The other day I went to the local oil shop (Grease Monkey) to get my oil changed. I pulled in and was greeted by an employee asking me various things about my car and if I had been in before. This time is was my “beater” truck that I brought in to get serviced. As we got to the computer station inside the building the salesman asked me multiple questions about wether I had various things serviced on my car. The thing I can’t stand about the salesman at oil shops is the constant pressure to get you to purchase extra services. I knew it had been a while since I had some of those services done so I decided it was time to do it. The total came to just under $300.

During the service they noticed that my battery was corroding and leaking a lot from the battery…not good! So I paid the extra 20 or 30 bucks to get them to replace it for me (on top of the cost of the battery which brought it to $90). I’ve replaced enough batteries to know how dirty I would get and I didn’t feel like getting dirty that day. After about 45 minutes of waiting in the lobby they called my name to the desk. They explained the numerous services they performed on my truck. I noticed that there was one thing that they failed to mention when enumerating through the services…the battery replacement.

I was faced with a decision. I could have done one of two things, pay the bill and run or be honest and let them know of the clerical mistake. Having been raised in a good Mormon family and being taught by my parents that “honesty is the best policy” I decided to be honest. I told the annoying pushy salesman of the mistake. Once I told him of the mistake his countenance changed to one of gratitude. He told me “if you would have just left I would have lost my job.” I could tell by the way he said it to me that he really meant it. I could sense a little emotion in how he said it. This example goes to show the affect you can have on other people by simply being honest. Honesty truly is the best policy. I hope that each of you reading this blog post will, when faced with a decision, decide to be honest. I can’t believe all of the dishonesty in the world today. If everyone would simply be honest the world would be a better place.