When it's actually easier to steal than to be honest, what to do?

[Jingthing]

OK, a bit of a funny situation.

I had a grocery delivery.

It came and the perishable goods were given in a closed bag.

My routine is to tell the delivery guys to wait a minute while I inspect the order and close the door. 

So I open the bag part and there is an extra item I didn't order.

A huge portion of premium imported beef steaks.

I never order steaks and without a thought, I double check that I didn't order it by accident and then proceeded to open the door and hand over the mistake (or missed - steak if you please).

Well the delivery guys were truly flabbergasted. They got very agitated and didn't seem to know what to do. They insisted that I inspect the printed receipt that they bring. which I did. The total would have been triple my total if I had ordered it.

So they reluctantly took it back, looking like they still had no idea how it got there in the first place or who it actually should be delivered to, if anyone, then I paid, and bye bye.

So why this story?

Why didn't I just keep the steaks? 

I'm not vegetarian after all.

Suppose they later deduced that I was primary suspect based on their delivery history and which customers got closed bags?

Well so what? They could prove it how?

Would you have kept the steaks assuming you realized you could get away with it?

Would your first thought be automatically I'm handing it back OR thinking about or even keeping it?

The x factor was that being honest became a bit of an annoying hassle for me as they didn't seem to want it back. 

Also and of course I can't really read the delivery guy's minds I kind of got the feeling that rather than being grateful and respecting me for being honest and giving it back, that they rather considered me a fool for not keeping it.

Like if it was them, they would have kept it, so what kind of freak is this farang?

 

 

 

[scubascuba3]

Someone would of got in trouble if you'd kept the steaks

[KhunLA]

I would have kept it, and hopefully enjoyed it.  Only because, I don't think I've ever checked a delivery order, before paying and they scooted away.   If it looks and feels about right, I just accept it.  Yea, I know, so far, so good, no oops yet.

 

Usually it takes longer to get here, than hoped, and I'm too hungry to delay eating to bother checking 😎

 

On honesty .... don't expect a nice stack of money to be given back to you.   Emphasis on 'nice stack', as I do make correction when not charged or given too much change ... usually, as mood dependent, and if a person or corporation will be at the loss.

 

 

[Jingthing]

5 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Someone would of got in trouble if you'd kept the steaks

Yeah you're probably right but maybe someone got in trouble because I didn't take it, ha ha.

[Jingthing]

8 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

I would have kept it, and hopefully enjoyed it.  Only because, I don't think I've ever checked a delivery order, before paying and they scooted away.   If it looks and feels about right, I just accept it.  Yea, I know, so far, so good, no oops yet.

 

Usually it takes longer to get here, than hoped, and I'm too hungry to delay eating to bother checking 😎

 

On honesty .... don't expect a nice stack of money to be given back to you.   Emphasis on 'nice stack', as I do make correction when not charged or given too much change ... usually, as mood dependent, and if a person or corporation will be at the loss.

 

 

Like I said I didn't even think about keeping it until after I decided to and gave it back. But if I was like you and didn't check my order I think I would have called them (I have their number because they call first) later to report the issue.

Yeah I always check the order because sometimes there is something missing. I guess more rare for there to be a big bonus!

 

An issue I do have is with avocados. I always ask them to bring firm unripe ones. They usually do but sometimes they bring rotten ones. Avocados are not cheap but I've never even mentioned it when that happens. I consider that kind of the cost of doing business with avocados which even when you buy firm quite often never properly ripen. 

 

[novacova]

Have experienced similar situations and have never taken advantage of those situations, besides what kind of person wants what things that belong to them?

23 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Why didn't I just keep the steaks? 

Because you’re honest and have the good of karma preceding you.

[Jingthing]

4 minutes ago, novacova said:

Have experienced similar situations and have never taken advantage of those situations, besides who wants what doesn’t belong to them?

Because you’re honest and have the good of karma preceding you.

Not sure about karma but there is cultural sense of guilt that I have. I think I wouldn't have enjoyed the steaks and I would have been paranoid about cooking smells, perhaps the police would come and smell it, ha ha. 

 

This reminds me of occasions of guilt free unearned gains. Walking in a parking lot with a friend in the U.S. he (sadly not me) spotted a flippin' 100 dollar bill on the ground! Now small change you see all the time, perhaps an occasional dollar, but 100? What are the odds?

[stoner]

30 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

This reminds me of occasions of guilt free unearned gains. Walking in a parking lot with a friend in the U.S. he (sadly not me) spotted a flippin' 100 dollar bill on the ground! Now small change you see all the time, perhaps an occasional dollar, but 100? What are the odds?

 

the odds are quite good. look at how many times people find 100's of thousands of baht and gold in the back of taxi cabs in thailand. 

[Gandtee]

I would have handed them back. The stakes are too high for a farang caught being dishonest.

[Jingthing]

Just now, Gandtee said:

I would have handed them back. The stakes are too high for a farang caught being dishonest.

