My mother did not raise a thief...

Today I needed to get a few things at the hardware store for the house. I went to Lowe's, which is closer to our home than Home Depot. I sort of like Home Depot better, but I was all about finishing my errands quickly this afternoon. I needed to get a fitting for our hot water heater and some cleaning supplies. I quickly located what I needed and went to the check-out line. I showed the clerk my retired military ID and received a 10% discount (Home Depot offers the same discount). The clerk put my things into a plastic bag, I took the bag and headed to my car.

I opened the trunk and put the bag therein. I stopped D&W (local grocery store) on the way home to get some stuff for dinner and arrived back home. I pulled my trusty BMW into the garage, popped the trunk, took the bags out of the trunk and placed them on our kitchen counter. I placed the perishable items recently procured from D&W away and then I started to go through the plastic bag from Lowe's. Much to my surprise, there were more things in there than I had purchased. Specifically, there was weather stripping, a trowel, a tape measurer and some sanding blocks. I realized that these items were potentially purchased by somebody else and not taken away. The clerk simply added my items to the bag with these four items and off I went.

I could keep the items and nobody would be the wiser. However, as the subject line of this post states, my mother did not raise a thief. While I could use the weather stripping, sanding block and the tape measurer, I did not pay for these items. They are not mine and I need to return all the items back to the rightful owner. In the next day or two, perhaps when I am driving home from work, I will stop at Lowe's and return these items. Doing the right thing is not always easy, but it is always the best thing to do.