I’d say you might, at most, call the store and make sure it wasn’t an error. Since all sales are final unless you, the customer, want to return or exchange, there shouldn’t be anything they can do about it if there was an error (obviously in your favor). And if there wasn’t, then you know and your conscience is completely clean:)
I’ve had items in the lower part of my grocery cart–the part underneath the basket–that the clerk didn’t see and I forgot about. I’ve always noticed before I leave the checkout stand, and I always have the clerk ring 'em up.
I also realized once after I left Target that the candle I had placed in a candle-holder, to see if it would fit, was rung up as a set, instead of separately. So I only paid for the candle holder, not the candle…and I have a rule about these things. If I notice the error in the checkout stand, I’ll mention it.
If I notice it in the car or at home, I don’t go back. This is partially laziness, and partly because…err…let’s face it. I don’t really, really care enough. I’ve never returned anything in my life, even if I hate it or it’s defective, so the chances of me going back to Target to get them to ring up my candle are nil. If I’m going to burn in hell, so be it.
As far as the comforter goes, Lissa, I say screw it. You may end up getting the cashier in trouble for her oversight, and there’s no way for them to account for an extra fifty bucks they didn’t know was missing. Their drop that night would be $50 over, which would be more of a headache than a good thing, unless they rang something up for that amount and then kept it, which wouldn’t make sense either.
I say sleep well.
The cashier getting into trouble over this was also a thought that occurred to me, considering that she noticed something didn’t seem right, but just shrugged and completed the sale.
I went back to the store last night and spoke to one of the floor managers in the department. When I told her the basic details (leaving out the day it happened to avoid identifying the cashier) she just nodded and said, “I’ve heard that happens sometimes.” That was it. But at least I’ve “confessed,” and feel better for it.
Lissa, all you want is a rationale for cheating (albeit, inadvertently) the store. Guess you got it, from most of your fellow dopers, and by couching your “confession” to the floor manager in general and imprecise terms.
cleops - With all due respect, I think your post is unwarranted and even a little mean.
From her post, it appears she told the manager that she purchased a comforter that she believed was priced at $80 and ended up with a receipt for “sheets” for $30 (the basic details). The date is really irrelevant. If the manager were concerned, they had as much opportunity to say so, as if she had told them the exact date it was purchased.
I think she did the right thing and did not deserve to be called a cheater.
I would agree with stellar7. There are not that many people out there who would even be concerned much less concerned enough to go back and talk with a manager. It shows incredible moral fortitude in this day and age of “screw or be screwed”. Kudos to you Lissa!
Well, stellar7, I don’t think my post is “unwarranted,” but I do admit I’m a little harsh with Lissa (although I don’t think I quite called her a “cheater”). But still, big store, small store, there is some principle involved. Now I don’t mean to say that principles should always be followed, but in Lissa’s case, it might be best for her if she did, so as to get rid of that feeling of being a “little guilty.” One knows when one is fudging, and all the “kudos” in the world won’t change that. Lissa must do what Lissa thinks is right.
cleops, perhaps it was the timing of your post.
I didn’t mean to offend you. If I did, I apologize.
I like to see people do “the right thing” and I guess I just jumped to her defense when I felt she was being judged harshly, after having done what I did consider the right thing.
Again, if I offended you, I’m sorry.
if I got unintentionally UNDERCHARGED for something, i would shrug and say “hey, i’m sure i get overcharged plenty of times and dont notice it, we’ll just call it fair”
If however, like another poster, I noticed I was never charged for something in the first place, I would probably (never happened) take it back and purchase it legit. I wouldnt mention that I had forgetten to pay for it. If, for some reason, it would be infeasible to pay for it without them knowing i forgot, I would just not pay for it at all.
Hey, stellar7, no problem! I can always use having my number called. Keep it up!
Honest mistake, I say. Perhaps you should/would have said something if YOU were at the register.
Or, you could make a nice donation, say 50 bucks, to an organization that collects blankets for foster kids…and take a guilt-free tax write-off. Winners all around. Sleep well!
The crux of it for me is that she scanned it in. Right? They program their scanners, they are the authority on what the prices really are. More than a few times I’ve questioned a suprisingly low price on an item, only to be told that “that’s how it scanned in”. They don’t want to be bothered any further than that.
If she hadn’t scanned it in, I’d agree that your conscience would nag you a bit. But since it was scanned in that way, it seems pretty cut-and-dried to me. And it seems obvious that when she went back to the store and explained what happened, the person at the store wasn’t really interested in “correcting” the error. They know, and don’t want to bother.
cleops - Thanks. That’s a healthy attitude! And, can’t we all? 
cleops, reread the post from Lissa that was just before the one you posted that was so critical of her. You apparently misjudged her motives since she actually did something about the error.
cleops, I see that I was the one who needed to read more carefully. Sorry.
But Lissa is the only authority on her motives.