Honesty: Under-Charged
As part of our series on Human Qualities, here is a great example of an honesty lesson, sent in by U.S. Inspect's Director of Training, Keith Ruehl:
My family and I were recently on vacation in Orlando with an apparent goal of spending every last dime of our annual savings in order to see Mickey and his dysfunctional friends.
After accomplishing the daytime mission in one of the theme parks we decided to stop by the local, tourist-frequented grocery store to pick-up some rations to recharge before we set out for the nighttime missions of ooooing and aaahhing over the fireworks. This recharge was deemed necessary due to heat comparable with an Iraqi summer day and crowds that evoked images of Time Square on New Years Eve.
We were on a tight schedule needing to cram as much quality fun as possible into our limited vacation time. So, my wife, 10 year old daughter, 13 year old son, and I each had our list of snacks and beverages we were to procure before our rendezvous at aisle #2, which of course promised to be the speedy check-out lane.All went according to plan and the LED indicated $33.33 for the grand total. I remember thinking to myself...excellent...that's half the cost of four cold hot dogs and four cups of ice each with a splash of Coke in one of the parks. We happily consumed our nutritionally challenged food-like products and headed off for our nighttime mission.
Upon returning to the hotel that evening and emptying my pockets I noticed the debit card receipt from our earlier grocery store excursion. The receipt read $3.33. My initial reaction was....WOW that was even a better deal than I thought! But common sense kicked-in as I handed the receipt to my son and asked him if he saw anything wrong with it. He quickly and correctly replied,"Daddy, it should have been $33.33."
Despite our impossibly busy itinerary, the next morning after inhaling numerous mouse shaped pancakes I went back to the grocery store with the kids in tow. We quickly found a manager and explained to her that we were there the day before and that we were inadvertently charged too little and we were here to pay the difference.After a momentary gaze that clearly questioned whether we had just stepped off another planet from Tomorrowland, she realized that we were serious and then went on to explain that the cashier had come up short last night and was going to be disciplined and possibly even fired. After further discussion and based on our now being charged the correct amount, the manager assured us that the young single mom cashier would not lose her job.
Cost of groceries...$33.33.
Extra time spent...15 minutes
Kids witnessing HONESTY in action and its impact on others...
Priceless.
Have an honesty story of your own to share? Tell us in the comments section below!
(The U.S. Inspect Human Qualities Program promotes and measures our individual and company success in the following five key areas most important to our customers: Dependability, Charity, Diligence, Honesty and Knowledge. We created this blog series as a place to share stories and thoughts about these qualities as they are displayed here at the company and in our daily lives.)
