2003-08-07 - 1:28 p.m. - What goes ‘round, comes ‘round

I just got back from Home Depot – oh my…I can never make a "short" trip there – I always feel like I’m on a field trip as I walk up and down the aisles. I did have a note with me and stuck to it, but oh – the things I could have bought! I found out there were male and female faucet things and when I examined them, I discovered that the male ones have this piece that sticks out and the females don’t – oh, how phallic of them, I thought.

I found the O-rings and washers I needed for my hose. It reminded me of a funny story about a conversation I had at the dinner table when I was growing up. Somehow the topic of Madonna came up and I was going on and on about how she wears these A-holes around her wrists and how I had some to wear as well. My sister and brother were looking at me in disbelief that I was talking about A-holes so nonchalantly in front of my parents. Later on, I discovered the reason for their expressions – "A-holes!! Do you even realize what you were saying??? They’re not called A-holes – they’re O-rings!!!"

"A-holes, O-rings, what’s the difference?" Then it struck me – oh, that’s pretty funny! And amazingly enough, my parents hadn’t caught on either! Or if they did, they made no mention of it, but that wouldn’t have been the case, because we weren’t allowed to talk like that in my house.

Today I bought a wheel-barrel and they charge $10.00 for the assembly of it. I figured I’d never get the wheel on right so I bought an already assembled one; however, when I checked my receipt in my car, I realized the cashier hadn’t charged me the assembly fee. At first I thought, "whoo-hoo, I just saved $10.00!!" But it only took seconds before the good ‘ol Catholic guilt to set in. I guess it does come in handy at times. Hmm…this was a small ethical dilemma. I could just drive out of the parking lot and no one would even know – I’d be $10.00 richer. Or I could do the right thing and go back into the store and tell them they didn’t charge me the assembly fee, and pay the $10.00.

I teach bioethics in my classes, and when we talk about ethics in general, we talk about values and such. One of my values is honesty, and I feel I’m a pretty honest person. So today presented me with a simple test. And I passed. I went back into the store and explained to the customer service person what had happened. She said, "oh, how honest of you – that’s very nice." I said, "I figured it’s good karma." I paid the $10.00 and left with a clean conscience. What goes ‘round, comes ‘round – it’s a good saying to live by.

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