OPINION: While we criticise and condemn the corrupt, embezzling, thieving monsters that we read about seemingly everywhere and every day … if we are willing to benefit at the expense of others, does this not mean that if we had the opportunity to ‘steal bigger’, we’d do it too? asks Lance Fredericks.
JUST this past week, I was reading through some inspiring quotes. I often do this when I feel a bit low, or unmotivated, or a bit frustrated and wretched. My reasoning is that by looking at what inspired others through the ages, I can perhaps get some steam back in my boiler to keep my engine chugging along.
This week, a quote by EA Bucchianeri hit home. She writes: “Sometimes we can make our own opportunities, sometimes we can see them coming, but more often than not they are like pop quizzes, they are sprung on you like a challenge to test your skills, almost like a dare to see if you can take that leap of faith to make whatever it is a success. Wait too long, and an excellent opportunity might slip away.”
Now the reason why this quote stood out from the rest was because, just two weeks ago, I had, sort of, allowed an opportunity to slip. I could have benefited myself, but out of choice, I didn’t. And though a number of people, I suspect would call me foolish, bear with me as I explain what happened …
I was visiting some friends up in Gauteng recently and during my time there, I accompanied them to the supermarket where they needed to pick up a few essentials. Not being interested in bleach, bread and bicarb, I wandered around by myself through the well-stocked aisles.
Then I stopped. I removed my spectacles, rubbed my eyes and took a step closer to the display of coffee pods.
The pods, the good quality pods, nogal, were on special and that caught my eye; these pods were compatible with my coffee machine back home and normally they go for around R75 per pack, but the price tag seemed to be saying, “Normal price R79.99 each, but get 2 for R25 with card”.
As I was standing there counting on my fingers, my friend approached.
“Look at this,” I said. “Can this be right? Am I seeing this right?”
He looked at the price tag for a moment before saying, “Do you use this brand? Then take it. Take all you want! Must I get a trolley?”
And right there I was faced with a choice. I could take that leap of faith to achieve success and benefit myself or hesitate and allow an excellent opportunity to slip away. Now, as you, dear reader, ponder what you would have done, allow me to share what happened …
Instead of taking crates of my favourite type of coffee, I just took two packs. Of course the cashier was perplexed. “But sir, this is scanning for R56 each, not R25 for two,” she said apologetically.
My friend held up the tag he had taken off the shelf. “But this is the advertised price. This is the price the customer should pay,” he said calmly.
The supervisor was hailed. The young man came, and listened to what the cashier said to him. He nodded a greeting to me and then went ahead entering codes and swiping his card. As he was doing this, he instructed another one of the staff to immediately go and remove the incorrect tags from the shelves – all of them. It was obvious that he was livid.
When he was done, he walked away, obviously upset because he was still pretty red-faced. But he did – after about 10 steps – turn back and say to me, “sorry for the inconvenience sir.”
Here’s the thing. I could have had enough coffee pods to last me till Christmas 2024, but as I was considering that possibility another thought had come to mind. A conscience-pricking thought.
You see, my conscience had whispered, “Sure, you can get a ton of coffee for next to nothing, but can you imagine how much trouble that would create for the person who made the mistake?”
When I watched the supervisor stomp away, there was no doubt in my mind that someone was already in hot water anyway. But the trouble would have been more severe, I thought, had the loss to the store been bigger. That’s just my logic anyway. Losing two packs so cheap would cause just enough of a shake-up to make whoever made the mistake more careful in future, I imagine. Or at least I hope so.
And yes, I know the best thing, the most honest thing would have been for me to report the mistake on the price tag to the store’s manager. But my conscience is not totally healthy, I suppose.
But speaking about an unhealthy conscience, here’s another ‘coffee story’ I heard some time ago.
A newly-appointed CEO of a huge airline would travel incognito as just a normal passenger in economy class, so that he could evaluate first hand the quality of service that his flight attendants were offering.
On one such trip, the CEO was near the aircraft’s galley – where passengers’ meals and beverages are prepared – as he waited to use the restroom. He noticed one flight attendant opening packets of the airline’s good coffee and emptying it into a plastic container. To the boss it seemed as if the employee was stealing from the company.
His suspicions were confirmed when the flight attendant looked up, straight into the CEO’s face and, not recognising his boss, smiled and said: “Welcome to duty-free shopping!”
Of course he lost his job, in case you were wondering.
So, having said all that, what do we learn from these two coffee stories?
Maybe this will provide a clue. Six years ago I posted an opinion on Facebook. It simply reads: “Celebrate if a cashier makes a mistake and gives you too much change, but moan when someone embezzles a fortune.”
The point I was trying to make is that while we criticise and condemn the corrupt, embezzling, thieving monsters that we read about seemingly everywhere and every day … if we are willing to benefit at the expense of others, does this not mean that if we had the opportunity to ‘steal bigger’, we’d do it too?
I have marked with a highlighter the following passage from a book I once read.
“Every act of life, however small, has its bearing for good or for evil. Faithfulness or neglect in what are apparently the smallest duties may open the door for life’s richest blessings or its greatest calamities.
“It is little things that test the character …
“The little attentions, the small, simple courtesies, go far to make up the sum of life’s happiness, and the neglect of these constitutes no small share of human wretchedness.”
And this begs the question: Could it be that there are so many terribly miserable people because they live their lives dedicated to making other people miserable?
I guess you can quote me on that.
