Wallet found

Rather oddly, if i found a twenty pound note in a nameless wallet i would hand it in, but if i found a twenty pound note on its own i would claim ownership and buy an assortment of toblerone.

I'd use the money to buy steaks for my boxers so they don't eat the chihuahua. The hypothetical doesn't work for me: I wouldn't be walking a chihuahua. Two or three boxers, yes.



I have turned in found wallets with no dogs involved. I think that most religious people would turn in the wallet if another religious person knew that he or she found it, but not if the secret of the wallet was safe. On Sunday morning, they are not usually walking a dog.

Originally posted by Ghost of a Duke
While out on a Sunday morning stroll, walking your Chihuahua, you find a wallet on the ground full of cash. (No credit cards or identity details etc). Two questions:

1. Would 'you' hand it in to the police?
2. Would a religious person be more likely to do so?

I've been burned a few times whenever I've acted strictly out of self interest, so I probably would be 'foolish' enough to turn the wallet over to the police. I say 'foolish' because I've been called a fool on more than one occasion for doing the right thing... I've also been called stupid, and an idiot, and other names like that. Some people just can't stand it if they see you doing the right thing. But from my POV it's worth it to see them twisting their shorts into a knot, because it's actually none of their #@&% business if I turn it in. It doesn't belong to them anymore than it belongs to me... I'm venting a bit here, in case you hadn't figured that out, but you probably did figure that out because your job is dealing with peoples problems and frustrations. Doesn't that wear you down after a while? No, never mind... that's none of my blankety blank business.

Before turning the wallet over to anyone (I don't care who they are) I would first want to have and keep evidence of the wallet and its contents (witnesses, photo copies of the contents, description of the wallet itself, etc) to insure that whoever I hand it over to isn't going to be similarly tempted... and I admit I would be tempted, that's pretty much a given. But like I said, I've been burned a few times (mostly when I was a kid) and so I don't believe the temptation would have the same power over me that it once had.

But let's just say no one is around to see you picking up the wallet, and later on no one remembers you being in the vicinity of the lost wallet, and there's maybe a few thousand dollars in the wallet... enough to brighten your day but not so much it might create a problem for you. So in other words, you could probably get away with keeping the wallet and it's contents... assuming of course your conscience doesn't bother you a whit, like maybe the money belongs to an old man who really can't along without it, but hey, that's not your problem... right?. Then yeah, you could get away with 'theft by favorable circumstances'... or 'scandalous serendipity'... I'm just making up terms for this... because I enjoy coming up with new terms... because it doesn't cost anything, and I don't have to rob anyone of anything... that's why.

“Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls:
"Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;
’twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.”

- Bill -

Originally posted by Ghost of a Duke
While out on a Sunday morning stroll, walking your Chihuahua, you find a wallet on the ground full of cash. (No credit cards or identity details etc). Two questions:

1. Would 'you' hand it in to the police?
2. Would a religious person be more likely to do so?

In the late 70s there somewhere, I found £100 ~ 5 x £20 ~ in the gutter on my town's high street. It was a considerable amount of money in those days. I took it to the police station which happened to be just across the road. They noted down exactly where I'd found it and took my name and address. Three months later they wrote to me telling me to come in and pick up the £100 as no one had claimed it. And that is what I did.

Originally posted by lemon lime

I've been burned a few times whenever I've acted strictly out of self interest, so I probably would be 'foolish' enough to turn the wallet over to the police. I say 'foolish' because I've been called a fool on more than one occasion for doing the right thing... I've also been called stupid, and an idiot, and other names like that. Some people just can't stand it if they see you doing the right thing. But from my POV it's worth it to see them twisting their shorts into a knot, because it's actually none of their #@&% business if I turn it in. It doesn't belong to them anymore than it belongs to me... I'm venting a bit here, in case you hadn't figured that out, but you probably did figure that out because your job is dealing with peoples problems and frustrations. Doesn't that wear you down after a while? No, never mind... that's none of my blankety blank business.

