my life 2007

Diana,

Don’t you just hate it when you try to DTRT (Do The Right Thing) and they won’t let you? My position in that case is that I had reported the error and the correction was out of my hands, so I’d keep the shoes. (Maybe tuck the extra pair away for a month or two in case they come to their senses.)

Now, much as I wish I could say I’ve always done the right thing, it’s not true. I’ll spare you the details of my best ‘heist,’ not out of shame or guilt but because it’s a long story if it’s to be told properly.

You may want to keep an eye on your account for another month or two. I’ve had debit charges come in two months late before.

I know the lure B&BW has on women. Roberta couldn’t walk past it either. We’d go in and I’d offer to grab a basket for her. She’d say, “No, I’m just getting one or two things.” $150 and two armlods later (blasted 2 for 1 sales) we’d leave.

Dave

I’m not the least bit surprised that you did the right thing, knowing your upbringing. In that, at least, we are very much alike (although I’m sure my parents weren’t nearly as strict as yours). However, our entire family at least talks about doing the right thing, whether every one of them does or not is up for debate.

I have an early experience that reinforced doing the right thing for me. I was very active in MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship) all through junior high and high school. We were having a spaghetti supper to raise money for some project or trip (I forget what). Anyway, I was in charge of it. I made my list and calculated that we would need about 70 lbs. of meat for the sauce. I chose to go to O’Brien’s, a local grocer in town that my entire family (on both sides) frequented. In fact, the O’Briens lived next door to one of my aunts. Anyway, I had called the meat department ahead of time to have the large order ready for pick up. They had the meat separated into two 35 lb. packages. When we got back to the church with our supplies I happened to review the receipt and realized we had only been charged for one of the packages of meat. I called the store, explained the error, then drove back to pay the balance. When I arrived I was met by the store manager who thanked me profusely then the money I had spent. O’brien’s picked up the entire cost of the dinner, making our fundraiser a huge success.

On more than one occasion over the years, I have returned money when I’ve been given too much change, or items I was not charged for. Invariably, the salesperson or checker seems surprised that I would do that.

I think the world would be a better place if more people did the right thing. I’m proud of you, Cuz.

Kat,

My pastor back in Ohio, Chuck, studied psychology in college. Part of their studies was about some standardized psych profile test. All the students had to actually take the test and then discuss how it worked and the results. When Chuck took the test he said it was pretty accurate except for the fact that it said he was a liar.

Chuck was pretty upset and talked to the professor about it. The professor said the test had a known flaw when it came to the kind of people who wnent into ministry. One of the questions on the test asked, “If you found a ten dollar bill on the street, would you: A) leave it B) try to return it to its owner C) keep it?” Anybody who marked “try to return it” was scored as a liar.

Apparently honesty really is rare.

Dave

Dave, that sounds like a rigged question to me. Now, if the question began with, “If you saw a person drop a ten dollar bill on the street…,” that would be a different question. ;)

I started my freshman classes with an overview of the story today, got to the part where I realized I’d gotten three pairs of shoes and hadn’t been charged a penny, then asked, “What would you do?”

Whatever they asked, I said, “Why?” I was not shocked to learn that the vast majority of them found some way to rationalize keeping the shoes and not telling anyone. A couple, however–both homeschooled, incidentally, and both my best writers–said, “I’d call the company and tell them.” (One said, “I think everyone in this room would call the company.” I had to admire his naive optimism.)

I left them with the thought: “The AF core values are Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence In All We Do. But do we really mean them?”

Then we went on to Englishy stuff.

Incidentally, despite my trying to do the right thing, my account hasn’t been charged another penny and I still have three pairs of shoes. I’m not sure how far it would be reasonable to take this.

d

Diana,

Of course the question was rigged. That’s how those Psych people work. (Grin) My company hires the Gallup folks to survey employee satisfaction every two years, and the wording of the survey questions have caused some serious debate among the engineers. The biggest debate is over, “I have a best friend at work.” (1 = strongly disagree, 4 = strongly agree.) As you can see there are several ways to parse it, anything from “someone is my best friend at work” to “my best friend is someone at work.” But Gallup defends the question as worded because of the 2000-odd companies that take the survey, there’s a very strong correlation between how highly a department scores on this quetion and productivity. Changing the wording disturbs the correlation.

It’s all Jedi mind tricks, but the company pays a lot of money for the privilege so they take it seriously.

You seem to be facing two separate issues: an extra pair of shoes and not bing billed for the ones you ordered. I’d be inclined to return the extra shoes. Of course, if you did that your account would probably be credited for them.

Dave

OK. onlineshoes finally charged me for the two pair I bought from them. Now I’m wondering what to do about the extra pair I got from the factory. onlineshoes didn’t seem very concerned about it, since it wasn’t their buck (I suppose).

d

Rule is, if you didn’t order it, but it got shipped to you, it’s a gift. Whether they had a packager who couldn’t count to two, sent you the wrong box, or thought maybe they’d charge you for it later, they goofed. Yeah, the very honorable thing to do would be to send back the errant pair, but, curiously, this will throw them into a worse tailspin of handling the error than just not being able to account for a pair of shoes later. The added fees and man hours they’ll pay trying to right the wrong will far outweigh cost to them for the shoes. Add ‘em to your rotation and let your shoes last 50% longer…

You’ve gone far enough to be able to look in the mirror and sleep at nights in terms of reporting it. It’s not your problem to take the responsibility of chasing it beyond that.

I would have done exactly what you have done so far. But if they haven’t claimed the shoes back after a month I’d feel entitled to keep and use them. I’d be prepared to pay for them if someone chased me after that point, but it’s not up to you to put any more effort in to chasing them.

How about making a donation for the dollar value of the shoes to your favourite charity if they haven’t reclaimed the money after a few months?

You have done as expected. I would reccommend that you contact Asics or whatever the co. is , and explain the problem to them, at customer service. They may give you the shoes, and deeply appreciate the alert as to bad shipping, which the store you mentioned has told you of. I am proud of you.

Jeff, I fear you’re right about what might happen if I send the shoes back. In this particular bout of charity, however, I draw the line at paying to send back something I should have never been sent to me in the first place. I’m troubled by whose rule you cite, though. I mean, I understand the rule, also, within reason, but I’m not sure where it came from.

baldbantam, that’s a terrific suggestion: donate the value to my favorite charity. Hmmm. Just gotta find one (I’m picky about my charities; I prefer those with little or no overhead, where I can be fairly convinced that the starving kids in Africa are getting at least $.95 of every dollar I donate. I prefer my charities to be clearly and inarguably non-profit.) I’ll look around. Thanks for the suggestion!

Daddy, I thought about contacting the company only after I’d tossed the box with the address, which was my only way to contact them. I’m hoping the middleman alerts them, but I’m not counting on it.

And…thanks. :)

d