Probably do the right thing. At a show a couple of years ago, I lost my wallet while crowd surfing, and I had money in it. Someone turned it in and didn't steal anything. Damn, that also reminds me of the Immolation show last weekend - I was a dollar short for my Immolation shirt, and some random dude heard me ask the seller if $19 was okay, and even though she said yes, that random dude gave me a dollar.

Metal heads are nice. I should be nicer

Written by Raiden on 14.10.2010 at 15:12

Written by whatsacow on 14.10.2010 at 09:48

Written by Raiden on 14.10.2010 at 07:30

In Australia I'm pretty sure it's even illegal to pick up 5c off the ground and not hand it in to police. It's just that the law wouldn't put that many man hours into tracking down people who'd done something like that haha. I actually had a discussion with my mother about this one day; would you hand in a $50 note? $100 note? etc I said I'd probably keep it under normal circumstances but we couldn't agree on where to draw the line. With both $100 and 5c being illegal to keep, do you not keep anything higher than $1? $2? Coins vs notes?

I actually found someone's wallet one day and it had her drivers license in it, so I handed it in to the police (it was on my walk-home-drunk-from-the-pub route, so I'm guessing that's why she dropped it). The police take your phone number so when the person comes to collect it they can ring you to say thanks. I never got a call from this lady however (how ungrateful )

Written by whatsacow on 14.10.2010 at 03:11

Or, alternatively, I'd find out who owned the wallet, and torment them by taking pictures of me and the wallet and sending it to them, holding it randsom until they done something epic, like buy a new wallet. Then I'd give them both back.

Haha that would be funny. Reminds me of that guy in my hometown who had his garden gnome held to random (3AW interview, newspaper article Was a slow news day really... lol)

Yeah wow that seemed to go on for ages here lol. Especially on Those stupid "7pm project" and "A Current Affairs" programs.

Haha yeah those shows couldn't get enough of it. The guy was on ABC local radio (on the North Central Victoria station for one) every day or two for at least a week so everyone could be updated on the situation at hand :

Yeah, it was times like those I wished we had someone like the chaser or the glass house back, someone who would just take the absolute piss out of it. Have like a "What have we learnt from current affairs" section or something lol.

Sorry to be boring but I'm a moral person. No question. Also having temporarily misplaced my wallet in the past I know what a panic it can be.

Written by whatsacow on 15.10.2010 at 00:37

Written by Raiden on 14.10.2010 at 15:12

Written by whatsacow on 14.10.2010 at 09:48

Written by Raiden on 14.10.2010 at 07:30

In Australia I'm pretty sure it's even illegal to pick up 5c off the ground and not hand it in to police. It's just that the law wouldn't put that many man hours into tracking down people who'd done something like that haha. I actually had a discussion with my mother about this one day; would you hand in a $50 note? $100 note? etc I said I'd probably keep it under normal circumstances but we couldn't agree on where to draw the line. With both $100 and 5c being illegal to keep, do you not keep anything higher than $1? $2? Coins vs notes?

I actually found someone's wallet one day and it had her drivers license in it, so I handed it in to the police (it was on my walk-home-drunk-from-the-pub route, so I'm guessing that's why she dropped it). The police take your phone number so when the person comes to collect it they can ring you to say thanks. I never got a call from this lady however (how ungrateful )

Written by whatsacow on 14.10.2010 at 03:11

Or, alternatively, I'd find out who owned the wallet, and torment them by taking pictures of me and the wallet and sending it to them, holding it randsom until they done something epic, like buy a new wallet. Then I'd give them both back.

Haha that would be funny. Reminds me of that guy in my hometown who had his garden gnome held to random (3AW interview, newspaper article Was a slow news day really... lol)

Yeah wow that seemed to go on for ages here lol. Especially on Those stupid "7pm project" and "A Current Affairs" programs.

Haha yeah those shows couldn't get enough of it. The guy was on ABC local radio (on the North Central Victoria station for one) every day or two for at least a week so everyone could be updated on the situation at hand :

Yeah, it was times like those I wished we had someone like the chaser or the glass house back, someone who would just take the absolute piss out of it. Have like a "What have we learnt from current affairs" section or something lol.

Ahh for sure! The Chaser does seem to pop up from time to time (like for election coverage haha) but I do miss The Glass House.

