UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)
Well-Known Member
Yesterday my son and I drove down to Albany to spend time with family. We went out to dinner (Macaroni Grill). There were 12 of us sitting at two adjacent tables with the same waitress. My son, daughter, son-in-law and I sat at the same table. The waitress brought us our check ($75) which we handed back to her with a credit card and some cash. When she came back we noticed that she had mistakenly ran our credit card for the check of the lady who was dining by herself at a nearby table ($15).
What would you have done? Would you have brought the error to her attention or would you have taken advantage of the situation and pocketed the $60 error?
We did the right thing----we brought the error to her attention, she reversed the original charge, ran the credit card for the right amount and thanked us profusely for our honesty. When we got in the car we talked about it. We knew that had we not said a word that the shortage would have come out of her check and that she could have potentially lost her job. My son said that not doing the right thing would have left him with a nagging feeling of uneasiness.
The one thing that puzzled us is that we were not offered anything by management in return for our honesty. A coupon for a free appetizer, a percentage off of the bill or a similar token of their appreciation would have been nice. The feeling that we did the right thing was reward enough.
What would you have done? Would you have brought the error to her attention or would you have taken advantage of the situation and pocketed the $60 error?
We did the right thing----we brought the error to her attention, she reversed the original charge, ran the credit card for the right amount and thanked us profusely for our honesty. When we got in the car we talked about it. We knew that had we not said a word that the shortage would have come out of her check and that she could have potentially lost her job. My son said that not doing the right thing would have left him with a nagging feeling of uneasiness.
The one thing that puzzled us is that we were not offered anything by management in return for our honesty. A coupon for a free appetizer, a percentage off of the bill or a similar token of their appreciation would have been nice. The feeling that we did the right thing was reward enough.