Excuse Me, You Dropped Your Integrity!
What would you do if you looked down and saw a wallet on the ground? Would you pick it up and return it to its rightful owner? Or would, rifle through it and look for any cash and then drop it in the nearest garbage bin. Well, apparently, Burger King is rewarding ‘good samaritans’ for picking up dropped wallets.
From November 12-14, Burger King will be dropping a total of 5000 wallets “in high-traffic areas and landmarks around Chicago.” The wallets will be filled with “a BK Crown Card pre-loaded with $5 to $20 and cold, hard cash ranging from $1 to $100.” The money – and presumably, the wallet – is yours to keep if you find one.
The thing i don’t get is, why is picking up a wallet worthy of a reward? Isn’t it returning a wallet that is deserving of accolade? Either way, it’s a good grass-market way to advertise. [Should we drop hymnals around NJ?]
It kind of begs the question: what would you do if no one would know if you did the right or wrong thing? Have you ever inadvertently broken the rules and no one noticed? Have you ever been caught in a lie, but knew that no one would know the truth?
Yesterday I heard the story of J.P. Hayes, a professional golfer. He is a 43 year old golfing veteran of 19 years and currently lists #176 on the 2008 PGA Tour Money List. In other words, he’s no superstar. The thing about golfers is that they make their money by winning tournaments. If they don’t play, they can’t win. If they don’t win, they don’t earn.
Hayes was playing in a PGA Qualifying Tournament last week, which would grant him an exemption for all PGA Tour events in 2009. In other words, it would secure many more opportunities to earn his living. He got through two rounds pretty cleanly and was in good standing. Then, he disqualified himself from the tournament.
Hayes inadvertently played a non-conforming golf ball – one not on the list approved for competition by the United States Golf Association – for one hole of a second-stage qualifier in McKinney, Texas.
The 43-year-old Appleton native disqualified himself from the second stage of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament last week. The first DQ of his career was especially harsh because it left him ineligible to play fulltime on the PGA Tour in 2009.
It reminds me of a story about a guy I went to seminary with. He had apparently received a refund from his school bill that was a few thousand dollars more than he deserved. Without thinking, he went to the Registrars office and informed them of the error. When he was asked whether he ever thought about keeping the money, his response was pithy and profound:
“My integrity’s worth more than a few thousand dollars.”
What is your integrity worth?
Posted: November 20th, 2008 under Pastoral Musings by RjL.