Explain this Theologically and Practically

Kottke has an interesting story about the City Cafe Bakery in Ontario which lets customers add up their own bills and put the money into a box and make their own change.

"I liked the idea of simplifying things and ... the honour system made a whole lot of sense," Bergen says. "What irritated me about going into Tim Hortons, for example, was waiting in line for something as simple as getting a donut and a coffee. So the thought was, someone can pour his own coffee, grab his own bagel, cut it himself, throw the money in, and walk out. We don't touch 60 per cent of the transaction."

"Everything is rounded off to the nearest quarter with taxes included where applicable," he says. "So every desert is $1.50 (tarts, brownies, and date squares), every pizza lunch is $5, every beverage is $1.25, every loaf of bread is $2.75 (Italian sourdough, multi-grain, and raisin bread on weekends), croissants are $1 each, and bagels are three for $2 (plain, sesame, and multi-grain)."

The bakery conducts audits every six months and Bergen says only once did things come up short.

"Our theory is that two per cent of our sales are being ripped off. 'Ripped off' in the sense that there are people who forget to pay or they make a mistake in paying, and then there are people who deliberately don't pay. And every so often we have to kick somebody out that we know hasn't been paying," he says. "But at the same time we figure we're being overpaid by three per cent. Some people come in and want a $2.75 loaf of bread, but they see we're busy so they throw $3 in and walk out. Or, although we discourage tips, some people still give them to us. But because the staff is paid well (the average wage is $15.50 an hour), the tips go into the general pot."

In other words, the honor system basically works in this situation.  So how do we explain this theologically?  If "total depravity" is the fundamental defining mark of humanity then this shouldn't happen.  If "innocence" is the fundamental defining mark of humanity then this also couldn't happen because it wouldn't explain those who do rip the store off. 

In my mind the theological explanation should go something like this - this shows the glory and depravity of man.  Man is made in the image of God but because of sin has become totally depraved.  The "image" leads to altruism, the depravity leads to theft. 

But in this case altruism wins, the image wins - not without a fight - but altruism and the image wins.  The altruists overcompensate for the thieves and the bakery profits.

I have a few more thoughts after the jump.    

Many Christians see the world exclusively through the lens of total depravity, expecting that every day life will be a display of practical depravity.  Further, they put a depraved spin on most actions of people.

In one sense this is correct - even good deeds can be done with wrong motives - and a good deed done without regard to God cannot be considered a "spiritual good." 

Still, there is such a thing as "civic good" and "civic good" is still "good," and we have no reason to believe there are any nefarious motives on the part of the over-payers and generous-tippers at the bakery.

But those who see the world exclusively through the lens of total depravity can't explain this bakery.  They live in a bad world full of bad people who always do bad things and the price of living in such a world is eternal vigilance.  They are lifetime officers in the cosmic pre-crime unit (see the movie "Minority Report" for that reference) and must be ever watchful and proactive to stop any outbreak of badness.

Again, these folks have a point, to a point - for every City Cafe and Bakery there are probably a dozen bakeries whose cash boxes have walked out.  I am one who is obsessive about locking my doors.

Yet, what explains these spontaneous outbreaks of altruism, outbreaks of the imago dei?  Could it be that the imago dei is capable of trumping total depravity.

It's also useful to notice how the bakery created this state of affairs.  They did it by basically doing nothing.  There is no system in place to supervise and police the customers.  They simply have a menu or signs or something that tells you the price and they trust the customer to do the right thing and it works out that those who do the right thing outweigh those who do the wrong thing.

Which leads me to question the old adage - "you don't get what you expect, you get what you inspect."  I have heard that one numerous times as justification for heavy duty management and accountability.  But in this bakery they just lay out the "expectations" - we expect you to pay $1.25 for a drink and $1.00 for a croissant - but then they don't "inspect" to see if the customers do this.

I also noticed that they pay their employees generously - could it be that they have somehow created an environment that is conducive to altruism by their generosity?

One of my favorite blogs these days is by a guy named Bob Sutton.  I've been a little reluctant to talk about him on this Christian, family friendly blog because he is most famous for writing a book with a word in the title that you don't ordinarily use in church, and that the media will often not use when interviewing him.  His book and his blog is devoted to dealing with jerks at work (that's where that word comes in - he uses a more colorful word than "jerk" to describe these people) and one of the characteristics of such people is that they assume negative intent on the part of those they interact with.

That's the modus operandi for people who see the world exclusively through the lens of total depravity - always assume negative intent.  A person may prove to be of goodwill, but we can't assume goodwill until we are sure we have ruled out negative intent.  This person game plans their relationships in business, the church and the family accordingly.  To borrow a phrase from a different discipline, these people interpret all of life with the hermeneutic of suspicion.

I for one like the City Cafe and Bakery way of doing things - if I am ever in Ontario I will stop there.  I tend to be a live and let live kind of person - I probably would have made a good hippie - and would rather assume the best than the worst.  I won't say I always live by that ideal, but it is an ideal nonetheless.

My live and let live disposition aside, I think we have biblical and theological grounds for thinking and living like the City Cafe and Bakery.  We were the imago dei before we were totally depraved and imago dei is the homeowner, depravity is the intruder.  Further, when I Corinthians 13:7 tells us that love believes all things and hopes all things it is implying that we believe the best and hope for the best.  True, badness will still come into our lives and we must react accordingly. 

But, maybe if we made a conscious effort to look for the imago dei, we'd end up seeing it and fostering it's expression in the world around us.

Your thoughts?