Honesty

I witnessed a touching, faith-in-human-nature-confirming scene today. The actors: B, a baker; C, a customer (with small child in pushchair for the aaaah effect); a Chorus of waiting customers including U, a blogger. To set the scene: this is not a family-run corner shop, but is the in-store bakery of a huge, anonymous, downtown department store. It is hectic, everyone is in a hurry to get their orders in before the stores close. The anonymity is the important part of the scene: none of the characters know the others, none of us will ever see the others again. Curtain up.

C asks for two pastries, which B gives her. They cost 1 Euro each. She gives him a 2-Euro coin, and turns to leave.

B is tired and harrassed and distracted by shouting kids, and so he miscalculates: he thinks he's only given her one pastry. By his reckoning, he has one Euro too many. If he lets C walk away, he can make a significant increase in his hourly wage. Does he keep the Euro? No, of course not. B shouts after her, "Hey, come back, you haven't got your change."

Now it's C's turn. B is offering her a 50% discount on her pastries. If she plays along and accepts the Euro, she comes out well at no cost to him, since the department store would bear the loss. Does she accept the Euro? No, of course not. C replies, "No, there is no change, you gave me two pastries."

Smiles and murmurs of approval from the Chorus.