Sunday, September 09, 2007

A slight moral dilemna at the airport

I spent the last couple of days in California on family business, and I had a morally interesting situation on the way out.

On my way to the plane, I stopped at a kiosk and bought a bag of mixed nuts for the flight. As I went further down the terminal, I realized that I also wanted a bottle of water, so I stopped at another kiosk. Since I was carrying the nuts, I put them down on the register table to get my wallet, and the cashier thought I was buying the nuts. I hadn't kept the bag or the receipt from the kiosk, so I couldn't "prove" that I had already paid for the nuts.

After a moments thought, I bought the bag of nuts ($4) but swiped a bottle of water ($2).

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, if you're in an airport, maybe you should ask yourself: WWSCD?
Andy

Brad Wright said...

That is really funny Andy! I actually thought about Senator Craig... I tried to be careful in the bathrooms.

Anonymous said...

I think you are ok... lol.

Knumb said...

Howzabout saying: "Oops, actually I brought those nuts in with me and want to buy that water."

You seem trustworthy to me, and I'm your little brother.

Paula Harrington said...

I'm with the knumb guy. Did you plead your case first or give in and buy the nuts again?

Ben Byerly said...

Nah. You did the right thing. KISS. If you look anything like the the picture on your blog, I wouldn't believe you ;-). Of course anyone in their rational mind would realize someone who can afford a plane ticket shouldn't be trying to swipe a bag of nuts. Anyway, I hope someone got it all on the security cam, and maybe you really screwed up their inventory software.

Knumb said...

hahahah yea,

I was going to mention the inventory software. I'll scan the Fresno Bee for "Airport employee fired for stealing bottled water."

As far as the security cam, Fresno is the home of Pelco, the leading facial recognition software company. So, I'm sure Brad was been identified as a thumbcuffing Sociology prof. shortly after leaving the Budget rental car counter.

I hope the flight back went smoothly with your good karma nuts, bro. We got the car back with 11 minutes to burn in the grace period for two days, so, by my math, you're $66 ($70-$4) in the black.

Of course, there's the moral dilemma of having been reimbursed for a rental car by your father for three days only to have your brother average 68 mph down the I-5 and bring it in in two. ;)

Joyce said...

You didn't swipe the water, you paid for 2 of them! So I think you're safe!

Brad Wright said...

Ben & Ben, thanks for the pastor's and soon-to-be pastor's approval!

John & Paula, in a post-9/11 airport, I figured I'd get arrested or something. (or end up paying for both the water and the nuts). Maybe I don't think of myself as appearing very trustworthy?

Joyce, you're right, I should have swiped two bottles of water!

John, about the rental car, I should have known that you would set a land-speed record getting it back. Cool.