Written by Raiden on 15.10.2010 at 14:40

Written by whatsacow on 15.10.2010 at 00:37

Written by Raiden on 14.10.2010 at 15:12

Written by whatsacow on 14.10.2010 at 09:48

Written by Raiden on 14.10.2010 at 07:30

In Australia I'm pretty sure it's even illegal to pick up 5c off the ground and not hand it in to police. It's just that the law wouldn't put that many man hours into tracking down people who'd done something like that haha. I actually had a discussion with my mother about this one day; would you hand in a $50 note? $100 note? etc I said I'd probably keep it under normal circumstances but we couldn't agree on where to draw the line. With both $100 and 5c being illegal to keep, do you not keep anything higher than $1? $2? Coins vs notes?

I actually found someone's wallet one day and it had her drivers license in it, so I handed it in to the police (it was on my walk-home-drunk-from-the-pub route, so I'm guessing that's why she dropped it). The police take your phone number so when the person comes to collect it they can ring you to say thanks. I never got a call from this lady however (how ungrateful )

Written by whatsacow on 14.10.2010 at 03:11

Or, alternatively, I'd find out who owned the wallet, and torment them by taking pictures of me and the wallet and sending it to them, holding it randsom until they done something epic, like buy a new wallet. Then I'd give them both back.

Haha that would be funny. Reminds me of that guy in my hometown who had his garden gnome held to random (3AW interview, newspaper article Was a slow news day really... lol)

Yeah wow that seemed to go on for ages here lol. Especially on Those stupid "7pm project" and "A Current Affairs" programs.

Haha yeah those shows couldn't get enough of it. The guy was on ABC local radio (on the North Central Victoria station for one) every day or two for at least a week so everyone could be updated on the situation at hand :

Yeah, it was times like those I wished we had someone like the chaser or the glass house back, someone who would just take the absolute piss out of it. Have like a "What have we learnt from current affairs" section or something lol.

Ahh for sure! The Chaser does seem to pop up from time to time (like for election coverage haha) but I do miss The Glass House.

Yeah. Dave's gpne to shit, and jut isnt funny anymore. wil's still good, and the other girl (cant remember her name) pops up from time to time. But i doubt the chaser will do much else, i think stunt comedies a bit stale nowadays.

Few weeks ago in a store I saw a girl who dropped her money. The girl was minding her own business and would probably have only later realized it. And it would have been very easy for me to go there, take the money and walk away just as nothing had happened. But I think it was self-explanatory for me to go there and give the money back to her, even though there wasn't much of it.

If I drop my wallet I sure as hell don't expect to have it returned to me with any cash in it. I'd probably keep the cash if I thought I could get away with it. As for the wallet itself, I might return it. Depends on if i feel like bothering to do so or not.

People should be more careful.

I would return both the wallet and the money, there's no question about that.

I don't know when exactly it became acceptable in some people's minds to steal money from other people, but to me it's never been ok. It doesn't matter whether it's 5 cents or 500 ?, it's just not the right thing to do.

If I lost my wallet I'd want to get it back in the same condition it was when I lost it.

I'd try to get in touch with the owner myself (thru ID or stuff), because the cops are definitly going to keep the money for themselves.

Written by Zombie on 14.10.2010 at 14:11

Written by Irritable Ted on 12.10.2010 at 21:13

I've just lost some respect for mankind with some of the responses on this forum.

Taking money is theft!

I would always hand it in, I couldn't sleep at night knowing that I had stolen somebody elses hard earned cash. It doesn't matter if it is a few £ or £1000. The right thing to do is hand the whole thing in.

What if it was some old women's only money for food or heating, how would you feel then?

Agreed !
Although in the last line when u say 'money for heating' its funny to us.. as 'heating' is the least of our worries here in Egypt lol
i walk around wearing a sleeveless t-shirt in december

Agreed X3

Eventually I would return the money because of the moral ambiguity of the situation...

I would put more money in the wallet and report it to the police.

Written by DreamWeaver on 18.11.2010 at 05:51

I would put more money in the wallet and report it to the police.

Too funny beyond... I know what you would do.

I will never profess to be a 'good samaritan' or anything, so I would drop my cigarettes on the floor [if the street is busy] act as if the wallet was part of what I dropped and walk away.

It's not a crime

Definitely return the wallet with the money. I dont think I would report it to the police though. Would just find the ID of the person (most likely to be in the wallet in this country), find out the address and mail it. I dont trust the cops here. Corrupted bastards.

