MY TRIP TO WALMART
A few days ago, I went in to Walmart to buy a few things. One of the items I wanted to buy, a T-shirt, was on the clearance rack. I wasn't sure of the cost of the shirt so when I went to the check out, I asked the cashier to scan it for me before I purchased it. I wanted to make sure it was really on clearance. She scanned it for me. I thought the price was great, it was on sale for $5.00. I told her that yes, I wanted to buy it. She rang up the rest of my items and gave me the total. I paid and left. As I got out to my truck, I started thinking that I hadn't paid much for what I had bought. I pulled out my receipt and sure enough, the cashier had not charged me for my T-shirt. After scanning it for the price, she forgot to actually ring it up before throwing it in the bag. So I put my bags in my truck and went back in to pay for the shirt. I walked up to the cashier and told her that she forgot to charge me for the T-shirt and that I was back to pay for it. She apologized, not for not charging me, but because she thought I had been stopped at the door on my way out. She said she hoped I wasn't embarrassed. I told her that no I wasn't stopped at the door. I realized when I was out at my truck that I hadn't been charged. She looked at me awkwardly, and then asked why I came back in then. I looked just as awkwardly back at her as if it was obvious. I hadn't paid for something. If I left, it would have been the same as stealing. It took her a few seconds to grasp the idea that I actually came back in from the parking lot to pay for something when I could have just as easily driven away. She thanked me for being honest and asked if I had the shirt. For some reason, I thought she would be able to ring it up without the shirt, so I had only brought the receipt back in. I told her that I would have to go out to my truck and get it. So I did. As I was walking back in with it, the customer service person at the door asked me if I was returning the shirt. I said no, that I was bringing it back in to pay for it. Again, I got that awkward look. I once again had to explain what happened to this person. The whole time I was explaining I was getting this strange look from this person. She actually said to me, "You mean you were out in the parking lot already? Why did you come back in then?" I replied, "Because I didn't pay for the shirt." She rolled her eyes and said, "Alright....go back in and pay for it I guess." I went back to the cashier and paid for the shirt and then headed back out to my truck. On the way out, the customer service person looked at me and then shook her head as if to say, "What an idiot!"
The whole experience was kind of strange to me. I understand that there are people that would have just left. I kept thinking about the whole scenario. Anytime I get too much change back, I always tell the cashier and return the extra funds. I have not been charged for items before and I always go back in to pay for them. I usually get a little bit of a strange look but then a nice "thank you" from the cashier. I did get a nice "thanks for being so honest" from the Walmart cashier this time. But what seemed different this time was the look I got from both workers at Walmart. I couldn't stop thinking about it.
The next day, I was telling the story to a friend. They said to me, "What are you crazy? Like $5.00 is going to matter to Walmart? They make enough money!" I was a little surprised by the reaction. I was telling the story to another acquaintance. I got an almost identical reaction with the same reasoning. I told another person. Her response was, "I would have done the same thing." People's reactions were so interesting to me that I started telling the story to several people I knew. The next woman I told also said that she would have done the same.
I noticed a pattern to the reactions but at the time I was considering it a coincidence. So I told more friends and acquaintances to get their reactions. In all, I told the story to 15 people. Nine people said they would have done the same and that they would have been honest. Six people basically said I was crazy and that Walmart makes enough money and would not miss $5.00. The six people that said Walmart made enough money.....were all liberal leaning people. Eight of the nine people who said they would have done the same thing that I did, were conservative leaning people and the other one was a liberal.
I am not saying that liberals are all dishonest. I am not saying that all conservatives are honest. The $5.00 itself was not what was interesting to me. It was that six of the seven liberals all said that Walmart already made enough money. And that none of the conservatives ever mentioned anything about Walmart and the amount of money they make. To all of us, it was a matter of paying for a product that we wanted. To the liberals it was a matter of "sticking it to the man." They didn't see it as a big deal. As one of them said to me, "I spend so much money over there, that if it happened to me, I would've been like....they owe me. And that's why I wouldn't have gone back to pay for it." Again. I am not saying that liberals are all thieves. I just found it extremely interesting that the reason that all the liberals gave was that Walmart already made enough money and that $5.00 wouldn't matter to them. It makes sense though. Don't they say the same thing when taxing the wealthy in this country?
