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Moral dilemma...

Indiana Mike

Indiana Mike

Nov 18, 2005
3,049
3,883
#1
sooooo.

I have been remodeling my bathroom . I have made a ton of purchases in the last two weeks ranging from small to large . The other night I went to one of the big home improvement stores and bought a flat cart full of stuff. I paid and left the store , loaded the truck and started the drive home .

My girlfriend is a receipt reader , she analyzes every detail . She noticed I wasn't charged for a $250 item.

I have every intention of going back to make it right .

Would you chalk it up to their loss? I gave them every chance to charge me for the item and failed to do so or catch it before i left.

or

would you go back and make it right ?


My only fear is they stir up a bunch of **** over this... but it's better than being charged with a felony when I had no intention.
 
#4
That's a tough one. If it were a small store, I would go back and pay, no question. With a big chain like Home Depot or Lowe's, it's harder to be sure. It is absolutely the right thing to do to go back and pay. If it happened to me and I weren't hurting for cash too badly at the time, I would go back and pay, I think. But if I were struggling to make rent and food, I would at least be more delayed in going back to pay. I think, though, that eventually my conscience would catch up with me and I'd pay either way. But it's all speculation for me. 250 clams at this point in my life is a hefty chunk of change.
 
#5
First, in the US I don't believe that $250 is felony. Just a misdemeanor.

Second, to me the size of the store does not matter. Either way, stealing finds its way into higher prices for the rest of us.

Third, I would suspect that there is a 50/50 chance the manager will tell you to forget about it.

edg
 
#6
I'd go back and pay for it. In my experience, the stores are usually happy when you do this, and sometimes offer some sort of thank you for doing so. I also know that some places take this from the employee(s) as well when that happens. For myself, there'd be no question. I'd go back. I even go back when a food place forgets to charge me for a drink or something stupid, too, though. Everyone makes mistakes...

Superfunk; if things are really that tight, and it wasn't budgeted for, it shouldn't have been purchased in the first place.
 
#8
Kwesi said:
I'd chalk it up to good luck and be on my merry way.
Click to expand...

+1. Negligence on the part of the cashier, and the manager definitely does not know about it. In fact, if you came in and talked to the manager and let him know what happened, you run the small but present chance that it'll piss him off enough to either suspend or fire the person working the register that forgot to punch your $250 in.

If you bought a flat cart of stuff that needed a truck to haul home, you contributed enough to their business to deserve your stroke of luck.

I know some of you guys will get all on me and say it's dishonest, but it's more the cashier's fault than this guy's, why should he have to pay for someone else's mistake?
 
#9
I'm far from perfect, but I'd take that back and pay for it. One thing I'd be nervous about in doing it is I wouldn't want to get the person who operated the register in trouble, but I'd still do it.
 
#10
irishpride28 said:
+1. Negligence on the part of the cashier, and the manager definitely does not know about it. In fact, if you came in and talked to the manager...

I know some of you guys will get all on me and say it's dishonest, but it's more the cashier's fault than this guy's, why should he have to pay for someone else's mistake?
Click to expand...

1) That's why you don't immediately go to the manager. Go to the same cashier and have them help you.
2) Yes, it's still dishonest, especially since it's been noticed. I for one don't know how you get the total and don't notice that it's $250 off. Unless I'm the only person that tallies things in my head as I shop.
You should have to "pay" for the item you took, not someone else's mistake.
 
#11
irishpride28 said:
+1. Negligence on the part of the cashier, and the manager definitely does not know about it. In fact, if you came in and talked to the manager and let him know what happened, you run the small but present chance that it'll piss him off enough to either suspend or fire the person working the register that forgot to punch your $250 in.

If you bought a flat cart of stuff that needed a truck to haul home, you contributed enough to their business to deserve your stroke of luck.

I know some of you guys will get all on me and say it's dishonest, but it's more the cashier's fault than this guy's, why should he have to pay for someone else's mistake?
Click to expand...

Frankly, I couldn't care less who's fault it was, lol. My thoughts: "Just got a $250 item for free and successfully got out of the store without being chased. WINNING!"

