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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Would you keep the money?

143 replies

theonetowalkinthesun · 25/11/2018 11:55

I genuinely just am interested in MN responses as to what you should or would do in this kind of situation!

If you found a £20 note on the floor in a supermarket, with no one nearby who it was obviously from, would you pick it up and keep it?

What about if you found it on the ground in the middle of a park, with again no one nearby who it was obviously from?

Just the note alone - it's not part of a wallet or purse!

(It's not really an AIBU is it- AIBU to wonder what you would do?)

OP posts:

melj1213 · 25/11/2018 17:51

I work in a supermarket customer service desk and it's really disheartening to read so many people say they wouldn't hand money in because they assume the staff would steal it. Yes there will be some dishonest staff, just like there are dishonest customers, but most of us don't spend our days looking for ways to steal the £5 note you found by the milk.

Firstly, if I was ever caught stealing then I'd lose my job and as crap as my wage is I need it to pay the bills and keep the roof over my daughters head more than I need a random £10. Secondly, customer services have cameras on us at all times so I am constantly watched and I would be caught straight away so it's not worth the risk.

In addition, there are set procedures for dealing with items handed in to us - whereas if someone finds something and doesn't hand it in then there is no way to keep track of it. If someone loses something in store they will usually come to Customer Services. If we don't have it then they usually leave their details so we can contact them if their item does get handed in later. If you find something and don't hand it in but put posts on FB/leave your details with CSD then you are making more work for the owner to get it back.

I once dropped my purse whilst I was walking from the checkout to the staffroom on my lunch break and a customer found it. Instead of handing it in they took it home and put posts on our local FB lost and found groups saying they'd found a card with X name in Y store and to contact them to get it back. Instead of being able to get my purse from CSD 30 minutes later at the end of my break I had to contact this guy, wait for him to reply and then arrange to collect it on a day and time convenient to him ... I was raging that he did the most inconvenient thing and he was exceptionally embarrassed when he openly admitted he kept it because he didn't trust the staff not to steal it and I had to tell him that I was actually one of those CSD staff members he didn't trust.

melj1213 · 25/11/2018 17:54

*they found a purse containing a card with X name

undeecided · 25/11/2018 18:00

I got £20 cash back out of the self service till at a supermarket and left it there. I phoned up later and someone had handed it in, I got it back and it really made a difference at the time as I was on a tight budget.

GabsAlot · 25/11/2018 18:26

sorry mel but he felt he was doin the right thing u still got it back didnt u-i dont trust staff sorry even though i kniow not everyones the same

melj1213 · 25/11/2018 18:48

@GabsAlot I got my purse back 3 days later (he lived at the opposite end of town to me, did not offer to drop it off/meet me and he was very inflexible as to when he was available for me to collect it) and in the meantime I was without cash, all of my cards, ID etc.

Fortunately I have Google pay so I could still access my money but if I didn't then I'd have been fucked as I'd have had no money and no photo ID to even take to my bank to try and get money over the counter. I also had no idea who he was, how securely my stuff was being held or who had access to my purse for 3 days ... all because he refused to hand in an item that did not belong to him to an employee in the store he found it in.

If he'd handed it in I would have had my purse back in less than 30 mins and if it hadn't been handed in then I could have immediately cancelled everything and had cards/id reissued and delivered to my house (yes it would have taken a day or two longer but would have been at my convenience)

Alfiesmom74 · 25/11/2018 18:49

No way are you a bad person. I’d have done the same!

MarshaBradyo · 25/11/2018 18:50

I had a feel good moment when I handed £30 to a lollipop lady and it made its way back to the child who had dropped it

onefishtwofishthreefish · 25/11/2018 18:52

I'd keep the £20 if no one was around to claim it as theirs. Think I'd still keep it if I found more but if it was £50 plus then I'd take it to a police station.

ConcreteUnderpants · 25/11/2018 19:35

I was raging that he did the most inconvenient thing and he was exceptionally embarrassed when he openly admitted he kept it because he didn't trust the staff not to steal it

Wow melj1213 Raging? ! Unbelievably terrible response.

Actually the most convenient thing for him was to pocket your cash and cards and bin your purse.
You were raging just because he thought he was doing the best to avoid your purse being stolen? I wonder what this good samaritan will do next time he finds a lost purse? ?
Perhaps a "thank you" might have been more in order rather than your shitty ungrateful attitude.

Jubba · 25/11/2018 19:36

I give any money I find on the floor to charity. Or put in a box. Or give to the homeless

Wasn’t mine to begin with and can help someone less Fortunate our

Jubba · 25/11/2018 19:41

And whoever said it’s theft by finding

It’s only theft by finding if you fail to look for the owner

The poster already said. If you could t find the owner etc

So that null and void

NannyKasey · 25/11/2018 19:41

I've seen people drop money in the street and have given it back to them. I found a cheque from the DVLA with a name and address on which I sent back, he was so chuffed that he sent me a card with a stamp so I didn't lose out and handed in a wallet that I found in a retail park car park. It works both ways as on separate occasions I dropped my phone and my purse in my local Sainsburys car park and have been reunited with both.

Jubba · 25/11/2018 19:43

I remember leaving my wallet with £400 in it in body shop. It was all my money that I’d gotten out for xmas shopping. I was only 20 at the time.

Someone handed it in. Money and all. I have never been so grateful. There are some honest people out there

Jubba · 25/11/2018 19:44

However. I did once leave 3 bags of food shopping. With 2 bottles of champagne (I don’t even drink. It was for someone’s birthday!)

And someone took them

I just hope whoever took it. Needed the food in it.

GabsAlot · 25/11/2018 21:22

sorry i still say yure being ungrateful yu9re lucky he didnt just nab it and keep it to himself

Abeautifulpeagreenboat · 26/11/2018 00:09

I genuinely dont get the thing with people having a threshold below which they would keep the money, because they dont consider it to bem much, it's so judgmental. £20 is a huge amount of money to someone who is struggling, it might be their entire week's food budget. Or maybe their electricity meter money.

jackstini · 26/11/2018 11:30

@HJWT - of course £500 is a different story, but for some people £20 is the difference between feeding their family and not

I just cannot see any acceptable reason to keep money that is not yours! (barring the handing it in and getting to keep it if it's not claimed)

BadLad · 27/11/2018 03:13

Supermarket - I'd take it to the police station. Park - I'd keep it and do my bit for the economy by spending it.

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