Honesty when nobody is near

OK, here's some fun thinking for everyone.

You have entered a store which has self checkout. You have selected your purchases and are checking them out when you notice that in the change tray (Stupidly located below eyesight) has a thick stack of $20's in it. Obviously more then 1 shopper has forgotten their change and/or cashback.

Now the attendant is not there. In fact, the area except for you, is pretty deserted.

What do you do?

Genenco i have had this happen more then once, i always turn it in or call an attendent, yes they can see you take that money and will get you the next time you are in IF they want to, so if you do take it don't ever go back.. you will always be labeled as the person who took the money even if they didn't do anything about it, you won't know it they will just look at you, treat you like nothing happened.. alot of these places will print your picture and paste in on the walls in the back..a corner in the back of the store labeled.. "there are thieves amongst us" i worked for grocery stores before.

I myself before this, before i knew had always returned money, because i knew who's it was.. UNLESS it was on the floor in some location or blowing in the wind then fate or destiny says.. "hey you, take this and keep stepping" because we have no idea who's it is, can't wave it in the air and say.. Hey who does this 20 belong to, i just found it on the ground, cuz we know 10 to 100 people could claim it lol..

Also, it would be the guilt of knowing its wrong to take something that wasn't mine, that was a mistake. I couldn't handle it, i'd think now that i took that someone or something is gonna take from me.. better living poorer and guilt free.. then richer and having to watch your back or think karma gonna get you.

In this situation I have a devil sitting on one shoulder and an angel on the other. I would like to be able to say that I would turn the money in for the right reasons but the reason for me would be fear of karma. Does that make the choice sinful and just as bad as taking the money? I suppose fear of payback doesn't exactly make this a selfless act.

I'll do what's right and leave feeling good
whatever seems right at the time. 

But...I once kept $100 the bank gave me for some reason-above the withdrawal I was supposed to get.  Went and bought groceries and much needed household supplies.
Went into the hospital the next day.

karma...what a feeling...

in this economy everyone is feeling the sqeeze on thier wallets.
but no matter how bad i needed the money, I would never take it.
Karma has a way of biting you in the butt, and it will probably cost you more than you gained.

gl all
imakin1

What makes anyone think that the person this money belongs to would ever get it back anyway? Some people have mentioned that they may have known who the money belonged to somehow and would have turned it in or called an attendand for this reason. But do you really think that it would then find its' way back to the rightful owner?

I'm betting that it would just go right back into the stores' economy as a slight surplus, or more likely would just go right into the pocket of whomever was notified of its' existence. Unless it had only been sitting there for a very short time and the person that left it could be identified w/some degree of certainty there would probably not be much point to the person being notified of trying to "do the right thing" anyway. Especially if this were the result of an anonymous cash transaction, which it more than likely would have been. This sounds a lot like money blowing in the wind to me; anyone can claim it, and they probably will.

This doesn't mean that I would necessarily be the claimant.  But I would be more concerned about the possibility of cameras or possible set-ups than taking the supposed moral/ethical high road. If I were pretty darn certain that big brother wasn't watching, wasn't paying attention or just didn't care, I'd probably just pocket that little bonus as if it were my own and keep right on steppin' out the door without so much as a glance over my shoulder. The possibility of some kind of anonymous "guilt trip" poster like you described imagin, posted up somewhere in the store for all to see, would also dissuade me. But I've never heard of or encountered these at any place I've worked. Not that I don't believe you though. If you can vouch for their existence, that's just one more reason to second guess or deny the initial temptation.

If I had been the unfortunate fool in this situation though (and I'm sure I have been), the last thing I would expect would be a phone call from a store manager a few days later saying "hey brad, you remember all that cash you left sitting in the registers payout the other day? Well, we've got it right here waiting for you. Boy, you sure were hard to track down!"

Yeah, I wouldn't be sitting around waiting for that phone call.

ps: Just took a look at that poll. Boy, we sure do have a lot of really honest degenerate gamblers around here! 

We have one store with self check out and the video suveillance is incredible. 
So, after I turned in the money, they would try to locate the person who left it there, but looking at the cameras.  Perhaps, they wouldn't figure it out.  Oh well.

Even without the cameras, I would turn the money in.  I don't care what someone else's concience does, but mine doesn't allow me to take it.

Just me.

I was walking through a casino last year, not doing great but holding my own.  On the floor was a $100 bill.  I stopped, looked around for at least a minute, and noone was looking for it, noone was searching their pockets or wallets, or walking back quickly in a panic.  So, I quickly scooped it up and stuck it in my pocket.  I felt like a thief even though I didn't technically do anything wrong.  I also didn't win a cent after that.  I don't know what I would do differently if it happened again, I mean this is a casino.  But I may not even pick it up next time at all.

I will say this too, Here in Vegas, if you find money in the machines or credits and take them they can have you arrested, they can have you sited for trespassing, they can ban you from ever coming into their casino, or they can throw you out, or determine you are a tourist and do nothing, if money is left in the machines it is their money and you are taking it, they will call it stealing, this i learned my experience working i casinos, it's up to them what they want to do.. BUT if you do find it on the floor.. it is yours, as long as it's not in the machines or coins drops or buckets.

