The other day, I dropped off a package at a UPS drop-off center. The guy at the counter asked me if I wanted a receipt. I was in a hurry, so I instinctively said, "No." Later I started wondering, "What if the guy doesn't hand the package to UPS?" The package contained a $300 camera that I'd just sold on Ebay. "What if UPS denies receiving the package?"
As a young boy growing up in India, I'd learnt that you cannot trust anyone. You're supposed to check everything before you pay for it. But I could never bring myself to believe that people are out to get me. I'd sometimes trust the lady at the grocery store to give me fresh groceries and the sabziwala to give me fresh vegetables. But more often than not, I'd be taken for a ride.
When I first travelled outside India, I was surprised to see how the honor system works. In Singapore, for example, people are expected to lookup the bus fare on their own and deposit the money in a box. There are spot checks, of course, but there are ample opportunities for dishonesty. But the system works. In the US, there is some shoplifting, but the percentage is small enough for businesses to be profitable.
I'd read a story once. It's an Akbar and Birbal anecdote. Akbar and Birbal had an argument about honesty. Birbal said that people are basically dishonest and will cheat, given the opportunity. Akbar, on the other hand, believed that people are basically honest. To prove his point, Birbal made a suggestion. He asked the emperor to have the palace swimming pool drained and dried. He then asked him to make an announcement. Every person in the kingdom was ordered to bring a glass full of milk on the night of new moon and pour it in the palace swimming pool.
The morning after new moon, Akbar and Birbal took a stroll to the swimming pool. They found to their amazement that the pool was full of water. Each person thought that nobody would notice if they poured water instead of milk.
So, are people basically dishonest? How does the honor system work then? Will it work in a poor country like India? Is poverty the only factor? Why is there shoplifting in advanced countries like USA, then?
My wife had once lost her cell phone. The person who found it, called me. I took down the address and went to pick it up. It was a teenage girl. I took the phone and thanked her. Her face lit up. As if she was waiting for that moment.
We crave approval. Dr. Eric Berne (Author of Games People Play and the originator of the theory of Transactional Analysis) calls them strokes. Strokes are so important that we can't live without them. Even when our basic physical needs are met, we need strokes to survive. When we value the stroke we get from returning a wallet more than the money in it, we tend to be honest. If we're supposed to deposit lost-and-found articles in a bin, in the back of the store, where nobody can see us, will we go through the trouble? I think not. Much like the people pouring water in the swimming pool. Honesty is worthless to us unless somebody sees us being honest. When you're about to walk out of a department store, and the alarm goes off, and everybody turns to look. That's the moment we're waiting for. When we go back to the cashier to deactivate the security tag, we're pleading "not guilty" to the jury of on-lookers. When the cashier is done and we walk out proudly with our head held high, and no alarm goes off this time, and everybody goes about their business, we get the stroke we crave - approval of peers. That's what makes it all worthwhile.
As for the package, UPS did receive it, and it safely reached it's destination.
