Do you keep it?
 

If you find you are given too much change or find some money on the ground?

Funny, I thought most people did. Or maybe that's just what I'd like to think. Anonymous poll. Am I right? Or naïve?

Mostly return it - sometimes I find that I was given too much change long after the fact. I'm not gonna get in the car and drive back just for a few dollars or change.

I'll take the always option - since thats the closest.

My rationale is to try to avoid the sin of "hypocrisy".

If it is OK for me to complain when/if I get short-changed by a cashier,
I have to return the extra change if the mistake goes the other way.

At least that's what we've told our kids and our G-kids...

I can't even remember the last time I got the wrong change back, either too much or not enough. I guess between using mostly debit card, and not often counting when using cash... actually I mostly just use cash at the honor system veggie stand. No change there at all.

Finding money on the ground is a pretty rare too, and I guess its either obvious where it came from, or it's mine. :)

Last thing I found on the ground was a cell phone, on a trail in french creek. Redialed the last number, asked them who's phone it was (their dad's) and to have them call my cell. Made arrangements to meet the next day since I was going to be in his area and gave it back. Dude tried to give me $5. As if that's all my karma is worth.:rolleyes:

Since the register tells them exactly what to give me, it's usually right. It's right so often, while I do watch them retrieving it from the drawer, I seldom ever really count it anymore, because it's got to be within a buck.

Hey Jinx, I've got a similar story that I believe is true.

Fishermen and hunters are always losing things.
I visit another forum that has a thread for Lost and Found.
One hunter posted that he lost his expensive hunting bow by leaning it against his car, and then driving off,
and it was gone when he returned to the spot.
People on the forum grumbled about the lack of honesty of anyone who would "steal" someone' bow like that.

A week or so later another fellow posted that a neighbor of his had put a sign in his front yard about finding a hunting bow.
One thing lead to another and the hunter got his bow back, and gave the neighbor a reward.

Long odds... but good feelings all around.

nice feel good story Lamp.

I will go far out of my way to return a lost item if I have any chance of figuring out whose it is. However, while I've never found random money on the street, I imagine it would usually be impossible to know who dropped it. If it were in a closed environment like an office building, I'd let the person at the front desk know that I'd found "some money" and I'd return it to the person who could accurately report how much they'd lost. But again, it's all hypothetical. Have all you people really found random money lying around? Who are all these irresponsible people dropping all their money?

I always use plastic, so I never get handed incorrect change. But I've had incorrect deposits into my bank account before, and I reported those (though I did also figure they'd eventually notice anyway.)

I return it. Had to wait to give back a five dollar over-change last week.

In Japan I found 2,000 yen on the floor in a subway station. Don't get excited, that's about $20. I handed it in via the station attendant, got it back 3 months later from the cops. The experience made it worthwhile, but it was more hassle than $20 was worth. Next time, I'd just leave it for someone who could read the paperwork.

Back in the 70's I went to my bank with a pocket full of $100 bills and asked for a $3000 cashier's check. The cashier was new and very nervous. Her manager came over, calmed her down, and talked her through it. It took a few minutes but everything went fine. She gave me the check and they both wished me a good day.

Since I kept standing there, they asked me if there was anything else. I held up the check and asked if they wanted payment for it. They had been so wrapped up in the process of making the check that they had forgotten to ask for my money. The manager thanked me with mixed relief and horror and accepted the money.

Was I tempted? You bet. I just figured that if I walked I'd come out on the stinky end of the stick, one way or another.

Tick

I found $120. on the A train about 20 years ago. It was in an envelope with no name on it. I felt pretty certain that its rightful owner would never get it back if I turned it in to a station master. (NYC mid 80s?)

In the grocery store I usually tip off the cashier if they give me too much change. I don't if it seems like it will become an "event" involving a manager or another cashier. Especially if I am in a hurry.

I found a credit card at a gas station once, looked up the name, called and spoke to him... then dropped it off at his office as it was nearby.

I hope you are tipping the full amount of the overage...
Some businesses have the cashier make up any shortages in their till.

I don't usually tip at grocery stores and places like Target. Last I heard it was illegal for businesses to make employees pay for shortages.

SN, I really hope you are right about it being illegal now.

I'm remembering the retail workplace from the 60's and 70's, when clerks had direct responsibilities for their cash drawers.
For example, clerks had to "count back" the change out loud so both they and the customer knew it was correct.

Now of course, clerks only read the total off the POS computer and hand the customer a fist full of change, and so neither knows if it's right or not. This is where I find the mistakes being made.

LL,
I just re read my own post and caught the tip reference you made, a pun perhaps? I missed it.

At a Howard Johnsons Restaurant, I was at the checkout, waiting to pay, when I noticed a wad of cash on the floor. It was just off the interstate, and I pictured someone getting 50 miles down the road and discovering it missing. I asked the cashier to put it aside in case someone came back for it. She didn't understand why I didn't just put it in my pocket and leave. I told her "because it's not mine." I don't think she grasped the concept.

I return it regardless. Because you could be on camera, you could make someone else's day miserable and karma's a bitch I say. ;)

I voted for keep it always. Even when they have you on camera. Even when presented with the cold facts.
Deny, Deny, Deny. Just keep shrieking "It's MINE!" thrash and continue shrieking.

At a certain point they'll just give in and let you keep it. You just need to figure out their price point.

The poll does not cover my kind of response: return excess change to the cashier, because there is a connection there, however brief. Amount would be irrelevant. The poor cashier does not want an overring.

But found money on the ground, I keep, if there is no plausible claimant there looking for it. But I'm not going to be solely opportunistic about it either... the restoring of a larger sum to whomever lost it should certainly be tried, I think. So maybe the amount does have its effect after all.

I've turned away a sawbuck for curing a bad case of hiccups in a restaurant once. Nice gesture, and I appreciated it, but I'd like to think I just said to the guy that he should offer the hiccup cure to the next poor fellow in need of it.

If I get given too much change, it kind of depends where I am at as to whether I let on. Most of the time, I do so before I have had a chance to think about it. There have been odd occasions when such carelessness on the assistant's part has coincided with me being ridiculously broke, in which case I haven't spoken up. Instead I have walked outside feeling a slightly guilty glee.

What I tend not to speak up on, is if they've tilled an item wrong. A few weeks ago I went shopping at TKMaxx and an item that should have been charged at around £45 was instead charged at £10. I didn't say anything about that :P On the other hand I have also had experience of being handed goods and the assistant not asked for the money (where there's been some to-ing and fro-ing with returns and so on) at which point I have offered the money :P

If I find money, well it depends where I find it, and whether or not there's any likelihood of the owner getting it back if I don't take it. A tenner on the street, I will pick up and then look around and see if I can spot anybody hurrying along looking at the floor, or searching through pockets for lost money. If nobody shows after a minute or so, I pocket it and go on my way. If I find it in a purse or wallet, it depends on if there is identification and how much money there is, along with where I have found it.

On the whole, anything substantial I would try and see returned to the owner. Any personal possession (like a purse or wallet) as opposed to just cash on the ground, I consider is likely to bring someone looking for it. If I;m on a country lane, I'll place the item on a low wall near where it was found in case the owner comes looking. If it's just outside a shop I'll take it inside. I'd only hand it in to the police if there are identifying items inside or a substantial sum of cash.

*shrugs*

If I find/receive money and I know who the rightful owner is, I give it back.
If I find money and I don't know who the owner is, and can't easily find out, I keep it without a second thought.