That's what I meant when I said:
I'll do what's right and leave feeling good
whatever seems right at the time. 

If it doesn't feel right-like some old lady or someone with a bunch of kids was ahead of me in line, I wouldn't do it.  If I saw someone rushing back in looking for or asking about their money, I wouldn't do it, or if I already had, I'd find out if they were in the line I had been in and give it back.

But if there wasn't anyone but me there, I'd thank God for the "windfall" just as if I found it outside somewhere on the ground blowing in the wind.  I would probably feel a little bad about it but would rationalize it in my head.  Maybe someone left it there on purpose for someone who might need it.  Not likely, but that would be cool...

I'd just be afraid of two things: how ashamed I'd be if I did that and got caught on the shop's surveillance camera, and what a bad karma that'd bring upon me. Generally, I'm too empathic to take anything that someone else may depend on. Hell, I found a $20 bill on a bus station a couple of years ago (and in my country at that time this was not a sum to just walk by), and I started turning around to see if I can find a person who lost them. I figured they may need the money more than I do.

i would turn it in.I have done it before with a wallet i found when my oldest son and i was doing our fitness walk i have to always remember that in everything i do i have a pair of small eyes watching.i like lips would be scared to keep it at a store for fear of the camaras catching me im a wuss lol but a jail free one lol

The other day I had two big items in my cart at Walmart and two small ones.  I realized when we got out to the car we hadn't paid for them (a box of crayons and a notebook).  The items in total were 35 cents plus tax but we still wouldn't have felt right so my fiancé walked them back up to the front door and turned them in.

It may be selfish why we do these things which is because  you feel good about yourself for doing the right thing. 

My daughter has a bad habit of accidentally on purpose getting by with not paying for something at the grocery store.  She doesn't pocket the stuff or stash and dasb, just kinda forgets to take an item out of the basket or something like that.  Sometimes she gets away with it, others she pretends innocence.  She gets some evil satisfaction from this, and knows I don't like it, but I guess she figures if the cashier isn't doing her job right, then it's okay and on the cashier.  She kinda even does this to me when she takes me shopping.  She'll have one of her items somehow get into my bunch, for example.  And she's always getting little presents for her daughter (Abbey, 4) to carry around the store and then kinda somehow I end up having to buy it.  I've smartened up a bit on that.  If I have a few extra dollars I won't say anything.  If I am not sure how much I have I'll ask if I have to pay for it (which I'd gladly do if I had the cash).  I've even started telling Abbey I can't buy her that today-I don't have enough money.  This works pretty well but sometimes leads to a situation where I don't have enough for a particular thing but I might have enough for something else so my daughter goes and tries to get Abbey something cheaper.

Last time at the store this happened, and we did pick out a cool doctor's kit for Abbey that was 1/2 the price of the doll she wanted.  I had glanced at the price only long enough to see it was cheaper and I could afford it.  At the checkout counter, the item "couldn't be found" so the girl asked Christel how much it was.  She said a price that seemed low, and I knew it wasn't exactly what I remembered, but she coulda been right.  I told the cashier I would go find out.  Sure enough, Christel told her a price about $1.50 lower than it really was.  The cashier would have believed her (it's a small town-trusting...).  I went back and said it was $3.99.  Christel gave me this look like "wtf are you doing we coulda got it for cheaper" and said "really?  $3.99?  I don't know...." and I said no, that's fine, we'll still take it.

I always try to live by the Golden Rule,which is not, by the way, "Do unto others before they do unto you". 

If I had left my money in the change drawer, and say, an hour had gone by, I might call the store to see if anyone turned it in.  I wouldn't be mad if it hadn't, but probably a bit upset I didn't pay attention to what I should have at the store.  Might even write a letter to the store telling them that they need to make it more obvious to people to get their change and from where.  I'd consider whoever got it, well, it was their lucky day.  If I had left it in the change slot and immediately noticed it, went back in, and saw the person who had been behind me grab it, I would have confronted them about it and tried to get it back.

I can't and won't take the money...not just because it is not an honest thing to do or just don't feel right...it's because I have heard and seen so many cases of Karmic justices coming back in most horrific ways... Karma is something many of us believe in...I grew up constantly hearing that Karma will hunt you down if you do and don't.............
What's more, if bad Karma don't fall into you, it will eventually hunt your children and grandchildren...

Rings, wallets, necklaces, keys. items like these.. of course we will turn them in we know they belong to someone, or someone searching frantically for money they dropped.. this is no doubt id'able. It laying in a machine such as a store, im going to alert the clerk.

You can best beleive i will never ask another security guard lol, like i said it was fate, luck came my way. I do know on or around the machines it is theirs, but being in casinos and working in them, it being on the ground anyone can claim it, but they can do whatever they want. Policy would be when you turn in items, if they are not claimed within 30 days it is yours, that includes ANYTHING found. They will contact you.

I've been in one of those "interogation" rooms it's no fun, though it was a mistake (i think i told the story somewhere on here) i did nothing wrong, it was a scarey experience.

I guess what i was getting out of it, if it were a penny, dime, quarter, maybe even a dollar on the floor, would the same fuss be made over it?
It's money..