So u just had to do a MS at a Service Station (Gas Station ) here in Melbourne. Basically I had to purchase two cans of Coke to ensure the promotional items were charged correctly : $4 in total.

So I handed the cashier the two cans and $4 in coins. He then handed me $16.
Whoops.

So I walked out.

Does this make me a bad person?

Of course this was the wrong thing to do. I think you know it was. What I don't know is what you are looking for with your post. If you're trying to get others to justify your choice (i.e. "Yeah! You get that gas station guy! I'm sure he had it comin'!" ), you probably missed the mark with this forum. I think most of us really want what is best for the clients we service; that's how we stay in business.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2016 01:44PM by meghan9262.

That cashier may be responsible for making up any shortage in the till from his own pay. What does that make you?

Xincax, you should go back to that station and hand back the $16. Like walesmaven stated, the cashier might have to take it out of his pay. And he likely isn't make more than $10 an hour and will be lucky if he gets 30 hours per week, since most businesses these days don't want to give their employees full-time so they don't have to provide benefits. It is morally wrong for you to keep that money.

Go back and give it back. Shortages can not only get taken out of their check, they can also get someone fired for theft. Missing money is missing money. The owner doesn't know if it was a honest mistake or a pocketed theft. Then that cashier has a bad reference and won't even get the crappy gas station job. They made a mistake. Haven't you ever made one? Come on, do the right thing.

Methinks the OP has no conscience which means they likely won't follow the advice they have received.

Funny because I was wondering how you have a moral dilemma when you lack morals.

There are some people who have no moral compass and rely on others to help them determine how they should feel, since in theory they know something is wrong but don't feel guilty about it on a personal level. I know this because one of my sisters is like that. It's really frustrating for the rest of the family.

On that day, at that time, YES.

Right. We all make mistakes. Hopefully you will correct your mistake, OP.

Would you have gone if he had shorted you rather than giving you too much?

Or is someone playing us by posting this at all?

I had a shop where I got a discount I shouldn't have gotten and didn't realize it until I got home. (The cashier was apparently logged into someone's corporate account when she rang up my purchase). I reported it to the scheduler ASAP as well as on the shop report. Not the same as being given too much change, but it should be returned as well as reported on the shop report.

There was a time I was working as a Manager for a well known and popular convenience store in the northeast USA. Every morning we had a daily deposit to do that all of the cash from the previous day was sealed in a bag. The armored truck would come every 2-3 days to pick up the bags from the last 2-3 days and also bring our coin deliveries that we'd need for the next few days. The armored truck guys would come in they'd take the serial number of each bag and link it to a stickered barcode that they have and stick that barcode on the bag, then scan the barcodes to confirm they received that bag. One of the deliveries I was there and I watched him sticker all three bags and scan them while they were sitting on the office chair. I confirmed on his PDA that he delivered the correct amount of coin and proceeded to put the coin in our safe as he turned to leave. A few seconds later I turn around from putting the coin away and I see one of the three deposit bags he was supposed to take still sitting on the chair with the stickered barcode from him on it. Because I put the bags together I knew that bag had to contain anywhere from $15,000 - $30,000 depending on which one of the three it was. And because he had already stickered and scanned the bag there was nothing preventing me from taking it and telling no one.....but that never even crossed my mind. Anyone who knows how armored truck guys work should know these guys don't waste anytime they get in and they get out it's what they're trained to do. I quickly threw the bag back in our safe to prevent any person who might come through from taking it and ran out the door just as they were backing out of the parking lot. The fact that they were still there shows the quickness of my decision there was never even a thought in my mind I would take that. I motioned at them waving my arms and they pulled back in and when i told him he forgot a bag he was speechless said thank you more times then I've ever heard thank you in my life. If you came on this forum expecting to hear even one person saying what you did was alright then you're sorely mistaken,you should have guilt and you should go return the money

Moral decision aside, returning the money at this point would make you memorable. This was in fact a Mystery shop.

Did you mention the change issue in your report or to the MSC?

I would put the money in an envelope and mail it back to the station explaining the overcharge and describing the cashier to ease your conscience unless notified otherwise by the MSC.

