Thank you, OP. Honesty is always the best policy.
Honestly, I'm not level 5 so I can't participate in this.... but thanks for the story about an honest person.
Edit:
In America, if you turn the money in to police and someone doesn't claim it after a period of time, it's yours. Think about it, <name removed so as to avoid offending the other respondent to whom I'm replying here>: What if it was important for a forgetful person who left it there, essential for the money's owner to get medical supplies, pay rent or utility bills, or help a relative? It's not very polite to steal someone else's money and, frankly, is an indication of what kind of person you are.
Edit addendum:
I once found a gold, diamond-encrusted, feminine Gucci watch in the parking lot in front of a store where most of the items had higher prices than nearby stores like Walmart. It had probably fallen off the wrist of its owner as she was getting into her car to leave. I took it into the store and waited until a manager had put it in the store's safe. They wanted my contact information so I could collect it if it remained unclaimed after a few weeks. Maybe I should have given them my info, but it didn't belong to me and I didn't want anything to do with it except to make sure it was in safekeeping. If I were the owner of that watch, when I discovered it was missing I would have called the store(s) where I had shopped while wearing the watch. I hope the owner reclaimed it.
At any rate, I'm glad I was honest and turned it in, because if I do not have integrity in my daily actions I have nothing.
Edit 2:
I'm not perfect and probably make more mistakes in my life than most people, but I try to have integrity and be trustworthy whenever possible. I think I'm a pretty rotten person... but if people were not able to trust me I'd be almost completely worthless.
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You should ring them, just to find out if someone did come. That'd be a cool thought to know it worked out:)
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I feel exactly as you do. I'm far from perfect and a lot of the time I'm an asshole just because that is my personality. That being said I would've done the same thing. You don't take what isn't yours simple as that.
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"You don't take what isn't yours simple as that."
Exactly what I think, too. Good for you for saying that!
You're right... nobody's perfect and we all do things we regret from time to time (or practically all the time, in my case, it seems), but we should learn from our mistakes and try to do better next time. (that's my opinion.. I'm not trying to preach to anyone here. You're all free to choose the way you behave in any situation, but you will have to deal with the consequences sooner or later, whether they are good or bad.)
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At any rate, I'm glad I was honest and turned it in, because if I do not have integrity in my daily actions I have nothing.
You're totally right, the most important thing in the end is to be able to look at yourself and know that you did the best you could.
After all, you have to live with whatever action you take in lives. I couldn't live with myself always thinking that I might have taken some money from someone who truly needed it...
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So it seems people everywhere are the same - that's heart-warming <3 Sigh...
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I found 50€ in a store in Germany when I was 15 years old. I gave it to one of the cashiers. But later, one person said to me that this woman kept the money... I hate her from this day on...
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Source?
Also: "in a country named Germany, where nobody has to be so fucking greedy to not give back 2000 €"
What is that supposed to mean? There's poor people in Germany too
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Well that news report seems to be giving props to him and also the cops (If the translator gave the correct translation). But sad that some people are shaming him for doing that, I'm sure if it had been their money they wouldn't feel the same.
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I don't see him being ridiculed anywhere in that link. If it was online, yeah, there will always be vocal idiots.
Also, if it was still in the machine he would have appeared on the camera footage.
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Ah, thx.
Yeah, there will always be stupid people. Especially when they think their comments won't be found by potential employers etc.
Don't worry, Karma will get them.
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I found wallet, laptop, video camera and photo camera few weeks ago - all at once in an opened car with keys left hanging outside. Called the police, they found the forgetful owner after a few hours.
Another time I took away a stolen mobile phone from my relatives and gave it back to the owner, without a sim card sadly.
I don't consider anything that I find to be mine just because I found it, we all make mistakes, we all forget things sometimes. Life is hard enough without helping each other.
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I know a good story about this The story happens in Saudi Arabia, I bet Khalaq also knows.
You have to do the right thing, not what is good for you, the right thing.
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The person who lost the 2000€ could really need them.
Thank you for sharing this.
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Respect for the kid. I hope the police don't just pocket the money... D:
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Thanks for the giveaway, OsakaMilkBar!
Facebook comments can be as bad as YouTube comments. Good on him for doing the right thing.
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The guy was just being a decent human being and returning something that wasn't his. What the hell is wrong with people? I admit that I'm not honest in words most of the time, but I wouldn't take what isn't mine. I know how frustrating it feels to lose something and not get it back, so I wouldn't wish that upon the owner of whatever I might find. 2,000 EUR is a lot of money. The owner probably needed it for something important. People here in my country would probably say the same things as those people who referred to the guy as an idiot though, and that makes me sad. :/
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He will not go away empty handed. According to german law, the finder is entitled to 70€. Source, only in german, sorry.. And if the owner can't be determined in a certain timefram (6month), the finder can keep the found goods. But it would not be german law, if there would not be additions: If the original owner learns of the finder after the six month, they might claim their goods after up to 3 years. Source, only german again.
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Oh wow I din't knew about the last part. That's pretty fucked up. Basicly you have to keep the item(s) safe for 3 years? Thats a long time.
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"If the original owner learns of the finder after the six month, they might claim their goods after up to 3 years"
Where does it say that? I can't see it :/
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When people write only "respect" I can't help but reading in it Ali G's voice. Not really relevant to the thread, but yeah.
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Now we are surprised by what should be the norm. I guess that his own friends will make fun of him for a few years... It happened to me as a child when I handed a gold bracelet to a policeman
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Wow, that's quite a sum. I admire his honesty. Do you know if the money got back to the owner?
