Finders Keepers?

SpiceItUp

Finders Keepers?

What do you do when you find something that doesn't belong to you? What if it has no name or any way of locating the owner. Do you take it if it seems it might be something you can use? Or do you leave it? Does it depend on the value? If its something cheap do you just figure that its really not worthwhile trying to find the owner? If its expensive would you make an attempt at locating them?

Example: Aprox 6 years my boss at the time was shopping at Wal-Mart and found abandoned in a shopping cart outside a brand-new camera. it was a $300 camera as she looked at the price inside afterwards. Now ultimately she kept it but not without first letting Wal-mart know that she found it and she gave her phone # so that the owner if they called could reach her. Now she checked with them after a few days to see if anyone called about it but noone had. Therefore she felt she had done her duty to find the owner and now it was hers.

Today I found something in a similiar manner. After I get some responses I'll let you know what it was and what I did. I just wanted your input on moral and values with situations like this.

JH

I will always do my best to find the owner of something lost. I consider myself very honest, and it would make me happy to see the face of the person who lost something find it back.

Ravyn

I do my best to find the owner too, but after a reasonable period of time and effort I will keep it if it is something I want to keep. If it is valuable and I dont want it myself I will give it away to someone who can use it.

Many years ago I ordered a tiny diamond chip band ring for my pinky and that of a good friend as a kind of sister/friendship ring thing. I got them from the JCPenney catalog and they cost about $60 a piece. I got a postcard in the mail saying that the jewelry was being sent directly from the manufacturer and it gave the item number and asked me to confirm the order with the jeweler. When I looked at the order number I almost fainted---it was an order for 2- $1800 cocktail rings! I called immediately and told the manufacturer the mistake and they said the order was cancelled. Then I called JCPenney and told them what happened and they cancelled the charge on my credit card and cancelled the order too. About a week later guess what comes in the mail? All four rings! I took them to the catalog dept at the local JCPenney and the clerk looked for about an hour before finally telling me that there was no record of this being ordered and there was no charge on my account. I tried to give them back and she looked at me like i was crazy, she told me I could give them to her but she guaranteed they would go home with 'some lucky' employee if I left them there since they were untraceable. So I kept them all and I gave the ring to the friend I intended to and ended up using one of the cocktail rings as a gift for my sister. Hey--I tried!

Another time I ordered an exerciser--one of those Gazelle-type things- from FingerHut and paid for it on my FingerHut credit card. They charged me for two of them and i called to tell them I only ordered one and they took off the charge. They sent two and I refused delivery of one of them and had it returned. They claimed they never got it back and tried to charge me for the second one again about two months later. I was so angry at them I called the corporate offices and explained and they told me they would take off the second charge because they did find the one I returned. Well about a month after that they also took off the charge from the one I DID keep. I called them to tell them--and since I had already paid like 3 months on it I actually had a credit balance on it--and instead of re-charging me and fixing it I got a notice in the mail that they cancelled my card with a gift certificate in the amount I already paid(which I never used--but it was tempting)! Oh well!

Ravyn

oh and I just remembered this:

my neighbor found a lost puppy once and we made up flyers and went door to door looking for the owner. She took out 2 ads in the local papers too, and left notices with the vet and the Humane Society. Well after 4 weeks and no luck, and she spent about $100 on getting the puppy groomed and checked out and bought food and bedding and toys etc...guess who came knocking on her door? A person who lived about three houses down who claimed she 'stole' his dog! She and her kids were in tears and gave the dog back. I would not have. I would have taken him to court. He was irresponsible enough to lose a puppy in the first place and he should have atleast paid her for what she did for it. Less than a year later the dog was killed, hit by a car, because it was never supervised or kept secure.

Ravyn

happyout

Rayvn, what a sad puppy story! And you're right, I would have kept it too, especially if the alleged owner couldn't prove the puppy was his.

I am very honest, I am one of those people who give back extra change when the cashier messes up. I also have told a server in a restaurant when they forgot to charge me for something.

As for finding things, that's pretty simple. If there is any way to trace down the rightful owner, I will do it. I will report my find to the store, police, whatever. If no one claims it, then I feel it's ok to keep it.

The only exception is cash. I once found $100 on a step, and honestly, there was no way to find who it belonged to. And asking people if they have lost cash is like asking if they want you to just give them cash. Unless I saw who dropped it, or unless it is in some sort of identifiable object, it's mine.

Happyout

Celia

Last week I bought a few things at Wal-Mart, paid with a check. The young kid at the cash register did his thing, put the check in the machine, wait for the slip to be printed, etc.... then he said thank you, have a good day and gave me my check back.... bwaaaah... I said, Hey, you should keep it, give me the sale slip instead

A few times I paid something with a $10 bill and the kid at the register gave me change for $20.... I did bring it to her attention.

SpiceItUp

well I have returned money when I found $20 at work in the bathroom but yesterday I found a 24 pack of soda on the bottom of a cart. I looked around to see if anyone might have left it then grabbed it for myself. I think if it had been something that had a significant value I would have made more of an effort to find the owner. Ahh well my soda now.

Thanks for the replies.

Hamas

Keep it, unless it is something with real personal value ; perhaps a ring.

If I found a wallet, but with no address in it, or something similiar, I wouldn't think twice about keeping it for myself.

bikerchic

If I find something that has a name, phone number or address to return it to say a wallet or purse I'll make every attempt to return it, with all the contents intact! I have done this in the past and would still do it. And I have had this done for me and was very grateful, I think it's good karma.

Once I found a cell phone in the parking lot so I picked it up a few minutes later it rang and it was the owner, I returned it to her at great cost to me in the time and effort I put into returning it to her........but oh well! She was very grateful and that made it worthwhile for me. I would like the same done to me if it were me who lost my cell phone.

I have kept things found like money found on a sidewalk, jewerly, jackets, sunglasses, ect....how could you rightfully find the right owner? In such cases I do figure finders keepers, yeah baby it's mine!

That said, I work doing housecleaning in other peoples homes and am always finding change, you know a nickle here, dime there sometimes I've even found as much as ten bucks in the laundry and I always put it on a table nearby. My clients will usually ask me about it and I tell them I found it in the sofa, or whatever, they seem so surprised! I've actually gotten cleaning jobs because of my honesty. Honesty is very important to me I would be the first suspect if something turned up missing in a home I clean and take even the smallest things seriously.

Kate

xjw_b12

I am forever finding items certain people seem to have misplaced.

I don't know how many times, whether it's in a waiting room, or at a laundramat, I keep running across these Watchtower and Awake magazines that people have forgotten to take with them. Usually they don't have a name in them' so being the conscientious person I am I just return them to the mailbox of my local KH. Makes me feel real good inside, to have done such a good deed.

BTW Ravyn. The next time I need to make a big ticket purchase, can I get you to order it for me?

Finders Keepers?

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