Sunday, December 7, 2008

Tough Situation

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My daughter needed a new blouse for a chorus concert. Of course, somehow I didn’t get that information until about 90 minutes prior to the concert. I dropped her off for her pre-concert rehearsal and went desperately looking for a black blouse. I went to a department store just down the street from the school and found 5 blouses that I thought might work. I picked up all five blouses and took them in two sizes – I wasn’t sure what would fit and what she would like. So I went to the register and checked out 10 blouses. I paid the bill with my credit card. I was in a hurry and I didn’t pay attention to how much they cost. When I got to the car I actually looked at my receipt. I noticed that somehow I was only charged for 6 blouses. It didn’t make sense because I saw the cashier scan all 10 blouses. I didn’t have time right then to figure it out so I went on to the concert. My daughter found a blouse that would work and she did a fine job in her concert. After the concert we went back to the department store. I needed to return 9 blouses that we didn’t use but my problem was going to be that my receipt only showed 6 blouses. I took all 9 in and fortunately the same salesman was still working. I explained the problem to him. He remembered us - as it was only about 90 minutes since I purchased the blouses. I explained my problem with my receipt and he couldn’t believe that only 6 blouses were on the receipt. Then he couldn’t believe that we were honest enough to bring them all back. As it turns out, the one we kept, we hadn’t even been charged for. He talked to us quite a bit while doing the return and said several times how he couldn’t believe we would bring back the clothes that we hadn’t been charged for. He said no one does something like that. He was impressed with our honesty. To tell you the truth, not returning them had never crossed my mind. My only fear was that someone would catch us with merchandise in a bag that we didn’t have a receipt for and think we were trying to steal them. I am glad I didn’t let my fear keep me from doing the right thing.

I guess what I am trying to tell you today is, do the right thing no matter what. It will surprise and bless the people around you. Do it because it is the right thing. Do it because it is what God would expect you to do. And, it will bless your socks off.
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