This one might make people uncomfortable (Patreon)

I am weird.

Anyone who knows me, knows that, anyone who hangs out with me for a while will probably pic up on that. I’m so used to it, and have enough coping mechanism in place to deal with them that I don’t really notice it anymore. But once in a while something will show up. 

I’ve mentioned I have ADHD, but what I also have is a flexible moral code.

I don’t mean I’m happily breaking the laws, I know they are there for a reason, and I will respect them, mostly. This one usually shows up in thing I consider small (others might disagree). I remember, years ago when I worked as a night clerk in a motel, one of my job was to audit the cash register at the end of the day, and one time by the time I was done, there was a dollar left over, so I pocketed it. Another time it was a few bucks, pocketed that too. It happened a few more time until I realized that while it was extra, the money technically wasn’t mine, it was the motel. So I stopped doing it.

Another, I decided to see if I could scam my credit card company. Took the bus to Montreal, made a bunch of purchases and signed for them with my left hand. That was before swipe and chips. Credit cards were processed with what I called ‘kershalck’ machines. Bulky things they put the card on it, with a credit card slip, it went ‘kershlack’ as they forced an imprint of the card on the slip then filled the rest by hand. I bought a few hundred dollars’ worth of stuff, then just left my card somewhere. And returned home. The next day I called the company to let them know I’d lost my card while I was in Montreal. I remember the person on the other end asking a lot of questions, and I realized she was trying to determine if I was scamming them. In the end I got my purchased reimbursed, and decided it wouldn’t be worth the trouble to come up with a way to do it again, and I was probably on a watchlist. I’d satisfied my curiosity, that’s what it was about, really.

A few days ago, this is what made me think of this. As I was about to swipe my credit card to fuel my truck, I noticed the guy before me hadn’t properly shut the pump down, so it was still on his card.

I put twenty dollars’ worth in my truck before I even questioned if I could be doing this. And what stopped me was that “I” wasn’t gaining anything, the company was paying for my fuel. So I hung it up, made sure it was shut down and swiped my card to continue fueling.

As I said, I’m weird.

Since I’ve probably scared you, I won’t bother with anything more. This week’s file are with the accompanying post. I’ll see you on the next one.