Saturday, July 26, 2008

Honesty is the best policy

This morning I was reading Angie's blog at Bring the Rain. She wrote about God watching our life in pictures. Then when we get to Heaven, handing God the scrapbook of our life (with both the good & bad photos). We all have good & bad photos of ourselves in our life. I recently had two instances I know God will see and I am pleased to say I did the right thing in both instances.

I was shopping at Winco a few weeks back. I bought 2 pounds of walnuts & some cucumbers. My total was a whopping $2 & some odd cents when it should have been more like $17. I just paid my total and instantly stopped while I was walking out the door. I looked at my receipt and realized the cashier didn't charge me for the very expensive walnuts. I went back in line to pay for my walnuts. The person with me thought I was crazy. I just saved myself $15! Do I know what I could buy with $15, etc. I told this person that basically, as a Christian I have to be an example etc., Karma, etc. & what goes around comes around. To make a long story short, I did the right thing and paid my $15 for the walnuts.

Two nights ago, I was at Fred Meyer to buy some things for dinner and I found a dollar right next to the cashier. I picked it up and started to walk away. Then I turned right around and gave it to the cashier. I know that was the right thing to do. The person I was with again thought I was crazy and said I was just giving Freddy's the $ outright. I told this person that maybe it was an elderly person who really needed that dollar and maybe they will come back and asked if anyone turned in some money. This person didn't believe me - all for a measly dollar? Well, with the economy in the state it's in right now, let me tell you...every dollar counts! So, yes. If I drop a dollar, I am going to ask if someone turned it in.

Am I a cheapskate? Definitely. Am I honest? I try to be!

6 comments:

Arezou said...

I wish everyone were like you. Last year, I found a dollar at a mall sticking out of the vending machine. And, yes, I took it!!! But later on, I gave it to someone who was asking for money. You are just way too good. When God is reviewing your scrap book and giving you an A+, please put in a good word for me :-)

erinz said...

You used that $ to help someone else. You just saved it to use later! :)

Anonymous said...

Yes, that person with you was ME. And yes, I DO think you're crazy! In my opinion, you DID save yourself money. Isnt that a good thing? It may not be honest, but still.

I admit, there may be times where you should be honest and turn the money in. For instance, what if you found $1,000,000? Even I would turn that in.

But you got $15 worth of free stuff, and it wasn't your fault. You were already out the door when you noticed. And when you found $1 on the floor, you turned it in. Those are not big things and I would have just left them alone. I would have taken my free stuff and took my dollar. Because in my opinion, that was the smarter thing to do now that prices are going up and stuff.

(:

The Rinkels said...

A similar situation happened to me. The kids and I were at Safeway and I realized on the way to the car that they hadn't charged me for something that was in the bottom of my cart. I had buckled the kids in and unloaded everything before I realized it. I had to get the kids out of the car and march everyone back in. Elise said, "Mom no one would have known." I told her, "Yeah, that's right, but I knew and you knew and most importantly, God knew and I didn't want him to think I was a thief. If nothing else, I set a good example for my kids.
Way to go. I'm all about Karma.

Laurel said...

Thanks for the blueberry invite, I'm heading down to Camas days! Let me know if you go sometime this week. Thanks!

Unknown said...

Erin joon you are RIGHT, and you did the Right thing, and Naseem joon I should remind you that in these kind of situations you can evaluate the character and morality of a person.
What is the difference between a thief and an honest person?