I’d give it back without hesitation. It would be pretty fucking shitty to pocket the savings of an elderly man, whether they are forgotten or not. Some posters here are saying they’d keep it but I’d like to think a bit of guilt would set in and they’d change their minds.
“Finders keepers” is not a legitimate argument once you graduate grade 2. Say you were to lose your wallet, or the diamond popped off your fiance’s engagement ring - if somebody finds it, are they now entitled to keep it now in your eyes?
That said, I’d have high hopes for a ballpark 10k reward out of it. I’d give it back regardless, but if the old guy kept it all I’d probably take a massive dump on his front porch.
[quote]PimpBot5000 wrote:
“Finders keepers” is not a legitimate argument once you graduate grade 2. Say you were to lose your wallet, or the diamond popped off your fiance’s engagement ring - if somebody finds it, are they now entitled to keep it now in your eyes?
[/quote]
my only problem with some of these arguments are that you people are saying what if YOU lost your wallet. I am alive and well if i lose something i want it back. this old man did not lose it, he died and left it, with no indications of whom he wanted to have it. it wasnt lost by any means so stop comparing it to losing your wallet, credit cards, diamond ring, completely different.
just reading all of these comments makes me want to keep it more and more. maybe i would give it back minus about 10k and if they didnt give a reward, i got one. if they did give a reward tell them you found some more and return the 10k i kept, unless they gave me less.
[quote]fighting_fires wrote:
my only problem with some of these arguments are that you people are saying what if YOU lost your wallet. I am alive and well if i lose something i want it back. this old man did not lose it, he died and left it, with no indications of whom he wanted to have it. it wasnt lost by any means so stop comparing it to losing your wallet, credit cards, diamond ring, completely different.
[/quote]
I’ve got to disagree with this. First, although the old codger didn’t indicate on the boxes who he’d like the recipient to be, I’m willing to bet he didn’t want the benefactor to be “some random guy who buys the house”. Maybe I’m wrong here…maybe he’s a kindly philanthropist who wanted to make somebody’s day (or year)…but I don’t think so, especially because they found savings bonds, stamps and other treasured memorabilia in there as well.
It sounds like this gentleman was a saver his whole life and I’m willing to bet he forgot the money due to gradually-declining cognitive abilities (aka: getting old). Losing something for this reason is no different in my mind than dropping your wallet or losing a ring.
I try not to be too judgmental on these boards (as I’m kind of messed-up myself), but if you’re the type that would keep something like this and never think twice, you’re an opportunistic piece of shit and the world would be a better place without your lot.
[quote]PimpBot5000 wrote:
I try not to be too judgmental on these boards (as I’m kind of messed-up myself), but if you’re the type that would keep something like this and never think twice, you’re an opportunistic piece of shit and the world would be a better place without your lot. [/quote]
I’m fairly opportunistic, but if I was in a similar situation and did choose to keep the money, I’m certain I’d be looking over my shoulder for the ghost of an old man.
it would make a good Twilight Zone episode:
Guy finds money
Guy spends it on a fast car
Guy gets increasingly paranoid about presence of an old man in his house
Guy is driving car fast and swerves to miss an old guy walking in the road
Guy drives car into tree and old man slowly fades into vapor
I’m fairly opportunistic, but if I was in a similar situation and did choose to keep the money, I’m certain I’d be looking over my shoulder for the ghost of an old man.
[/quote]
LOL! If I were the ghost of the old guy and somebody pocketed my money, I would absolutely haunt the fuck out of that person. The demon from “Insidious” would be terrified of me…that’s how unholy my wrath would be. I don’t know where I’d start, but I’d probably summon the help of my new ghost friend Randy Macho Man Savage to sodomize your ass with spectral slim-jims on a nightly basis…
I use to work for the City of Toronto during the summers while in college from 2005-2008. In my final summer, they kept transferring money into my bank account even after I had left. My original contract was to stay until December, but I had to leave early (to return to school) and notified my boss about this well in advance.
After two transfers, I notified them immediately and eventually returned the money. I’m sure if I hadn’t informed them, they would have never found out because: a) They are the government b) I was signed on until December and I’m pretty sure my supervisor must’ve never informed payroll and forgot about it.
Also I’m guessing the payments would have stopped automatically in December since that was the original anticipated contract termination date. So everything would have seemed normal on payroll’s end.
“It took at least three hours for the Ferrins to sort and count the new-found cash, all the while teaching a lesson of honesty to their two young sons, who wanted to keep “just one” of the bundles and kept trying to slip coins into their pockets.”
Like others, it would depend on where I was in my life. If I got through med school like I planned, I’d give it back, as I’d have enough of a salary that it wouldn’t haunt my dreams. Currently though, I’d keep it, granted, I’m in no position to buy a house as it is, so I wouldn’t even have a chance to get it.
It belongs to an old man who worked all his life to get this money and give it to is son? I am happy to give it back
Belongs to some shady rich asshole industrial exploiter of the masses? I keep it[/quote]
Honestly this might be what I would do too. Part of me would want to keep the money but depending who it came from I would feel guilty and the type of person it belonged to would sway my decision. If the type of person was unknown I would probably sit on the money for a while to see if they came back for it. If they really needed the money they would come back for it. If it was some rich guy who had enough money he simply lost track of this 45k then it’s probably better staying with me anyway.
Sitting on the money I would also leave in the attic, basically pretending I didn’t find it. If it belonged to drug dealers (previous owner for all i know) who came back looking for it then it would be in my best interest they got it back. If it was missing and they knew I took it and lied about it, bad things could happen.
[quote]fighting_fires wrote:
my only problem with some of these arguments are that you people are saying what if YOU lost your wallet. I am alive and well if i lose something i want it back. this old man did not lose it, he died and left it, with no indications of whom he wanted to have it. it wasnt lost by any means so stop comparing it to losing your wallet, credit cards, diamond ring, completely different.
[/quote]
I’ve got to disagree with this. First, although the old codger didn’t indicate on the boxes who he’d like the recipient to be, I’m willing to bet he didn’t want the benefactor to be “some random guy who buys the house”. Maybe I’m wrong here…maybe he’s a kindly philanthropist who wanted to make somebody’s day (or year)…but I don’t think so, especially because they found savings bonds, stamps and other treasured memorabilia in there as well.
It sounds like this gentleman was a saver his whole life and I’m willing to bet he forgot the money due to gradually-declining cognitive abilities (aka: getting old). Losing something for this reason is no different in my mind than dropping your wallet or losing a ring.
I try not to be too judgmental on these boards (as I’m kind of messed-up myself), but if you’re the type that would keep something like this and never think twice, you’re an opportunistic piece of shit and the world would be a better place without your lot. [/quote]
when you put it that way it makes more sense. i guess i didnt look at it like that. i still think thats something he would have notified his son about. im still not picking a side on what i would do unless it happens to me. id like to say id give it back but who knows.
[quote]Simon Adebisi wrote:
Lots of self righteous liars.[/quote]
Don’t call us liars to justify your opinions.
You see, if everyone was of the thinking that they’d return the money, then a large portion of those people would also offer up a reward if the roles were reversed and they were receiving the money.