What Is The Most Honest Thing(s) You Have Ever Done?

I am curious to know What is the most honest thing(s) my fellow OZBargainers' have ever done?

I'll start first with my recent experience: Couple of weeks ago the Coles checkout lady somehow missed that my gift card was declined and still let me go (approx $60 worth of grocery). I was fully confused, so double checked the receipt and it said I paid via Cash! So walked back to the information desk and went through all the hassles and paid the due amount after waiting for approx 20 mins.

Surprisingly this happened to me few times (I wonder why…) and I know I only did what was only right/normal thing to do… I also once returned mobile phone/wallet but that's another story.

Please Note: I have no other intentions but curiosity, as I am sure we 'bargain hunters' might have some negative reputations of finding bargains/deals by any means which might or might not be fully honest. So sharing this might give us temporary inner peace?

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Comments

  • +13

    A salesperson thought I gave them a $100 dollar note instead of a $20. I wasn't paying attention at first either and walked off, and went back to return the extra $80 in change she gave me.

    Edit:

    So sharing this might give us temporary inner peace?

    I do it (other than just general decency) because I've also had people return stuff I've lost or remind me to take stuff I've forgotten on trains, etc, so I feel like I'm just paying it back/forwards.

    • -5

      A salesperson thought I gave them a $100 dollar note instead of a $20.

      Store and location please.

      • +5

        Ha! This was a Myer store - maybe why they're slowly all going broke?

        • +2

          No, it's because the executives have a long history of taking $Million dollar notes instead of the more-than-adequate $Hundred thousand dollar notes in exchange for poorly executed short-term strategies.

    • Happened to me too. A salesperson gave me wrong change. She even used calculator before handed me the money. It was a total embarrassing moment

  • +4

    someone left their galaxy s7 on the train after they had got up. I quickly grabbed him and gave it back. This was a couple of years ago

    • Admit my own mistakes to others and more importantly to myself.

      the second is me trying to love others, even when I don't like them.

    • Long enough for you to know it was s7?

  • +47

    Hold a fart in

    • +14

      being honest by fart it out & declare you've just farted

    • +10

      Hold a fart in

      Not all heroes wear capes.

      • +10

        Speaking of which, this past Halloween whilst trick-or-treating I encountered a house with a large punchbowl filled with Mars funsize bars on a footstool in front of the door. A handwritten sign on the door read:

        Happy Halloween!
        Please take 1.
        

        As I crossed the footpath with the punchbowl under wing, I noticed a group of 5 small children skipping gleefully to visit the house. They were all ghoulishly adorned in Halloween garb except for the youngest — not older than 3, clutching big sister's hand and wearing Batman pyjamas. Their smiles unanimously inverted as the wave of disappointment set in. Batman's enormous puppy dog eyes welled with tears and a single drop bounded over chubby cheek before splashing on the ground. The normally sub-audible event ricocheted in my mind as my entire life replayed before my eyes in high speed reverse and stopping at a particularly traumatic event of my own childhood: "Scrooge darling, you can't play with the pogo stick now, you have to wait for Christmas."

        In that moment, struck down by an unbearably sickening crisis of conscience and in my supreme altruism, I distributed 1 chocolate to each child. Proudly content with my good deed done for the decade, I placed the punchbowl in the boot, fired up the jalopy and sped off to the neighbouring house.

    • +24

      Man, I made the biggest mistake once. The lift was empty and I let out a mother of all rippers, within seconds I regretted doing it in such closed confines. To my horror the lift stopped at a floor for a nice looking lady to get in. Busted. If there was at least one other person I could have shifted the blame.
      I noticed the moment it hit her face, she definitely threw up inside her mouth. It took hours for the lift to reach the ground and I walked out in shame. I have never seen her since.

      • +2

        she's probably dead from suffocation hence you never she her again.

      • +5

        You should have just walked out of the lift when the door opened

        • +11

          More satisfying to watch the marination happening live

      • +1

        She's seen you. She waits for another lift.

      • At least you didn't do something evil - like get out at the next floor where people were waiting to enter and loudly blame it on her.

