retail

This topic has bothered me for years; the notion of God blessing one person by taking from another. And before you say anything, I realize there is a passage of Scripture which says the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just, and I believe it is true. What has always gotten to me though is how people work the system, or beg a believer to help them out instead of trusting God to provide for their own needs.

I was perusing social media last night and came across a post about purchasing some clothes and using a coupon. Now I didn’t see the coupon and don’t know if it was a limit 1 or not, so I could be off base, but as I read the post and saw several registers were visited in order to use one of the coupons at each and receive the discount multiple times I couldn’t help but think it sounded dishonest. If it was, is your integrity worth $30 in savings?

I owned a retail shoe store for many years so I have a unique perspective when it comes to giving and getting discounts. I was asked so many times for one I have maybe a jaded attitude when it comes to people trying to save money on a purchase by getting me to give them a deal.

I remember once giving a $50 coupon to a young lady for purchasing a pair of shoes. The family arrived to use the coupon and the young lady found a pair she loved. With the coupon they were going to cost her about $10; a great deal. Her father stayed outside in front of the store the entire time and when she went to get money from him, he handed her a $5 off any $50 purchase coupon he had found in a phone book and told her to ask me if I would honor it.

I took the high road and gave them the discount because I felt horrible for this girl being forced by her dad to ask for more of a discount. He didn’t even have the balls to ask me himself, instead making her humiliate herself. The look of shame on her face was horrible and I felt so bad for her. I’ve got more to say about this, but I won’t.

It’s not that I don’t like getting a discount, I do. But when people would ask me for one; especially Christian brothers and sisters I would say, “Why don’t you believe God for the full price of the shoes and when He blesses you with the money, then you can buy the shoes from me at full price. He blesses you, you bless me and everyone is happy and God gets the praise. But when I mentioned this, they would look at me like a cow looks at a new gate.

Don’t get me wrong, getting discounts are great, I like them too. But how are you going about getting them? Are you working the system, in order to save a few bucks, then praising God for helping you save money? I’m pretty sure God doesn’t take from one person or business in order to save you money.