Was it shoplifting ?...

[Anonymous]

Several of you have asked me how the shoplifting matter of several weeks ago turned out, so I guess I'd better come clean and tell it all...

For those of you that are just coming into the story. I bought several items at one of my area hobby shops several weeks ago, and the guy failed to charge me for the most expensive item I bought. I didn't realize this at the time, so I left.
On the way home, I pulled out the sales ticket and discovered that the guy didn't charge me for the item which was worth about $20.00. My buddy that was driving asked me if I wanted to go back and pay the guy for the item, but at the time I was mad at him because he had recently lied to me about some work that needed to be done on a couple of my friends train engines and told him no.
A couple of days later, I posted what had taken place here on the forum and got mixed replies. Some people told me I should keep the item and forget it and not even look back while others said I should do the right thing and pay the guy, so always wanting to do the right thing I took the item back to the hobby shop with the sales ticket and told the guy what happened. He looked at the ticket, looked at me and said it was up to me, that if I didn't want to pay for it he wouldn't hold it against me, but if I did pay for it he wouldn't hold it against me either. I pulled the money out and laid it on the counter and he pushed it back at me and said it was a reward for my honesty. This was not the response that I was expecting, but the older I get the more I find that people will surprise you sometimes...

trainluver1

[Anonymous]

good to here he was a nice guy about it .if you are a regular of his there is no reson he should think you took the item. and i bet it was a suprise to him that you came back to point out his mastake

[BMRR]

I think you done the right thing......in the end, it turned out great !!!!!!

Stan.

[Anonymous]

That's great to know, glad it turned out well! [tup]

I once read somewhere that the best way to "destroy" an enemy is to turn him into a friend by an act of goodwill.

[Anonymous]

It is definately best to do the right thing. Although maybe not immediately, somehow if you hadn't done the right thing, you'd end up paying for it. When people say, "Go ahead, nobody will know." I always say, "I'll know and so will God." Besides, you never know what difference, either good or bad, your actions will have on another person. The trust the guy is going to have in you is worth a lot more than $20.00.

[rtraincollector]

Well I guess Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. said it best then huh SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE !!!!!

Glad it all came out great

Bill

[MAbruce]

Great to hear that you did the right thing, and the guy turned out to be a decent person after all!

[Fergmiester]

Goes to show you

"Things never turn out the way we expect them to, never"

I'm very happy this has worked well for you. I suspect many retailers are use to being ripped off, lied to, so on and so forth. If I were a store owner I'd be a very jaundiced and bitter person by now.

Fergie

[AntonioFP45]

Congratulations!

Glad it went so well. The respect you gained from that man was more than worth it. It's great that he wouldn't take you money! He may look at young people in a "different light" as a result of your clean, honest action.

High Greens to you!

[fievel]

Way to go, Trainluver ! I'm glad it turned out so well for you.! I admire your
honesty and courage in dealing with the matter. You took a risk that the
owner might get upset and confrontational, in order to do the right thing.
If he had thrown you out of his shop in anger, you still would have my respect.
Now, let's all get back to having fun again model railroading !!! [{(-_-)}][angel][8D]

[rogerhensley]

'Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you'. This time you got the bear by doing what needed to be done.

Thank you and congrats on a good choice.

[davekelly]

WAAAAAAY COOL!!! Glad to see things worked out! I bet you feel better from the experience and I bet the LHS guy feels the same way. Every now and then something happens which gives me hope for the human race and it makes me feel pretty good all over!

[cwclark]

now see...being honest does have it's rewards...your conscience is now clear and the guy isn't so bad after all is he?....The good Lord is smiling at you right now and that little thing in your head that bugs you when something is wrong won't be eating at you any more...Chuck

[Anonymous]

You passed the test! Now proceed to the next level.

[Adelie]

Very good...for both of you! [bow]

Not always, but sometimes, there is a strange situation where everybody does the right thing. You may have also broken the ice with this guy.

[tatans]

A little gold star for your forehead, life always comes up with these little surprises eh???

[Don Gibson]

A GREATLEARNING EXPERIENCE fFOR ALL. He learned something about you, and you learned something about him. Is he still a "Jerk"?

I know I learned something about you. Congratulation's.

[tstage]

How 'bout that!?! Maybe things will be a little different between you two now. Sam, thanks for taking the "less-convenient" route. Had "the jerk"rightfully taken the $20 afterall...you STILL did the right thing. [^]

Tom

[Anonymous]

Excellent.

[chateauricher]

QUOTE: Originally posted by KenLarsen
the best way to "destroy" an enemy is to turn him into a friend by an act of goodwill.

From your mouth to Bush's ears ... [sigh]

[RedGrey62]

Good for you, glad you did the right thing and so sis your LHS.

I had a similar incident a couple of years ago. The owner of my LHS would allow lay-away. I had my eye on a set of Athearn F7A-F3B-F3A. It took me a couple of months to pay off and when I got it home and opened all the boxes to admire my purchase I found two 100 dollar bills, my previous lay-away payments! This is how the owner kept track of lay-away payments. I was home on leave when this happened so I handed the money to my neighbor who also frequented this LHS and told him tell the owner that I appreciated the deep discount but I really couldn't accept it![:D]

Rick

[Anonymous]

Regardless of what is right and what is wrong you cant out a price on getting rid of "Potential Guilt". In a few weeks you may have felt really bad ,so bad that you wish you hadnt bought the loco but know that youve done the right thing you wont feel guilty and were proud of ya for doin the right thing.

Good on ya

Pavariangoo[:D]

[davekelly]

trainluvur,

I can't help but thinking about this incident. We can't change the whole world for the better - but perhaps you did change at least a small part of it. Imagine if everyone else in the world did.

[selector]

Thank-you...for doing the right thing. I sincerely hope that you can thank yourself, often, for doing the right thing.

Since you are ahead $20, maybe you can donate it to a good cause, or ask to take the LHS owner out for coffee; try to get to know him better. You may find out that he is less of a jerk and more of a human being. Regardless, you were wise to do what you knew to be the DECENT thing and attempted to right an error. Turns out, it was in your favor all the time. [^]