Having ethics sometimes sucks

[thewayne]

Whilst we were in Phoenix, Russet and I went to Bookman's for pillage. I found one book that I was interested in along with three CDs. One was a fantastic Tom Lehrer collection from Rhino Records (complete with a little hardback book with a Doctor Demento introduction) and two Tom Tom Club discs. I've been casually looking for TTC discs in used stores, I really like Talking Heads and with TTC having two TH members as its core, plus having a TTC song already on my computers from a collection disc, I thought they might be a good match. And thus far, I've liked what I've heard.

Yes, I pride myself on being woefully behind the times when it comes to music taste.

The store is getting ready to close, so we go to the checkout. Russ has a handful of books, plus my book and CDs. The total is $38.

I stop and ask Russet for the receipt. The Tom Lehrer alone was $25, the two TTC discs were $15 for both, not to mention the books. Somehow the clerk failed to ring up the two TTC discs, so we got back in line, brought it to her attention and paid for them.

Then as we were leaving town, at a gas station I was buying a bag of ice and a bottle of water, the ice for the massive quantity of yogurt from Trader Joe's along with some yummy cheeses. The bill was something like $2.78, so I gave the clerk a fiver and a nickel. The nickel threw her, she finally figured out that I wanted a quarter. Then she gives me two pennies and three dollar bills. I gave her one of the bills back.

If it weren't for ethics, I'd have an extra buck and a couple of free discs. Oh, well. It'd be nice if this positive karma that I'm earning would turn into a decent job! ;-)

Comments

[fastlearner.livejournal.com]

What's the "sucks" part? You very possibly inspired two different people (plus people in line) to be honest in the future. How often do you get a chance to do that?

[magic-rat.livejournal.com]

A decent job? Your positive karma got Russet to find you, and now you want more? Sheesh! There's just no pleasing some people!

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Point. But wouldn't Russet finding me grab my previous positive karma? Maybe I haven't earned enough since then for the job.

[magic-rat.livejournal.com]

Possible, but it could be that you put yourself into debt karmically for that and you're still paying that off. More likely, your positive karma keeps Russet interested in you, and I get the feeling that she'd find you less interesting if you were the type of person who would be earning negative karma points. She's surely worth a buck and a couple of cd's. Besides, that's what makes you the kind of guy who can look at himself in the mirror and feel good about himself (and if you had a decent job, then you wouldn't have time to admire yourself in the mirror).

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

LOL!

"...that's what makes you the kind of guy who can look at himself in the mirror and feel good about himself (and if you had a decent job, then you wouldn't have time to admire yourself in the mirror)."

I shall think of a snappy retort while I fetch your chicken.

[deborak]

Yep. I had to call the phone company today because $624 had been paid (from god knows what poor sap's pocket) in error to our account. Our monthly bill on that landline is about $32 so that was rather amusing.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Having your phone bill paid for 20 months in advance isn't a bad thing...