Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I posted this yesterday at my LasVegas board and most of the people there think I am an idiot for being honest. What do you guys think?

I'm at the Soaring Eagle this morning and I swipe my card at the Kiosk to see how much I have won for the current promotion. I have a choice of 5 Grills and I choose the 4th one and I win $10.00. I know that I also have $5 in my account from a mailer that I received earlier this week. I punch in my code just to verify my premium play and I can't believe my eyes when I see $1,005.00 in my account. I'm pretty excited, so I go the slot club and ask the boothling what promotion I have won to get that much Premium Play. She tells me she has to check with her supervisor. A few minutes later she comes back and she tells me that it's a mistake. That's it. No thank you for bringing this to our attention, No thank you for your honesty, Nothing. I make a comment about my honesty and bringing it to their attention and she just shrugs her shoulders. In the meantime, the Supervisor is walking behind her back to his office and he doesn't even look at me. I walk away pretty miffed. On my drive home, I was thinking that I really need to call and talk to somebody else. This promotion started today at 9:00 in the morning and I was there about 9:10. I know that I was the first person to bring this to their attention by the way everybody in the booth was acting. I don't know if this only happened to me, but I know they definitely will be checking their software for this promotion. I think I am very upset about not even being Thanked for being honest and bringing this to their attention. Any thoughts?

I don't think you are an idiot. You did the right thing and they should have thanked you at the very least. I think they should have done SOMETHiNG to thank you. I would likely follow up with an email to the casino head.

Todd,

Sounds like a reason to never go back there (of course, I feel that way about Vegas in general).

You wouldn't have kept it in any case; they'd have found the mistake later, and if you'd spent the money, it would have been a bad scene ... even if it was their mistake.

Write to the upper management of the venue. Too bad you didn't get the cash! Alas, in the end all you can do is follow your ethics.

I point out money mistakes in my favor at stores, etc. (although nothing close to the value of what you did, Todd), and I rarely get a thank-you or even acknowledgement that it was nice of me to do it. In fact I almost fell over this past spring when I sent in a return to an online company (SimpliSafe) and they credited me for the whole purchase and not just the smoke alarms I returned, and when I emailed them about it, I got a seriously effusive thank-you and an offer of a free month of monitoring. That's the only time something like that has ever happened. The rest of the time people act like it's no big deal, which of course drives me crazy. But then, it really shouldn't be surprising... these days even the 'thank-you' wave has largely gone the way of the Dodo bird.

Emilie

p.s. Actually now that I think about it, there have been at least a few occasions that I haven't said anything when I could tell it would mean I'd be standing at the register for another 15 minutes and it was only a nominal sum. So I guess I'm only scrupulously honest when it doesn't inconvenience me too much. Whoops.

I've had clerks argue with me when I have pointed out errors in my favor. In one instance, I said I had gotten change for a twenty but had only given him a ten. I was told I'd have to wait for the manager who was busy. Like Emilie, I said, never mind my mistake and walked out.

Yeah, I'd have done exactly the same thing.

Todd,

You are a good person; unfortunately in today's Las Vegas world, that is a commodity that is not percieved. You values serve you well and there values send a message to all of us....

Tim

You did the right thing, Todd. It's too bad the casino potentially lost a customer due to their poor handling of the situation.

Sunday at LAX I noticed a guy who was running to catch a plane drop his wallet. I picked it up and chased him to his gate, where I handed the wallet to him just as he was about to walk down the jetway. He and the gate agents seemed completely astonished that I would do that. The guy thanked me but I just can't get over how surprised everyone looked - guess that behavior isn't very common anymore.

You get the good karma of being able to feel good about yourself, even if it went unacknowledged by the casino. Plus, you may have spared someone their job by minimizing the damage. That's worth a lot.