Would You Have Paid?

[EROS]

DANACARA, when you get to the B. school at Harvard, I want you to take one of our Ethics courses .

Hey, the same mentality permeated ENRON and WORLD COM..............if "we" can get away with it, who cares???? . Individuals run corporations. If we choose to be dishonest in our personal lives, how can we expect the corporate sector to be any different????

Answer: We can't

 

[JerseyJanice]

It would depend.

If the store were one where I got consistently poor service or had been ripped off by in the past, you bet I'd be out the door and spending the difference elsewhere.

And Dana is correct. Many stores have a policy that if a scanned price is incorrect, you get the item for free or at the lower price.

 

[tc]

I would have alerted the cashier to the mistake. Actually, I have done this, both for mistakes in my favor and against. It's a lot easier to live your life that way. I know there are a lot of grey areas in this world, and I have learned the hard way that it's not always black and white, but in this instance, I don't see any grey. You are being dishonest by not alerting the cashier. Whether you think that's right or wrong, that's your opinion. But, in my opinion, dishonesty is wrong. But, that doesn't make you a bad person, just a person who did something wrong, IMHO.

 

[kejoda]

I cannot tell you how many times I've gone to the grocery store and they didn't ring up something in the basket. Everytime I go back to pay for it they say don't bother its our fault. I had a friend once that forgot the turkey at the bottom of the cart. When she called the store to have them look for it they couldn't find it but gave her one anyway. They say this if good PR and they are so right.

You should get the formula for the price it rang up for but the store should be the ones that make that decision.

 

[Sheree Bobbins]

You did the right thing, Becka.

 

[DocRafiki]

I honestly can't say what I would have done, but it's great that you pointed it out!

I often get to the cashier and get a total that was less than I expected. But, since I mostly shop in outlets, I always just figured that they missed marking the discounts on the tags... that happens all the time. I never think of it being a mistake. I usually say, "Oh! Cool!" and they just smile. I think I would have been pretty sure that formula was a mistake, though.

I agree the decision should be up to the store. A loss like that is a big deal to a small business, but a high-volume store might not find it worth their time to correct it.

 

[Disney Doll]

I'd have pointed out the mistake, because I have been in that same situation in the past and pointed out the mistake.

I drew out money from the bank one day to go on vacation(I think I was about 22 or 23 years old).When I got home, I realized that the teller had given me $200 too much. I went back to the bank, and there was that teller, with the head teller, frantically counting and adding etc as she sat at her window. I went up to the window and gave her back the money. The head teller told me I was nuts to return it because since it was cash, they'd have had no way to figure out who had gotten the money, and no one would have known. My response was "I'd have known." In certain cases, right is right and wrong is wrong, and there is no gray area. I am not so black and white in all areas of my life, but taking or keeping something that doesn't belong to me is wrong.

 

[Kermit]

I'd have mentioned it. I've been in similar situations before, and I always say something. Usually people are very surprised that I was honest. One time a bunch of people in my department at work went out to eat together. The poor waitress had to do about 15 separate bills for all of us. When she brought me back my change, she gave me the $10 I had given her plus my change. I immediately pointed it out, and she was so grateful.

The way I figure it is that if they had overcharged me, I'd definitely mention it. So it's my obligation to point it out when they under charge me. Whether they choose to do anything about it or not is up to them.

 

[AF Brenda]

I had a similar thing happen ages ago. I had a bunch of diapers on the bottom of the cart, and the cashier didn't see them. I shop for one month at a time, so the bill was big and I didn't notice it until I got home and I was checking the receipt. I took one bag back and told them how many I had taken home. They thanked me profusely, and I just wrote out the check.

Grocery stores work on a very low profit margin, right around 2%. To make up $44 in merchandise, they would have to sell $2200 worth of other merchandise.

 

[Mom2Em]

I tried to vote to break the tie but I was told my action was invalid or some such thing...

When I looked it was 26 for $32 and 26 for $117...

I would have told the cashier... I have been in the same situation before... when I was given change once, the clerk gave me my $$ plus my change... I didn't notice until I left the store... I turned right around and took it back... the funny thing is the cashier's boss was right there, so the cashier got mad at me... I guess because I pointed out an error... oh well, I was able to sleep that night

 

[wdwpluto]

Something like that happened to us at Target. We tried to explain to the cashier and she just looked at us like "huh?" She had no clue what we were trying to say. She was so not the brightest bulb in the world. So we gave up, paid and went on our merry way. We figured that WE TRIED to do the right thing, so no guilt.