Honesty

[Moses Yoder]

We buy our meat at Meijer when it is on sale and we buy a bunch of it and freeze it. We buy mostly pork and chicken, generally pork roasts and boneless chicken thighs or breasts. A while back the pork roasts were on sale for $1.99 per pound but they were out of the meat. We got a rain check for the pork. We went in several times since and we wanted some of the roasts cut into chops and there was no-one to cut them or they didn't have enough meat. Finally almost a month after getting the rain check everything fell into place; they had a pile of pork roasts and there was someone there to cut them into chops. We bought 6 roasts and had three of them cut into chops. We went to pay for our stuff and the first 6 pound roast rang up for $5.41 with our rain check. Several of the roasts rang up about right but most of them way under. My wife pointed it out to the cashier and a snafu ensued. They ended up ringing up about 30 pounds of meat, charging us about $40, and sending us to the service desk to "straighten it out". My wife actually stopped at the service desk on the way out to try to give them more money. I am not sure I would have, but that is a different thread. They looked at it and ended up telling us there was nothing they could do, thank you for your business, enjoy the cheap pork, see you back.

[George Bokros]

Your wife is to be commended for her honesty. She tried to make it right and Meijers chose to take the easy way out. Meijers are the ones that suffered the loss and from what you have said it was substantial.

Enjoy the pleasure of your wife's honesty and enjoy the savings they gave away to you.

[Frederick Skelly]

So you paid $40 for meat that was supposed to cost $60? Wow.

I respect honesty a great deal Moses. I respect your wife's attempt to make it right. I dont know what else she could have done, save trying to chase down a manager, and Im not sure that was her responsibility - Id have expected the service desk to do that.

I wonder if the service desk talked to the manager afterward to say "Hey we have a process problem because the team doesnt know how to work with our rain check system. This just happened and we gave it to her at $40 because the mistake was ours."

[Matt Meiser]

You're lucky...usually Meijer "accidentally" overcharges you.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I dont know what else she could have done, save trying to chase down a managerNot so far back, managers were on salary & stores worked them 100 plus hours a week.
There used to always be a manager and/or assistant manager on duty for as many hours as the store was open.
Things have changed & now many stores often operate without an actual manager.
A designated senior sales person fill in and they are extremely limited in what they can and can't do.

I've been running into this more and more in more and more stores.

[Phil Thien]

I'm not surprised at the store's response. I imagine (based on reading newspaper articles about actions taken by district attorneys and attorney generals) most register errors accumulate to the store, and the difference in this case was decimal point dust to them.

If they were smart they'd train employees at the service counters to just inform customers that they value the customer's business far too much to waste their time on such matters.

[John Goodin]

The grocery business is hyper competitive and customer loyalty is very important. When I worked in the industry we were always told, "if some comes in with a competitors spoiled milk, give them a gallon of ours." It actually happened to me once and after a couple of jokes told the guy to get a gallon on us. He said his wife bought it and he assumed it was at our store. Anyway the guy walked out later with a cart full of groceries, so we made our money back and that guy left with a good impression.

On another note, when I taught college a kid called and said I made an addition error and he was given an extra few points on his test. After a short contemplation, I told him the higher grade would stick that it would be wrong to punish his honesty in that situation.

[Jim Koepke]

My feeling is honesty is rewarded. Whether it is a better night's sleep or the smile of a cashier who won't have their drawer come up short at the end of the day.

Your wife did you proud, Moses.

jtk

[Brian Ashton]

Your wife is to be commended for her honesty. She tried to make it right and Meijers chose to take the easy way out. Meijers are the ones that suffered the loss and from what you have said it was substantial.

Enjoy the pleasure of your wife's honesty and enjoy the savings they gave away to you.


Im not so sure the store suffered any loss, they're name is now associated with very positive and free advertising.

[Matt Meiser]

They were probably in shock that they didn't have to pay 5x the difference for a pricing error in their favor as required by Michigan law and didn't know what to do. Corporate is probably still trying to figure it out.

[Chris Padilla]

Honesty is such a lonely word
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
And mostly what I need from you

[Charles Wiggins]

Moses,

I commend your wife's honesty as well.

I see a lot more of that where I live now than I would expect based on previous experiences. Sometimes our printing system messes up and people get their prints for free. Many stop by the desk to tell us and pay up. I usually reward their honesty with a deep discount or free prints and thank them for their honesty. Some still insist on paying, often citing that we're still cheaper than any other place around.

[ray hampton]

do anyone know the story from history about the man that spent his time searching for a honest man ?

[David Weaver]

do anyone know the story from history about the man that spent his time searching for a honest man ?

He lied about it?

[ray hampton]

He lied about it?

maybe he was lying BUT we do not need to rewrite the history books

[Charles Wiggins]

do anyone know the story from history about the man that spent his time searching for a honest man ?

Diogenes of Sinope
The actual line in the Greek is: ἄνθρωπον φησί ζητῶ = "A man," he said, "I am looking for."
If you read the line in context (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0258%3Abook%3D6% 3Achapter%3D2) (Parts 40 & 41) it appears to be related to his mockery of Plato who "defined Man as an animal, biped and featherless, and was applauded." Diogenes then plucked a chicken and presented it saying, "Here is Plato's man."
If you read Part 27 it will shed some light on where the "honest" part may have come in to the story.

