Theme: Honesty

The cheese’s case

Once, in a city in the countryside, which had few stores and almost everyone knew each other, the grocery store owner went look after the police chief to file a complaint against the cheese seller:

– He sold me a cheese saying that the cheese weighed 1 kg. I paid and went home. Arriving there, I weighed the cheese and to my surprise it weighed less than 1 kg. The cheese seller cheated and charged more than he should have! He harmed me and it can't stay that way! - Said the grocer angrily.

The sheriff then went to the cheese seller's small shop and told him what had happened and the need to investigate his shop and the way he weighed the cheeses.

The owner of the cheese shop was surprised by the accusation and went on to explain:

– My electronic scale broke and I took it in for repair. As I couldn't do without a scale and the technician said it would take a few days to fix it, he himself lent me this old manual scale, which I've been using for two days.

The balance has two pans. In one of them I put a weight of 1 kg and in the other I put my cheese. If the plates are balanced, that is, if none of the plates are up or down, I know my cheese weighs 1 kg too. As I was not used to using this scale, I did not have a weight of 1 kg. So, I went to the grocery store and bought a kilo of rice and I've been using that as a measure to gauge the weight of the cheeses.

The agent observed the scale and the small bag containing the grains of rice, which had the grocery store label and the weight of 1 kg.

Leaving the cheese store, the officer already suspected what had happened and, to be sure, he went to the grocery store, which was a much bigger store than the cheese store, where various types of food were sold, such as rice, beans, flour, cornmeal, corn, as well as fruits, vegetables and even meats. All these products were weighed according to the order quantity and delivered to the customer.

The grocery store owner greeted the sheriff with a smile, thinking he was going to get some money back, due to having paid more for the cheese he bought. But soon he realized that the situation had been reversed and the deputy came to investigate his store and the way he weighed his products.

The grocery store had not one, but three electronic scales. The delegate apprehended the three and ordered the store to be closed until the case was clarified.

The scales were taken to be evaluated and it was proven that the three machines were tampered with and, even weighing smaller amounts, always showed a greater weight. Consequently, the cheese seller bought 1 kg of rice, but received less than that. And so, the cheeses sold by him were also less than 1 kg.

The sheriff gave a warning to the cheese retailer. He said that he would have to be more careful going forward and that he should also return money to all the customers who had bought cheese in those two days. The grocer received a huge fine. And he stayed several days with his trade closed, until the scales were fixed to show the real weight of the food.

All the customers, when they found out what the grocer was doing, were angry and many didn't even want to buy anything else there. The owner of the market suffered a huge financial loss. Perhaps he lost even more money than he had made deceiving customers. Also, he felt very embarrassed when he met the cheese seller.

It was a very annoying event for everyone, especially to the grocer, who wanted to accuse the cheese seller, when he himself was the culprit. But since God always brings good out of evil, the grocer learned a good lesson. He never changed the weight of the scales again, nor did he do anything to deceive his customers. On the contrary, he became honest and even kind to his customers. And, little by little, he regained everyone's friendship and trust.

It is true that it took a few years for this to happen, but the important thing is that it ended well.

(Adapted from a popular story.)

Translation:
Larissa Martine - larissa_am@hotmail.com

marcelapradacontato@gmail.com