What would you do?

So on the way to dinner tonight with Da Wife, we stopped by a book store so I could peruse the books on CD as well as some geek books. The CDs are for my daily commute and can I just say, what a boon they have been! They make my commute time seem to vanish. I highly recommend trying them for anyone that drives on a daily basis. I did find a couple of Dean Koontz books recommended by a friend of mine, they are the start of the Odd Thomas series. And I also grabbed the Michael Crichton book Prey. So we'll see how they do in my quest to make commuting in the Northern VA area tolerable. After carrying off with my new found audio "kills", I headed to the uber geek section, and selected 2 of the books I was interested in. Dragged it all to the register, paid, and headed out, intent on getting our Tex-Mex dinner. On the way to the restaurant, Da Wife notices that we didn't get charged for one of the books (in retrospect, the total did seem much smaller than I was expecting). It would of course be the MOST expensive book in the stack, ringing in around $50. We were almost at the restaurant, so I decided we'd go in, and then deal with it.

So after a tasty meal with enough to bring home some leftovers (yum), we headed back to the book store. I walked in with the whole bag, and promptly explained to a (different) cashier, that I hadn't been charged for one of the books, and presented her with the bag, receipt, and previously "free" book. She looked at me for a moment, uncertain of what the problem was, or perhaps not trusting her ears. I repeated the fact that I had something that I had not paid for, and wished to correct that. It finally sank in, and she rang up the book. She did, however, add in a big discount for it (she said her way of saying "thanks"). So instead of paying $50, I paid only $35. I was appreciative of the discount, and thanked her as we left the store.

You might think I'm crazy. You might not. That doesn't matter to me, only that I know that it was right for me. Same goes for Da Wife, some time ago, she went to a certain home improvement store (with Roxie the wonder dog) to purchase paint and other supplies. On her way home, she pondered the price of all the things she had bought, and thought something didn't add up. Once she got home she tallied the goods, reviewed the receipt, and realized, yes they had not charged her for one of the cans of paint (about $25-$30 or so). So she grabbed receipt and extra can of paint, and went to a cashier to explain that she hadn't been charged for it. Two cashiers stood in disbelief that someone had come back to correct the mistake. One saying "I don't know anyone that would have come back. And thank you.", and the other saying "I know why she did it! Because she's blessed!" I'm inclined to agree with both. All I know is I'm proud of her choice.

So in the end, if I'm going to go back and demand fair treatment when they overcharge me, then so too must I correct when they undercharge me. Does this make me stupid? I don't know, and I don't care if it does. It's what is right for me. Do I expect anyone else to do the same? Not at all. I only hope everyone does what is right for themselves.

So... what would *you* do in the same situation?
What if it was for $5?
What if it was for $100? or $200? or more?