It "pays" to be honest...

I had a couple extra minutes this morning on my way into the office due to the combined forces of the office closing early today for the holiday and the trains and street being far less crowded than usual.

I decided to stop in the Starbucks near my office (1 of 2 within 6 blocks, mind you!) and get an iced coffee. The fellow who rang me up told me my total was $2.78. I gave him a $5 bill. I saw on the cash register that my change should be $2.22.

The fellow gave me back $2.78 from my $5 bill. It's a very honest mistake considering he had just said $2.78 out loud when he told me what I owed him. When he handed me the money I held onto the 2 dollar bills and gave him back the change and politely and quietly let him know I should have only gotten 22 cents instead of 78. I purposely kept it light and quiet since, as both an employee and a boss, I know that mistakes happen and this one was not a big deal and easy to correct. He handed me back a quarter and thanked me and told me not to worry about the 3 cents.

Then I moved down the counter away from the cash registers to the area where they give you your drink. A minute later another fellow said, "I have a Venti Vanilla iced coffee." I stepped up to receive my drink and he handed me a card along with my drink and said, "I want to thank you for your honesty--your next drink is on us."

When we are all willing to work together as a larger team, even in a small blip of an event like this, I continue to have hope.