Steal A Hose, Raise The Rates

As promised, I will continue the story of the $10 Walmart hose.

When the phone rang again, I left it to HeWho usually lets me handle such things. "I was talking to a lady and we got disconnected." He started out with that and things got weird from there. He told HeWho is my husband, that they didn't even hook up to the water because it stunk so bad. First we heard of that and he was hooked up. Hard to hide things like that when they are visible to anyone passing by.

Our water is tested monthly by the department of natural resources and we would be shut down if the water was not potable. Besides that, the source of our water is a deep well and we use it, so it the water had an unpleasant odor I would be the first to know. 

The phone call continued much as mine had, and I could follow along just from hearing one side of the call. He was told to KEEP THE HOSE several more times and I heard another refusal to send UPS to get the hose. He must have told HeWho he didn't even want the hose, because he told him to throw it away. He finally told the man to keep the hose and to please not call back. 

I am happy to report that he did not call back. I have not checked to see if I have a negative review on line. It would only upset me. I know I can respond to those, but I never do. Usually another camper will respond on my behalf. No, I have never asked anyone to respond.

I don't know why the man was so irate. He seemed to think I was being petty about the hose. He said he knew the hose did not belong to him, but that he didn't know what else to do with the hose other than to take it. I think that says a lot about the man. The rest of his rant must have been an effort to justify his actions.

The older I get, the more I have come to realize that every action has consequences. Even $10 Walmart hoses. The man on the phone suggested I raise my rates, then would appear to contradict himself and indicate that my rates were high enough to cover the loss of the $10 Walmart hose. Maybe Walmart wouldn't have to charge $10 for that hose if they didn't have to factor in the loss of merchandise that gets stolen every day. And by the way, I charge $12 for the hose and that includes tax. Guess I will have to add a dollar to every hose I sell to make up for the ones that "walk away".

When the man told me that I made a lot of money off of his group of nine and that the hose walked away .... I ached to tell him that the hose did not walk away, that he stole it. It did not belong to him and he knew it but he took it anyway. That is the definition of theft.