The only money I would take from the wallet would be to pay the mailing cost.

Written by Himann on 19.11.2010 at 12:22

I dont trust the cops here. Corrupted bastards.

you should really change the country in your profile to where you're at now, it's confusing as hell to see someone from Norway (probably one of the least corrupt countries in the world) to say that

Well, agree with Himann, may be it's possible to find the wallet's owner. but if i gave it to policeman, he'll take the money and have a party in the nearest pub

Written by Valentin B on 19.11.2010 at 23:11

Written by Himann on 19.11.2010 at 12:22

I dont trust the cops here. Corrupted bastards.

you should really change the country in your profile to where you're at now, it's confusing as hell to see someone from Norway (probably one of the least corrupt countries in the world) to say that

Haha so sorry man. I see its the second time its happened to you now. Well I have to admit, I'm not very trusting of Norwegian cops either lol.

I'd try to contact the person myself - no authorities - Kind of a "Pay it Forward" moment.

I would definitely return the wallet to it's rightful owner.

I have actually tried this, where I found a wallet - no money in it, but lots of cards including driver's license, health insurance card, identification of all sorts, and a card (like a entrance-card or something) from the owners work. Also various credit cards.

I phoned the person, who has so relieved it was found, and told him where to meet. It's a very good feeling you get when you make a person so happy. ^^

Everyone's such good people here :p

And here I thought the world was filled with nothing but people who just thought they were good people; Brings a tear to one's eye :p

Dont cry. Its not tr00 or kvlt!!

I've been in situations like these before; once I got a wrong currency exchange but didn't noticed it for a few hours until I started to count my money; I found out that I got $100.00 more in return, and (believe or not) my first thought was "I gotta give it back"; maybe because I thought that the lady who gave me the wrong change was eventually gonna have to pay for it, and I, as a fellow worker, know how hard it is to earn the money.
I guess the response will vary from person to person and will depend from your actual situation at the moment you find a stranger's money: it's not the same if you aren't in a monetary urgency at the moment than if you don't have a penny in your pocket and you're very hungry... sometimes the necesity is way bigger than the responsability. :

Written by Kasper on 27.11.2010 at 14:35

I would definitely return the wallet to it's rightful owner.

I have actually tried this, where I found a wallet - no money in it, but lots of cards including driver's license, health insurance card, identification of all sorts, and a card (like a entrance-card or something) from the owners work. Also various credit cards.

I phoned the person, who has so relieved it was found, and told him where to meet. It's a very good feeling you get when you make a person so happy. ^^

well, there is no option in that case either. using a stolen credit card is as immoral as using money that doesn't belong to you, and also can get you serious jail time, not to mention most vendors ask your pin code and/or ID.

I have to say i agree with the post right above this one, necessity does affect how you think about this stuff. now i have a job and i'm not craving to find a wallet lying on the street and take all the money in it. back then though i was very much strapped for cash and in a very bad place financially, so i would have done that.

anyway the way i see it now, the problem isn't the money, but whether or not the wallet/bag/etc. can be attributed to a certain person. if there is no ID in it, then any asshole can claim it's theirs(and yes, i do realize the irony ), so it's just better to stick with the money.

..report both money & wallet. rather starve than take someone's money.

Take the money and leave the wallet where I found it. Yeah, I said it.

I'm amazed how much my view has changed on this subject in just 11 months since i wrote the opening post and i'm almost ashamed of it, really. i guess everyone has their darker sides. now i have a much firmer (and better) stand: if there is money with no ID attached, i will take it. if there is money with an ID, i will return it personally or via mail.

No option to keep the wallet and give back everything else (money, ID, cards)?
What if there's just a bill or two, but the thing is genuine motherpunching alligator?
I'd mudwrestle an elephant for a genuine motherpunching alligator wallet.

Just money, no one around, take it.
If I se a person dropping it with no id, I'll still run like a hellhound after them to give it back.
No one around but with an ID, I'll keep it and try to find the person.

Depending on what's in there I'd take it. If there's just money in it and nothing else or stuff I'd find easy to replace (like a library card or whatever), I would take it. If there's money and such things as a drivers license I would leave it to the police. Although it also depends just on how much money there is. If there's a good number in there I probably would take the cash and leave the wallet where I found it.