Character Counts

Just wanted to share 2 stories that have happened in the last 24 hours that have taught me that the way you treat people really matters...

Last night my parents drove to town to get gas in my mom's car (about 10 miles, one way). It was snowing and their gas light turned on just as they pulled into Maverik. My mom said to my dad, "I sure hope you have your wallet because I don't have my purse." My dad responded, "I thought you'd have your purse so I didn't bring my wallet." My dad decided that he would go talk to the employee to see if they would allow them to pump their gas, drive home to get the wallet, and then come back to pay. He says he buys a lot of gas at that location and they should trust him. As my mom was telling me this story last night I was thinking, "ya right, maybe 30 years ago they'd let you get gas without paying, based on your word." But my dad walked in, talked it over, and came out of the store and immediately pumped the gas. Then he drove my mom home, got his wallet, and went back in to pay. Who would've thought that a Maverik employee would allow such behavior. Guess it goes to show that my dad is a man of his word and it's evident in his demeanor.

Story #2: We go to the library every week. We check out a lot of books, children's CDs and children's DVDs. Lately my boys have loved Veggie Tales movies so we get at least 2 each week. Last week was no exception. We got "Silly Songs by Larry" and a Christmas double feature. Friday Owen tried to get out the Christmas DVD of the case. (We do have rules about who can and can't touch DVDs but Owen disobeyed.) He didn't push the middle release button and it broke in half. I called the library and explained the situation and they told me that the cost to replace the DVD was $24.99! I told them I'd be in on Thursday to settle with them. The man on the phone told me they would look at the DVD to see if it was new or had previous damage and they may take off a few dollars. I went to the library this morning as I said I would. They lady looked at the DVD, determined that it had been checked out nearly 60 times (which I guess is a lot in the life of DVDs), looked at my account and then said, "We'll just take this out of circulation." I asked how much I owed and she said, "Nothing. You come in regularly, your account is great, and this DVD was a little hard to remove from the case. It could've happened to anyone." I was so relieved and glad that I had dealt with this particular librarian numerous times. Makes me so happy that I've never been rude to her. See, you never know how your behavior will affect your future.

Anyone have a story they want to share?