Making Ethical Decisions

Over the summer, I worked as a waitress at a small country restaurant. As most people already know, waitresses make most of their money by earning tips from their customers. At the end of each shift, all the waitresses cashed out their money with the cashier. This entails the waitress giving the cashier all their small bills ($1, $5, and $10) in return for the equivalence in bigger bills ($20). It was the responsibility of the cashier to ensure that he/she counted correctly and gave the waitress back the correct amount of money. The job of the cashier was less stressful than the waitresses' job, yet it was crucial for the individual working the cashier to have the accurate amount of money in the register by the end of the night. One night after my tables had left and I had completed my side-work, I went to cash out all my tips from the night. It so happened that the cashier on the clock was younger and new to the job-it was only her third night as a cashier. Upon going to cash out, I had counted all my money, just in case the cashier would to miscount. After she counted my money, she put it in the register and reimbursed me with the correct amount. However, when she handed me my new stash of cash, she told me what I made for the night. Personally, I knew what I had made throughout the night because I counted it beforehand, and her calculations were off by $20. At this moment, in my hand, I had an extra $20 that I had not rightfully earned. I could have easily taken the money, not said a word, and let the cashier get in trouble for miscounting. This however is unethical and very wrong. My parents taught me to always do the right thing and that's exactly what I did. I gave her back $20 and told her that she had given me more than I made during my shift. She sincerely thanked me, knowing that most of the other waitresses we worked with would have,with no doubt, taken the money knowing the cashier had made a mistake. In the end, living and making decisions by moral principles will benefit you as an individual.