Today’s Blog: The Lessons of the — Maybe — Dishonest Scale

TODAY’S PROVERB: Dishonest scales are an abomination to Adonai, but an accurate weight is His delight. Proverbs 11:1, TLV

When Bob and I lived in Pennsylvania, there was a small convenience store near our home. It was on my way to the grocery store, nail salon, and downtown area, so I walked by several times a week.

The store was a “mom and pop” establishment. At one time it was probably pretty nice, but over the years the owners had let it go. Things like chipped tile, the refrigeration units no longer functioning. Poor lighting, etc.

Still, they had a great deli counter with generous portions on their subs and grinders. From time to time we’d order sandwiches and take them home.

One day, I thought I’d purchase some of the deli meats.

The tale of deli meats

The counter was considerably taller than me, and on top were stacked breads, a large jar of pickles, and several displays of potato, corn, and specialty chips. The gentleman behind the counter peeked around the stack of breads and took my order: a 1/2 pound of smoked turkey, and a 1/4 pound each of corned beef and roast beef.

As the man sliced my order, I noticed there was no scale on the crowded counter. I figured the scale was located close to the slicer. But, it was unusual.

When he handed the packaged meats to me, there were no official stickers with the weight and price — just a sharpie-marked price.

Had he weighed the meats or just eyeballed it? Was the amount he charged spot on, or had he cheated me? I didn’t know.

As I paid for my purchases, I thought of this proverb. On the walk home, I scolded myself for not confronting him — kindly — and just accepting that he had weighed my purchases on an “honest scale.” The more I thought about it, the more uncomfortable I was that he had cheated me.

Unfortunately, my negative impression from that experience caused me to not purchase from them again. Not even the sandwiches. Which was sad, they were good.

Lesson Learned

The only good that came of the experience were the lessons I learned.

• First, confronting someone to voice my concerns is important if I want to try to resolve the situation. Letting it fester made it too uncomfortable to do business with them. Had I simply dealt with it at the time, a simple explanation may have solved the problem.
• Second, appearances are important — as superficial as that may sound, it’s true. Because the thing is, it appeared the store was dishonest. It may not have been or it was. I chose to not take the time to investigate.
• Finally, I learned that how I “weigh” my life at home should “weigh” the same in public. I shouldn’t cheat others with a “false identity.” Being transparent with wisdom is how I want to live my life.

Those were the lessons of the little store with the delicious sandwiches.

May people come away with an honest impression of who we are, my friends.

Proverbs 11:1 Tree of Life Version – TLV, #tlvbible, #tlvproverbs

HAVE YOU EVER DEALT WITH “DISHONEST SCALES?” HOW DID YOU HANDLE IT? IF THIS BLOG WAS A BLESSING, PLEASE SHARE. THANKS SO MUCH!