Modern Ethics I Fail The Tests

Not long after we got married in 1981, my wife went to our local Savings and Loan (remember those?) on a Saturday morning and withdrew a few thousand dollars for Christmas shopping.

When I got home from work she tells me that the teller gave her an extra thousand dollars!

I checked everything and she was correct.

It was an extra $1000.00!

It would have been nice to keep it, but I thought they would do the accounting, realize which teller was short, and make her pay right before Christmas!

We agreed she should return it on Monday and tell the manager.

When she got there on Monday and asked the manager if they were short $1000.00, the manager said, "No."

She then told the manager what happened and returned the money, figuring that the accounting department would eventually catch up with the mistake and the teller lady would be forced to pay.

The manager gave her a coffee mug as a reward.

John

Loser Weepers Finder Keepers!

Back some years ago, my recently deceased uncle found a big wad of currency that was dropped on the floor of a store in the next town. My uncle reported it and the owner came around, adequately described what was holding the wad of currency together and was given back the money. My uncle told me the story because he thought I might have known the fellow who had lost the money. It turned out I did. The owner told me that the money was his vacation money for the year, and he has been grateful all these years.

BLACKHAWKNJ said:

If you can readily identify an owner I think you're obliged to return it.

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A little while ago I was up at the dealership that does the service work on my cars to get a pair of new tires put on and some other work done. When the work was done, I got the bill, gave it a look and paid it. But sometimes my mind keeps working on things. As I was driving home I was still thinking about the numbers on the bill and they were coming up rather light. So when I got home the first thing I did was to check to make sure that 2 new tires were installed. After I confirmed that, then I sat down and really checked over the bill and saw that I only got charged for one tire. I nearly broke my wrist picking up the phone to call the service department to tell them they installed 2 tires as requested but only charged for one.

So later that day I went back to the dealership to pay for the second tire. Here it turned out the Service Department cashier only rang up 1 tire instead of 2. He and the Service Department Manager were very grateful that I called about the 2nd tire and came back immediately to pay for it. They told me that if an audit was done the tire would show up as still being in inventory but certainly would not be physically found. To me there was no question that stepping up to straighten out this matter had to be done.

CAJUNLAWYER said:

Back in the '70's while drinking with a friend I found a $50 dollar bill on the floor of the bar. Well back then, a $50 was a rarity and its absence would have been noticed by the owner, so rather than spend it there and risk discovery, we made the decision to go to another bar. Worked well. I suspect that is on the "to be discussed" list with St. Peter if I get that far

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If you slide on that one and get in, at least you’ll be a celebrity. Somebody told me one time there probably won’t be many lawyers there so you’ll be a big deal !

We were all given a conscience. How we use it is up to us.

As pre teen kid with a newly found fondness for Slurpee's in around '62-'63 I had just finished mowing a lawn and given the princely sum of $1.00 rode down to the newly opened 7-11 to treat myself to a reward of a large cola flavored Slurpee. Riding the distance on my 10-speed pulling into the driveway and heading for the usual parking spot in front where I could keep an eye on my bike I see something odd laying against the curb that stepped up to the entrance area. I walked back over to it and immediately see that it looks like a bill folded into quarters. I quickly reached down and stuck it in the pocket of my jeans. Walked in and filled my large cup with tasty Slurpee, payed the attendant the .25 and went back out to my bike and rolled it around to the shady side of the building where it was customary to sit and enjoy the sweet, icy goodness of my Slurpee. While there I pulled the folded bill out of my pocket and quickly found out it was not a dollar but a twenty, not one but two...FORTY DOLLARS. More money than I had ever had in my life in my hand. My parents did not raise a fool, I knew in my heart that it would be a mistake to take it into the store with "Hey, did anybody come in or say anything about loosing any money?"
Not much of a dilemma for me, I went home and told my mother about it, she said "I'm sure someone is just sick about that, what are you going to do with the money?" I told her "I'm going to buy Christmas presents for everyone in July and spend a bit on myself." I bought nice Christmas presents for everyone in my family, and bought myself a neat Daisey CO2 powered b.b. pistol and a few boxes of .22 shells for my rifle.
Thinking about $40 today is not much money but it represented mowing 40 lawns, my dad begrudgingly paid me .25 a week so 160 weeks of allowance puts it in perspective. Up til that time the most money I ever had in my hands was probably $5 somebody like my grandparents gave me for Christmas. Minimum wage back then was $1.25 or something like that guys probably took home $40 a week that worked minimum wage. It was a fortune...

