Found a wallet with $100 ??

[Mday]

did you find the owner yet?

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

Return everything but write down his credit card information and everything for possible HOT DEALS and blackmail purposes.

Just kidding.

I remember I "returned" something once... being a stupid 6 year old I went around my neighborhood yelling and asking out if someone lost 20 bucks on the ground. Well you can imagine what happened... Hmmm the lady did give me a dollar as a reward, but looking back I don't think it was hers! =P

 

[syber321]

Actually, vanderstoep, I meant for the "where are your morals vanderstoep?" to be a seperate statement from the rest of what I was saying. You don't have to jump against my reading abilities

 

[optoman]

<< You can join vanderStoep in the Dispicable Scumbag Club. Weasle! >>



Wow, I'm in a club. Come on guys. Ya, its nice to return everything intact but how many of you wouldn't grab the hundred or at least some of it? You have to go through the headache of mailing the wallet to the guy, why not take $5 bucks to cover the costs.

Here's another dilema. You are a treasure hunter and you come across a Spanish ship from the 1700's. You find a ton of gold. You know who the gold belongs to because it was kept on record. Are you morally obligated to give the money back to the owner (actually the decendants of the original owner)?

Harvey- I'd probably give the guy back his money. I've done many things in my life that can be said to be honorable. I don't have to prove myself to anyone. I know what is morally right and wrong and I have never cheated anyone out of anything. I think I stole a pack of gum once when I was 6. That's about the worst thing I have ever done to someone else. You people need to get a life.

 

[Wangel]

Finding a wallet or purse on the street is much different from finding some change in the change return of a public phone. This wallet had no ID or credit card info in it. It only had a torn matchbook cover. I went to the copy shop that was advertised on the matchbook cover. I mentioned it to the manager, if anyone perhaps lost a wallet. He didn't know but took my phone number. I didn't give any detail of the wallet. The next day I got a call from a man who identified the wallet. He asked me to meet him at the Blockbuster across the street from the Kwik Copy. He told me that the wallet belonged to his 13 year old son, which was why there was no ID or credit cards inside. Oddly, he didn't ask me if there was any money inside. Perhaps a lesson for his 13 year old son? I went to the Blockbuster at the set time. Met the man and his 13 year old boy. From the boys attitude, I could see that he was a spoiled brat, which explained the expensive wallet with 100 dollars in it. I gave the wallet to the boy, shook the hand of the father and started to walk away. Nobody yet looked in the wallet. I could hear the boy in the background telling his father. &quot;Hey, all the money is still in the wallet!&quot; The father called me back, reached into his pocket and gave me an envelope, along with another hand shake/thanks. I tried to give him back the envelope, but he insisted, and I'll have to say, I was a bit curious what was in the envelope. I guess I had the option of keeping the $100 (bird in the hand) or waiting to see what was beind 'door number 2'.

 

[randomlinh]

wait.. what was behind door #2 ???

 

[vanderStoep]

syber321,

I read it as an attack on me,so I replied. As you did not meant it as an attack, my apollogies.


Reitz,

?who never to do business with in the For Sale/Trade forum. ??????????????

I think there is a large difference between keeping the money from a found wallet and ripping someone off in the sale/for trade forum. Don`t you?

?I don't give two sh!ts about your situation; it still is not a justification to steal?
So if I`m suffering from starvation , it is not justified for me to steal a loaf of bread?? (A whole bunch of philosofers(A.Sen, Nobelprice winner for example) think it is)



Optoman,

We are in a club together, may I be the cashier ?????

 

[reitz]

I really don't see much of a difference between ripping off money from someone's wallet and ripping off someone in the For Sale/Trade forum. Regardless, I still wouldn't trust any of the people who advised Wangel to keep the money. Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but you've shown me how honest you are, and I wouldn't trust you enough to purchase something from you.

Are you actually starving? No. In a case like that, one should ask for help, but I'm not going to hold it against him if he steals some food. You, however, are not in that situation. If you can afford to upgrade your computer, you are not in a desperate enough situation to rip someone off.

FYI, I have found myself in desperate situations on two seperate occasions. Each time I dug myself out of it honestly. Honesty and integrity are not foreign concepts to everyone, remember.

 

[cxim]

with you 100% reitz,

That take it if nobody is looking attitude almost killed the Hot Deals F.

There is no substitute for integrity.

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

You still did the right thing no matter what the monetary needs of the owner of the wallet. Was the reward in the envelope as much as the contents of the wallet?

 

[vanderStoep]

&quot;You, however, are not in that situation. If you can afford to upgrade your computer, you are not in a desperate enough situation to rip someone off.&quot;

nor have I claimed to be starving, I was making a point. because you suggested that sittuation doesn`t matter.

And for the record: I have never done anyhting on the for sale forum and not ripped anybody off so I hope your not implying that, I even never mention ripping people off for ugrading PCs,I have no idea wher you are getting that from. Like I said before keeping the money of a found wallet is something totally different than ripping a person in for sale/trade, which is IMO inexcusable theft.

 

[DABANSHEE]

Look I've returned 2 wallets I found, &amp; even though they both gave rewards (one a bottle of wine, the other girl just gave me the money that was in it), relative speaking the token rewards gave me no satisfaction (even though they were nice &amp; I appreciated them), compare with the satisfaction I got from doing the right thing &amp; making someones day.

But to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how I'd react if there was a hell of a lot of money in either wallet.

In the situation of a wallet with money but no Id, you can always drop it in to the local police station &amp; if it isnt claimed within a month (or whatever the certified time is), its yours. I did that with a camera I found &amp; ended up with a nice 35mm job with a zoom lens. If you want to be a bit sleazy, you could always hand it in at a police station 30 mins away on the train in a suburb on the otherside of town. The odds are then that it will never be claimed, &amp; the coppers won't bother pursing the matter either. (just tell them you found it in the spot you found it, but you were running late for some apointment in this area &amp; tell them its inconvenient to return to the area you found the item as its out of the way, that way your not lying about where you found it. I know a pick pocket that use to go through this routine &amp; by doing that, the items he pinched became legally his, well unless someone can prove he pinched them).

But doing crap like that only has a short term gain factor, while doing the right thing will make you feel good for much longer.

 

[Zach]

Take the money, then return it! Duh!

 

[optoman]

I've returned two wallets, a checkbook and countless other things and never have taken anything from any of them. I also have never recieved any kind of reward except for a thank you which always made me feel good. I even been accused of stealing the wallet in the first place. Should of kept the money in that one. :| It is the right thing not to take the money and I don't know why I said to keep it. Maybe it was the one person who claimed I stole their wallet. Some people just really get me going sometimes.

Reitz- I've done a some selling and buying in the forsale\trade forums and I always have been fair. I never have screwed anyone and whenever I sold something, the person has always been more than happy with their purchase.

 

[Harvey]

Wangel -- <<I guess I had the option of keeping the $100 (bird in the hand) or waiting to see what was beind 'door number 2'.>>

Glad to hear that. I hope it was something really nice.

Are you going to tell us what was in the envelope?

 

[brian_riendeau]

I found $465 in a bank envelope at work one day. It was at a grocery store btw. I turned it in, waited two months (per the managers request) and then BAM, the money was all mine

 

[reitz]

I've never accused any of you of ripping off other traders. My only point is that those of you who would keep the money have made me question your integrity enough that I would not take the risk of trading with you.