Do You Steal At The Self Checkout?
Isn’t technology great? When you call the bank you don’t have to talk to anyone; you just have to wade through a gazillion menu items and either say or press one. If you opt to go to the bank you can use the automated teller and not even have to deal with a person then. Now the robots have infiltrated our grocery stores as well! Self-checkout lines. What a phenomenal idea… we can’t hire anybody for minimum wage with a decent attitude so we’ll just let you get your stuff, ring up your groceries and bag it all yourself too!
Yes, I know sarcasm isn’t very Christian-like, but I have some real issues with these so called improvements. For one, they are supposed to be a convenience right? Wrong! Most of the time the lines are taken up with people that are not… how shall I say… tech savvy. That or they have two or three buggies full as if they are stocking up for the next world war. The only time I use these lines is if all other lines are full and I only have a few items.
Ok, soap-box over with… let’s continue.
On one particular occasion through the self-checkout line I had a diet soda and two other items. A few days later I was faithfully entering the receipt into my financial software and noticed that I had been charged twice for the soda. Why that incompetent cashier! Oh, wait… right there on the receipt were the words, “Self-Checkout.” DOH! I was the incompetent cashier. See what I mean? That’s why I usually let them do that job.
Then it occurred to me, if I made the mistake of charging myself twice for that item I could just as easily have made the mistake of not charging myself for the item. Take it one step further and I could purposely not charge myself for one of the items in my bundle of goods. After all at those self-checkout lanes the employees aren’t really paying any attention to what is going on. They will come and help you out if the light dings because something is wrong with the process, but that’s it. They don’t double check your receipt for accuracy. I’ve never once been stopped and asked to see the contents of my bag. Why shoplift? Now you can just pick out your high dollar item and put it in with a few cheap items that you actually purchase at the self-checkout. Cameras in full view and everything it wouldn’t be hard at all.
So what’s to stop you? Well for one, it goes against one of The Big Ten: “Thou shalt not steal” Exodus 20:15 [KJV]. This is where the you have to let the Holy Spirit speak into your life about right and wrong. You have to let your conscience do what it does best. It’s a matter of character. What would I have done if I had discovered that I had made a mistake in the other direction? What if I had accidentally not charged myself for the soda? Would I have gone back and paid for it? Would I have written it off because it was an insignificant amount of money? To be honest I’m not real sure. I can only pray that in times like that I will look to God and let Him be the voice of truth to cut through the nonsense that will try to tell me it’s ok to let things slip.
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Filed under: Character, Christianity, The Big Ten
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