MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > If you found money, would you keep it?

If you found money, would you keep it?


I went to the yogurt shop today to get some frozen yogurt and I sat at one of the tables for a little while and directly below me was $12 (a ten and two ones). I put it in my purse and keep thinking to myself, what I am going to do????? My conscious was eating at me and I sat there for a while. I then asked for a manager and told her that I found the $12 and gave it to her. She said she would put the money in an envelope for safe keeping and to see if anyone would claim it. I then left the yogurt shop after I finished my yogurt. The bad side of me wanted to keep the money but deep down inside, I didn't feel right about it and that's why I turned it in. I would love to know what you would have done in that situation or if you have been in a similar situation. Thoughts?

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I saw a guy recently "find" $5 as it blew out of the buskers guitar case, he caught it and tried to walk away but the busker pulled him up.

To answer the question I would most likely keep any found money that looked like it couldn't be traced back to it's owner.

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No, I'll spend it.

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If I saw someone drop some money, I'd give it back to them.
If I found a wallet, I'd make sure it got back to the owner.
If I found some money on the floor and had no idea where it came from, I'd keep it.

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I found wallets before and I would always turn them in. I also found credit cards and I obviously turned those in too. If money is on the ground, you can't track down those people because I believe that anyone you approach and ask if they dropped their money, they would all say yes. I don't think anyone would turn down free money....

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Totally agree.

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It depends on how much it is, is it loose cash or is it in a wallet, and if there is a clear and obvious way to ensure it gets back to its rightful owner, or not. It would also depend on if whoever I handed it to was likely to not give as much of a shit about getting it back to the person who dropped it. If they wouldn't be able to figure it out either, they'd probably keep it, so why am I handing it to them?

A large sum and/or in a wallet, with a clear way to put things right, either by taking it the police or if it was dropped in a place and around people I can identify to be truly the owner, then fine, I would definitely make efforts to get it back to the person who lost it. But smaller sums of loose paper money, and no way to find the person, ehhh.

About ten years ago a friend and I were walking through the neighbourhood. It happened to be my birthday.

We walked past the parking lot of a golf club, and on the grass verge was £10 just lying there on the grass. My friend picked it up, handed it to me and said something about the universe must have wanted to give you something for your birthday, lol.

At first I said oh, we should hand it in to the reception area of the golf club.But he pointed out to me that since it's only 10 quid, they're probably going to pocket it themselves anyway.
He also pointed out to me that the people who are members of this golf club are wealthy and won't be crying over the loss of a tenner. But I'm broke so keep the tenner. I did.

Seriously I'm not losing sleep about some guy with an annual salary I could probably live off for ten years, missing his ten quid.

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True. That rich guy probably didn't care about losing such a small amount (according to him) and like many people have mentioned, if it is on the ground, it is fair game....

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Yep; that 10 was quite a treat for me at my level of existence, but in all probability very likely meant nothing to him!

It was loose on the ground and wafting in the breeze. If it had been a wallet with ID or even just distinct enough things about the wallet and the contents, I would have handed that into the golf club and not touch the £10 - I would return the whole thing intact.

But loose paper money, nah.

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Plus, that money could have easily blown away in the wind or even fell inside a lake or bunker on the golf course. You found it and kept it which is fine. I don't think anyone was going to worry about it....

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A few yrs ago I found about $85 that someone dropped in a parking lot. It was with a receipt so I could have stuck around and asked the person who returned to the car where the money was next to if it was theirs (I'd ask about the receipt first of course).

But I needed the money so I kept it.

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A long time ago I found a $50 bill in a parking lot. I kept it. I find pennies on the street a lot.

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I would if it were just lying around some random spot with no way to find the owner

I returned a guy's wallet to him years ago because his driver's license was in it and I found his address...he was very pleased

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I'll let you in on a little secret: You gave the manager $12.00

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You're probably right now that I think about it. She was probably thinking, this is my lucky day!!!

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