I had a rather unpleasant experience just now.
I went to the store to get some wine and stuff. The bill at the register was a little high, but I just thought I accidentally picked out a more expensive wine than I had thought. I was prepared to swallow any extra cost and save it for a special occasion, but when I got home I looked at the receipt. I can't be sure, but I'm pretty sure there is no place on this planet where it costs $38.97 for eight pints of Guinness.
So I went back to the liquor store (we can't get beer and wine at grocery stores here) and the manager gave me the difference and he remarked on the clerk. He asked if he could keep my receipt. I think my cashier is in a little trouble. I tried to tell him that it wasn't really that big of a deal, but he insisted that it was to him.
But really, it isn't, or at least the part that is her responsibility. It wrung up wrong, which means it was in the computer wrong. She's not responsible for that. Plus, there were other things with the possibility of a wide range of prices. How is she supposed to know the Guinness is wrong when the bottle of wine next to it could have been $10, or it could have been $40? Do we really expect the cashiers to know what's out of range when it comes to what must be a hundred different types of wine? The only thing I can see fault for is that she didn't notice that the huge price was there when the Guinness came up, but neither did I. I would guess that most people wouldn't, so really I think it's a reasonable mistake.
But I didn't push it. On one hand, I'm not sure the manager would have listened to me, even had I made the above case (which I did not). On the other hand, I feel bad that this woman will be punished for something that's a minimal mistake. Should I have spoken up? Does it matter if it wouldn't make a difference; do I have an ethical obligation to say something anyway? To at least make the effort?
I'm going to feel bad about whatever happened to the cashier for a while.