JohnHL said:

Not long after we got married in 1981, my wife went to our local Savings and Loan (remember those?) on a Saturday morning and withdrew a few thousand dollars for Christmas shopping.

When I got home from work she tells me that the teller gave her an extra thousand dollars!

I checked everything and she was correct.

It was an extra $1000.00!

It would have been nice to keep it, but I thought they would do the accounting, realize which teller was short, and make her pay right before Christmas!

We agreed she should return it on Monday and tell the manager.

When she got there on Monday and asked the manager if they were short $1000.00, the manager said, "No."

She then told the manager what happened and returned the money, figuring that the accounting department would eventually catch up with the mistake and the teller lady would be forced to pay.

The manager gave her a coffee mug as a reward.

John

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Pretty expensive mug! Sell it on eBay for $1000. (it might just sell)

I started out building an 8x10 shed that turned into a 16x24 because Lowes wouldn’t stop delivering the lumber. Only paid for one delivery and when I contacted the store they said it wasn’t worth their time to come get it.

Bought some work clothes at a family owned independent department store 4-5 years ago, the cashier rang up my order, I said "Those sound like 1970s prices ?" Not sure where the problem was but we corrected it.
At a now closed grocery I was charged only $0. 50 per can for some 12oz sodas. The manager said it was a computer error but they didn't have the authority to correct it.
The Golden Rule, anyone ?

JohnHL said:

Not long after we got married in 1981, my wife went to our local Savings and Loan (remember those?) on a Saturday morning and withdrew a few thousand dollars for Christmas shopping.

When I got home from work she tells me that the teller gave her an extra thousand dollars!

I checked everything and she was correct.

It was an extra $1000.00!

It would have been nice to keep it, but I thought they would do the accounting, realize which teller was short, and make her pay right before Christmas!

We agreed she should return it on Monday and tell the manager.

When she got there on Monday and asked the manager if they were short $1000.00, the manager said, "No."

She then told the manager what happened and returned the money, figuring that the accounting department would eventually catch up with the mistake and the teller lady would be forced to pay.

The manager gave her a coffee mug as a reward.

John

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MRB1 said:

Pretty expensive mug! Sell it on eBay for $1000. (it might just sell)

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If only!!!

Seriously, we never lost anything, and I'm glad we returned it.

John

As a newly wed and soon to be father my money was always in less than short supply. On payday I cashed my check, all of $97.00 for nearly eighty hours work and OT and drove home on my Harley. Somewhere along that thirty mile stretch, my billfold fell out of my pocket and was lost. Late that night a man knocked on my door with my billfold - every dollar there. He found it many miles away and drove across town to make sure it got where it belonged. That's honesty at its best, and taught me a big lesson.

pharmer said:

Well, on my way over to my FFL/pawnshop I stopped into the “MiniWally” and handed the double sawbuck to the manager. Chances of the owner getting it back are slim. Point is it was never my money. In the future I’m just walking away. Minding my own business just got bigger. Joe

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Joe, I think you started this thread because your conscience had a twinge, and that the result is that you decided, upon reflection, to take the bucks back to the store. Felt like the right thing to do.

Good on you. I hope that the store will keep your number, or somehow contact you, if the money is not claimed by the owner.

As for the future, should it happen again, and if the customer service counter is closed, again, and the lone attendant is on her phone, again, I'd say do the same thing: Pocket the dough and take it back later with an explanation.

Well done, Joe.

Onomea said:

........As for the future, should it happen again, and if the customer service counter is closed, again, and the lone attendant is on her phone, again, I'd say do the same thing: Pocket the dough and take it back later with an explanation....

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As much "noise" as this created in my head I'll interrupt the attendant, point to the cash and walk away. The "Universe" can make the next moves. I don't need anyone else's money at this point in this life anyway. Joe

I found 80 bucks in twenties in a Big Lots parking lot one day. There wasn't anybody around to give it back to. I took SWMBO to dinner with it.

