Would you have done the same? Bring back a wallet

directorj
directorj Posts: 537 Member
edited October 6 in Chit-Chat
I like reading about these stories and I can relate.

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_19548531#.Tup8Kaa-cLs.facebook

I have a similar story:

About a month ago my girlfriend lost her wallet at the airport. Good thing she had her ID and some cash on her. Inside the wallet was credit cards, a few pictures,keys, and $200 cash. 2 weeks after that, the airport calls her and she got all of it back. They could have kept the wallet which was valued around $80 (juicy couture) and the cash. To make things more interesting, when she called the CC company from the airport an old lady overheard it and gave her $20 for "just in case".

Fast forward another 2 weeks, I found $5 on the street parking and no one was around. Then I saw the salvation army ringing bells and I just put the money in the donation box along with an extra few bucks from me.

Money is hard to come-by in this economy, even for me but I'm still going to do good deeds since I was taught that way.

I believe good karma goes a long way.
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Replies

  • AudgePaudge
    AudgePaudge Posts: 537 Member
    That's awesome she got it back :) No matter how broke I am I would always find the owner. I lost my purse one time (it had all my tips for the week, about $300 my mother's wedding ring, and my kids and my ss cards) I never found it and no one ever turned it in :( It's hard when things like that happen!
  • nygiantschick
    nygiantschick Posts: 289 Member
    what a great story. and good for you in giving the money away....so there are still some quality people out there I see....I KNEW IT!!!! you'll be rewarded for that even though that is not why you did it.
  • Run4iiiiiit
    Run4iiiiiit Posts: 489 Member
    I had a delivery at Walgreens a few weeks ago. There was 5 bucks on the floor and I asked the cashier if it was hers. She said no, but a guy just left. I went after him and asked him if it was his. He took it, but the look on his face made it obvious it wasn't. I felt stupid giving it to him, but oh well.
  • yellowdog77
    yellowdog77 Posts: 64
    Three years ago this week I found a wallet at a gas station. I was traveling with student intern at the time so in front of her I opened the wallet to find the id. I never counted all the money but it was a lot, several CC and a wedding band and diamond ring. My first thought was the owner of the wallet was robbing other people. As I pulled out the id I found it belong to an man in his 70's. His address was just around the corner so I decided to go by his house to see if he was home if he had not been I was going to take it to the police station. When I showed up to his house there was a lot of people and he was crying. Long story short his wife had just passed away from an auto accident and it was her cash from christmas shopping and her rings. When I came to the door the daughter was coming out to go back to the gas station to look for the wallet. I went think this poor guy was just "getting old" I had no idea what I was walking into. The next day my intern and I took cookies and brownies and drop them off on his porch. Three days later I received a beautiful christmas flower arrangement at work. I had no idea how he even knew how to found me. His daughter remembered my name from my work id tag. His daughter sent a note in the wallet was $2600.
    My class is blessed each year with a large supply of materials that he and his family donate in honor of his/their wife/mother. and I received today for the third year in a row christmas flowers.

    I truly believe more people should pay it forward and I have no idea how people who find wallets and purses keep them. I do not believe hard times is what causes people to keep stuff that is not theirs. I worked and have worked 60 hour weeks to help provide for my family.
  • directorj
    directorj Posts: 537 Member
    ^ Wow that's a very heart-warming story! It was already enough of you to bring the wallet back and you went further on to bring them cookies and brownies. That's the way the world should work but sadly, it rarely happens. Thanks for sharing this story!
  • jwhit31
    jwhit31 Posts: 450 Member
    I would ALWAYS give it back!!!

    About 8 years ago I forgot to take my ATM card from an ATM machine (it was ejected) and someone found it and went on a $1,700 shopping spree. I didn't realize what I had done until that evening I went to pay for dinner and didn't have my card (thank goodness for cash). I ended up being reimbursed by my band but still, I had just gotten paid and had to pay bills.

    Here it is a year and a half later. My husband and I are checking out at the grocery store and I noticed that someone was using the ATM machine probably 15 feet from where we were at. As we were leaving the store I happened to look at the machine and I noticed the person left their card in the machine and anyone could have used it. I glanced out the door and saw the man walking to his vehicle. I told my hubby to grab the card and I ran after him. We made sure he got his card back.

