purchase would be exactly what was on the gift card. So, I asked if there was some still left on the card. David looked up just then and said, "Yes, there should be." The guy didn't say a thing, just handed over the card which he had set aside in a pile of other gift cards.

There wasn't much left - $5 and change, but I got to thinking about all the other used cards sitting there. Did they all have a few bucks on them still and he was just hanging on to them?

My husband said I should have asked to see a manager and reported him - I was just in a hurry and left. But it bugs me.

What would you have done?

 

[JesseO]

Being the savvy consumer that I am (remember the pizza menu, dad?) I probably would have asked to speak with a manager while the clerk was there. Maybe the employee was stocking up on gift cards for himself, or maybe he simply realized his mistake right when you guys did?

 

[WheelsRCool]

If I find a wad of cash on the ground, likea $100 bill, no way am I taking it into the police station because IMO the person in there would likely just keep it for themself I'd think.

Now if I see a person walking a $100 bill falls out of their pocket, you can bet your butt I will grab it and run to them to tell them they dropped it.

If I find a bag of cash sitting around somewhere, well that depends...if it's in the middle of nowhere, I would keep it likely (by nowhere, I mean like the middle of a forest or a desert). If it's in some neighborhood, I would probably take it to the police.

One can also have an incentive for returning it to the cops, for example you never know if it's a reality-TV series or something, testing to see who keeps the cash and who makes off with it

But I still don't know, I mean WHO LEAVES A BIG BAG OF CASH LYING AROUND? There would have to be a criminal connection, so I might just take it to the cops.

If I found a check for $600,000 that was blank, I would return it to the owner if I could first.

 

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[JScott]

If you really need an incentive (other than basic integrity) to give back found money, you should probably read this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/nyregion/28about.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

 

[nomadjanet]

If you are coming from a point of plenty in your life it is easy to have integrity and volunteer to give the money back. Also if you run your own business and see the results of people who cheat you don't want to be one of those people. People at the lower economic scale who are barely getting by have a much harder decision to make when giving back even just a few dollars. $100 bucks wouldn't mean much to me but to some guy living on 1200 a month it would be a big deal. This whole thing makes me think of the inheritance thing. People who make $200k a year will fuss & fight over an inheritance of $200k, it just doesn't make sense to me. You are going to throw away your relationship with your brother because you want a bigger piece of an estate that is less than you make in a year. How does that make sense?

 

[MikeT_Ca]

I would like to think that I would go back and point out the mistake, but I probably would not especially if its a large store like Home Depot. A mom and pop store maybe.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Here's another question...

My son David and I went to Best Buy yesterday. David had gotten a gift card for Best Buy and was using it to buy some things. I just went along for the ride.

Anyway, the clerk rang the stuff up, took his card, gave us the receipt, bagged the purchases and just said "thank you." David was looking closely at the receipt and I didn't pay much attention to what he was doing but it just seemed strange that the purchase would be exactly what was on the gift card. So, I asked if there was some still left on the card. David looked up just then and said, "Yes, there should be." The guy didn't say a thing, just handed over the card which he had set aside in a pile of other gift cards.

There wasn't much left - $5 and change, but I got to thinking about all the other used cards sitting there. Did they all have a few bucks on them still and he was just hanging on to them?

My husband said I should have asked to see a manager and reported him - I was just in a hurry and left. But it bugs me.

What would you have done?

I would have reported him.

 

[Reisteve]

I agree.. Report him..

 

[GettingThere]

Yes. Did this about three weeks ago at the pet store. Bought a pet door to install at the new house, along with some other misc. items. The guy scanned everything...somehow, the computer was not in the right mode and omitted the pet door...about $20. After he gave me my total and I paid via debit card on the pin pad, I thought the total was off. After looking at the receipt, sure enough, it didn't add into the total. After being dismissed, I showed him the error. He thanked my like 5 times...told him no biggie.

To me, walking out while knowing you did not pay for an item you have is pretty much stealing. If I point out a minor error and they tell me not to worry about it, then it's on them...but I like to hold up my end of the deal.

Good post. I have known some people who would just keep walking, thinking they got the deal of the year.

-John

 

[GettingThere]

Here's another question...

My son David and I went to Best Buy yesterday. David had gotten a gift card for Best Buy and was using it to buy some things. I just went along for the ride.

Anyway, the clerk rang the stuff up, took his card, gave us the receipt, bagged the purchases and just said "thank you." David was looking closely at the receipt and I didn't pay much attention to what he was doing but it just seemed strange that the purchase would be exactly what was on the gift card. So, I asked if there was some still left on the card. David looked up just then and said, "Yes, there should be." The guy didn't say a thing, just handed over the card which he had set aside in a pile of other gift cards.

There wasn't much left - $5 and change, but I got to thinking about all the other used cards sitting there. Did they all have a few bucks on them still and he was just hanging on to them?

My husband said I should have asked to see a manager and reported him - I was just in a hurry and left. But it bugs me.

What would you have done?

Definitely would have mentioned this to a manager. I hope that the manager would not be promoting this behavior. I watched a story on this exact topic a year or two ago around the holiday season. In summary, it explained that these companies selling gift cards were making LOTS of money on leftover balances because people just didn't care about the incremental amounts remaining on the cards and had the cashier keep them. We're talking $.15, $.25...not $5. That's pretty nuts.

- John

 

[Analyzer]

Buffet once said

"Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you should look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence , and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you. You think about it; it's true. If you hire somebody without the first, you really want them to be dumb and lazy"

Totally true

 

[CactusWren]

So here it goes.

I have pointed mistakes in their favor many times, but I can remember at least one time when I did not.

Also, I have done nothing about mistakes going either way that I did not notice until I got home. Too lazy even for my own account...

About the employee possibly stealing. First I do not think the cards would be piled on the counter if s/he planned on taking them, but if I thought there was something going on I would have probably made some comment to the employee, not the manager.