Greetings dear friends and happy weekend. In this week's engagement,I will be writing on this topic:
Honesty or not
You have returned home from a shopping day with shopping bags of clothing you bought. That's when you realise one of the items is not on the receipt and that you've not paid for it. Do you go back and pay for it or do you let it slide? Explain yourself in at least 300 words and use images you have taken personally if you can.
My own scenario wasn't clothes but it still centres on the topic honesty. Honesty is something that shapes our character and makes us trustworthy.
On two occasions I have experienced this case of getting more than what I paid for. The truth is that when things like this occur, we are faced with two options: either to keep and enjoy the free extra items or go back and pay for the extra or return it. It is completely unethical and dishonest to keep back or make use of an item we received out of the seller's mistake.
In my own case, it was around April when there was cash scarcity all over the states in my country. The cashless economy was so tense that those that had money then sold it for a higher rate. The dishonest practice for personal gain was too much.
We were left with no choice than to buy things with our ATM cards. Many sellers refused this method of payment because most times, the transaction won't be successful and the buyer has been debited, sometimes the transaction shows successful and after the money gets reversed to the buyer. The confusion caused by the cash scarcity was severe. The majority of the citizens felt it.
It was one Sunday, I decided I won't prepare any dish so I went to an eatery to buy whatever catches my fancy. I ended up buying food with other few items. Everything summed up to $30, I brought out my cell phone and made the transfer of $30 to the cashier. It was successful on my phone screen. While I ate the food there, the waitress packaged the other two.
Few days later, I got a reversal of that same amount. I checked my balance and it topped up, that was when I knew it was real. The day I got the reversal, my friend visited me and when I told him, he said "babe, that is your luck, there is a business without loss." I told him I will refund the money the next time I go there to buy food and he was shocked.
It took me weeks before I went back there to order food again, I informed the waitress of what happened, she informed the cashier and this time, they used POS machine and it was approved. The waitress was grateful, telling me how the manager of the eatery would have deducted that in her monthly salary assuming they noticed it. I felt relieved and satisfied knowing that I have done what is right.
The second was when I sent my younger brother to buy a recharge card for me. The seller mistakenly gave him an amount higher than what he paid for. It was when I recharged it we both realized. I told him I will pay her back the remaining balance and my brother said "sis, you are really considerate. Not everybody would have thought of paying back."
"Same way I wouldn't want anyone to cheat me is the same way I wouldn't want to cheat another person," I told him.
Paying back for an unpaid item builds trust between the parties involved, creates this feeling of satisfaction and creates a positive effect in the society.