Playing the Game
November 18th 2010 21:00
Out in the suburbs one day, I decided to do what any bookworm would do and head to the closest book store and have a look. It didn’t take me long to find a cat book to buy. I paid for it and later realised the guy had given me ten dollars extra in change. By then, I was back home and it was too late to go back. That said, would I or should I go back?
Interested in wondering what my friends would do, I conducted a quick survey. None of them said they would return the money, although one said he would leave his contact details and if they had noticed the til was out, to call him and he would return the money. Asked if anyone ever did, he said no.
“It’s their mistake anyway,” said another friend. “And when I tried to tell them they gave me too much change, they looked at me as if I was an idiot and that I should have kept my mouth shut.”
That also happened to me which why I stopped being truthful, unless they had my details and it could be traced back to me as what happened to me at Medicare. I had gone there to get my money back after seeing a specialist and the woman gave me $100 extra. Again, it wasn’t until after I left Medicare that I realised what had happened. I then wondered what to do: I had just started working so I wasn’t earning much and the extra money could help with next month’s rent. Before I could do anything, however, the phone rang: It was the lady from Medicare. In a panicky voice, she asked if I had noticed she had given me extra money. I did the honest thing and went back to Medicare to give it back to her. The look of relief on her face was worth the “loss” of my $100.
“She was probably going to be fired,” snickered my sister, who has little patience for people who can’t do basic arithmetic. That made me feel worse for not returning the money in the first place.
“Too bad it didn’t happen at a supermarket,” said Brett. “Then you could have kept the money.”
But back to the suburban book store. In the end I kept the ten dollars on the grounds it would cost me almost that amount of money just to go back there and give it back to them. I also noticed some of the gifts they sold were overpriced so I figured they were making money anyway from people who didn’t shop around.
“You could play the game,” said my sister. “You can say you bought the book as a present for someone who already has read it and you want a refund. Then you can get an extra ten dollars out of them as they wouldn’t have known the guy had given you too much change in the first place.” No way was this going to happen: The cat book was a goodie and I ended up buying a second copy after the first copy got soaked after I accidentally spilt a drink on it while I was waiting for Brett in a bar.
| 50 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Chris Champion
Vyoos
Zoomies
Bloggercises
The Blog of Lists
Newly Old
Money Whither
In the greater scheme of things - you know, cosmological common sense - I believe we should all be scrupulously honest except when it comes to books. They are after all the font of all wisdom, and are therefore beyond such mundane considerations as honesty.
Best wishes,
Fellow Book Addict
PS I know that new-fangled internet thing is challenging books as an information provider, but give me a good book any day!
Comment by Queenie
Quirky Folk
Quirky Queenie
By the way, have you read Born to Run by Michael Morpurgo? It's a story about a greyhound who gets passed around from one owner to another. Every time I read it I think of you and your greyhounds.