Situational ethics was opinions----

I have spent - and continue to spend - large amounts of my allotted time in
Central America.
Upon arriving there for the first time I was given lots of 'helpful' advice
from fellow 'gringos'.
One part of that advice - given over and over - was count your change
carefully - "they" will screw you any chance they get.
Well, after many decades of experience I an able to say that this advice was
total BS.

To be sure I have, on occasion, been short changed but, overall, it is
"they" who have short-changed themselves time and time again.
When I pay attention is when the advantage is mine.
I *always* point out the mistake and have had to, at times, patiently teach
a little math lesson.
"One Cervesa is Lps. 7. Two is 14. etc......
This in a bar that was so low-down dirt-poor they couldn't afford a $5.00
calculator or staff who knew the first thing about a multiplication table.

The upshot of this behavior has been an outpouring of gratitude (a little
mistake can mean the loss of a day's profits in some of the family owned
businesses I frequent).
One only has to do this once in a small village to be, in effect, given the
keys to said village.
The ones who take the mistake and laugh about it are usually the ones who
end up being ripped off big time (and in some cases - killed - I lost a
friend that way).
I listen to the experiences of these people and I have to wonder - 'Where
they actually describing the same place I was hanging out in'?
Honesty not only feels good - it *is* good.

Ken.


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