Do you have core values?
I think that it's safe to say that everyone has vice and everyone definitely has moral failings, but is there something that you can be proud of--a virtue that is always demonstrated?
This morning I stopped into Meijer to pick up some food stuff for the accounting staff. The only lanes available were the self-checkout lanes but they are staffed. I was the only one there so as I checked out my stuff, the cashier lady was watching me. When I was through, my change came out to be something dollars and fifty cents. Within the change tray there was already a penny sitting there. What would you do? Would you take the fifty-one cents or would you only take the fifty cents that were yours? I took my two quarters and left the penny. As I walked out the overly-bored checkout lady said that I left some change. I looked at her and said, "It's not mine." I think she was too stunned to say anything and so I went on with my morning.
It's the second time within the last seven days this has happened. Last week, it happened to me at a vending machine at work. I left the fifteen cents that weren't mine in the change tray.
There are many things that I do that would show that my integrity isn't as solid as I'd like it to be but taking money like that--I will not do it. It's almost obsessive-compulsive--but is it when you refrain from doing something?
This morning I stopped into Meijer to pick up some food stuff for the accounting staff. The only lanes available were the self-checkout lanes but they are staffed. I was the only one there so as I checked out my stuff, the cashier lady was watching me. When I was through, my change came out to be something dollars and fifty cents. Within the change tray there was already a penny sitting there. What would you do? Would you take the fifty-one cents or would you only take the fifty cents that were yours? I took my two quarters and left the penny. As I walked out the overly-bored checkout lady said that I left some change. I looked at her and said, "It's not mine." I think she was too stunned to say anything and so I went on with my morning.
It's the second time within the last seven days this has happened. Last week, it happened to me at a vending machine at work. I left the fifteen cents that weren't mine in the change tray.
There are many things that I do that would show that my integrity isn't as solid as I'd like it to be but taking money like that--I will not do it. It's almost obsessive-compulsive--but is it when you refrain from doing something?
Comments
Actually, it's not just a matter of being unable to say "Yes" when the truth is "no". It's more a matter of feeling extremely uncomfortable when being pushed an answer that may be true, but is misleading or incomplete.
Even when someone really wants me to answer "yes" or "no" to an answer where the honest answer is "maybe", I'm compelled to say "maybe".
In recent years I've tried, in the interests of self preservation, to lie to people who lie to me - employers, police etc. But it's still difficult and I don't do it well.
BTW, it's completely unrelated, but I saw this and thought of you. Cleanliness is truly next to godliness.
I mentioned those crucifixions in an earlier post. With what they are doing and the environment they do it in, I don't think that cleanliness really enters the picture.