24 March 2009

Honesty Is The Best Policy....Right?

What is up with the world today? Has our environment gotten so bad that the slightest act of honesty or kindness merits accolades? Before you start trying to answer these rhetorical questions, let me explain the events that led up to me asking these questions:

This past Sunday the wife and I took the truck up to the local garden center to buy some mulch. Anybody who has ever lived in a neighborhood with a homeowner’s association can understand the need for fresh mulch in order to make the gardens look pretty. The reason we were going on Sunday was because I had bought some cheap mulch at a bigbox store; at 99 cents a bag it was a steal. Well, 20 bags later and the wife says it’s not what she wanted, it’s not right, it’s not mulch, etc. So, we returned the cheap mulch and got our $20 back.

Then on Sunday, we went to the local garden center to purchase cypress much for four dollars a bag. So, I forked out over $100 for 25 bags of the expensive mulch and off we went back to the house to do some gardening. In the course of laying out the new mulch, I discovered the garden center inadvertently loaded my truck with 26 bags of expensive mulch. Well, we only paid for 25 and we only used 25 so the first thing I figured was I would return the extra bag to the center as soon as I had a chance.

Today, Tuesday, I went to the garden center and returned the extra bag of mulch. The young man who took it out of my truck asked me if I had the receipt in order to be reimbursed; this is when I told him the whole story of being loaded with one bag too many. Well, you would have thought I had single-handedly saved the world; his reaction and the reaction of his coworkers were so overwhelming it was embarrassing to say the least! Now, I am not telling you this story in order to toot my own horn; I am positive there are many more people that would have done the exact same thing in the exact same situation so there is no need to feel special about doing the right thing.

Which is what bugs the hell out of me; we live in an area that is supposedly filled with Christian people yet one simple act of honesty triggers an astounding reaction. Has the world gotten so bad that honest people are now the exception rather than the rule? I really would like to know your thoughts on this.

3 comments:

  1. hit the nail on the head Brother

    Honesty IS the exception and NOT the rule.

    good on you Chief

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  2. You're exactly right. You know what I do for a living, and I'm here to tell you that honesty IS the exception rather than the rule these days...which is why I go out of my way to do the right thing whenever I get the chance.

    I spend my day watching the local lowlifes - 99% of which are black, by the way - take advantage of my company's liberal return policy, returing merchandise they have stolen for a merchandise card which they then take to one of the local pawn shops and sell for 50 cents on the dollar. (Gee, there I go being a racist again because I said something negative about blacks being involved in something I see EVERY DAY!) And, thanks to my company's insanely liberal and "customer friendly" return policy (no receipt, no problem - we'll do the return for you!), I am absolutely powerless to do anything about it. (And NO, I'm not going to name my company.)

    I'm hoping that sometime in the not-too-distant future our country wakes up and has a resurgence of honesty run through it, and all of the "politically correct" bullshit attitudes that sprouted during the past twelve years or so goes away...but I ain't counting on it happening for at least the next four years, maybe eight if The Great Pretender gets re-elected.

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  3. Dishonesty as a way of life seems to be not only proliferating, it seems to be expected. I have students explain to me that Mommy will tell them that they have to go to the local stop and rob and steal a few packs of cigarettes for her if they expect to use the car. You need a new outfit, got to the mall and steal one. Leave the old rags in the dressing room. And yeah, I have seen the return scam, in action down here, too.
    I was raised by my parents to return that bag of mulch as Bulldog did. I still think too highly of them to bring dishonor on their reputations and family name. And I do believe that is probably the key to much of this...the disappearance of the family unit since LBJ's "Great Sasiety" made this country into a welfare state has gone a long way to encourage this behavior.

    ReplyDelete