My wife makes this great chili recipe. She called me yesterday as I departed from work and asked me to grab some beer on the way home (it’s the secret ingredient in case you need to zhuzh up your version). So, I went to my local overpriced grocer. The options were dire. All the good 6-packs were way overpriced. The 12-packs, though a lower unit price, weren’t much better.
Luckily a ‘fine’ beer was on sale at an OK price ($17.49 for 12). Not what I wanted, but fine. I did self check-out and noticed that the price that I paid was not the sale price – by a healthy $2. A ‘fine’ beer at an ok price is one thing. But a ‘fine’ beer at a ‘great’ beer price is no bueno. After check-out, I made a b-line for the beer aisle in order to double check myself. Me making a mistake is often a good first approximation. But nuts – I was mischarged.
I took a photo of the ‘correct’ price and headed to the customer service desk.
I explained myself and prepared my photo to satisfy the potentially necessary burden of proof. The employee didn’t demand any evidence and quietly began processing a prompt adjustment. The monitor displayed the progress of the adjustment and it was… involved.
By ‘involved’ I mean ‘not clearly correct’. He had me insert my credit card for a failed refund. In that time, the employee told me that I had overpaid by two dollars and some, and he prepared that amount from his till. It was clear that the employee wasn’t certain whether I had also received a refund on my card. Realizing the that the card refund was a failure, and almost without skipping a beat, he quickly said “as part of our [brand] promise, you will receive a full refund”. To be paid in cash.
Nice. I departed the store with a 12-pack of ‘fine’ beer at one of my favorite prices: $0…. Or was it the even better price of negative $21.50? Neither I nor the employee knew in that moment.
What’s the point? The point is that I have no idea what the return or price correction policy is. My wife has always received the amount by which she overpaid. That’s happened to me too. But sometimes, I get a full refund plus the item (effectively at a zero price). The next level is a refund >100%. There doesn’t seem to be a consistent policy in practice at my local grocer.
But, this employee did exactly what he should have. Recall that he wasn’t sure whether I had just been refunded twice. He was having trouble with the process and making mistakes. But his tone made the challenge hardly noticeable. He pressed forward doubling down on the most generous version of the outcome. He could have called a manager or investigated more. But he didn’t.
His actions had mutually beneficial consequences. He made what was a mistake in my favor and he took full advantage of the good will fostered by acting as if it was intentional. Further, he probably didn’t want to explain the ordeal to his manager. That would have made him look bad to his superior and would have eroded the accidental good will that he had exhibited toward me. Indeed, this employee played it right.
Lot’s of things will reflect well upon you in life. When you can, go ahead and permit the mistakes to reflect well upon you too.
Economist Writing Every Day 