Short story: Meanness, or being honestly helpful?
@innertalks (20987)
Australia
June 14, 2021 7:40pm CST
At the weekend, John, and his wife, Mabel, had visited the local supermarket.
At the cashier, John handed the young female cashier there, a $50 note. His purchases amounted to $15.65. His change should have been then $34.35.
As he left the counter, John glanced down at the change in his hand. There was only $34.30 there. The change given was 5 cents short!
John turned around, and remonstrated with the lady.
"You gave me five cents short in my change," he said.
"Sorry," said the lady looking into John's open hand, at the change that she had just given to him.
She quickly gave him his other five cents.
John's wife had walked ahead, and out of the store, acting as if she was ashamed of John's behaviour here.
When out of the store too, John's wife said to him:
"Why are you so flippantly, pedantically mean, and want your every cent? Why didn't you just let it go? You are always like that. I am ashamed to be with you sometimes."
John, looked nonplussed at his wife. He had thought that he had done the right thing.
Meanness was not even a thought in his own head. It was the principle. A mistake had been made. He would have corrected it, whether it was 5 cents, or $5. He would have mentioned it, if the mistake was made in her favour, or his own.
The girl needed to be made aware that she had made a mistake, and reminded to be more astute, and careful next time, when handing out the change to a customer.
In the past, John had given the cashiers, the $50 note, as well as the cents, here it would have been the 65 cents.
To him, this made it easier to give him his change, in whole dollars, exactly $35 here.
But, he had noticed that this always just confused the young cashiers more, so he had stopped doing this now.
Here though, on his way out, he had actually found another 5 cent coin, on the floor, near the door, of this supermarket.
He had picked it up, picking it up with a wry smile.
"That's funny", he thought to himself, "l would have gotten that 5 cents back, in this way anyway."
After his wife's tirade at him, though, he thought that this was maybe the Universe conveying him its message too. He at least had the thoughtfulness, or self-awareness to mention this to his wife too. He admitted that maybe he was being shown that he was being the judge here, the picky corrector, when maybe it was not his job to be always in this role, at all.
Maybe, his wife was right, maybe he should not be so passionately particular, and let it go sometimes.
John always paid his purchases with a large banknote at this store, as he didn't like the fact that they were the meanest of all the grocery supermarket chains in his country too.
They charged him, whenever he used his credit card, to pay his goods with. The other big chain stores never did this.
So, John always thought that he was justified making it a bit hard for them, giving them a large denomination note, when he actually had the correct money, at this store, as after all, they were making it a bit hard for him too.
He lost out on getting any reward points,, when he didn't use his credit card to make the purchase with.
So, the question here is how should John have acted?
Should he have acted, practically, ethically, honestly, or socially?
Should he have acted at all, or just let it go?
My take on this:
The way that anyone acts is a stepping stone to their next way of acting, so just act as best you can, and do not remonstrate with yourself too much over past actions; just allow the experience to better fashion your actions in the future, where this is possible for you to do.
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
Should we always stand tall as ourselves, or should we take our head out of our clouds sometimes too?
Should we allow our mind fog to blanket us away from our heart's calling, or not?
6 people like this
7 responses
@innertalks (20987)
• Australia
15 Jun 21
Thanks. I was interested to see if people would agree with me there, or not.
3 people like this
@Nakitakona (56302)
• Philippines
15 Jun 21
@innertalks Count me in. I agree with you.
3 people like this
@innertalks (20987)
• Australia
15 Jun 21
Yes, my mother used to say, "See a pin and pick it up, and all the day, you will have good luck."
She didn't even like to see a pin just thrown carelessly away.
Carelessness is the bane of society, and causes most of our problems.
2 people like this
@marguicha (215148)
• Chile
15 Jun 21
I´d say this was a long story. I love credit cards now.
3 people like this
@just4him (305417)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
15 Jun 21
John was right to bring it to the cashier's attention. He saved her trouble at the end of her shift because her drawer wouldn't have come out right. His wife was in the wrong. She should have been proud of him for being honest. His integrity helped the cashier and himself.
2 people like this
@innertalks (20987)
• Australia
15 Jun 21
I agree with you there. Honesty is honesty, and there can be no black and white degrees to such honesty.
@Shiva49 (26190)
• Singapore
15 Jun 21
Been there, done that.
I walk away with a wry smile.
There is a container kept for coins at the counter too for us to slot in coins for charity.
I think it is only fair to bring this to attention without hurting their feelings by making them feel it was intentional and with others shaking their heads either at us or at the cashier!
2 people like this
@innertalks (20987)
• Australia
15 Jun 21
John had a wry smile too, but it disappeared quickly when his wife called him a meany.
Perhaps, from now on in, he will act differently when his wife is with him.
It's better to please the dragon you live with, rather than the one that just spits at you occasionally from a business such as this.
@innertalks (20987)
• Australia
15 Jun 21
@Shiva49 Yes, it has to be done (pleasing them) to a certain extent, though, as compromise is the main name of the marriage game.
2 people like this
@Shiva49 (26190)
• Singapore
15 Jun 21
@innertalks I recall a colleague who was a totally different character when his wife was with him. He was ever conscious of her larger than life presence. And he used to tell me repeatedly even for inane things not to tell his wife!
Yes, our partners are tough to please. Their tests are rigorous and repeats at every turn 24/7! Our action or inaction make them "lose face" too often!
2 people like this
@DocAndersen (54413)
• United States
16 Jun 21
Those with OCD struggle with that very argument. but it isn't mean to need the roundess of exact. Mean has a spirit behind it, an intent.
interesting. I would side with John on this one.
2 people like this
@innertalks (20987)
• Australia
16 Jun 21
I sided with John too.
Talking about OCD, my father suffered with that disorder, for the last ten years of his life.
It was a hard time for my mother, who was roped into it all too.
Each night, she had to sign his book, as a double checker, next to his own signature to say that he had locked the back door, or not. (And that all the taps were all turned off, the windows closed, lights were not left on, and a whole lot more besides)
Then in the middle of the night, he would doubt his book even, and sent my mum out to check the back door again, etc. etc. He would not trust himself to check anything.
@popciclecold (35022)
• United States
15 Jun 21
I think he made to big a deal, we need to be merciful. I am learning it's not always the other person, a lot of times its us. I love learning this because I find myself pointing more at me, than someone else. Great story.
2 people like this
@innertalks (20987)
• Australia
15 Jun 21
Yes, my Dad used to say, that when we point with our finger at someone else, 3 fingers (the curled ones) are actually pointing back at ourselves.
Yes, it is often a misunderstanding caused by ourselves.
I had a similar experience today, where I got my new electricity bill, but it had been charged at higher rates than which I had agreed to, when I agreed to the plan with the company.
I rang them up about it, and they told me that because I had a ten business day cooling-off period, the new rates had not started as yet, at the time of that bill.
They told me that the new rates will be in place, in my next bill.
Last time, I rang them up over this type of an issue, my wife got upset with me too.
My pay-on-time discount was supposed to be 13%, but they only gave me 12% on my bill.
My wife told me just to let it go.
I didn't let it go. I spent 3 hours on the phone trying to get it corrected, but still, this time again, today, they billed me wrong again, giving me still only a 12% discount. The man had swore on a stack of bibles that he had fixed my discount amount, but he hadn't done anything, it seems
I rang them up again today. And the call-centre staff kept me waiting for a long time again, then the call dropped out, as it was coming from some other third world country too.
I hate incompetence, and I would have done the same as John in my story I think too.
I will ring them again about my promised discount tomorrow.
Sometimes, you get a better operator, but sometimes, it is a worse one.
2 people like this