    August this year, I was starting to become serious about running so I went to walmart to grab a pair of running pants. I went into the dressing room to try them on and there was a purse in the room. At first I just thought it was one from the store but upon closer inspection I found out someone left it there. I went to check for an i.d and saw I huge wad of cash in the front pocket and I got freaked. I changed back into my pats and notified the person working there at the dressing room and left it in her hands. She seemed blown away that turned it in with the cash in there. Really, is it that hard to believe?
  • AudgePaudge
    AudgePaudge Posts: 537 Member
    Three years ago this week I found a wallet at a gas station. I was traveling with student intern at the time so in front of her I opened the wallet to find the id. I never counted all the money but it was a lot, several CC and a wedding band and diamond ring. My first thought was the owner of the wallet was robbing other people. As I pulled out the id I found it belong to an man in his 70's. His address was just around the corner so I decided to go by his house to see if he was home if he had not been I was going to take it to the police station. When I showed up to his house there was a lot of people and he was crying. Long story short his wife had just passed away from an auto accident and it was her cash from christmas shopping and her rings. When I came to the door the daughter was coming out to go back to the gas station to look for the wallet. I went think this poor guy was just "getting old" I had no idea what I was walking into. The next day my intern and I took cookies and brownies and drop them off on his porch. Three days later I received a beautiful christmas flower arrangement at work. I had no idea how he even knew how to found me. His daughter remembered my name from my work id tag. His daughter sent a note in the wallet was $2600.
    My class is blessed each year with a large supply of materials that he and his family donate in honor of his/their wife/mother. and I received today for the third year in a row christmas flowers.

    I truly believe more people should pay it forward and I have no idea how people who find wallets and purses keep them. I do not believe hard times is what causes people to keep stuff that is not theirs. I worked and have worked 60 hour weeks to help provide for my family.

    What an amazing story!! Go you!! :)
  • chuckyp
    chuckyp Posts: 693 Member
    I've found purses twice. Once in the median of a busy street and once in a parking lot. Both probably left on the roof of the car when the owners drove off. I tracked both of them down and returned them. One of them had $200 cash in it. Scored a $20 reward on that one which was nice because I was a poor teenager at the time.
  • AZTrailRunner
    AZTrailRunner Posts: 1,199 Member
    Found $2100 in cash in the Home Depot parking lot (folded in half), next to someone's truck. Picked it up, looked to see if anyone was in "panic" mode, went to the service desk, and had them page the owner of the truck. I waited a few minutes then decided to go back out to his truck. When I got there, I finally found someone panic-stricken, looking around the parking lot. I asked them if they lost something. He said, a lot of money. I asked him how much, and he told me $2100. I told him it was his lucky day. Not everyone will return that kind of cash. Barely got a "thanks" for my efforts. I was kind of pissed about that. A little appreciation is appreciated.
  • Alison__
    Alison__ Posts: 107
    Once, I found 200 SEK, which would be almost 30 dollars, outside a store. I actually went into the store and told them to keep it there in case anyone would ask for the exact number and tell them that they'd lost it on that exact date. No one did though, and they called me after a few weeks and gave it to me since I'd found it. Sure, I didn't mind the extra money, but I felt so bad for the person who lost it :frown:
  • J3SSP3NNY
    J3SSP3NNY Posts: 235
    I always turn things in. I just thinking about how I would feel if I had lost mine.

    This was a great story :)
  • J3SSP3NNY
    J3SSP3NNY Posts: 235
    I always turn things in. I just thinking about how I would feel if I had lost mine.

    This was a great story :)
  • heresmyinsidevoice
    heresmyinsidevoice Posts: 311 Member
    Three years ago this week I found a wallet at a gas station. I was traveling with student intern at the time so in front of her I opened the wallet to find the id. I never counted all the money but it was a lot, several CC and a wedding band and diamond ring. My first thought was the owner of the wallet was robbing other people. As I pulled out the id I found it belong to an man in his 70's. His address was just around the corner so I decided to go by his house to see if he was home if he had not been I was going to take it to the police station. When I showed up to his house there was a lot of people and he was crying. Long story short his wife had just passed away from an auto accident and it was her cash from christmas shopping and her rings. When I came to the door the daughter was coming out to go back to the gas station to look for the wallet. I went think this poor guy was just "getting old" I had no idea what I was walking into. The next day my intern and I took cookies and brownies and drop them off on his porch. Three days later I received a beautiful christmas flower arrangement at work. I had no idea how he even knew how to found me. His daughter remembered my name from my work id tag. His daughter sent a note in the wallet was $2600.
    My class is blessed each year with a large supply of materials that he and his family donate in honor of his/their wife/mother. and I received today for the third year in a row christmas flowers.

    I truly believe more people should pay it forward and I have no idea how people who find wallets and purses keep them. I do not believe hard times is what causes people to keep stuff that is not theirs. I worked and have worked 60 hour weeks to help provide for my family.