What bothers me the most about this is that the OP paid with exact change. This means he/she should not have been expecting ANY money in return. This is not a case of "Oops! I got home and there's too much money in my wallet!" The OP knew the mistake was being made as it was being made and chose to accept the money anyway, knowing full well he/she was not entitled to it.

And, yes, if I was on a mystery shop, paying with exact change, and the clerk tried to hand me change back in error I would refuse it even at the risk of becoming "memorable." Better to be memorable than deceitful.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2016 05:20PM by meghan9262.

I agree with Kalfini. You don't want to be made, but also shouldn't be dishonest, so just mail it back anonymously.

It makes you a dishonest opportunist. You should have handled this with integrity, and you chose not to. Watch out for the karma bus.

On that day and at that hour, you became a thief and you knew you were.

This twit was not asking for advice. He was bragging about stealing from someone who likely could ill afford it. I happen to believe that what goes around comes around and though this cretin may not believe it, his day will come.

Since he hasn't been back to post further, I am taking it that he didn't like what he read (if he has read any of the posts) and chooses to not return the money. I think the OP was hoping we were a bunch of thieves who would condone shady and unethical behavior. I guess he came to the wrong forum!

While the OP may not have acted with integrity, isn't the purpose of MSing to simply allow things to unfold and then report the facts? What if the client was specifically looking for mistakes made at the register? Everyone here is getting on a moral high horse, when in fact the job of the shopper is to complete the transaction and report the facts. That the OP asked if they were a "bad person" might speak to that person's overall character, but that is a different issue altogether, and I suppose the original intent of this thread. I would have taken the change as given, included the overpayment in my report and asked the MS company how they wanted me to proceed. If I did not receive a response from the MS company, I would mail a cashier's check to the location to the manager's attention with a note that I had been given incorrect change.

The OP is going to burn for all of eternity if he does not return the money.

Jenny, in general we are supposed to act like normal customers. A normal customer would've pointed out the error right then and there. The poor math or inattention to detail would have gone into the report, but the company wouldn't be out the $.

I've had shops where I have been over or undercharged and I am not to dispute it, and then detail it in my report. But, TBH, I've never been given change like that before.

Password, I understand your point. The OP was not clear about the shop instructions. That said, I have done shops where I am specifically directed NOT to point out a monetary mistake to the employee, but to let the situation unfold and then report the facts. I don't condone the OPs behavior; if the situation occurred outside of mystery shopping, I agree, one should always correct financial mistakes because it is the right thing to do. Mystery shopping operates on many levels; as a third party vendor I have no idea what information the client is actually seeking. But I agree. If the shop instructions did not specifically state that mistakes should not be corrected, you are right, the OP should have rectified the mistake on the spot and then covered the interaction in the report.

Jenny your comment doesn't make much sense. You shop like you were there as a normal customer. So if what you'd normally do is keep the money then you're a horrible person plain and simple. If what you'd normally do is give back the money then you give back the dang money....there's nothing in that situation that would expose you as a MS you're just a customer that got the wrong change back. Here's why your comment makes no sense Jenny if it were the other way around and you gave the cashier a twenty and they accidentally gave you change for a ten are you just going to walk out and then ask the MS company to reach out to the store to get your $10 back...NO! You still report the incident as it happened but you give the money back

Her point in the second post was it would depend on the shop instructions. Shop guidelines are the rules we must follow. If they state we are not to correct anything, we don't. That could include not saying anything to a cashier who gave too little or too much change, not requesting an incorrect food order be replaced or not pointing out a grocery item on the bottom of the cart.

I would take issue with a shop like that since they're putting you in a place to ask you to commit a crime which I don't think they can legally do. Not pointing out a grocery item on the bottom of the cart would be shoplifting. You really can't just tell the police well the mystery shop told me it was okay

You can't shoplift what is being given to you by the store. Scenarios have varied with some having the shopper go directly to customer service to leave the item while others request the shopper don't point it out to anyone. It is at the client's request and for those instructing the shopper to leave there is a maximum dollar amount which may be $5. At the stores I frequent no employee would accuse a shopper of stealing something forgotten on the bottom of a cart. It happens more often than you might think and is the reason stores want to be sure cashiers and baggers are not missing those items.