I have used a cc for most purchases for about 10 years. We keep our receipts and enter them into a bookkeeping program just as if it were a check register. We get a few charges a year that we have receipts for that don't show up on our statements. I am not about to try and dance with a Walmart corporate office asking them when they are going to collect the $20 I have a receipt for that they didn't collect.
I have heard from some that they view it as the cost of doing business.

My chance to make up for previous failures came one day while working. I drove city bus for twenty seven years, drove some routes for years, others until I could get a better route. I was driving a fairly tough route, quite a bit of mileage with a heavy passenger count, little recovery time at the end of the route, go-go-go for eight hours. I got to know my customers and after about a week on the route I got to the end of the route and it was customary to walk down the aisle to make sure there weren't any left behind articles. I got to the back and there was a folder like one would use for photographs, I opened it and it was loaded with envelopes with cancelled postage, from the 1800's, a few marked Pony Express. Well I didn't have any use for it but understood the value and turned it into the company. There policy was to hold onto it for thirty days and then give it to the driver if he filled out the paperwork, otherwise donate it to Goodwill. After a month I got called into the office and the gal handed me the folder. I had no idea what to do with it but there was a stamp collector store downtown, I went in and asked them if they knew anything about it. The guy told me that he knew who had lost it and gave me directions to where he worked. I went over to the place, it was the kind of place houses were designed, with draftsmen in offices, etc. I asked the secretary for the guy who name I had. She said just a minute, got on the phone and called the guy forward. The minute I saw the guy coming down the hall I knew it was him, he had Cerebral Palsey and drug his right leg behind him. I told him that I had something that might be his and handed him the folder, the guy starts crying and in his best attempt to explain to me how valuable it was to him, his lifelong collection. He offered a reward but I told him just to see his emotions were enough for me. His mother later wrote up a nice article for the paper, one of my finer moments.

mtgianni said:

I have used a cc for most purchases for about 10 years. We keep our receipts and enter them into a bookkeeping program just as if it were a check register. We get a few charges a year that we have receipts for that don't show up on our statements. I am not about to try and dance with a Walmart corporate office asking them when they are going to collect the $20 I have a receipt for that they didn't collect.
I have heard from some that they view it as the cost of doing business.

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I had a good customer who called me and asked when I planned to send an invoice for 1500 parts we had shipped two months ago. I apologized, thanked him for his honesty, and offered to give him a discount. He refused and said, that’s ok - just send the invoice!

Later that same year my highly skilled and organized shipping department did the same thing! Again!! Needless to say, I got another phone call. The customer jokingly asked if I was “testing” him. I had to admit I was not, and had to eat crow a second time.

I had new tires installed at Sams Club on my F-350. .No big deal. but expensive. Had 'em about a year and a half...and they were not wearing well. anyway went back to have the tires rotated. ...took 'em almost an hour and a half.. I'm thinking some thing is wrong took the truck for test drive accident...anything bad. Manager comes out and asked if the 350 was mine.. he said Sir...we had to put NEW tires on your truck...I'm thinking holy cow what's this gonna cost...then he said no charge...what? He told me the tires that we installed on your truck were not the right tires. So we upgraded your tires to the top of the line...no charge...Seem they put the right brand but not light truck tires......so I ended up with a new set of 1200 dollar tires after a year and a half...I felt like a bank robber getting away from the scene of the crime

[B said:

CAJUNLAWYER[/B]] Back in the '70's while drinking with a friend I found a $50 dollar bill on the floor of the bar. Well back then, a $50 was a rarity and its absence would have been noticed by the owner, so rather than spend it there and risk discovery, we made the decision to go to another bar. Worked well. I suspect that is on the "to be discussed" list with St. Peter if I get that far

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SMSgt said:

At least you have a lawyer to speak for you.

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I remember a joke about someone arriving at The Pearly Gates, being "weighed in the balance and found wanting" and rejected. They were indignant and demanded a lawyer. St. Peter looked calmly over his glasses and said something like, "Well, you won't find one here."