Found $ - What would you have done?

[LillFilly]

So, the mall's closed (it's 2AM) and I'm doing my rounds, checking doors, etc. I find a 20 $ bill on the floor. On one hand, nobody around to see me and 90% chance nobody will come looking for it. On the other hand, if someone does come looking for it, and actually describes about where they think they dropped it, I'll feel horrible for keeping it and telling them it was never found; it could be a little kid's birthday $. I ended-up checking it into our lost and found; at least if nobody claims it in 30 days I still get it.

But some of my coworkers thought I was crazy. Granted, I'm about the only person that bothers checking things into lost & found. Some things they find they feel 'aren't important enough' to log; but you never know what something means to someone.

[Sliceanddice]

i would have kept it cause it was loss money and i don't think anyone would think to lookin loss in found for loss money.

[Mishi]

I'd have handed it in. Like you said, you never know what it might mean to someone. Besides that, someone once handed in my lost nappybag with the contents (including my mobile phone) intact, so to me it's similar to 'paying it forward'.

[Greenday]

Would have pocketed it and probably spent it at the bar that night.

If it was a large sum of money, that'd be different. But $20 isn't much and is no big deal.

[MaggieTheCat]

I would've turned it in. Good karma and all.

[NateTheChops]

Had this dilemma once when I worked at Mart of K. Found seven bucks in electronics. Pocketed it. Only when the little girl who I had seen five minutes earlier came around looking for it did I return it to her and only her.

With electronics or something tangible like a wallet, it's never a question to me.

But money is something that can be replaced. And if I personally did not see the person drop it and no one else noticed it as it lay there, then I'm going to count my lucky stars that I found it first and pocket it the first chance I get.

[Barefootgirl]

Wow. Theft by finding, anyone?

LillFilly, i think you did exactly the right thing. If no-one comes to claim it, you can have the money back in a month's time.

I once worked alongside someone who was fired, lost his job, his police service pension, the respect of his colleagues and his own self-respect, for stealing £10.

[Becks]

Turn it in, of course.

For those of you who think that $20 isn't a lot of money...I'm unemployed. That IS a lot of money for me. Hell, at this point, $5 is a lot.

[lordlundar]

Been there. $60 myself actually (someone dropped 3 $20's). I tried to turn it over only to have my manager call me nuts and I should keep it. (yeah, strange group) So I made a compromise. I would hold onto it for a week and the front desk would let me know if someone was claiming it without being questioned. If that happened, I would turn it over. If not, I would keep it.

No one claimed it. At least I can say I did the right thing.

[JustaCashier]

I've always figured if I found some money, that was immediately identifiable as to whom it belonged to, such as in a wallet, or a bag with some company receipts, or if I saw them drop it, I'd return it to the owner whether the amount was $1.00, or $1,000.00.

If it's just a single bill lying on the ground, $1.00, $5.00, $10.00, or $100.00, I'd probably keep it, unless there was some way to be assured that if I advertised it, that someone besides the person that actually lost it wouldn't get it by guessing, or by process of elimination.

I know that the ad would have to be vague enough to hopefully prevent that from happening, but then there still has to be enough info, like the general area in which it was found, to catch the eye of the person that lost it.

Mike

[Amina516]

LF, You followed procedure. Im assuming you could have been fired for keeping it and not turning it in had others found out? Im also guessing youll be $20 richer in a month. You did the right thing.

[Victory Sabre]

I'd do the exact same thing you did. You did the right thing.

[Ree]

I always turn in money that I find at the store.
If it's coins, I drop it in the donation jars at the cash.

I was out walking last fall, and I looked down to see a $10 bill among the autumn leaves. (Canadian $10's are a shade of purple, so it blended in at first.)

I couldn't even spend it on myself, even though I was completely broke.

I ended up giving it to my daughter that night to buy some medicine for my granddaughter who suddenly developed a fever through the night.

[BlaqueKatt]

Would have pocketed it and probably spent it at the bar that night.<snip>
If it was a large sum of money, that'd be different. But $20 isn't much and is no big deal.

But money is something that can be replaced.

When my husband left me and our one year old son I had $50 to my name-couldn't get a job as my ex-husband had all my paperwork. My son got sick and needed medicine(he had cryptosporidium, vomiting and diarrhea), his medicine was $30-which left me with $20 to buy food for him for two weeks. No way to get to any kind of food bank.

So $20 may not seem like much, and may seem "easily replaceable", but if I had dropped that final $20-yeah you'd have had maybe 3 drinks, and my child would've gone hungry. As it was I went without food so he could eat-I rationed myself to one packet of ramen per day($1.50), he got 3 meals.

[draggar]

LF, You followed procedure. Im assuming you could have been fired for keeping it and not turning it in had others found out? Im also guessing youll be $20 richer in a month. You did the right thing.

Procedure would have been the only reason I would have not kept it. One $20 bill is nearly impossible to trace and for all we know someone at the lost and found can claim someone claimed it but then claim it for themselves.

I always turn in money that I find at the store.
If it's coins, I drop it in the donation jars at the cash.

I was out walking last fall, and I looked down to see a $10 bill among the autumn leaves. (Canadian $10's are a shade of purple, so it blended in at first.)

I couldn't even spend it on myself, even though I was completely broke.

I ended up giving it to my daughter that night to buy some medicine for my granddaughter who suddenly developed a fever through the night.

That was a calling.