I went out with my brother and his quasi girlfriend today to help her look for bathroom stuff for her new house. After we finished shopping, we met up with Sahd to go eat at Chilli’s for dinner. They’re having this special right now offering up a 3 course meal for twenty bucks. It’s quite a deal.
Anyhow, we get our checks and have the waitress split it down the middle (2 and 2) and the total comes out to 15 bucks. I rarely pay attention to my bills and probably would have signed off on it and not have thought anything of it.
However, Sahd pointed out that there had to be a mistake because it probably should have been closer to 25 bucks each. He didn’t want the waitress to get into trouble so he called her back to tell her of the mistake. She ended up just letting it slide because she didn’t want to bother her manager about it but she thanked us for pointing out the correction.
Not many people are honorable in this culture anymore..especially when it comes to money. And although I would probably have been aloof to the situation, I had to ask myself I would have done the same? The sad thing is that I’m unsure of the answer.
I think mine would have been conditional upon how much I liked the waiter or waitress. I have less sympathy I think for large franchises and such. I know for sure I’ve walked out of stores like Fry’s or Best Buy knowing they’ve made fortunate mistakes at the counter… which landed me free DVDs and such.
However, whenever I find someone’s wallet full of cash, I would never even think twice about taking the money. I’d return it just as I found it even though I could easily claim I had found it empty. I guess my code of ethics tends to swing more liberal whenever I feel it’s less personal? I don’t know. I guess I might not be as honorable as Sahd.
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So I had two such tests when I was back in the U.S., but due to the circumstances I behaved differently. When buying an ornament for my wife in Monument Valley, the clerk forgot to ring it up with the rest of the purchases. I pointed it out without hesitation.
Before I came back to Thailand, I went to a computer store and bought three flash drives. I paid and left. About thirty minutes later, I was at lunch and I looked at my receipt and realized that she had only charged me for two. I didn't go back and pay for the second. If I had noticed it in the store, or maybe the parking lot, I would definitely let them know. When I'm twenty minutes away and eating my lunch, it falls into the too much effort category.
In perhaps a perverse karmic twist, I managed to lose the flash drives before I cam back.
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