    • That didn't take long…

  • +38

    declare & pay tax owed

    • +7

      Apple Inc just got triggered.

      • +1

        Plenty of wealth people in this country to get triggered, you can stick to our own shores for that sort of comment.

    • +1

      not declaring $299 laundry

    • +1

      Me too. I bought an expensive used car. The seller wrote a receipt but didn’t include the purchase price. They suggested I write a different figure to avoid the stamp duty.

      I got them to write the correct figure and spent around $4000 to get the car registered in my name.

  • +26

    (not really 'honest' but interesting, I think)
    I found the owner of a lost iPhone by some sleuthing:

    Siri was not active when the phone was locked and there were no emergency details, but the owner had an appointment coming up that afternoon. I was able to ring the business and ask who had an appointment at that time, probably a lady by the phone cover and left my number. After some back and forth with the husband and the business I was able to locate the owner!

    • Good on you for the honesty but I would’ve dropped the phone at the local police station and rung the business to tell them to tell the person who had that appointment time she could pick it up from there. Probably would’ve saved the back and forth effort.

  • +12

    Found a wallet with $100 cash in and returned it to owner, he was VERY surprised the cash was still in there.

    I'm a big believer in karma so don't think twice about doing this kind of thing however if Coles stuffed up like they did for OP I can't say I would go back, $80 for them is a drop in the ocean.

    • +25

      Good on you, but I disagree (in principle?) about the reasoning for the second part of your comment. To me, my integrity is a function of just… me. The other person/party involved isn't relevant (and again imo, shouldn't be) to the decision.

      Or - if you really don't care about the company, consider that employees and especially checkout people get absolutely REAMED if the till doesn't balance.

      • +2

        If I knew that an individual was going to get into trouble I would 100% rectify it but if it was just me being gifted $80 from Coles' $1.2billion profit (0.00066%) then I'm cool with that.

        • +3

          Oh. Yeah no if their till was out of balance by $60? Absolutely reamed. Because it'd look like they either are just utterly incompetent, or pocketed $80 themselves. No one, not even the employee would think that it might've been because of an unscanned gift-card.

      • -2

        Regarding energy constantly looking at everyone's actions, isnt the law of physics is that for every action there is an equal opposite reaction?

        So by that logic, the more good you do, the more bad energy you will attract?

        • isnt the law of physics is that for every action there is an equal opposite reaction?

          Law of physics apply yes, however its for mutual interactions, i.e a fish fin pushing water which is accelerating the fish but pushing water in the opposite direction.

          What's listed above is some form of unknown energy that watches a thief steal from Coles, and at some arbitrary, unknown date later, that person loses a watch or a wallet in return. It's the most flawed and stupid idea I've ever come across (Karma, to me it's no different than believing in Santa Claus

          • +2

            @frostman: To be fair, karma has other meanings, especially when in a buddhist context. Westerners have a shallow interpretation of it. Note that I don't believe in any superstition

          • @frostman: Karma is random and illogical. What's wrong with Santa?

          • +3

            @frostman: Yes. Karma is just about the most laughable concept ever conceived by people. I can't decide if it's more ridiculous or less ridiculous than the concept of god.

      • If karma is true, then any suffering you see is due to bad deeds done in the past / previous lives i.e. they deserve it. It's a cruel master.

    • +4

      Yeah I found a wallet with $100 in it on the road. I recognised the face on the driver's licence and knew he frequented the local pub. I left it with them and the next time I went to the pub, they told me he was so happy to get it back and that he was so amazed that it still had all of the cash in it. He left $50 for me in appreciation. 😍👍🏻

    • -1

      Thing is, if at the end of the shift the til is $80 dollars too light guess who pays for that? Yiiip, the cashier. Coles/Woolies won't take that hit unfortunately. You and I may not think it's fair but it is what is. I've had ppl give me the wrong change a couple of times and I ALWAYS return it for that very reason.

      • +1

        Cashiers don't pay for it. They might get admonished for being careless but they are never to pay the missing amount.

        • Yes they do. I have friends who have been cashiers at petrol stations and Coles and they all had to pay it back. Not much of an issue these days as most ppl will pay by card but back in the day it was pretty dicey

          • +5

            @educalifa: They were being taken advantage of illegally. Under the law, the employers can't do that.

