An Honest to the Core Man

My Dad popped into my mind this morning.  Maybe because one of my uncles, Dad's youngest brother, is terribly sick.  Maybe because I was getting some tape off something I just painted and thinking about how Dad would do it.  He was always so meticulous.  Or maybe it was because of the lemon and avocado I got yesterday from the grocery store.

Oh, I think of Dad quite often actually.  It is interesting to me to see what triggers my memories of him and Mom.  But this morning, I think it was all of those things, but the lemon and avocado are the point of this story.  (Yes, there is a point!)

Late yesterday afternoon I bought groceries while waiting to get my prescriptions filled in the in-store pharmacy.  I bought the usual essentials and grabbed the avocado and lemon as I passed the produce table and threw them in the purse part of the shopping cart--that is what that little seat thingy in the cart is for, right?

My effort to pick up just a few things ended up totaling $92.00.  It was just a few things, but of course, anymore a "few things" generally totals about $100.00.  That makes me think of Dad, too.  He used to say that no matter what you went into a big store for--even if it was just one thing--you could count on spending at least $20.00--a "cover charge," he explained.    In his estimate you could not get out of the store for less than $20 a bag.  Now I think it is even more than that.

Nevertheless, after cringing a tad at my "mid-week-grab-a-few-things" grocery stop, I had to repeat the expense when I picked up my prescriptions.   Criminey!

Then to the car, I trudged, contemplating the amount of money I spent in such a short time and how tiring it was to wander around the grocery/big box store.  While throwing the sacks into the car, I saw them.  Right under my purse in the "purse thing" of the cart were the lemon and avocado.  Darn it, I thought, or words to the effect.

I looked back at the store miles and miles away from where I parked and decided that the next time I was in the store (which likely would be the next day) I would tell them to add the price of a lemon and avocado to my bill.  That assuaged my immediate guilt and I went home.

So that brings me to this morning and Dad.  I remember this story so clearly because it was so Dad.  One time Mom got home from grocery shopping at her local big box store and was examining her receipt which she did frequently.  However, this time she noticed that the clerk had not charged her for the cokes.  As she also frequently did, she asked my dad about it--what should she do?  It amounted to probably $2 or $3.

Well, Dad, being the most ethical person ever, answered her by asking her, "What would you do if they had overcharged you?"  That was all Mom needed to hear.  She got back in her car and drove to the store and paid for the cokes.

That was Dad.  He was honest to the core; he really didn't believe in those wonderful gray areas that we--or at least I--sometimes like to live in--where things can be justified to fit one's immediate need.  He lived without rationalizing--"well, that store makes plenty of money" or "they sure are making a profit on those meds so what's a couple of dollars?  They won't miss it."

But in Dad's head it was wrong.  I agree it is wrong.  But it was a gray-sorta day.  And I was very, very tired--I had been on my feet doing art with the preschool kids for a couple of hours (that's a good thing, right, God?) and I had spent an hour or so before that wandering around a couple of other stores and Keith was home and hungry.  See, how good I am at rationalizing!   So I went home without paying for the lemon and avocado.

Hmmmm.  I guess I'd better get my store clothes on and go back to the store and pay up!

Thanks, Dad.  I feel better already!