My, my, what a veritable psychodrama this OP's simple 'moral dilemma' has unleashed! 😉

Originally posted by FMF
In the late 70s there somewhere, I found £100 ~ 5 x £20 ~ in the gutter on my town's high street. It was a considerable amount of money in those days. I took it to the police station which happened to be just across the road. They noted down exactly where I'd found it and took my name and address. Three months later they wrote to me telling me to come in and pick up the £100 as no one had claimed it. And that is what I did.

Clearly not American police.

Originally posted by Wulebgr
Clearly not American police.

We're talking post-Dixon Of Dock Green, post-Softly Softly, late Z-Cars, mid-The Sweeney, pre-Taggart, early-The Gentle Touch and long before The Bill.

Originally posted by FMF
[b]I've been burned a few times whenever I've acted strictly out of self interest, so I probably would be 'foolish' enough to turn the wallet over to the police. I say 'foolish' because I've been called a fool on more than one occasion for doing the right thing... I've also been called stupid, and an idiot, and other names like that. Some people just can't stand ...[text shortened]...

My, my, what a veritable psychodrama this OP's simple 'moral dilemma' has unleashed! 😉[/b]

"My, my, what a veritable psychodrama this OP's simple 'moral dilemma' has unleashed!", he said with a passively aggressive smile and a wink. But just then a pirate ship appeared on the horizon, and scooped up the floating wallet full of coupons, business cards, one good luck condom and a couple of sopping wet reefers. But alas, FMF would never see his beloved wallet again... and he wouldn't want to if he knew what those pirates were planning on doing with it.


ewww!

Hey Ghost.....is there a pub between the wallet found and the police station?

This could pose a problem.

Originally posted by Ghost of a Duke
Rather oddly, if i found a twenty pound note in a nameless wallet i would hand it in, but if i found a twenty pound note on its own i would claim ownership and buy an assortment of toblerone.

It is possible our differing answers reflect in part our trust or lack of trust in the police. If the wallet in question had an id in it I might try to find the owner and return it.

So what would people do if instead of a wallet it was a large bag full of cash, say 1 million dollars?

Originally posted by lemon lime
"My, my, what a veritable psychodrama this OP's simple 'moral dilemma' has unleashed!", he said with a passively aggressive smile and a wink. But just then a pirate ship appeared on the horizon, and scooped up the floating wallet full of coupons, business cards, one good luck condom and a couple of sopping wet reefers. But alas, FMF would never see his be ...[text shortened]... wouldn't want to if he knew what those pirates were planning on doing with it.


ewww!

How is it passive aggressive if I make a direct, no-beating-about-the-bush comment about your semi-ludicrous, verging-on-paranoia answer to the OP's straight forward question? 😉

Originally posted by lemon lime
I've been burned a few times whenever I've acted strictly out of self interest, so I probably would be 'foolish' enough to turn the wallet over to the police. I say 'foolish' because I've been called a fool on more than one occasion for doing the right thing... I've also been called stupid, and an idiot, and other names like that. Some people just ...[text shortened]... their #@&% business if I turn it in. It doesn't belong to them anymore than it belongs to me...

Crumbs!

So you've been burned when you've acted out of self-interest and would therefore hand the wallet in...

...but hang-on, you've also been called a fool when you've done the right thing...and called "stupid" and called an "idiot" by people with knots in thier shorts who should mind their own business because...the wallet would be yours, not theirs.

I guess you could always pretend to hand the wallet in, but secretly keep it in order to win these arguments. 😉

Edit: No wonder you find it so difficult to unequivocally state your position in the hot topics!

Originally posted by twhitehead
It is possible our differing answers reflect in part our trust or lack of trust in the police. If the wallet in question had an id in it I might try to find the owner and return it.

So what would people do if instead of a wallet it was a large bag full of cash, say 1 million dollars?

I'd still hand the cash in, because I'd be terrified of being hunted down by the mobster who lost it. Also I think it still the right thing to do,

I know some Christians who a absolutely against gambling but are happy to buy premium bonds where of course you gamble your interest (such as it is) in exchange for a chance to win big.

These same group of Christians frowned on me playing the national lottery, so I asked them if they were happy if and when I won a big amount of money that I didn't give any of it to them.

There was a pregnant pause and some blinking.