    Such a great story.
  • Aesop101
    Aesop101 Posts: 758 Member
    I am so happy for your girlfriend. I work for a very large department store and you would be amazed at the number of wallets that are turned in with the money and credit cards still remaining.

    On a bit of a sour note. I found a purse outside my apartment one day. I opened it and called the lady. She came to get it. She asked where I found it and I told her. She said I looked there. I felt she was slightly accusing me of taking it. If I find another one I will turn in to the police and let them handle it or turn in at the place where I found it.

    Most folks are pretty decent and want nothing that does not belong to them.
  • MayMaydoesntrun
    MayMaydoesntrun Posts: 805 Member
    When my son was 8 years old, he found a $100 bill on the floor of our neighborhood store. He was by himself. This is a proud parent moment...he turned it in! They told him if nobody claimed it in two weeks, it was his. Apparently someone claimed it, because he never got it.

    Flash forward, 9 years later...the owner of the store need a new employee. He saw my son, said he remembered his honesty from that day and it impressed him. He offered my son a job, and he has worked there for the past 3 years!
  • KimmieBrie
    KimmieBrie Posts: 825 Member
    I would never keep something that wasn't mine. I once found a Cartier watch @ TJ Maxx in the pantyhose bin and immediately turned it in to lost and found. Hope it's rightful owner got it back.
  • polarlove
    polarlove Posts: 72 Member
    years ago when I was a student, I left my purse on a train. it had my student ID, my residential pass, my railway card, my bank card, and over £30. I never expected to see it again, but a couple of days later the train station phoned my house and told me someone on the train had handed it in to them. the train station actually phoned my university to get my number so they could get in contact with me - how nice is that?

    so yes, of course I would hand in someones purse if I found it. I wouldn't hand in money I found on the floor though, because it's very unlikely it would get back to its original owner anyway.
  • lizgreenhill
    lizgreenhill Posts: 185
    i used to live in this tiny little town and i found a wallet laying next to the gas pump it had $400 in there and credit cards kids pictures and ids i went to the cops and gave them the wallet and said i found it. The cops called the guy while i was there and said that i found his wallet and he was so happy that i found it and everything was there that he actually gave me the $400. It was a great day
  • DarkAngel525
    DarkAngel525 Posts: 135
    Yeah, I've found a camera (that was harder to track the owner), wallets, even an IPhone. It wasn't mine, it needed to be returned, simple as that. As for if I found money just laying on the street....if I didn't see someone drop it or no one else was around who it could have belonged to, then yeah, I'll keep it. Most I've ever found was a $5 but hey, it made me feel lucky!
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    I've found wallets with money several times. Used to work in a supermarket so it was not uncommon. (And yes I returned them all.)

    Would I have given the money to the Salvation Army? No. I don't donate to them.
  • jennajava
    jennajava Posts: 2,176 Member
    The world could use more people like you. :flowerforyou:
  • BobbyClerici
    BobbyClerici Posts: 813 Member
    I'd have taken the money, then trashed the wallet unless there was some way to max out the cards and get away with it.

    Be glad you got the good samaritan.
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
    Whenn I worked at Family Dollar some woman left her wallet at my register with 5000 in cash tons of credit cards,I put it in the cash safe but she never came back.We had the wallet for three days so I finally got her info of her drivers license and found she was listed in the white pages she didnt even remeber being in my store which is why she didnt come there when she was looking for it.She seemed pretty suprised to find all the cash there. To me finding a purse or a wallet is one thing but if I happend across money blowing down the side walk I will keep it
  • tlsegar
    tlsegar Posts: 185 Member
    Three years ago this week I found a wallet at a gas station. I was traveling with student intern at the time so in front of her I opened the wallet to find the id. I never counted all the money but it was a lot, several CC and a wedding band and diamond ring. My first thought was the owner of the wallet was robbing other people. As I pulled out the id I found it belong to an man in his 70's. His address was just around the corner so I decided to go by his house to see if he was home if he had not been I was going to take it to the police station. When I showed up to his house there was a lot of people and he was crying. Long story short his wife had just passed away from an auto accident and it was her cash from christmas shopping and her rings. When I came to the door the daughter was coming out to go back to the gas station to look for the wallet. I went think this poor guy was just "getting old" I had no idea what I was walking into. The next day my intern and I took cookies and brownies and drop them off on his porch. Three days later I received a beautiful christmas flower arrangement at work. I had no idea how he even knew how to found me. His daughter remembered my name from my work id tag. His daughter sent a note in the wallet was $2600.
    My class is blessed each year with a large supply of materials that he and his family donate in honor of his/their wife/mother. and I received today for the third year in a row christmas flowers.