And there's always my three favorite words ever for damn near any dishonest situation: "Who's gonna know?" :D

That said, I would shop at another hardware store for the next two weeks or so, lol.
 
#12
irishpride28 said:
+1. Negligence on the part of the cashier, and the manager definitely does not know about it. In fact, if you came in and talked to the manager and let him know what happened, you run the small but present chance that it'll piss him off enough to either suspend or fire the person working the register that forgot to punch your $250 in.

If you bought a flat cart of stuff that needed a truck to haul home, you contributed enough to their business to deserve your stroke of luck.

I know some of you guys will get all on me and say it's dishonest, but it's more the cashier's fault than this guy's, why should he have to pay for someone else's mistake?
Click to expand...

+1, As long as the cashier isn't in risk of trouble, plus the supplier is moderately sizeable not a small supplier, I severely doubt anyone is going to lose sleep over it. I've worked for a few companies, I know how much they make, and what they do allow for.

But if it suits, wait for them to contact you, it's the least they can do after their mistake, after all, your the customer.
 
#13
Your conscience is worth more than $250. You went into the store intending to pay for it, so go back and pay for it.

The idea of "stealing from large businesses is OK, they can afford it" has always perplexed me. Probably why I never got into the Robin Hood story. :D

-Mike
 
#14
MJ5150 said:
Your conscience is worth more than $250. You went into the store intending to pay for it, so go back and pay for it.

The idea of "stealing from large businesses is OK, they can afford it" has always perplexed me. Probably why I never got into the Robin Hood story. :D

-Mike
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. Besides, if you didn't go back and pay for the item....well, sooner or later it will catch up to you in one way or another.
 
#16
If you had every intention of paying for it, go pay for it. Stealing is still stealing no matter how you look at it. Even if it was not your fault but theirs, being a honest man and doing the right thing is better than being the average man and taking advantage of the situation.
 
#17
Ray Salamon said:
I'd go back and pay for it. In my experience, the stores are usually happy when you do this, and sometimes offer some sort of thank you for doing so. I also know that some places take this from the employee(s) as well when that happens. For myself, there'd be no question. I'd go back. I even go back when a food place forgets to charge me for a drink or something stupid, too, though. Everyone makes mistakes...

Superfunk; if things are really that tight, and it wasn't budgeted for, it shouldn't have been purchased in the first place.
Click to expand...
This, especially the last part.
 
#18
MJ5150 said:
Your conscience is worth more than $250. You went into the store intending to pay for it, so go back and pay for it.

The idea of "stealing from large businesses is OK, they can afford it" has always perplexed me. Probably why I never got into the Robin Hood story. :D

-Mike
Click to expand...
It's the same kind of rationalizing used to steal music from big record labels. But hey, go right on ahead, fellow musicians--no big deal, right?:D
 
#19
Indiana Mike said:
sooooo.

I have been remodeling my bathroom . I have made a ton of purchases in the last two weeks ranging from small to large . The other night I went to one of the big home improvement stores and bought a flat cart full of stuff. I paid and left the store , loaded the truck and started the drive home .

My girlfriend is a receipt reader , she analyzes every detail . She noticed I wasn't charged for a $250 item.

I have every intention of going back to make it right .

Would you chalk it up to their loss? I gave them every chance to charge me for the item and failed to do so or catch it before i left.

or

would you go back and make it right ?


My only fear is they stir up a bunch of **** over this... but it's better than being charged with a felony when I had no intention.
Click to expand...

what anyone else would do is immaterial...i sense from the stuff you write that you are inclined to do the right thing,as you see it.....
 
#20
Joe Gress said:
If you had every intention of paying for it, go pay for it. Stealing is still stealing no matter how you look at it. Even if it was not your fault but theirs, being a honest man and doing the right thing is better than being the average man and taking advantage of the situation.
Click to expand...

Better is a relative term. I could argue that the better man is the won who works a fortunate situation to his advantage placing him in better, however slight, financial standing than he was previously.
 

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