            "Importantly, employers cannot automatically make a deduction from an employee's wages/salary or other payments in the following circumstances:
            to recover the shortfall of a cashier at the end of the day in their register, or
            if an employee continually arrives late for work (or leaves early)."
            (https://www.hunthunt.com.au/news-and-publications/deductions)

            • @Omitsukasa: I did hear from someone that a particular 7-11 servo did it, that was 15 years ago. This is also only based on the word of someone who knew someone who worked there, not particularly reliable.

          • @educalifa: That's against the Fair Work Act 2009. An employer cannot recoup a loss from an employee's wages. Section 323 or thereabouts.

            • +2

              @Plug: I suspect what actually happens is that the cashier pays it quietly without anyone knowing. This way the cashier keeps her job and everyone is none the wiser.

            • @Plug: In all fairness, it was all pre 2009… things might have changed since

      • What happens if the cashier's till is over by $80, does the cashier get to keep it?

      • +1

        Usually cashiers don't need to pay it back, but they will be scolded and if it happens too often, get a warning etc etc. I remember when someone tricked $50 of my change, though that made me super vigilant and I never got tricked anymore.

      • Won't there be multiple cashiers on that register throughout the day, and that the only count the tills at the end. How would they know which cashier was responsible for the shortfall? (Not defending the behaviour, genuinely curious as have never worked in checkout)

        • it depends how the store operates. At my store, there were designated staff for each register, and they were supposed to use their own till. So it's pretty restricted as who used it. And we counted it at the end of each shift.

    • +1

      I'd never return the wallet directly to the owner. I would hand it in to the closet customer service desk / police station and not supply my name. My dad taught me a very valuable lesson about returning lost wallets; there's nothing stopping the wallet owner to demand there was "$1000 in cash in there". The owner could lie to get money out of you or someone else could have looted it and dropped it again.

  • +14

    i always tell people when they have something in their hair or some leftover food on their face. im courteous about it too, and can politely tell someone in two different languages how to fix your appearance.
    ive worked my whole life to get to this. this is how i live my life.

    • +2

      I do too, even if they have something on their butt…awkward.

      • +4

        I usually just take it off for them without announcement… dont like to make a big fuss

        • +7

          And end up on trial like Homer Simpson?! No thanks

    • +1

      direct but courteous? I thought the polite way was to touch your own body at the same location, causing the other to check thiers and thus "discover the issue themselves" with 0 embarrassment??

      I love watching this little dance. Humans amuse me.

      I've tried it, but get the wrong side of face, then too high, then too low etc. Very awkward, so I leave it for the experts.

      • Yeah, this mimicry is rocket surgery.

  • +31

    found mobile phone on the train on my way to work.
    phone belong to a bogan teenager, it has atm/credit card on the case sleeve as well.
    the gf rang, i picked up "hey babe where are you" and i explain.
    the gf got furious "where are you i want the phone right now" dohhhhh didnt even say thank you.
    i said im on my way to work cant stop to meet you. i can leave it with the train station guard or we meet at xxx after i finish my work.
    at the end met the boy, and gave him the phone he didnt even say thank you.

    • +58

      Reminds me of the time I found an incredibly drunk girl on her own in the street at around 3am, she was literally lying in the gutter throwing up. I got her phone from her bag, called the last person on her dialled list and explained the situation to her 'friend' - I was immediately accused of being a rapist. Umm yeah sure I'm just calling her friend before I rape her.

      Her friends eventually came in a taxi to pick her up, didn't thank me, just glared at me.

      Wow

      • +20

        personally I would've rung the cops instead and waited a discreet distance away until they turned up. The last person you rang may not have been a good choice to pick her up. Good for you for stepping in though.

        • +17

          In today's climate? Probably safest to just leave her there - because today that kind of accusation would end up on social media and actually could ruin your life. (And yes, in case I was too subtle, this is the fault of people like you who champion the "all women are always victims all the time and must be believed 100% of the time" rhetoric.)

