Originally Posted by QBeth

last Fall, while on vacation in Vermont, we went on a bus tour of the local area, stopping in several places and, at the end of the day, one small town that has a country store next to an ice cream parlor next to a gift shop. At the gift shop, I bought a couple of postcards that were put into a flat paper bag. Next stop, the country store which offerred t-shirts, fudge, and other sundries.

On my tour of the store, I picked up a package of AA-batteries for my camera then got in line for fudge. Paid for the fudge, went out the door, back to the bus, and started putting the batteries into the camera. Hmmmmm.... ?? ..... why aren't these in a bag? Did I pay for these? OH CRAP!!! For whatever reason, I was holding them under the postcards when I paid for the fudge, completely forgetting that I had picked them up.

So, I turned right around and went back to the store. It took a minute (all the clerks were busy with my fellow tourers) but I finally caught someone's attention. When I explained what I'd done, the clerk made this face that I interpreted as "oh boy, they're going to call the police!" No, the clerk was so completely dumbfounded that I'd come back to the store to pay for the batteries!! She was so stunned, she started calling out to the other clerks in the store that "this lady" just came back to pay for something, etc. Of course, now the entire store is looking at me and the clerk. Where's that hole in the floor to fall through when you need it??

At this point, the manager comes over, hears the full story, and I start apologizing all over again. In the end, after I paid for the batteries, he gave me a big loud THANK YOU! for being so honest. All the while I'm thinking, if you knew me, you'd know that I would have found my way back here, after the tour, to pay you! It's just not in my make-up to steal, knowingly or otherwise. How do people steal without getting physically sick?