    That is an awesome story. I would definetly return a wallet or purse. A few years ago I went to post office and ran a couple of copies of documents. When I opened the printer cover I found that someone had left their social security card. I panicked. I didn't trust turning it into the post office for some reason. I went home and thought maybe I could track down the person in the phone book. Unfortunately there were several people with the same name. And I wondered how smart it would be to call someone and ask them if they had lost their ssn card. So I just shredded it.

    I truly believe more people should pay it forward and I have no idea how people who find wallets and purses keep them. I do not believe hard times is what causes people to keep stuff that is not theirs. I worked and have worked 60 hour weeks to help provide for my family.
  • _beachgirl_
    _beachgirl_ Posts: 3,865 Member
    One Christmas a few years ago, I left my wallet without about $1000 cash in it in the shopping cart. I didn't even realize I had left until I got a phonecall from someone asking if I had lost a wallet. It was returned to me with everything in it. We wouldn't have had any presents under the tree that year if it hadn't been returned to me. I sent them flowers the next day. If I ever find anything like a wallet or purse, I will certainly turn it in.
  • navywifeandmomof4
    navywifeandmomof4 Posts: 958 Member
    when i was about 11 it was around Christmas time i was at the mall with my dad.we were walking around the old guy in front of me dropped his wallet more like it fell out of his pocket and he kept going.he didn't know it fell.I picked it up and ran up to him and tapped him on his arm and said you dropped this and handed his wallet to him. this old fart gave me the dirtiest looked and snatched it from me and kept on walking.he didn't say anything not a word.I looked at my dad and asked what did i do wrong he said you did nothing wrong some people are just mean like that. then he was how would you like to get your ears pierced.
  • _beachgirl_
    _beachgirl_ Posts: 3,865 Member
    Three years ago this week I found a wallet at a gas station. I was traveling with student intern at the time so in front of her I opened the wallet to find the id. I never counted all the money but it was a lot, several CC and a wedding band and diamond ring. My first thought was the owner of the wallet was robbing other people. As I pulled out the id I found it belong to an man in his 70's. His address was just around the corner so I decided to go by his house to see if he was home if he had not been I was going to take it to the police station. When I showed up to his house there was a lot of people and he was crying. Long story short his wife had just passed away from an auto accident and it was her cash from christmas shopping and her rings. When I came to the door the daughter was coming out to go back to the gas station to look for the wallet. I went think this poor guy was just "getting old" I had no idea what I was walking into. The next day my intern and I took cookies and brownies and drop them off on his porch. Three days later I received a beautiful christmas flower arrangement at work. I had no idea how he even knew how to found me. His daughter remembered my name from my work id tag. His daughter sent a note in the wallet was $2600.
    My class is blessed each year with a large supply of materials that he and his family donate in honor of his/their wife/mother. and I received today for the third year in a row christmas flowers.

    I truly believe more people should pay it forward and I have no idea how people who find wallets and purses keep them. I do not believe hard times is what causes people to keep stuff that is not theirs. I worked and have worked 60 hour weeks to help provide for my family.

    This is a great story.
  • sunshinesonata
    sunshinesonata Posts: 241 Member


    Would I have given the money to the Salvation Army? No. I don't donate to them.

    And why is that? I'm just curious.
  • mmuzzatti
    mmuzzatti Posts: 704 Member
    I would turn it in or find the owner and get it back to them. I believe that this will bring me good fortune back at some point. I also have this desire that next time I am an airport or maybe a coffee shop and find a group of military people and I will buy them all a cup of coffee or something....one day I will do this! So proud of my military people and the only thing in life I regret is not joining when I was younger!
  • BPayton27
    BPayton27 Posts: 626 Member
    I live my life by the motto "what goes around comes around." Whenever I find something I turn it in or find the owner. If that is not possible, I try to do something meaningful with it. I left my Coach wallet on top of a gas pump last summer. It was returned to the attendant where I picked it up a few hours later once I realized it was missing. I am forever grateful.

    Two weeks ago I found a scratch off ticket in the mall parking lot. I parked in the back b/c my car always gets dinged at the mall and no other cars were around. The ticket had not been scratched off yet. It was wet and dirty like it might have been dropped a day or 2 prior. I was having a REALLY crumby day. I opened my door and saw it immediately. I picked it up and decided it would not hurt to scratch it off. The ticket was a $500 winner. I thought long and hard about cashing it in. It's Christmas after all and every little bit helps. I knew that if I had called my husband to ask his opinion he'd tell me to keep it without hesitation. I took a deep breath, folded it, and dropped it in a red kettle in front of my grocery store later that day. I never told my husband.
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