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mobilehaathi

macrumors G3
Original poster
Aug 19, 2008
9,368
6,352
The Anthropocene
So I was talking to an acquaintance recently, and somehow the topic of lost wallets came up. He told me that while he would do everything possible to return a lost wallet, he felt he was entitled to any cash inside and would immediately take it.

Frankly, I was utterly appalled, and I could not believe what I was hearing. Is this a common attitude or is this dude special?
 

wpotere

Guest
Oct 7, 2010
1,528
1
So I was talking to an acquaintance recently, and somehow the topic of lost wallets came up. He told me that while he would do everything possible to return a lost wallet, he felt he was entitled to any cash inside and would immediately take it.

Frankly, I was utterly appalled, and I could not believe what I was hearing. Is this a common attitude or is this dude special?


I'm with you, that is an appalling attitude to have. I would return the wallet to the owner with everything in it.
 

Aeolius

macrumors 6502a
Jul 25, 2002
932
70
I would return the wallet in the same condition I would wish my own wallet to be returned, if the situation was reversed, i.e. contents undisturbed.
 

LostSoul80

macrumors 68020
Jan 25, 2009
2,136
7
I wouldn't be able to touch a thing. I'd do what I could to return it, but without too much effort.
 

kolax

macrumors G3
Mar 20, 2007
9,181
115
At most, there wouldn't be more than £20 in my wallet. I'd much rather get my wallet back with all my cards and driver license (granted I'd need to request new bank cards anyway) without the £20 than never my get my wallet back and have to buy a new driving license, get new store cards etc.

Not saying the person is entitled to that £20 by any means. If I found someones wallet with say £500 in it, I'd probably be disgusted with myself. So I hope I never do find a wallet with £500 in it.
 

mobilehaathi

macrumors G3
Original poster
Aug 19, 2008
9,368
6,352
The Anthropocene
Not saying the person is entitled to that £20 by any means. If I found someones wallet with say £500 in it, I'd probably be disgusted with myself. So I hope I never do find a wallet with £500 in it.

At least you'd feel ashamed. This dude would take it and think he deserves it for finding the wallet.
 

Sith Vol

macrumors 6502
Oct 7, 2011
301
5
Memphis, TN
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I ran into this situation 2 weeks ago...I lost my wallet on campus and I was devestated. Luckily, the person who found it turned it into a lost and found room and it was there...with everything the way it was...even the $2 in cash.

If I ever found a wallet it'd be reported to a lost and found immediately. If there wasn't one available then I'd try and find out who it was through any identification cards.
 

kolax

macrumors G3
Mar 20, 2007
9,181
115
I remember one story my friend got himself into when he handed a wallet in to the police station. The person who lost it came to collect it, but claimed there was a large sum of money in it which was missing, and that his wallet had been stolen, not lsot. From what I remember, the police didn't pursue it.

I don't even know what would happen in that sort of situation.
 

Melrose

Suspended
Dec 12, 2007
7,806
399
Return the wallet. A million dollars in the wallet couldn't pay for my integrity.
 

obeygiant

macrumors 601
Jan 14, 2002
4,167
4,082
totally cool
If some one found my wallet and took the money and gave me back everything else is be happy I wouldn't have to cancel all the card renew my license an replace everything else in there.
 

mobilehaathi

macrumors G3
Original poster
Aug 19, 2008
9,368
6,352
The Anthropocene
If some one found my wallet and took the money and gave me back everything else is be happy I wouldn't have to cancel all the card renew my license an replace everything else in there.

Sure, most people would be more than happy at that. I would. But I'm talking about this guy feeling that he deserves to take the cash, not your happiness to get all your cards back. You and I might write off the cash as an acceptable loss given what you might have lost, but as a person finding a wallet would you feel you deserved the cash in it? And then would you take it?
 

snorkelman

Cancelled
Oct 25, 2010
666
155
Ive found and returned wallets with cash intact (wouldnt feel I deserve it), but Id have no objection to receiving mine back with cash removed (like poster above the cards ID's etc are more important to me)

now I think about it I might even go as far as getting a card printed up for inside it 'keep the cash return the rest'
 

scottness

macrumors 65816
Mar 18, 2009
1,368
5
Room 101
I'd return it the way I found it. I'd want the same done to me.

If it were returned to me with all the cash untouched, I'd take the finder out to a nice dinner—worth more than the cash in my wallet. I like to reward good behavior and create relationships.
 

And

macrumors 6502
Feb 23, 2009
389
3
92 ft above sea level, UK
A couple of years ago my brother was driving home and saw a package lying in the road. He stopped and had found an envelope with £2000 (about $3000) in, in used notes. He handed it into the police who reunited it with it's owner (a restaurant owner). The restaurant owner gave my brother £10 as thanks! Which seemed a bit of an insulting gesture when he could have offered a thank-you meal or something!

No, I have no idea how it ended up in the road in the first place. It all sounds a bit odd.
 

savanahrose

macrumors 6502a
Jul 31, 2006
791
1
greer SC
And perhaps that is all the restaurant owner could afford to give? He might have to pay for his employees with that money or his bills. Or maybe it was the thin line between staying in business for another week or closing up shop.

One Christmas my husband had gotten a gift card for a restaurant, when we finally went to go use it, the said restaurant did not have hardly any food for us to order. Meaning they had this menu but everything we tried to get we were told that they didn't have it on the menu.
 

And

macrumors 6502
Feb 23, 2009
389
3
92 ft above sea level, UK
And perhaps that is all the restaurant owner could afford to give? He might have to pay for his employees with that money or his bills. Or maybe it was the thin line between staying in business for another week or closing up shop.

One Christmas my husband had gotten a gift card for a restaurant, when we finally went to go use it, the said restaurant did not have hardly any food for us to order. Meaning they had this menu but everything we tried to get we were told that they didn't have it on the menu.

My brother would have preferred a heart felt thank you. But you miss the point, at cost value the meal would have probably cost the restaurant owner less...
 

Lanarae

macrumors member
Sep 8, 2011
73
1
I would return the wallet. I feel like what comes around goes around or You Reap What You Sow.
 

Hastings101

macrumors 68020
Jun 22, 2010
2,338
1,446
K
I'd do my best to return it, but if it's some guy living in another state or some other major inconvenience and they're not willing to come pick the wallet up I'd probably take the cash and trash the rest of it :eek:
 
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