[Myk Rian]

Meijer isn't alone. Remember when Sears mis-priced the WorkSharp 3000 for $19.99? They stood by it, and fulfilled the orders.

[David Weaver]

Moses, if your wife shaved, I'd have a razor for her.

(It's a japanese razor, and they had some odd brand names for razors)

299244

I didn't change the picture. "Honest", I didn't.

(it is a good razor, by the way)

[Mike Lassiter]

I recall my aunt going back into the store several times about 50 years ago because they gave her too much change back on a 1/2 gallon carton of milk. The last time she got out of the car and went back into the store was for 2 cents! I thought it ridiculous she went back in there I think twice after coming out and getting into the car. I was young and ask her why she kept going back over a few cents. She replied that it was not what she was suppose to have gotten back. It's not mine, and I want them to have their money, just like I want to have mine. She is 94 now and has lived that way all her life. It was the way she was raised, and me too.

There's been times in my life that I have been in that situation too. Once I ordered 2 oil filters for Mack trucks at work and received 2 cases (24) filters. People make mistakes, and I always have tired to make things right regardless of my favor or the other party's. I sent an email back advising them of the mistake. There were others over the years and mostly they cheated themselves instead of cheating me. That I always tried to make sure things were right I think went a long ways in the business relationship between myself and vendors I dealt with. At the end of the day, for me and others I think there is just no other choice but to try to do "the right thing". It's how I was raised, and I would say how Moses's wife was.

Life gives us undesirable things from time to time, and regardless of what we call it, I think things like this are little test placed upon us to see if we still follow that inner voice we hear telling us the right thing to do. Sometimes there maybe a reward for doing the right thing, sometimes not - at least at THAT moment. I for one don't feel I should be or deserve to be rewarded every time I do "right". And honestly I hope not to be punished every time when I get it wrong. Try really hard to uphold high standards and morels it seems things go "wrong" enough without me throwing gas on the fire!

While I commend her for what you stated Moses, there wasn't any other choice for her I bet. She is the kind of person I seek for friends because people like that will also help direct their friends when they maybe about to mess up. Like a parent raising a child, a friend like that would question you or just flat out say "hey! that's not right". I try to self police myself, but having someone helping keep me on the straight and narrow certainly isn't going to hurt - and well appreciated.

[Garth Almgren]

Along the lines of your oil filters, I once ordered a pair of forearm forklifts from Groupon, and they sent me two pair in separate mailings. Like you said, mistakes happen. I emailed Groupon when the second pair arrived and asked where I could send the second one back, and they very promptly replied not to worry about it with their usual humor: they told me to invite two more friends over so we could move our furniture twice as fast.
That kind of response results in a relatively small financial loss for the business, but they'll get it back through customer loyalty and word-of-mouth advertising (like I'm doing now).

[Jason Roehl]

Meijer isn't alone. Remember when Sears mis-priced the WorkSharp 3000 for $19.99? They stood by it, and fulfilled the orders.

My local Sears didn't. I bought it online for store pickup, and the store manager wouldn't let the employee fulfill it. I called corporate, and they said that it should have been fulfilled, that was their policy, and the store manager was supposed to contact me, then send me some coupons or gift certificates as an apology. I never got them, and I have not since darkened the door at my local Sears. I've heard from others that my experience was far from the only negative one at this particular Sears--the manager is just not good.

[Dennis Peacock]

I bought a used motorcycle from a guy that was getting divorced. It is common practice (or so I learned) for a seller that priced a used vehicle fairly close to the "ya gotta pay taxes on that vehicle" mark to write on the vehicle title that the sell price was $2500. The $2500 was the cut off price meaning no sales tax required on the sale of the vehicle. The real price I paid was $3900. It took me a full MONTH wrestling with our state licensing/revenue department to get the sales price corrected from the marked $2500 to the real sales price of $3900. They stated that "nobody ever comes in here trying to raise the sell price during vehicle registration"....and I simply told them....."I'm not everyone else, I believe in truth and integrity". Price was adjusted and I paid my fair share.

[David Weaver]

Dennis, my dad did the same thing reporting the purchase price on something (I can't remember what, might've been a large trailer or something) and the people on the other side of the phone were pretty surprised that he was reporting it. I remember it being pretty difficult for him to actually get that done.

[Chuck Wintle]

We buy our meat at Meijer when it is on sale and we buy a bunch of it and freeze it. We buy mostly pork and chicken, generally pork roasts and boneless chicken thighs or breasts. A while back the pork roasts were on sale for $1.99 per pound but they were out of the meat. We got a rain check for the pork. We went in several times since and we wanted some of the roasts cut into chops and there was no-one to cut them or they didn't have enough meat. Finally almost a month after getting the rain check everything fell into place; they had a pile of pork roasts and there was someone there to cut them into chops. We bought 6 roasts and had three of them cut into chops. We went to pay for our stuff and the first 6 pound roast rang up for $5.41 with our rain check. Several of the roasts rang up about right but most of them way under. My wife pointed it out to the cashier and a snafu ensued. They ended up ringing up about 30 pounds of meat, charging us about $40, and sending us to the service desk to "straighten it out". My wife actually stopped at the service desk on the way out to try to give them more money. I am not sure I would have, but that is a different thread. They looked at it and ended up telling us there was nothing they could do, thank you for your business, enjoy the cheap pork, see you back.

you did try to set it right before leaving the store and this is what counts. How they decide to react to your declaration is up to them.