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Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

If you found something on the ground that was obviously left behind by accident would you return it?

Assumptions:
* You did not witness the item being lost.
* There is someone appropriate to hand the item to, such as a desk clerk, store worker, etc. Or the item has contact information for the person who lost it.
* You are not on video camera.

Things you might find:
* A cell phone or tablet
* Any amount of paper money
* A wallet
* A child's toy
* A candy bar
* A lottery ticket

Posted: Aug 18 2012 10:43 am

I'd return it if it had any personal information or obvious sentimental value. If it's not answered for in a reasonable time frame, or if the contact information is unreachable, I would keep it.

If it were paper money that was obviously there for a while, there's no way to determine who had it last, so better for me to keep it than for another random schmoe to claim it.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

Wallet - Yes
Paper money - Yes
Cell phone or tablet - Don't care
Child's toy - Yes
Candy bar - Don't care
Lottery ticket - If it's a winning one, that shit's mine

UsaSatsui's Youtube Channel · Posted: Aug 18 2012 11:12 am

I would. Except the candy bar, I'd probably just chuck that in the trash.

As a kid, I actually found a wallet with cash in it. I grabbed the cash and left the wallet there. I got caught. It's like decades later and I'm still ashamed of myself.

Joined: Oct 19 2009 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 1479

When I was in high school a lady at McDonald's gave me her cup and fry container during the annual Monopoly sweepstakes, saying she didn't play. I never eat at McDonald's and don't play their Monopoly either, but she gave them to me so I pulled them off. One of the stickers was an instant win of one hundred thousand dollars. I looked up and the lady was just walking out the door, so I yelled for her and showed her that her ticket was worth some serious cash. She took it without a word and walked out.

Wizard Joined: Jun 12 2009 Posts: 4209

LeshLush wrote:

When I was in high school a lady at McDonald's gave me her cup and fry container during the annual Monopoly sweepstakes, saying she didn't play. I never eat at McDonald's and don't play their Monopoly either, but she gave them to me so I pulled them off. One of the stickers was an instant win of one hundred thousand dollars. I looked up and the lady was just walking out the door, so I yelled for her and showed her that her ticket was worth some serious cash. She took it without a word and walked out.

Shit. Son.

Posted: Aug 18 2012 12:37 pm

I once found a wallet that only had a video store card, a baby photo, and $40. I walked 20 minutes to the video store, only for them to tell me the card was expired and they couldn't id it.

Posted: Aug 18 2012 01:37 pm

A cell phone or tablet - yes and yes. Especially so with the cell phone, as I know how much it can suck to lose it, and I'd feel weird walking around with someone else's tablet computer anyway.

Paper money - probably. I'd try to figure out how to determine whose it was, but if I couldn't figure out the original owner, I'd have no qualms about keeping it myself (unless it was an amount larger than like $100, in which case I'd probably try harder to figure out the owner).

A wallet - Yes. Same thing as a cell phone.

A child's toy - probably moreso than anything on this list. A child's toy has a profound, unimaginable amount of sentimental value, and the fact that I'd make some kid's day would be all the more reason. I can remember the huge sense of loss and despair I'd feel when losing particular stuffed animals as a kid, so I'd definitely go out of my way to return it.

A lottery ticket - how would anyone seriously be able to lay claim to this? No way.

Joined: Aug 04 2009 Posts: 2515

When i was in work i found 80quid on the ground.

I wasn't seen or on camera. I would get fired if i was found out.

Posted: Aug 18 2012 02:43 pm

cell phone or tablet - I would not return
money - I would not return
wallet - I would return the wallet with the ID and credit/debit cards via mail, but would take any cash
child's toy - In most cases I would return it, but if it was something I really thought was cool, I would keep it.
candy bar - I would not even bother picking it up in the first place, although I might ask people around if it is theirs.
lottery ticket - I would keep that if it was a winner.

I firmly believe in the old adage 'finders, keepers'

Here is a scenario that happened to me several years ago, I want to see what you guys would have done if it happened to you.

