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AIBU?

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Original poster

To Wish I'd Never Asked

60 replies

Jemima232 · 01/06/2019 16:23

DH found a set of keys near our house today. The road (but not house number) was attached to them.

I posted on our local FB page that we'd got these keys and asked the owner to PM me.

Jeez. I got answers ranging from "take them back yourself" (how, as I didn't know the full address) and "the owner may not have FB so will never know you've got them" and "give them to the village shopkeeper and the owner can ask in there.)

I wish I hadn't bothered if I'm honest.

OP posts:
WhoWants2Know · 02/06/2019 14:25

Bet OP thinks twice before trying to do a good deed in the future...

MitziK · 02/06/2019 14:37

If I lived in DP's home village, I would drop them off at the shop and put a post up on FB saying so, the shop would know the person/the owner would be able to confirm the road to them and all would be good. There are often notices on the door saying 'glasses found' and suchlike. The same happens at the pubs - sometimes the notes say 'ask inside' or 'put to shop'.

Same way in the little market town when we found a wallet in the park with a bankcard, we wandered over to the bank, the cashier said 'oh, I know them, they'll probably be in later' and all was sorted.

Village politics can be quite cut throat, but it's how things tend to be done, rather than holding on to stuff and awaiting contact.

Having said that, the bag I handed in to my local police after a festival that contained over £300, driving license, etc having chucked the five little baggies of drugs that were in it because I didn't think the owner would appreciate possession charges was accepted gracefully.

countrygirl99 · 02/06/2019 14:43

Most of the villages round here don't have a village shop or the opening times are pretty restricted. If you handed anything in on a Saturday morning it could be Monday before the owner could collect them.

sirmione16 · 02/06/2019 14:47

This annoys me as it could be someone who doesn't have Facebook who's keys they are (elderly maybe for example) then how would they get them? Just take them to a police station. People are going to check there before social media which may never actually reach them.

Cuppaand2biscuits · 02/06/2019 14:47

On this occasion it does make sense for you to post on Facebook but I hate when someone posts that they found something in the pub or on a bus and took it home.
No, hand it in to the place you found it, by all means take a photo and post that explaining that you handed it in but leave it there!

TeaStory · 02/06/2019 14:49

I do wonder why people do this. Surely you find something, you hand it in to the police?

Except my county police force has told people NOT to bring things to them but use social media instead!

TeaStory · 02/06/2019 14:51

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-32722075

OldUnit · 02/06/2019 14:53

I have to say I'm bloody sick of the 'I found this bank card, trying to reunite with owner' posts.

Hand it in to the local bloody bank! They have their customer's actual contact details. But no....this type of people want attention, gratitude and reward.

It isn't the same with random items like keys, but an actual bank card..? Please.

EvaHarknessRose · 02/06/2019 14:55

Yep, 101 told me to advertise a v expensive found bike on facebook. Said they don’t take lost items anymore.

Original poster
Jemima232 · 02/06/2019 14:58

DH and I are new to the village.

I was going to take it to the village shop as it happens, but thought that someone might know whose keys they were - even if the owners didn't use FB, their relations might.

If it had been a bank card I would have taken it to the bank. Not that the bank here is open very often, but still...….

OP posts:
Oldraver · 02/06/2019 14:59

Some people are just arsey wankers for the fun of it.

I gave away a bike and while trying to photograph it fell down so DS propped it back up again, but without realising he had twisted the forks.

Oh my God some wanker went on and on about how Halfords had put the bike together wrong and others then joined in

It was a freebie FGS that I wasn't thanked for

myhamster · 02/06/2019 14:59

OP, you get all the argumentative ignorant people on FB, same as you do on MN (you know the posts,OP asks question, loads of people come on to say, why did you post this, or why is it your concern). Just ignore them.

Facebook is proven time and time again to reunite people with lost property. A young child locally lost their purse yesterday, Mum posted, a friend of a friend knew who had found the purse and they were reunited.

AdobeWanKenobi · 02/06/2019 15:00

Hand it in to the local bloody bank!

