What would you have done?

I didn't expect to have my own moral question arise on the back of this thread but here's one!

I went to the supermarket this afternoon (nice & quiet there as everyone's at home watching sport!). I saw a nice bread bin and popped it in my trolley. It went through the check out with everything else and I paid up.

Dh cast his eye over the receipt when we got home and couldn't see the bread bin on it. Strange. After poring over the receipt he found an item in that weird code supermarkets use which we think indicates 'kilner glass jar £2.50'.

It seems that the bread bin has the wrong bar code sticker on it - there are no other stickers anywhere on it. Do I go back to the supermarket, which means a 40+ mile round trip and a gallon of petrol, or do I accept that I've made a lucky purchase because of their error?

I was in the filling station this afternoon refuelling a hired minibus before returning it tomorrow morning. I went in to pay and the attendant asked me to pay a sum significantly more than the amount I was expecting to pay. I pointed out my vehicle and the attendant told me that someone else had paid my bill instead of their own before driving off. I informed him that I wasn’t expecting to pay for more fuel than I had purchased and he agreed with me but asked if I could pay with cash, I duly paid, got my receipt and came home.
I hope the other driver feels pleased with himself, I think it was despicable and I also feel for the employee.

Here’s a story from the opposite side. I went to Waitrose to use the cash machine inside. I withdrew £50 for a day out the next day. I thought I put it in my purse, in a rolled wad. I then went to the self serve cash register, put my shopping through, and paid by credit card. When I got home I found the £50 was missing. I searched my bags, purse etc then went straight back to the store. I searched the areas around the cash machine and till I had used. I spoke to customer service and they checked but no one had handed the money in. They took my phone number in case it turned up. I never heard another thing. So either a customer found my money and kept it, or a customer handed in the money and someone at the store pocketed it. I had to take out another £50 and both amounts showed up on the statement. I wish the world was as honest as you lot.

As you did, conscience would have git the better of me if I didn't.

I would have to say something,I'd feel guilty if I didn't.But if the assistant started being rude when I said they'd made a mistake,I'd just leave it and enjoy the extra money and think at least I'd tried.

Guilty. I don't add up as I go round so I wouldn't know. In chucky's case though if it was one of the big main stores and the items were of small value I wouldn't have said anything. On a few occasions when I've got home and looked at my till receipt an item which should have been on offer for example half price, I've been charged full price. I do tend to ask the cashier if so and so has come up as reduced price now. Apart from that I am as honest as the day is long.

You did the right thing. One thing your friend hasn't thought of is this will show up as a discrepancy somewhere in the system and someone could get in trouble. You can sleep at night with a clear conscience.

I am generally honest in such situations too

One I wasnt and well it was tough.

Went to pay our paper bill, it had mounted a bit during to illness. New people had taken over the shop and usually their youngish daughter was on the counter. I knew the bill they had sent me was wrong. So I politely apologised for the late payment and asked them to check the bill because....at which she started ranting at me that people like me made her sick because we didn't pay for weeks and then moaned about it. So I just paid. Perfectly happy to be significantly UNDER charged.

I would have done the same as all of you who have answered.

Not being good at mental arithmetic I don't always keep track of the exact amount, but I do have a rough idea of what it comes to before going to the check-out. I always ask for the chit and check it before leaving the shop, as well.

By now, I doubt anyone who behaves like OP's friend dares say so here!

I once bough a six pack of bottles of milk ...on checking the receipt at home, realised I had only been charged for ONE sole bottle of milk ..took the receipt back next day ready to pay for all six ..shop manageress said Thankyou, but it is our mistake so you do not pay …….she said she would talk to the cashier on that till...so then I felt guilty that I may have got the cashier into trouble ……..difficult one !

Honesty is the best policy was drilled into my brother and myself in our house.

Telling the truth was another lecture we had too.
I've abided by those rules and I'm pretty sure my brother has as well.

I have always done the honest thing, the only action that is right, IMO.
That includes a £14+ undercharge in Primark, and swiping a 5p plastic bag in Waitrose only to find when packing outside that there were 2 stuck together. I returned to pay at the service desk.

I would have done the same , automatically. Years ago I worled for the Post Office. We had to balance our tills each week. If it was short we had to put in the loss or if large it would be put on our employment record.
I have though had occasions when I have gone back into a shop and queried the amount of change only for the staff member to be rude and insist that I had left the shop so errors couldn’t be corrected. On these occasions I left the shop with the overpayment as I knew that I had tried to correct the mistake.

I'd have done the same as well.

I would be honest like you I couldn’t go home knowing that I hadn’t paid the correct amount .

I was in a well known bakery some years back (you know, the one which now sells vegetarian sausage rolls everyone's raving about). I was given a handful of change from a large note I had used to pay, and before I had had a chance to check it, (I was busy putting my purchase into my bag), the staff member shouted at me in front of a queue of customers "OH NO YOU DON'T ". I saw she had given me change of a larger amount (her mistake, not mine), snatched the money out of my hand and made out I was being dishonest!!! I was so gobsmacked I couldn't say anything and left in extreme embarrassment. I have never been back, and will certainly never try their perishing sausage rolls!

I would have pointed out the error. However, I once did just that and was spoken to very rudely by the checkout lady. My response was that I was merely being honest, but thank you for giving me some of my shopping for free!

Just read Schnackie’s post ....it’s not about the big stores ...it’s all about being able to stand up straight and look your grandchildren in the eyes when you instil in them that honesty is the best policy.

I was putting my shopping back into the trolley as the cashier was scanning them when I noticed my little bottle of vanilla essence was still tucked in the corner, I handed it to her to check if it had gone through and sure enough it hadn't. If I'd got home with it I'm not sure if I would have taken the trouble to go back .

Exactly as you did.......you were right and your friend is wrong! Well done.

I also think that it’s important to be honest. A couple of years ago I got back to the car with my bags in the trolley and realised I hadn’t noticed, or paid for, a mascara, which was about £10. I took it back into the store and paid for it. And a couple of weeks ago, I inadvertently picked up 2 issues of a local weekly newspaper. I took that back too!

When I was responsible for banking cash some years ago I opened the cash bag that had been returned from the bank and found £100 in the bottom. The cash book had been stamped and signed by the cashier. I rang the bank and asked to speak to her and told her that I would drop the money off on the way home. She was almost in tears as she had been trying to balance her till and realised what she had done. I have never forgotten how worried she was; there are generally consequences for someone if you are undercharged.

I would have done the same, honesty is the best policy.

I'm with the crowd that won't correct the mistake if it's Tesco - not sure about other large supermarkets. I lived in an area which had a small population over the winter, but swelled considerably during from about March to October. It was the only supermarket available to residents without cars at the time, and the minute the holiday makers came to town, all the prices in the store jumped up, unfairly penalising those of us who resided there all year round. And on another note, my son-in-law is a manager of a large grocery store in New York and when I asked about shop lifting, he told me that it was a very low percentage and went into the same account as things that might not have been scanned by employees etc. Not a big deal to a big store.

Not quite the same but I was queuing at a cashpoint at a busy time. The two ladies in front of me were busy chatting, one took her card and they walked off. As I stepped forward I noticed the lady's cash was still sitting in the tray, quite a lot of it. Without thinking I grabbed it and ran after them saying you've left this behind handing over the cash. The lady thanked me and off they went still chatting. I turned back to the cashpoint and found myself at the back of the queue... again! Oh well