Boycott

The world is falling apart at the seams...the seams of toilet paper, that is. And by way of illustration, a friend offers this anecdote from her day. She was shopping at a discount store for the commonly used household item. She found the same item on the shelf in two different places at two different prices. When she got to the register, the clerk rang it up at the higher price. "Oh, but it was supposed to be $6," she said. "Not $6.75." The clerk went back to check with the manager who was at that very moment changing the prices around. After a long time, the clerk came back to tell our friend that she couldn't have the item at the lower price. Not so much as an apology. "Well, alright," she said. "I guess that's the way it will be. But I want to tell you, I probably won't be back."

There was a time, our friend reminds us, that a manager would have honored the lower price posted as a matter of principle, and then changed it for subsequent shoppers. But not nowadays. I guess my pessimistic view of the world prevents my expecting such bargains. If I had seen two prices, I would have expected to pay the higher price, unless the lower price were an advertised special. I might have made an appeal to the clerk, but I don't think the manager's unwillingness to budge on the price would deter me from shopping at the store in the future.

Is my attitude part of the reason the world is changing for the worse?