I was driving down a road not long after I moved into a new place and saw a sweet couch with a free sign on it. I t looked as if it was just put out on the side of the road. This was in front of an apartment complex. I get home and notice the middle back pillow has a flat bulge in the back. The free sign was tucked in between that pillow and the back of the couch. I open up the pillowcase and there is a large manila envelope inside with over $4000 in cash in it, no notes or papers at all. I end up keeping the money, mostly because I am an asshole like that but also because I could really use the money at that point in time.

Would you have tried to go back to that apartment complex and find out who put the couch out and return the money?

UsaSatsui's Youtube Channel · Posted: Aug 18 2012 02:57 pm

@om*d wrote:

I firmly believe in the old adage 'finders, keepers'

That's fine if its something that truly can't be traced back to someone. But simply losing an object doesn't mean you don't own it anymore. I mean, say someone found your cell phone that you lost in your house. You really gonna let them keep it because they found it?

That couch thing is different. They clearly abandoned it and gave it away. Laugh all the way to the fucking bank.

Wizard Joined: Jun 12 2009 Posts: 4209

UsaSatsui wrote:

@om*d wrote:

I firmly believe in the old adage 'finders, keepers'

That's fine if its something that truly can't be traced back to someone. But simply losing an object doesn't mean you don't own it anymore. I mean, say someone found your cell phone that you lost in your house. You really gonna let them keep it because they found it?

That couch thing is different. They clearly abandoned it and gave it away. Laugh all the way to the fucking bank.

Not only that, but who in the fuck puts $4,000 in cash inside of a couch with a free sign on it? I don't know if it's just because it sounds too good to be true, but the word "trap" keeps repeating itself in my mind.

Posted: Aug 18 2012 05:03 pm

I'd probably not keep a cell phone or a tablet unless I couldn't find the owner.

Paper money I'd probably keep.

A wallet I wouldn't keep because I lost mine for a year and not having my I.D. sucked ass, couldn't go buy beer when I wanted. Though if there was any cash in it I wouldn't really be above keeping it before mailing the wallet to the person as a finder's fee of sorts plus I have to pay to mail their shit back somehow. Who really keeps that much cash on hand anymore anyway? Probably not even find 20 bucks in there.

A child's toy or candy bar I probably wouldn't even pick up unless I saw it being dropped unnoticed by the kid's parents or whatever, in which case I'd give it to the person who dropped it.

As to a lottery ticket, it probably got dropped because it was a loser and I'd probably glance at it but ultimately move on.

Wizard Joined: Jun 12 2009 Posts: 4209

There are a few instances where someone dropped their wallet or paper money when I was younger, I would always find who dropped it and give it back. Mostly because I felt bad thinking of what would happen if I lost something like that.

Plus, my parents would have been ashamed if I didn't. I don't like feeling shamed.

The people I returned stuff to liked to reward me anyway, like five bucks for being honest or something. It was really nice.

I'd like to think I'd do that for anything, but I'm with the others on the lottery ticket. Shit's mine.

Banned Joined: Sep 13 2008 Posts: 3129

Cell phone or tablet
Yes, without a doubt. It sucks to lose those things, and as much as I want a tablet I'd feel compelled to give it to the clerk (or contact the person)
Money
If it was like $5 i'd keep it, upwards I'd try to find the clerks manager so that way both the clerk and the manager know it's there so either one doesn't steal it. Truth be told it'd probably sit there for days on end and then one of them would be like "fuck it let's order pizza, let's just use that money"
a wallet
Yeah, no sense in keeping someone else . I wouldn't even take the money out.
A child's toy
Probably wouldn't even bother picking it up
a candy bar
ew, I wouldn't even pick that up
Lottery ticket
I'd consider that fair game if it was dropped [/list]

Posted: Aug 18 2012 11:12 pm

UsaSatsui wrote:

@om*d wrote:

I firmly believe in the old adage 'finders, keepers'

That's fine if its something that truly can't be traced back to someone. But simply losing an object doesn't mean you don't own it anymore. I mean, say someone found your cell phone that you lost in your house. You really gonna let them keep it because they found it?

That couch thing is different. They clearly abandoned it and gave it away. Laugh all the way to the fucking bank.

To clarify, it only applies to public places. Obviously, if I see a person drop something, I would most likely inform them so they could retrieve the item. Unless that person was an asshole. In that case, fuck them.