          • +4

            @HighAndDry: So your answer is to leave a vulnerable person exposed to the sort of people who are responsible for creating victims; not really surprised you would take that attitude. I don't think that "all women are always victims and should be believed 100%". However, the studies show that the amount of time the women who lie about these sort of attacks is very low. However, that does not appear to fit with your narrative so you think women women are either snowflakes or predators on poor unsuspecting men. Funnily enough most of the men I know are very protective of vulnerable people, including drunk women, and would do what I have proposed. Call the cops, or an ambulance, to ensure the person is attended to and does not fall victim to a predator. Glad I have these sort of male friends.

            • @try2bhelpful:

              So your answer is to leave a vulnerable person exposed to the sort of people who are responsible for creating victims

              That's not what I said. I would still personally help a person in that situation - I just wouldn't be able to advise anyone else to take the same risk.

              And anyway - you can't honestly criticize anyone else when it's the person who's put themselves in that position to begin with. And unless you're calling gaz a liar (didn't you say the proportion of liars is low?):

              explained the situation to her 'friend' - I was immediately accused of being a rapist.

              There are still good people around. But this whole "one unsupported accusation is enough to ruin someone's life" business? That makes being a good person a much more risky proposition. And the fact you support it? It's not my narrative that says to believe everything regardless of lack of evidence.

              • +9

                @HighAndDry: You were "advising" people to not assist the person, based on a pretty specious argument that they may be accused. You have no idea how that person came to be in that position. Someone may have spiked their drinks, they may not be drunk it might be a medical condition. All you know is you have a vulnerable person who may fall victim to someone. My view is you step up to assist others and deal with the very slight chance there might be an issue later on.

                I would not ring the "friend" in the first place, but ring the cops. If she has been attacked you may have just handed the vulnerable person back to her attacker.

                Frankly I am willing to risk my reputation to help a vulnerable person because the odds on an unfounded accusation is very slight - however, the odds on providing a vulnerable person with the support they need at this time is very large. We have certainly rung ambulances and waited for them to appear where we have found people who have had drug overdoses in our area. It never occured to us to just walk past them.

                I do not believe everything regardless of the lack of evidence; the studies just show that false accusations are very small. If you are the sort of person who can walk past because you "may be accused" then that is your perogative. I applaud the guy who rang the friend for his compassion and humanity, I just think ringing the cops or an ambulance was probably a better option.

                • -4

                  @try2bhelpful:

                  You were "advising" people to not assist the person, based on a pretty specious argument that they may be accused.

                  Yes, except for the "specious" part. Again, I quoted this:

                  explained the situation to her 'friend' - I was immediately accused of being a rapist.

                  Now imagine that person shared the story on twitter and it blows up.

                  And if we're talking about probabilities and low likelihood:

                  You have no idea how that person came to be in that position. Someone may have spiked their drinks, they may not be drunk it might be a medical condition.

                  That's a lot less likely than a false accusation, so you're clearly now picking-and-choosing your arguments and logic to reach a pre-determined conclusion. And this doesn't help either:

                  I just think ringing the cops or an ambulance was probably a better option.

                  Say the drunk/passed out person did have sex with someone beforehand - they have no recollection. Now OP is the only person on the record who can be proven to have interacted with them.


                  Anyway, it's Friday and I have neither the inclination nor the energy to do this right now. Enjoy your weekend T2BH.

                  • +1

                    @HighAndDry: As I have indicated MANY TIMES. I would've rung the cops and not the friend because this means that you are not going to be the one that appears on twitter - because she will be talking to the cops and not you. Not sure how I can get this across to you.

                    As I have also indicated - the chance of a false accusations is very small, however, it will still be the cops/ambulance that are dealing with her, not you. You are just there to make sure she doesn't fall prey to other people. She won't have your name.

                    I was also pointing out that you can't make a judgement call on why a person has got themselves into the condition they are, just that it is best to provide them with safety in the form of calling the police/ambulance and watching over them. This is not picking and choosing as I would be treating the vulnerable person the same no matter how they got this way.

                    You attacked me for being someone who 100% believes every women that calls victim. I have stated I do not, but the studies show the likelyhood of a false accustation are small. Certainly not enough to leave someone who is vulnerable. Besides SHE DOESN"T HAVE YOUR NAME.

