It was late on a Thursday afternoon.  We had people arriving for dinner around 6:30 so I had to hurry home and help get things set up.  I had promised to pick up a bag of ice on the way, so I stop in quickly at a grocery store.  I anticipated the cost of the ice at this small store probably in the $2-$3 range, so I grabbed 3 bucks out of my wallet and put it back in my pocket.

After finding the ice, I went to a cashier who was open, handed him the ice, he said some kind of total and I handed him the money.  When he gave me just 6-cents change from my $3 I looked at the register and the total was all of $1.94.  I said, “I think I gave you $3”, but he had already put the money in the till and closed the drawer.  “I thought you only gave me two.”

There was a long uncomfortable pause and then I realized I was defeating the purpose of trying to rush through this to get home sooner.  So, I said, “Well, just put it to the corporate profits.”  He replied, “You know, if you give me your name and phone number, when I balance the till, if it’s off by a dollar, I’ll call you.”  I declined the offer and said, “No big deal.”

But then on the way home, it was all I thought about.  Should I have given him my name and number for a dollar?  I mean, money’s money.  But then again, the gas I would spend to come over and pick it up would probably have me breaking even.  But then again, it was a dollar.

I’ve decided to let it go.  After thinking about it for 24 hours, then writing a blog about it and having this appear every time I look at my blog page, I’m going to let it go.

Sort of….

Tim Hunter