The only thing I've found was a cell phone on a bench. This was in the late 90's, when I was young. Took it to the police, who got in touch with the owner, who left a note to me through the police, thanking me, and also arranged with a finder's fee. I think it was around €30, not much, but the owner really appreciated getting the phone back, and I was happy with the finder's fee. I never expected anything, so it came as a pleasant surprise.
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At least the guy who lost his money has a chance to get it back.
One day I've found 20€ in a ATM, so I've been into the bank and asked the woman if she could give it back, I don't know how complex it is but technically it must be possible, the guy who forgot his money was the last one using the ATM before me. She said it was not possible. End of story. I left her the money, what else could I do ?
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It is possible, she was lying. ATMs are usually monitored video and if the owner is looking for his money he could easily come across these recordings.
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Yeah people don't care. ATMs here are monitored both by build-in cameras and outside cameras (so showing surrondings). And these kind of info are given to the police etc.
So it'd be enough to call police, request video check and look for this person. But still, it was only 20€, to maybe police wouldn't bother either.
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At my bank the ATM is outsourced. It has the bank's logo, and is located at the bank's property, but is actually managed by another firm who fills/empties and maintains the machine. So even the bank management does not have access to open it or views its camera without going through a formal request process with the ATM management company.
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why did u give someone's money to a random person? =D
Isn't it enough to buy 20 Humble Tier1 Bundles... =(
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He should've given away 2k Bad Rats here instead :p
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2k is a suck a low amount for the moral pressure of have stolen money... tho most probably that money wont find its owner... i mean, how do you find money's owner
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Could the bank not pull up the records of all withdrawals from that machine and see who took out 2k at around the time the money was found?
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Well, 2000 is a pretty big amount, so someone would surely miss that. People who claim it's theirs probably need to somehow kind of prove it's theirs (withdrawal note from the bank or something), so it's not really a case of finding the owner, but the owner finding the money.
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its a lot for the one who lost it but for someone to steal it... i consider that too little to even have the moral weight
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I won't lie, I would be incredibly tempted to keep that kind of money if I just found it since I could really use it right now.
But in the end I'm sure I would also do the right thing and turn the money in. It would eat at my conscience otherwise.
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I don't know. If it was 50 euro, I might have been tempted, but 2000 is a lot. I would probably feel really bad doing that.
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While i do not agree with calling them a fool or an idiot for turning it in,this is really down to a moral thing more then being a fool or whatever for not keeping it.
Cash is hard to prove ownership as there is no way of proving who owns it,now if this was in a wallet then i would feel safe to say it is there money if there is an I.D. present.To prove ownership you have to have a way to identify that it belongs to someone and in this case it is cash and no way to prove it is yours as anyone can lay claim to losing it.So yeah the person could have kept it and noting anyone could do to prove they actually took it and maybe why so many say he was foolish.
Though in the end they have to live with the choice they make and it is obvious they could not live with the choice of keeping it regardless if if it was found or not so they turned it in.I know here if you turn in stuff you found they have so long to find the owner and if they do not step forward you have the right to claim it.
Though i must admit i would be on the fence of what to do,as i know most likely the real owner will never prove it is there money but on the other hand i know it belongs to someone.
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I heard sometime if an ATM gives the money, the serial numbers of the bills are registered, like they can indentify bills that are stolen from breaking ATM machines.
Could be wrong in it of course, that they only know which batch of serials is in wich ATM at a certain time....
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Interesting though even if it was true this would only help if they used an ATM but even then it would not prove ownership it would just prove they took possession of the bills if all they did was use the ATM.They could have gave that money to someone else.
Same would be true if someone robbed an ATM just because someone has bills recorded with that machine does not mean they stole the money if all they had was some of it.Now if they had all the money it would be hard to say hey i did not do it.
Though it could help the person make a claim that it was there money they got from the ATM so i can see where it might not prove real ownership but it still could be enough to claim it.
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As you rightfully pointed out, it is a grey zone, I could point out other points in favor of the original owner, but I am not feeling like getting in such a debate right now ^^
Just lets conclude, its a whole mess to prove ownership :)
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That sums it up in a nut shell and why i said in this case i think it relies on moral side of things and plays the biggest role in what you would do.
But yeah i agree it is a mess no matter which way you go lol.Life always full of hard choices.
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I think you would like this show, Osaka - it's called "What Would You Do?"
It shows that even if there are a lot of people out there who won't do the right thing, there are those who will - and those people who will might surprise you.
Here's my favourite episode: Pedestrian Who Has Fallen On Sidewalk | What Would You Do?
If it's too long, skip to this part Her name is Linda Hamilton
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you're welcome - it moved me too - it's my favourite.
It's an old episode but what that woman did never left me :)
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the best part was seeing the cascade of good deeds that sprang from her action - others wanted to help too
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Hey JC, the video is touching indeed, esp the short last part. Then I watched the whole thing and it has become a sad, losing faith in humanity type of thing after I noticed it takes a few seconds for others to help you if you are a well dressed person, and 3+ minutes if you are homeless. If you are a homeless holding alcohol, it will take another homeless person to help you..
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Yep that little bit with her throwing away the beer can.... ;_;
You have to put yourself in their shoes to know what that little action was: she was trying to give him back a little bit of humanity and dignity (just like her calling him Billy)
The numbers of people that walked by without doing anything - they might've become numb (a lot of homeless people sleep on the sidewalks like that :() - took 1 person to stand up for someone for everyone else to notice something was wrong.
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