If only such things existed. My 'local' bank is an hour round trip away.

Original poster
Jemima232 · 02/06/2019 15:03

@myhamster

I met a friend half an hour ago and she said "You got a lot of stick about those keys, Jemima. They're still arguing on the FB page about what you should have done."

Aaaargh. Village politics.

OP posts:
Thistles24 · 02/06/2019 15:04

I saw a good one last night- a dog was running round a street with lead still attached. 2nd post was “Why on Earth bother posting it to Facebook instead of taking it to the vet?!”
The person obviously hadn’t considered that the dog might not want to be captured and put into the car of a stranger, that it was 8:30pm on a sat night and vet was long closed and woman was trying to get her children to bed! Facebook seems the sensible option in most cases.

MitziK · 02/06/2019 15:11

That's your actual problem - you're an incomer.

Shrug it off and if anybody mentions it in person 'oh, the ones I handed into the village shop? I'm glad they got back to the right person'.

You've only got about another 20 years of this.

duckling84 · 02/06/2019 15:15

Not rtft but recently a similar thing had happened to us - ds is 10 and sometimes goes to the local play park after school on his own (we live just down the road and there are no main roads to cross). One day he came home and he was absolutely hysterical because his school bag had gone missing. And I mean hysterical! He was in a complete state. Turned out a parent saw it, asked the mums nearby if it was theirs, when everyone said no she took it into the school office assuming it had been left behind. I get she thought she was doing the right thing but it actually led to a lot of distress which could've been avoided if she had just left it where it was.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 02/06/2019 15:19

Works pretty well round where I live to post it on FB.
We do have a police station in our town but it's apparently not open for locals to use - not entirely sure what its fucking purpose is, to be honest, but we see police wandering in and out and around sometimes. However, they don't take lost property and they don't come out from there if the police are called so who the fuck knows. Hmm

You get internet trolls on every platform these days - just ignore the wankers and be glad that the person did get their keys back - you have to just accept that the only "praise" you will get is from your own conscience, for knowing that you did the right thing.
Sucks, but there it is.

Missingstreetlife · 02/06/2019 15:21

Dropped my purse outside pub. Someone picked it up, phoned car breakdown service (members card inside) left their number. Incorrect number given to me. Had to do a lot of investigating local sites to find kind person. Wish they had left it in the pub, or a note. My phone number in my purse now! Road to hell paved w good intentions. All ok in the end.

Treefloof · 02/06/2019 15:23

I do wonder why people do this. Surely you find something, you hand it in to the police
The last thing I found was a iPhone locked, in the middle of a massive field. I was walking the dog on a huge long walk. By the time I got home it was late and I didnt want to trek to the police station to be probably turned away. So while I was walking along I put a pic on two local fb pages, by the time I was home the owner was identified, and about two hours later reunited.
I actually had no nasty messages but if I had, I would throw the phone away.

AhhhHereItGoes · 02/06/2019 15:27

I'd always be uncomfortable hanging it over to anyone other than the owner.

As unlikely as it is if I gave them to shopkeeper and they used it to get into the persons house, penny to a piece of shit I'd get the blame.

Like someone said no good deed goes unpunished. People expect those who do good things to continue Togo out of their way above and beyond.

Thank you for being a decent person, OP.

EleanorReally · 02/06/2019 15:40

lesson learnt, dont post on the local facebook pages op, simply read and digest.
you try and do a good deed!

Bluerussian · 02/06/2019 15:40

I would think handing in to a local shop is the way to go.

EleanorReally · 02/06/2019 15:41

there was an old lady missing on my facebook recently Shock
luckily someone had the sense to call the police who managed to find her address and take her home

Pgqio · 02/06/2019 15:46

My friend found a wallet at the station with £300 in it. She put a post on fb and someone recognised the guy and gave address etc. Handed it in later that evening to the guys dad who just took it off her with a "yeah he's always losing stuff" and shut the door! She never got a word of thanks from the guy either. Really makes you wonder why you bother.