Yeah just imagine what the "netizens" would have done with a f-rang caught red meat handed with the steaks.

[novacova]

34 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I wouldn't have enjoyed the steaks

Most certainly you wouldn’t have enjoyed if the steaks were Thai beef unless you enjoy chewing on boot leather.

[tweedledee2]

 I applaud your honesty, but was the delivery driver as honest as you and took the item back to the store?  

[Fat is a type of crazy]

I'd like to think I'd give them back. How big the seller is might influence my decision. A large multinational as against a mom and pop store. 

[mikebike]

15 minutes ago, novacova said:

Most certainly you wouldn’t have enjoyed if the steaks were Thai beef unless you enjoy chewing on boot leather.

Yet I've had Thai beef like butter... Where are you eating 😂😂😂

[Yellowtail]

What store?

[mikebike]

8 minutes ago, tweedledee2 said:

 I applaud your honesty, but was the delivery driver as honest as you and took the item back to the store?  

Who cares? Do you control the driver's morality or your own?

[gargamon]

The delivery guy picked up the order already packed at the vendor. He has no idea what's in the bag. He has nothing to do with the order. The merchant screwed up.

 

Keep it and let it make up for the many times it works the other way.

[Lacessit]

IMO being true to yourself takes priority over gain.

[Tropicalevo]

You did the correct thing.

If you had kept them,  your previous honest life would have been a lie and you would spend the rest of your life knowing that you were a thief.

[Captain Flack]

A reported post removed, as it was just a personal attack

[1FinickyOne]

I would have felt worse having eaten it and not paid for it... 

 

A Ms. Steak... 

[1FinickyOne]

1 hour ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

I'd like to think I'd give them back. How big the seller is might influence my decision. A large multinational as against a mom and pop store. 

So, you are thinking that a large multinational might have more fat to trim? Now that is crazy - - you see it is not who you cheat but that you cheat. 

[MalcolmB]

Best not to break the law.

i am fearful of prison rape.

[In Full Agreement]

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Someone would of got in trouble if you'd kept the steaks

 

 

 

And then some unsuspecting soul may well end up with a turned steak and not know it until he's spilling his innards out  on the throne.

 

 

[proton]

3 hours ago, novacova said:

Have experienced similar situations and have never taken advantage of those situations, besides what kind of person wants what things that belong to them?

Because you’re honest and have the good of karma preceding you.

 

Karma is a complete myth, does not exist

[Fat is a type of crazy]

Delete

[BritManToo]

12 hours ago, KhunLA said:

I would have kept it, and hopefully enjoyed it.  Only because, I don't think I've ever checked a delivery order, before paying and they scooted away.   If it looks and feels about right, I just accept it.  Yea, I know, so far, so good, no oops yet.

 

Usually it takes longer to get here, than hoped, and I'm too hungry to delay eating to bother checking 😎

 

On honesty .... don't expect a nice stack of money to be given back to you.   Emphasis on 'nice stack', as I do make correction when not charged or given too much change ... usually, as mood dependent, and if a person or corporation will be at the loss.

Me too, and change and the bill in 7-11, I just don't look.

[J Branche]

Thai people are generally honest as am I.

The store would have incurred a loss.  Maybe employee is forced to pay for it as my girlfriend and some of her family members were made to pay for losses they caused to the business.

 

So you take it, employee has money taken from them.  Employee struggles to pay bills why you eat steak.

Maybe employee has child so you take food away from someone's family.  Maybe they can't afford to send their child to school this semester.

 

I don't know about you but I am here to help people not hurt them.  

[Asquith Production]

A little of topic but I always check the price of any loose meat I have bought. A few times I have had them incorrectly identify the meat and put the wrong price on. On two occasions the cashiers have noticed I had been overcharged.

[KhunLA]

8 minutes ago, J Branche said:

Thai people are generally honest as am I.

The store would have incurred a loss.  Maybe employee is forced to pay for it as my girlfriend and some of her family members were made to pay for losses they caused to the business.

 

So you take it, employee has money taken from them.  Employee struggles to pay bills why you eat steak.

Maybe employee has child so you take food away from someone's family.  Maybe they can't afford to send their child to school this semester.

 

I don't know about you but I am here to help people not hurt them.  

Taking food from the baby ...

... you forgot steers farting, methane, and climate change, now you're killing us all.

 

You give the steak back (if you notice), and what do they do ... eat it,  take it back to restaurant, someone eat it, trash it, or sell it again.

 

Same as @BritManToo I don't notice much till too late.  If I do, I'll try to make the proper adjustment.  The 7-11 thing, I'd tell them (if noticed), need to charge me, and if get too many blank stares or evil eye, well then, thanks, I tried.   Employee didn't lose anything, so 7-11 is 100 baht short this week.  Oh well 

 

Getting change, I don't count just make sure notes part is correct as they are counting, as usually breaking a 1000 baht note.   That's close enough.