I found a wallet

[tonightceilaimgoingtobe]

Tonight I found a wallet. Lots of cards, and some cash. I was delighted. But still proceeded to see a driving licence, clearly he has dropped the wallet outside his house. I knocked on the door, I ask if Raj lives there. She said yes, I said I found his wallet. She says she's on the phone to him, I see the name on the phone. She seems happy but no offer of a reward.

I go home, knowing I did the right thing. I have money in my bank account, I can pay tomorrow's bills.

Aibu for giving back the wallet?

People say I should have taken the cash.

What is wrong with you to even ask this!?

You’re questioning whether you should have been a dirty little thief?? Oh dear.

Its being compared due to your attitude! Youre the one over cooking this not the rest of us!

What the actual fuck???
Sorry, People have told you that you should of taken the cash???? And you agree?
These people are not nice people!
You were delighted you found someones wallet? And wanted a reward for giving it back.
That is so messed up!!!!

What strange entitled thinking

Who said you should’ve taken the cash? You took a minute or two out of your day to do what any reasonable person would- why do you need a reward?

Would you be happy if you dropped your purse and some chancer lifted the cash??

I would also have returned it. I once worked in a pub. One morning I found a wallet stuffed down the back of one of the armchairs. It had cash and cards inside. Another staff member wanted to keep the cash. I said no and put it in the safe. That same afternoon the new assistant manager started work and immediately asked if anyone had found a wallet she lost last night. Turned out she had been in the pub the night before when I was off. She turned out to be a bit of a weasel and we later discovered that she planted it there on purpose after everyone had left to test the staff and see how honest they were.

You were expecting to be welcomed like a hero with tears of gratitude, so when that didn't happen you felt a bit deflated. I sort of get it. But you weren't doing the 'right' thing, you did the 'normal' thing - just reframe it. If Raj wasn't behind the door but standing on his door step, you would have just handed it to him - it's really not a big deal.

Should you have stolen from your neighbour? NO

Weird that you were expecting a reward or for her to fall to her knees at your feet jn gratitude. I found a wallet quite recently. It had a driving licence and the address was on the street I found it on, so I popped it through the letterbox and got on with my day.

Why do you feel you need validation for doing the right thing, returning it to its owner and not being a thief? It's a weird world.

I wouldn’t expect a reward but a proper thank you would be nice

Boxing Day last year I found a dog and took her home and found her owner on Facebook. She was so grateful and later on came round with flowers! That was lovely.

Honesty is the best policy. How would you feel if you lost your wallet? I loathe stealing with a passion.

So someone else’s misfortune should be your fortune if you had kept the money?
it’s not yours, you don’t keep it and it’s stealing if you did. You did the right thing giving it all in

it’s not some magical gift from above by landing cash on the street in front of you.

"I know I did the right thing it's just that small percent of greed"

Greed?

For something to which you had no entitlement in the first place?

What you really mean is that small percent of dishonesty.

Were you expecting people reading this thread to say - yes, you should have kept (stolen) some or all of the cash, before you handed the wallet back to its owner?

I don't see any difference, morally, between pickpocketing a wallet or a purse directly from someone's back pocket or handbag and returning a dropped wallet having taken all or some of the cash from it.

Even if there was no address or name in the wallet, I would have expected you to have handed it in to the police intact.

What a crummy society we live in.

So what did you want from this thread, OP?

Praise for your honesty or validation of the fleeting thought that you should have helped yourself to a "reward"?

Or commiseration that the lady to whom you handed the wallet was too fazed or worried or preoccupied to think to thank you or reward you in some way?

Or to be told that your friends/family or associates do have dodgy morals? They certainly have that.

Why did you start this thread?

I think its the lack of a proper thank you that is annoying you which is totally normal. Ive found a fair few things and gone out of my way to reunite. One was a mobile phone - i called ‘mum’ in the phone contacts to be shouted and and grilled by ‘mum’ because apparently I hadn’t found it, I had stolen it. Boy apologised about his mum when he collected it. Another time I found a wallet with cards etc and rang all numbers in wallet to see if anyone knew the owner. Owner called back very happy - it had fallen from a taxi late at night. Her friend came to collect but rather than say thanks she grilled me, asked to be shown where exactly i had found it, went through the wallet and wanted to know why some money was missing. I felt instant regret as she made me feel like I had done something wrong. Owner of wallet called me back after receiving wallet to say thanks again and i did tell her i was upset at the questions from her friend. She apologised. Also found a big new ipad in a museum and sat with it for half an hour waiting for owner in case they returned- it was a very grateful and panicked teenager. Also found a mans briefcase full of important stuff. He was v grateful and tried to give money as thanks which I didn’t take. A few more too that received mixed responses!

Because the owner rang up to report the money missing so they were able to give it back?

That's a very strange way to start a new job!

I found a wallet on the train once late at night, had a driving license with address, about £300 and various cards in it, including a little memorial with a photo, so I drove to the persons house next morning to return it (about 15minute drive) nobody answered the door so I chapped a neighbour just to confirm the person lived there. It was an elderly couple who insisted I come in & they would phone 'Jack' who would be so grateful and want to thank me personally. Anyway we sat having tea & cake for about half an hour & I said I would leave the wallet with them. They asked me to leave my phone number incase 'Jack' wanted to contact me. Jack did contact me that night to tell me I was too late bringing his wallet back as he had already cancelled his cards which was 'a fucking pain'. So next time I'd just hand it into the police or train conductor. Point is- you can't do nice things in the hope of being rewarded.

I remember as a student having my missing purse returned to me in a night club. That's coming up for 40 years ago, and I still haven't forgotten the sick feeling of discovering that the money inside had been lifted. It's a horrible thing to do. Why do you think you should have done it? Returning it intact is the normal course of action.

I found a wallet stuffed with cash, cards and a condom 8 years out of date when I was a teenager. My friends and I found the condom thing quite amusing.
I was telling my friends dad all about it, I still had the wallet and we had been doing detective work, using the phone book to contact people of the same name. Anyway we found the man it belonged to (he was able to tell us a detail only the owner would know and he told us exactly how much cash it had in it) so my friends dad drove us to the man’s house later that day.
I had left the wallet in their hall until later on when her dad drove us to drop it off. We got there and my friends dad was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. I knocked on this man’s door and he gave me a tenner which was a massive amount to me at the time so my friend and I were made up. Anyway on the way back friend’s dad starts chuckling. He’d decided to replace the condom with an in date one 😂
Over 20 years later Im still mortified that man must have thought I was a right cheeky little sod.

Then the people telling you are dishonest. Be very careful around them.

Despite the fact english was not her first language (no relevance) why are you expecting to be rewarded for something a decent human would do.
Return something lost.

I think the OP was rather like a thread of fawners or a gofundme falling over themselves to say what an exemplary human being they are. I honestly can't think of any other reason why they'd be asking for clarification on if they did the right thing by not stealing, especially when they say themselves that there is money in their bank account.

A few years back, I handed in a large amount of money that I found in the local supermarket. The staff member took it and logged it in their book. When I went back a few days later to follow up, the page had been torn out. The staff member couldn’t explain what had happened, even though I still had the carbon copy. At that point it was pretty clear that someone had helped themselves to it, despite the staff member insisting that “this never happens.”

If I ever find money again, there’s not a cat in hell’s chance I’ll hand it in. It’ll be going straight on social media instead.