                    If you are paranoid then turn on the recording device on your phone before approaching the person and keep it running the entire time - this will show what the interactions were and they will be timestamped.

                    Have a good weekend yourself; may it be free of meeting vulnerable people so you aren't left with a delimma.

                      • +2

                        @HighAndDry: What I am suggesting would've saved the poster from having to deal with the friend by going to the authorities. You would then avoid facebook because SHE DOESN"T KNOW YOUR NAME; which seems to be a HUGE concern for you.

                        Why I would've gone a discreet distance is to ensure that I am not going to be falsely accused but I am able to provide her with support if someone does try to molest her. I would not be avoiding the cops, I would be giving them my name and approaching them once they arrive so I can give them what information I have. If that makes me look guilty then that is no more than any other witness to an incident.

                        If she has had consensual sex then your DNA will not be all over her, unless you intend to fish around in her knickers whilst you are there.

                        Again, you are assuming she has been to a club/bar - she may not have been. You are, again, prejudging what happened to the women to get her to that place. Where she has been may not have had cameras or there may be no footage where she currently is. All I'm concerned about is making sure she doesn't end up in a worse condition by walking away.

                        if you want to avoid helping a vulnerable person, on the slight chance you will be accused, then that is your perogative. My view is that by calling the cops/ambulance then you are putting yourself in the best position to help whilst reducing your chance of being accused.

                        By the way, I thought you had decided to stop posting to this?

                        • -6

                          @try2bhelpful:

                          What I am suggesting would've saved the poster from having to deal with the friend by going to the authorities.

                          It's not the friend I'm worried about. It's social media and the authorities themselves.

                          By the way, I thought you had decided to stop posting to this?

                          Which is why I'm trying to stick to short answers - but I don't want anyone taking your objectively terrible advice and having their lives ruined as a result. Again - you're still saying "slight chance you will be accused" - completely disregarding that if it happens, you'll be right there saying that because it happens apparently so rarely, they're most likely guilty.

                          All of this really just shows how little you know about the current climate and what's actually happening. I'm not even saying that false accusations are common (figures of official accusations which are proven to be false are around 5% - but as #MeToo shows, you don't need an official accusation to ruin someone's life, nor are all false accusations proven false). But would you take even a 5% chance of your life being ruined?

          • @HighAndDry: That is so much bullshit, can you give 1 example when that happened? Or do you have a friend that heard from somebody that?

            • +1

              @misu p: And we were having such a civil discussion until you came along to neg too.

              can you give 1 example when that happened?

              Sure:

              https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/2000-fine-over-f…

              Mr Atkinson said that on collecting all the evidence it was clear from the CCTV footage and witness accounts they did not support her version and she admitted the following month she had made a false report.

              I just want to point out - in this case the accused were police, and a normal person can expect far worse outcomes, this is a rare case where inconsistencies in the perp's statement meant CCTV footage could prove her wrong (which does not happen often), and still the only penalty was a fine.

              • @HighAndDry: Yes, there are a small number of examples where men have been falsely accused; which is not something I have denied. However, let us line this up against the large number of cases where vulnerable people have been attacked. Like the women who's friend left her outside the 7/11 and these guys came up, kidnapped her, raped her and took her engagement ring. I would say this is a direct alignment with what the original poster for this was trying to help her avoid. If somebody at the scene had rung the police and kept an eye on her then she would have been spared this ordeal.

                Now, let us look at the original post from the friend's perspective. She gets a phone call from her friend's phone in the middle of the night but there is a guy on it asking her to come and get her inebriated friend. She doesn't know this guy from Adam, only that he has, somehow, got his friends phone and is asking her to leave her safe home, in the middle of the night, to come out and pick up her friend. Now, for all she knows this guy may have already raped her friend and was calling random female numbers to see if he can get someone out to be victim number two. If she then came to the forum to say this happened to her you guys would be saying "what an idiot, why did she go out based on the call". The stare he was getting was the "don't mess with me stare. I might be frightened but i'm willing to fight back because I don't know who you are or what your intentions are". This is a stare that most women have done in their life when they feel vulnerable. This is why I keep saying - back off, keep an eye on her and ring the cops/ambulance it is best for everyone concerned. Also then she doesn't get your name to put you on social media - which you seem to be particularly scared of. You would be happier to leave a vulnerable woman to be attacked rather than take the very small risk to your reputation. I'm glad there are people out there who are willing to not walk past. You may discourage them, but I encourage them. I also ask them to understand why ringing someone's friend on her phone might not be the best way to handle this situation.

