> 2b. Re: A "winning" moment
>
...
> But, as you say, we can fall short of the mark. Assume a
> casino promises me $100 in slot credits. I insert my card
> and find there is $1000 in freeplay instead. Do I speak up?
>
> I'll need to think about that one for awhile.
>
Clearly, the idiot casino made a mistake -- in the mailer with the promised $100 in credits. Fortunately for the recipient, they got it right on the machine. :)
I consider catching casino mistakes to be the job of the casino, and it's my job to catch my own mistakes (which they don't help me with!!).
When I played blackjack, the dealers sometimes made errors in paying a bet, sometimes in my favor, and sometimes in the casino's favor. I would point out the ones in the casino's favor. My philosophy was that there was a pit boss hired to oversee the dealers and catch their mistakes; I never had a pit boss correct an error in the casino's favor, so I figured I did not need to do their job (which they weren't doing) when the error went my way. Pay me some $$ (like the pit boss is paid) and I'll help do the casino's job; otherwise, I'll look after my own interests and let them look after theirs.
Maybe this latter attitude is dishonest, but I consider myself to be pretty honest, and have no problem with this, as the casino is a business, and if its employees, esp. the supervisory ones, can't do their job right, it's not my job to help them make money. If, on the other hand, the dealers were somehow audited for their mistakes and it came out of their own pocket, I would have pointed out ALL mistakes, as I don't think a low-level employee should be punished for their mistakes. Guess it's just a matter of who one thinks "deserves" to get hurt by their mistakes.
Generally speaking, I would take advantage of a business's mistake, unless it were a small mom&pop business where an individual is directly hurt. Don't have much sympathy for big business and their occ. inability to manage their business correctly.
Found money is another story; it should go to the owner if at all possible. And if one is the recipient of returned lost money, one should always offer a reward, even if it's just a token amount -- at least let the honest person who returned it know that their honesty is valued. But never "expect" a reward, direct or via "karma", for your honesty; just know you did the right thing.
--BG
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