A close friend of mine woke me up at 6am today with a particular dilemma.
Barb! Sorry to wake you up but I have a serious question to ask and it can't wait. I just found a plain white envelope with $900.00 on the floor. I'm at (--censored--) Gas Station at (--info undisclosed--). No one is around so I just picked it up. I'm in my car and I could drive away with it right now since no one is looking or asking around for it. Should I keep it or turn it in?
My reaction was almost automatic.
Turn it in, I said, and hung up the receiver. Nine Hundred isn't something I'd like to profess finding. I know there's a law somewhere that states if more than a certain amount is found, you must report it to the local police station. If no one claims it after a given amount of time, it's yours. In her case, I'm thinking someone absently dropped it. Nine hundred is a mortgage payment, or a car payment. Nine hundred could be someone's check recently cashed. I bet that 900 belongs to a gas attendant cashier who got careless and didn't realize what he/she dropped.
I've yet to find out what the verdict is: will she do the right thing and turn it in or will she take me and my extended family to lunch as payment for waking me up half hour before my alarm clock scheduled time?
A piece of advice for my dear friend A (finder of said cashola) who is probably reading this while sipping coffee at work right about now.
First, action really is happening -- it
is not an illusion.
Second, you really are responsible for your actions.
There is no outside force like the stars or some good or evil being acting
through you. When you are conscious, you are the one who decides what to do.
Third, your actions have results -- you are not just writing on the water --
and those results can be good or bad depending on the quality of the intention
behind the act.What goes around, comes around what goes
up must come down, A!
UPDATE! -- After careful deliberation, 'A' decided to keep the cash and though she fully gets the karmatic implications this might have, she refuses to heed my prophetic words. It's not that I enjoy giving people a hard time, I just hate being the human handkerchief when tragedy/drama hits.
On a lighter note, hubby and I found a collective $0.49 in change today. The first nickel was unearthed in front of my new favorite place the 24 nail salon. They are true geniuses in the art of eyebrow waxing!
The rest of the change hailed from the greatest place in the world, my alma mater campus. I spent a few hours there waiting for my Graduate Advisor to show up. Although she didn't show, I had a fun time perusing the classrooms, collecting pennies and nickels (six nickels and nine dimes in all), and watching the undergraduates act out one act plays (I wonder what Michael Caine would say to these young idle thespians?)
Total found today: $0.49
Total so far: $ 98.16
3 comments:
Well, she should most certainly turn it in to the police... it no one claims it after a certain period of time then I believe it would be hers. Don't give it to the cashier unless they can prove it there money. Call the police... Do the proper thing.
Andy from Simi Valley, CA
My brother-in-law says to black light the money to see if there's any "blow" on it. Might be soem drug dealers money. If so, keep it... he says.
When I was in kindergarten my teacher made me turn in to the principal a dollar bill that I found when we the fire trucks were visiting the school. After a month and no claimant, I got to keep it.
I think your friend should do the same--well, to the police instead of the principal. She'll likely do well either way: if someone claims it, there might be a reward; if no one claims it, well, that's its own reward.
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