Monday, December 11, 2006

In which your opinion is sought

Betty and I were zipping down a road today when we noticed a speed camera sign. 'Oh oh,' I said, 'we'd better slow down; we don't want to get a ticket.'

Betty said she would quite like to get a ticket but she didn't think it was very likely as we were only doing 32 mph.

It seemed a lot faster than that.

Maybe they should give Beetles to boy racers. Then they would just think they were going fast instead of actually going fast and killing themselves and other people.

The reason we were zipping anywhere on a Monday morning was that I had a dentist appointment. Just a check-up but I have a confession: I am terrified of dentists.

It's been years since I was hurt by one but an appointment still hangs over my week like a big black cloud. I can' think why I should get so nervous. I mean, what is there to dislike about having three metal instruments, a mouthful of saliva and a hand in your mouth all the same time?

(I used to have to be very brave when I took the children for their check-ups. Even though it wasn't me seeing the dentist I had to hide the fact that I was still all quivery.)

My teeth were fine except I needed a scale and polish. 'Shall I do it now or will you come back?'
'Do it now, please.'

Kitted out with a plastic apron and safety goggles, I could have safely delivered a baby.

Still that's done for another six months.

I went straight from the dentist into work - no, I don't usually work on a Monday but some bright spark had the brilliant idea of raising money for Mutende Children's Village by collecting recipes and making them into a Linden cookbook. Which is fine until all the recipes arrive hand-written and the cookbooks are wanted in time for the Christmas Concert next Sunday.

Then I discovered the Linden tree hadn't been delivered - or more worryingly, might have been delivered and stolen. Last week a box of Mars bars, this week a 12' Christmas tree. Well, you never know. (It hadn't; the farm had forgotten to deliver it.)

Now I'm home and realising that the extra cards I bought - that were on special offer at Sainsburys - are Large Letter size. Do I send them innocently with second-class stamps or go to the PO and find out what stamps I should use? Or, another possibility - take them back to Sainsburys and swap them for small cards? That sounds the best idea.

Oh, yes, that's what I was going to ask you.

I was recently out for a meal with a group of people. When the bill came it turned out that the restaurant had failed to charge us for two of the bottles of wine we had. This news was greeted with delight and much 'sshh, don't tell-ing' by the party. I wasn't paying but, if I had been, I would have told the waitress. I don't think this is a particularly Christian stance but rather an honest one.

What do you think?

10 comments:

Anna said...

Yes, I would probably have told the waitress (sigh). But I am always doing stupid things like that - telling clients I can work for less money and charging less than I quoted when the job doesn't take me long. That kind of honesty is inevitably met with surprise - even your waitress would probably have thought you were weird.

fools' cap said...

If I was paying I probably would've told the waitress too. And very likely met with incredulity. Recently in a hostel they had forgot to charge me for a deposit and as I was leaving they were going to "return" it to me - the poor woman was quite confused when I didn't take it!

Anonymous said...

My yardstick is this: Yes I would say if I realised while still in the restaurant. But I would not make the return journey once I'd left. Except if we'd been eating in my son's pub where I know the waiting staff get mistakes or underpayments deducted from their tips, which are a necessary addition to their meagre wages. [Not son's fault, he's just the under-manager].
So, this means I am a hypocrit.

Liz Hinds said...

A few years ago I bought two sandwich toasters and when I got home realised that I had only ben charged for one. The next day I went right back across Swansea to go and tell the shop (Makro. They were so astounded they gave me a £5 gift voucher.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

I would probably have told the waitress, too - but only because I'd be worried about them realising just as I was leaving the restaurant and calling me back! I'm scared of the dentist, too.

Anonymous said...

Ethics questions baffle us. I have had similar experiences in restaurants or bars and usually tell the wait person since I know it could end up coming out of their take at the end of the shift. If there was particularly bad service, I might choose not to. Revenge of the nerds?

I have one I'm wrestling with now. Ordered a personalized gift which got lost in transit. A month later, the vendor apologized, shipped it again at no charge. That one came through fine. Then the first lost shipment showed up. Now there are 2 personalized items, identical. The shipper has already filed claim with carrier who has or will pay up. They would not have any use for a returned item with someone's initials on it. Do I keep both and stay silent? If I do, should I feel guilty? What to do?

Liz Hinds said...

Crumbs, Winston, that is far more challenging.

I would think that if you told the shipper they would say to keep it as, as you said, they have no use for it, and they have claimed. It's probably not much use to you either!

Is it a big company? I'm not asking that because I think it's okay to scam a big company but if they are and you tried to phone them it would probably get very complicated.

Elsie said...

Yes. I would tell, Liz. Once on a date, a guy got more change than the total cost of the check (he paid with a $50 and got change for $100). He was thrilled. I asked him to return the money. No deal. Never went out with him again, the jerk.

Winston. Deja vu all over again! Duplicate gifts were delivered to the house. I called company to try to return one. They insisted that they had only shipped one. I told them "I am holding two in my hands." They said "not possible." They refused to take one back. So I now own two lovely silver pitchers. I'd contact them. Bet they'll tell you to keep them both.

Clare said...

I completley confused a woman in Tescos about a year ago. I was buying a jumper, and saw the checkout woman take the security tag off, but I didn't see her scan it. The total was about £10 less than I was expecting, but I didn't take it up with the checkout girl, mainly because she was a trainee and I didn't want to confuse her. So I went up to the customer service desk and explained what had happened, and offered to pay. The woman at the deak couldn't quite cope with the idea that I could have just walked out, with a free jumper. In fact, she practically told me to.
I will confess there were two reasons for me insisting. One, because it was the right thing to do, and the second because if they had checked my bag for any reason, I wouldn't have had the jumper on my receipt, and I didn't want to look like I was stealing...
So, yes, I would have done the same thing, but my friends probably would moaned about me being a "good Girl Guide"!

DellaB said...

I agree - it's dishonesty, and really, stealing - if you know you've had something and not paid for it. And somebody has to pay for it, the owner of the restaurant, a shop-keeper when they give you too much change, it's like when you lose something, a purse or a wallet and it comes back to you - imagine if the person who found it just thought 'hooray' and pocketed the money.

I guess at the end of the day it's your own conscience that needs to be clear - it's not worth losing sleep over.

Me too, I hate the dentist too.

Liz, I've had a lovely read, haven't been here for a little while, actually haven't been anywhere nuch, getting right behind but got a few days now to do some catch-up. thanks for all the lovely stories, you have a great sense of humour ...