Life, or, let's say, humans, have taught me financial lessons in a hard way. No matter how smart we are, we will always find people who are way smarter than us in some area, and this is where we get robbed without knowing.
Most times, when we go to the supermarket for shopping, we pick the goods we want, then, when it is time to pay, we allow the attendant to do the summarization of all the goods we have bought, give us the bills, and then we pay with either cash or our card without checking the price or confirming what the actual bill given to us is correct.
Many times, we have been cheated without realizing it. I got to understand this intellectual robbery the day I visited a supermarket in Abuja. I wouldn't disclose the name for security purposes. After selecting the goods I needed, I went to the cashier so I could pay for the goods I bought. One thing the cashier did not consider was that not everyone who comes to the supermarket does excessive shopping. Most of us came to buy certain things because we already knew the price, and as we were picking what we wanted, we were also calculating the price to know if what we had on us could pay for what we picked.
image generated from bing AI
I got to the cashier with the aim of paying 5,470 naira only. I wasn't looking at the screen because I was certain of what I wanted to buy. She gave me the POS machine. I slotted my debit card into it, and then a sum of 6,500 naira was deducted. I did not realize until I check the receipt when I got home. Why 6,500 naira? I asked myself. I started doing the math, and luckily for me, the price of the goods was written on it. I got the same price of 5,470 naira after calculating. I checked the receipt again, and I saw that two goods were added twice, they were the ones with the lowest price. Spag x2, when I only bought one, and hotdog x2, when I only bought one pack.
I thought it was a mistake, so I decided to go back to the same supermarket to get something—enough for them to pull the same trick on me. I went to the same cashier. I was watching as she added the goods but pretended like I was pressing my phone. When it was time to pay, I went through the list of things on the screen, and she added extra pepsi to what I was going to pay for, while I took just one. I smiled, looked at her, and said, "I am sure you don't want your boss to find out that you are stealing from their customer. She apologized and removed the excess payment. I did not report her because I do not know what must have pushed her to make such a decision, and I do not want to be the reason a person loses their job.
Now, this has happened to many of us without even realizing it—at the supermarket, the restaurant, and most places we purchase things we use. Even at the restaurant, I ask how much the things are that I am buying individually. How much is the plate of rice, how much is the meat, and how much is the tablewater? I have to do this before making any payment. It may sound petty, but it has saved my finances to a certain level. Thanks for reading.
