So I was at the supermarket today, and rang my groceries through the self-serve cash register. I paid as I normally do, using my ATM card, and requested $15 cash back.
When I picked up my cash from the machine, not only was there a $5 bill and a $10 bill, but five $20 bills too!! I checked my receipt to make sure that I hadn't entered the wrong amount for cash back.... I hadn't made a mistake.
I brought the extra money back to the cashier in charge of the self-serve registers, thinking that someone who rang through ahead of me may have forgotten to take their money and just might come back hoping to find it. They took my name and phone number, and apparently the store policy is that if the money isn't claimed in 30 days, they give it to me!!
So that makes five times that I have found extra money at ATMs and self-serve grocery registers. Sometimes the amounts have been small - last time I got back a $10 bill when I only wanted $5 - and twice it has been $20, and this makes the second time it's been $100. Each time I've done the right thing and at least attempted to return the money to the establishment or the person who left the ATM ahead of me. It never occurred to me to keep the money, except afterward when I start thinking "nobody would have been the wiser". Mind you, I had one of my kids with me, and I'm glad I turned the money in. When we talked about it afterward, she said she would have done the same thing because it might have belonged to a single mom or an elderly person who really needed it.
I'll find out in a month's time if I get a little something extra for Christmas time!