I don’t know how else to say this, except to tell you that in all circumstances, big or minor, with difficulty or not, with whatever it takes, that God always wants you to do the right thing. Now it’s true that sometimes you DON’T know the right thing to do, but a person of true faith will always know the wrong thing to do.
How to Do the Wrong Thing:
Case in point: On Thursday while running errands, I decided to stop by Gertrude Hawk Chocolatest see if I could buy a small package for my secret sister. I’m nearly broke, but I missed her September gift, and will have to double up this month. Hawk is fairly expensive chocolate but every now and then you can find something good. I was there with my 3 year old and without a stroller. You know that cliche about a kid in a candy store? Ugh…
They had a basket of little candy spiders which were foil wrapped chocolates in a basket, completely at 3 year old hand level. (Is that some kind of marketing scam/ploy thing? When your kid steals the chocolate you’re forced to pay?) Ok, so my 3 year old stole the chocolate. She doesn’t grasp the concept of ownership or buying or store property yet, as evidenced by the many things she tried to steal in Disney World. Now I have never shoplifted, and my spiritual lessons have taught me there is no such things as “free” – unless you are in deep, true need and God is providing. But if you plan on “getting away” with something for nothing, you will invariably lose something else, usually something MORE valuable, than what you thought you got for free. HOWEVER, I felt a dilemma here. I only had a few dollars on my business credit card (and wasn’t thinking about minimum charges when I was stupid enough to walk into the store), nothing in the house account, and ZERO change OR cash in my wallet. In fact, just the day before I’d taken all the change out to show Amelia how to use her piggy bank.
I was confused and embarrassed, and so I started to leave – only to hear the clerk say, “OK, before you go you will have to pay for the chocolate that your daughter took.” I wasn’t sure – thought she may have seen her but I guess I WAS trying to get away with it, ashamed by my lack of cash. I looked at her.
“Well, how much is it?” I secretly was hoping it was near minimum charge amount, but I doubted that.
“It’s 29 cents.” She held out her hand for my payment.
“Well, what is your minimum charge?” She looked at me like I was crazy. “I’m serious, I’ll have to grab something, I don’t have any change or cash at all on me.”
“Can’t you come back and pay for it later?” To be absolutely frank, I was dead broke and wasn’t even sure I had enough gas for the week to make another visit to town.
“Can’t I just charge some stuff? What’s the minimum?”
She was flustered and started speaking down to me. “It’s 29 cents. You have to pay it or it will come out of my paycheck.” (Really? Don’t they ever drop ANY of those quarter sized candy pieces and lose them? Do they inventory every shift?)
Ok that’s me being bitter. I asked again about the minimum charge, while making sure that Amelia didn’t grab anything else. As I recall she mentioned me coming back AND her paycheck several times. Readers, don’t mock her. It’s tough times we live in. Or maybe she’d already lost out on a small purchase in her last paycheck or got in trouble for it.
“Ok forget it,” she said, obviously bitter and not really forgetting it herself.
“Look, I’ll search the car–”
“No, no forget it.”
Well, I did leave and search the car. EVERY INCH OF IT. I found 6 sticky pennies, not a thing more. I was SO HUMILIATED. What else could I do but leave?
How To Do the Right Thing
As I drove away, I tried to think what I could have done different.
God enlightened me. I could have stepped up as soon as I caught Amelia eating the chocolate and said, “Gee, miss, I’m so sorry. My daughter ate one of these chocolates. I don’t have any cash at all but if you could tell me the minimum charge, I’ll purchase something and pay for it on there.”
To which I have NO doubt her reply would have been (with a smile):
a. Sure, the min is $–. Thank you for being honest, let me ring you up.
b. Oh it’s only 29 cents. Don’t worry about it.
Instead I tried to hide and humiliated myself, my daughter, and pissed off the clerk. So always ALWAYS do the right thing, even if it’s about 29 cents because the COST of that little escapade was sin, and a soul pain that made 29 cents seem like a million dollars.