Wednesday, February 18, 2009

One of the Many Reasons One Might Hate Shopping

So hypothetically speaking and all..
Let's say some unnamed hypothetical person were to go to the grocery store on the last day of a sale, and the store was completely OUT of the bogo spare ribs advertised. Let's further say that the store is ALWAYS out of whatever meat they have on their super sales. (And let's also say that one realizes that one can usually get a rain check, which one will typically forget one has in her purse until after it expires, and besides that? rain checks are a pain in the, um, neck.)

Anyway, hypothetically, let's just say that one were to notice that a different brand of spare ribs right next to the sale ribs had one package (likely) mismarked at .21 cents instead of approximately $5.00 like all the rest of the packages of that brand. Would one need to feel bad about just buying the .21 cent and a $5 package, basically claiming the bogo deal one went in for in the first place?

The feeling in my one's gut when blogging about it should probably tell me one to go back to the store and correct the problem. But what a pain. I hate when I talk myself into stuff like that. It seems so justifiable at the time. So now I have to decide... Is my integrity worth $4.79?

There are days I'd probably sell it for less. Or even trade it for a Diet Coke.

20 comments:

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

Ugh! What a hassle! That's not a call anyone but you can make though.

Dave said...

wow. that's a tough one.

more than likely a call to the manager will end up with a "it's not worth the hassle keep your bogo"

and then you can always consider all the times the milk you bought there spoiled before it was supposed to, but you never managed to find time to return it... so they owe you...

Barbaloot said...

But if the store made a mistake---are you the one supposed to fix it? And what if it wasn't a mistake?

That sounds like I'm justifying---I guess I am. But really, in this situation I think you're okay.

Cole said...

Just wandering through, don't mind me....

So, I once was looking through a dress rack, knowing I was going to get something for my daughter. All of the dresses were marked $25, then I saw one marked $8. Same dress, same style, I grabbed the $8 one and ran with it, all the way to the cash register. The lady rang it up, saw the price and shurgged. Score!

Sarah said...

I don't think you need to worry about this, actually. If you paid the price, as marked, then you haven't done anything wrong and the store would likely give it to you for that price. I know when I worked in a store, if we marked it wrong the mistake was on us. The cashier did see it, right? So then, yay for a 21 cent deal!

Heather of the EO said...

This one time I had this frantic trip to the store with crazy kiddos in tow and I was late and neither the cashier or I noticed the gallon of milk under the cart. Until I got to car and then I said, "OOPS." And I sighed and I was fretting and trying to figure out if I should unload the boys from their car seats and go back in with the milk and then I left. I still feel bad about that. True confession.

Yvonne said...

Now, I sit here and am feeling the peer pressure of sounding like a goody goody. Crazy, eh???

I'd go with the gut. If the cashier made a mistake, she'd tell me and said take the ribs at that price, I would and never have to worry about it again.

ganelle said...

I say, if your gut is buggin you that much, make a phone call. Odds are that the manager/clerk will tell you that you are good. Their error - their fault. But then you get to free yourself of the guilt!

Amy Peterson said...

I'm with Ganelle one phone call, and you don't have to worry a about it! Here is my goody goody side, integrity is definitely worth $4.00!

That Girl said...

It's worth it ... You'll feel better, and it will be totally blog-worthy.

Heidi said...

They would really rather not deal with it. The Spouse and I bought a mattress when we were engaged and after we got married, we saw that our check had not cleared. We went to the store and they said fuggedabowitit! And that was a much bigger mistake than .21 I'll have you know. You are a good person.

Super Happy Girl said...

Yeah, what Dave and Heidi said.
You can always just call, I bet they'll be like "oooh, you are nice!"

Jillybean said...

I agree with everyone who said to call the store. I would bet they tell you not to worry about it. And you'll feel better.

The Dillon 6 said...

I think you know what the right thing to do is, young lady.

mormonhermitmom said...

It always feels better to clear it up. A phone call should do it.

LisAway said...

I agree with everyone about calling the store, which you maybe already have.

But it was a good story and kind of shows how awesome you are.

Paul said...

Go back and fix it.

Integrity is non-negotiable.

But I bet you've already made that decision, and that makes me really respect you.

Alison Wonderland said...

We all know the right thing to do here. And the fact that you're willing to blog about it tells me that you're going to do it.

But I'm sorry that you have to.

Janell said...

I was once surprised in a flower shop when the cash register rang up at $10 when I'd budgeted $15, but I was in a hurry, counted it as good luck, and ran out of the store. Later that night when i was looking at the receipt I realized that the cashier had rung me up for 1 sunflower when the bouquet had contained 3. I thought about going back to make amends. Then I decided differently. I'd asked for 3 sunflowers. When I told the cashier what I'd purchased (another girl was wrapping the bouquet) I'd told her there were 3 sunflowers. I decided it was a clerical error on the part of the business, and not worthy my time to go back and correct, "Um, so yesterday, you guys undercharged me. Did you notice?"

So, if it's the error of the store, I say you have no fault.

If it's because you lied, cheated, or otherwise deceived the store, then, yes, go back and make amends.

STEPHANIE said...

So I've been a lurker for a while...love your blog. I have a random question. How do you cross words out?