A woman in the United Kingdom caught herself in a quandary when her toddler’s irresponsibility caused damage to their neighbor’s automobile. Most of us can identify how she felt at the time. A youngster for whom you are accountable flings open the car door without a car in sight, and you hear that distinct “crunch.” So, what are you going to do?
Unfortunately, some would claim they didn’t notice and hope the owner of the car didn’t notice as well. But this mother wanted to do the right thing. Of course, she intended to do it as inexpensively as possible because, like most of us, she didn’t have a lot of money. Nonetheless, she was completely conscious that the repair was her responsibility, so she admitted fault.
Realizing that reporting the event to insurance may be expensive, she chose to pay for the repair herself. The neighbour apparently approved of this choice, since she sent the mother a fee for her child’s error the next week. But after one glimpse, the mom was clicking a photo and sharing it on Facebook to show what her neighbours had done.
Last week, her silly three-year-old inadvertently hit a neighbor’s car when opening his door. At the time, they confessed it and promised the owner they’d pay for the repair (it was cheaper than going via insurance), she captioned the photo. She called him today and got this invoice, she added, holding up the itemised bill. She continued, “Wow, such nice folks.” Was she, however, being sarcastic? A deeper examination of the measure quickly addressed that question.
The “invoice” she got included £1,838.00 in costs – that’s a whopping $2,340.83 in the United States. To be sure, this appears to be somewhat expensive for a small damage in the door, however all of the expenses were explicitly stated, including “Damage repair and re-spray” for £1,500 and “Damage repair and re-spray V.A.T.” for an extra £300.
The bill then took an unusual turn, with expenses added for “many cups of tea” and “packets of biscuits while considering repair.” This reportedly amounted to an additional £38 ($48.40) in unanticipated expenses, and we can only assume they were gourmet tea and biscuits at that sum. As strange as this accusation was, it was the last item on the list that caught her off guard.
“These things happen,” the last line on the invoice’s itemised list said, with the total amount payable taken from the bill. In case there was any doubt, the words “NO CHARGE” were plainly put at the bottom. The neighbours just asked that the mom continue to keep their goods for them while they were not at home, which seemed to be a simple request.
Obviously, there’s a question over whether the sequence of events was invented. However, there is a moral to the narrative that stands true even if the circumstances do not. Not only is it a terrific example of neighbourliness, which more individuals should benefit from learning in order to foster a stronger sense of community, but it also demonstrates that honesty is the best policy. It’s better to do the right thing, be honest with somebody, and face the consequences than to attempt to fool them and get exposed.
A little honesty may actually prevent little issues from becoming major ones. Admitting to a mistake as soon as you make it and do your best to repair or make it right, and you’ll likely avoid it becoming a larger problem that’s much more challenging to deal with. Furthermore, if we do not learn from our errors, we will inevitably repeat them. However, in order to learn from our errors, we must first admit to making them.
We may be concerned that admitting our errors, apologising for them, and trying hard to set things right would make individuals think less of us, yet doing so nearly always has the opposite impact. People appreciate you for acknowledging your mistake and admiring your honesty, rather than being put off by it. Obviously, a confession does not always erase consequences, but it does build trust. The consequences of concealing your error and being discovered, on the other hand, are always worse than just confronting matters full on.