              • -2

                @HighAndDry: If this happens to "normal" people who can expect "far worse", why did you specifically choose to cite an incident with police officers? Which isn't even close to the scenario being described here anyway given she was obviously lashing out for being arrested - not just falsely accusing them for kicks.

                Don't bother answering though, we already know. You're talking utter rubbish. The risk of being falsely accused is minimal.

              • @HighAndDry: This is a prime example of why people should not just walk away.

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Richmond_High_School_gang…

                "As many as 20 witnesses are believed to have been aware of the attack, but for more than two hours no one notified the police".

                A bystander described the assault:

                "They were kicking her in her head and they were beating her up, robbing her and ripping her clothes off; it's something you can't get out your mind. I saw people, like, dehumanizing her; I saw some pretty crazy stuff. She was pretty quiet; I thought she was like dead for a minute but then I saw her moving around. I feel like I could have done something but I don't feel like I have any responsibility for anything that happened."

                Witnesses are believed to have recorded video footage of the attack using camera-equipped mobile phones, but local police have not been able to obtain the recordings. At least two dozen bystanders watched the assault without calling 911 to report it"

                You, obviously, think it wasn't worth the risk to these two dozen bystanders for their reputation to actually ring the police and stop what was happening to her.

      • +1

        No good deep goes unpunished hey.

        At least you know you did the right thing well done champ.

        • +3

          many enjoy a good deep now and then. but its wise to get positive consent first.

      • Wow didn't realise this comment would create such a debate. To all the people saying I should have called the cops, I totally agree and I would have done this if I was in Australia but I was in Spain and the cops there would have caused no end of issues. Calling her friend was the best (only) solution in my opinion.

    • I wouldve just done the complete opposite … your a good bloke

      • +1

        *you're…..just being honest.

        • It's actually *Ure

    • +2

      Nothing worse than being treated like the problem when you're the solution.

      It's like, yes your phone is still on for a reason. If I was going to steal it why would I be talking to you?

    • Its too bad stories like these are only more remembered if it was an impolite Chinese, people tend to forget if its typical aussie bogan.. its obvious when it comes to bogans doing something impolite nobody bats an eye, but if its an asian looking person everybody loses there minds they quick to criticise (zero tolerance). From my view of what I've seen of typical aussie comments

      • People expect bogans to be assholes and expect Chinese people to be professional.

    • makes me think of that case in china a few years ago. a nice young man found an old lady who had fell down some stairs. he took her to the hospital. she then for whatever reason claimed he pushed her down and the police arrested him. he was eventually found to be innocent but not before going through all that drama. makes you lose faith in humanity.

    • You are a good person and have learnt a life lesson. If someone is an idiot to you when you help them, make it difficult for them to collect.

  • +68

    Someone left their iPhone on a couch at Westfields. It wasn't locked so I went through their list and found the last dialed number.
    It took them a while to actually respond and find me, so by the time they picked up their phone my car parking expired.

    So it actually cost ME money to give the phone back.

    • +7

      Have a + :)

    • +4

      Good work but next time just dump it at the info desk or with security.

  • +8

    I work at a high school with VERY honest kids.

    Once, I had $20 in my pocket as I was going to buy lunch that day. Later that day, I realised it had fallen out of my pocket.

    I lamented this to a colleague and he suggested I check the reception as he was sure it would've been handed in. It had been - found on the main thoroughfare. The student wouldn't even accept a reward!

    BONUS STORY:

    My Mum once found $50 floating in the wave pool at Wet'n'Wild. She handed it into the admin there, in case someone came looking for it. NUTS!

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