Finders Keepers?? AirPods

[UnlimitedCake]

DS (12) recently found some AirPods (don’t know if they are official) on a beach walk with DH and I. DH and I have now had a big fall out over what DS should do with turn. DH told DS they are his to keep and “quick, put them in your pocket before anyone sees!” I told him he should hand them in and that they are not his to keep. DH called me naive, a “nerd” a wimp etc for wanting to do that. I tried telling our son to imagine if he lost something valuable, he would want it back. DH said that’s not how the world works, anyone could come along and lie and claim them.

I tried again telling our son that the right thing to do is to hand in anything you find but I was then made out that I was “upsetting DS” and being “a misery”

We were meant to take DS out for a meal but the atmosphere was so awful that we came straight home. I ruined everything apparently 🙄

So AIBU?! I know I am not but apparently I am now the bad guy for ruining the evening. So what the hell do you do when one parent tries to teach right from wrong and the other just tramples all over it and fights you all the way?!

Tracking isn't that accurate either. I've found two pairs of AirPods on dog walks during the past year. On both occasions I took them home and plugged them in, hoping that the owners would then be able to track them. I also posted on every local FB group and on Next Door. Neither pair was ever claimed and no one ever turned up on my doorstep either. I still have both pairs in a drawer somewhere.

I found some on the grass outside my house, I thought they were my sons but not, the school kids walk past on their way to and from school so I handed them in and the receptionist said a young girl had been very upset asking if someone had handed some in so hopefully they were hers. However they were manky. There is not a chance as @Tessisme said I would be using second hand earphones. I’ve seen my sons and urgh.

Of course you should hand them in. But not because they may be tracked but because it's the right thing to do.

What values is your DH's position teaching your child?

Hopefully the owner has been over to collect them by now.

Dying to know if someone turned up at the door to claim them, and how DH reacted! Please please update us when that happens, OP!!

Morally thats a terrible lesson to be teaching a 12 year old. I would be very tempted to orchestrate a much loved item of your DS or even DHs to 'get lost' while out and then see the look on their face when you remind them its finders keepers. Its not so easy to deal with when you are on the other side of it.

I do hope the owner can track them down but for me, I genuinely couldnt be with someone that not only had lousy morals like this but would mock me for not being that way and then influenced our children.

I’m not sure why people seem to think the owner is going to track them down and turn up at the OP’s house.

If the DS is planning to keep them, as soon as he resets them to pair them with his phone they will no longer be able to be tracked by the owner.

I think you’re right if you find things in a shop etc. But on a beach who can they be handed in to?

I can see that my stolen iPhone is now in China, a few streets away from the border with Hong Kong, so pretty far.

Have you not bricked the phone?

An IPhone is different though in that it remains on the Apple ID unless the owner is able to sign out.

AirPods though are just headphones which are paired with the device. So if the finder actually does keep them, they will reset them, pair them with their own device, at which point they can no longer be tracked.

If they still had battery left, they will be easily tracked to either your address or next doors.

What a peach he is, teaching your ds to be a thief, and ruining your day 😞

If your husband has AirPods I'd be very tempted to throw them out of the window while I was driving down the motorway.

I always try and return anything I find because I would want someone to return my things.

I would especially do this in front of my child who I’m trying to teach to be a decent human being.

Your DH isn’t a great role model for his child.

Let me guess OP, he is the type who would have be absolutely furious and indignant if someone took something he lost? That it wouldn't be "finders keepers" in that case? I had an uncle like that. Was apoplectic with rage when someone broke into his car and stole his stereo...but would purchase stolen goods from the back of lorries and would have gleefully kept a lost wallet.
I'd be so turned off by his behaviour. I hope you are doing OK. YOU didn't ruin the day -the thief did. The audacity of him being annoyed at you because you didn't back up his shitty parenting.

We were burgled a few years ago. One of the things taken was DD's phone... the police were delighted - it hadn't been turned off and was still trackable. They got a search warrant, walked into this guys house and found evidence of about 20 recent burglaries and a trawl through his bank account and trips to various pawn brokers / cash convertors places uncovered a pile more. Their clear up rate had never been so good

Your DS needs with your help to make an effort to locate the owner. I bet he'd be devastated if he lost something of similar value.

As for your DH he needs to check his moral compass because there's something seriously wrong with it.

If your DS hands them in and the owner doesn't claim them then he will get them back. Why is your DH's moral compass so low? Does he think every dishonesty is acceptable if you don't get caught?

You can easily get replacement rubber ear bits for them. In fact the ordinals come with a few different pairs.

Yuk to second hand air pods that been in someone's else's ear

Your 'DH' has now let you know that he has no morals past getting caught to not.

You can't trust a word he says, being as he's a liar.

I wouldn't still be married to a man like this. Not being a thieving, lying scumbag is my line.

Are they actually Apple Airport? If so, they are trackable. If not Apple, then they may not be

Samsung ons are exactly the same - and traceable. Tracking isn't exclusive to Apple. There are other companies out there

Finders keepers is bollocks. It is theft by finding.

Quick update - unfortunately nobody has turned up at our door as much as I want them to! Thank you all for your comments - it’s reassuring that there are other decent human beings out there who would try to return possessions to their owner. According to DH I am a pushover, a doormat and naive for doing the right thing. Great parenting from DH! He takes the attitude that it “serves them right for being stupid enough to lose them in the first place” He, of course, would never be stupid enough to lose one of his possessions as he looks after his stuff 🙄

With DS’s iPods, tracking only shows the last time they were online when he dropped them at school. It was only when someone opened the case that the location updated and he was able to go and get them.