Posted: Aug 19 2012 03:35 am

On the Monopoly instance, were I in your shoes; she gave it to you. I would've shut my mouth after saying thank you politely. I would've kept the $4k from the couch as well.

I had an instance where I was almost tempted to lie to someone about their winnings from a scratch of I'd sold him. We'd casually chat every now and then. It was the last $2 ticket from the roll (he was on a streak) and he tells me to look it over without really examining it himself. It came out as a $500 winner and for a split moment I thought of telling him he'd won considerably less. I, however, told him he'd hit it big and he gave me $100 of it.

Posted: Aug 19 2012 07:00 am

I never return anything I find for one reason: I watched Lord of the Rings.

Imagine if they had just GIVEN the One Ring back to Sauron. Would that have been a good idea? No. I assume that every stranger is a supervillain of some sort and everything you find on the ground could be the final artifact they need to power their Doomsday Device.

Posted: Aug 19 2012 01:16 pm

Syd Lexia wrote:

I never return anything I find for one reason: I watched Lord of the Rings.

Imagine if they had just GIVEN the One Ring back to Sauron. Would that have been a good idea? No. I assume that every stranger is a supervillain of some sort and everything you find on the ground could be the final artifact they need to power their Doomsday Device.

I am now going to use that as my reason in the future. Brilliant!

Wizard Joined: Jun 12 2009 Posts: 4209

If I pick up a twenty dollar bill and I become invisible, you can bet your ass I'm keeping it.

Posted: Aug 20 2012 04:49 am

I return it all, then only time I've kept cash was when no one around knew who it belonged to and everyone I asked started the well you can give it to me! routine.

Other than that I find who it belongs to, or turn it in to lost and found, regardless of what it is. I hope that if I ever lose somethig someone will be cool enough to do the same.

Posted: Aug 20 2012 11:53 am

A cell phone or tablet - Yes, I would return it. I would try to find a contact in the phone named something like "Mom, Dad, Wife/Husband" or whatever and let them know I had it and where to take it. If that didn't work, I would return it to the nearest desk.

Any amount of paper money - If I saw it fall out of someone's pocket, I would alert them to dropping it, hoping someone would do the same for me. If I just walk up on some random cash laying on the ground? Mine.

A wallet -Same mindset as the phone/tab. I would hope someone would return it to me. It's such a hassle to get things replaced.

A child's toy - Yeah, I have no need to keep a kids toy.

A candy bar - I'd throw it away. I wouldn't eat a random candy bar.

A lottery ticket - Winner? Mine.

Posted: Aug 20 2012 05:00 pm

If you win on a lottery ticket, they advise that you sign it. If you find a winning unsigned ticket, it's the same as finding money with no one around.

Joined: Sep 17 2007 Location: The Opium Trail Posts: 3475

GPFontaine wrote:

If you found something on the ground that was obviously left behind by accident would you return it?

Assumptions:
* You did not witness the item being lost.
* There is someone appropriate to hand the item to, such as a desk clerk, store worker, etc. Or the item has contact information for the person who lost it.
* You are not on video camera.

Things you might find:

* A cell phone or tablet Yes, especially since I almost lost mine recently.
* Any amount of paper money No, because the clerk could just pocket it themselves. Been in way too many situations where I ask someone if they lost money only for some asshole to speak up only to say "haha I just made x amount of dollars." Unless of course there was a money clip with that person's information on it. Now if there was someone asking around if they've seen x amount of dollars that they lost, and I found it first, of course I would give it back
* A wallet Absolutely
* A child's toy Yes
* A candy bar No, I'd probably just leave it there.
* A lottery ticket Maybe.

Posted: Aug 20 2012 06:04 pm

Atma wrote:

A cell phone or tablet - Yes, I would return it. I would try to find a contact in the phone named something like "Mom, Dad, Wife/Husband" or whatever and let them know I had it and where to take it. If that didn't work, I would return it to the nearest desk.

We found someone's iPhone at work once, and the battery was dead. I had my charger on me, so we charged it, called the person who the last three voicemails were from, and explained that we had found the phone and wanted to return it to whoever it belonged to.

It turned out to be the phone's owner's husband, and the wife was quite relieved to get her phone back.