A delightful friend rented a truck to help his aunt with her move. He did not take the insurance coverage for the truck because, as he said, “I know how to drive!” Safety tip for renting moving trucks: Your auto insurance probably doesn’t cover you! The large truck proved to be a challenge, and my friend scraped the back top of the truck on some eaves as he turned a corner rather inartfully. There were two thoughts that came to his mind: (1) That’s gonna be expensive; and (2) Should I try and hide this from the rental guy? Oh, that second thought! There is that little part in all of us that doesn’t want to ante up and another little part that believes we can actually dupe the other guy so that we need not pay for something that really is our responsibility.But my friend drove proudly into the U-Haul rental center and pointed out the hole, the scratch, and all the damage in all of its uninsured glory. The initial response from the rental guy was, “Wow! That’s bad!” Then he paused and said, “Im not going to worry about it.”
My friend wonders how different the ending might have been had he not ‘fessed up. How different this generous soul of a rental manager might have been had he discovered the damage after my friend skedaddled and/or skulked out of there. Kudos to my friend for resisting that nasty part of us that thinks we can pull the wool over on someone. High-fives to a friend who overcame a temptation that meant he had to cough up considerable scratch to make things right.
What a week the Barometer has had courtesy of those who do enough introspection to apply this simple, but powerful and decisive rule, “If I were the U-Haul manager, how would I feel if someone tried to hide damage from me?” The fog that interferes with ethics is lifted once again.