Integrity needs a comeback

I was at Wal Mart at about 1 in the morning waiting in the only line open to buy some things. The line is backed up forever and there's an old asian lady working the register. Just as the guy in front of me was leaving he looks at his reciept then comes back and tells her that she didn't charge him for a pair of pants he bought. The thing is, he could have easily gotten away with it. The line was long, and the woman was about to start scanning my items. Plus, Wal-Mart is not losing any money for a pair of $20 jeans, when they make millions upon millions of dollars. But it's the principle that I'm trying to convey. When I saw that, I remembered that once upon a time, I was that guy. I would tell people when they gave me too much change, or forgot to charge me something. What happened? To be honest, I probably wouldn't have done that.

The world needs more people like this guy. People that will be honest, even when it comes to something as small as that. I myself have fallen into the state where if someone makes a mistake in my favor, it's their fault, my gain. This reminded me of when I was about to start college. Yet again, I was at Wal-Mart, in Florence this time, and I made some purchases, then went home to Madison. When I got home, I realized that I didn't have my wallet. So I searched for a while and called the store, but no wallet. Then 2 days later, it came in the mail. All the cash, and credit cards intact. There was a note from a woman that said, "I thought you might need this." I couldn't believe that someone went out of their way to help a complete stranger. I had about 70 dollars in cash, and numerous debit and credit cards. She could have picked up the wallet, taken the cash and no one would have ever found out. But she had enough integrity to go to the post office and pay to have it shipped back to me. This amazes me.

Going out of the way to help someone correct a small mistake goes a long way. I'll remember these things for the rest of my life, and try to be more like these people. If a mistake is made, and I could gain from it, someone else is going to lose. And just because they made a mistake doesn't mean I should take advantage of that. Everyone is human. Everyone makes mistakes. So next time someone does, don't take advantage of it. That's what I learned today.