Honesty. Does Karma exist?!!
AvinAGiraffe
Posts: 481 Forum Member
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I went to the bank today as I wanted to pay in some cash. I was directed to use the new all-singing, all-dancing paying-in machines. For some reason I couldn't get the machine to register the coins I was trying to pay in (it was only about £1 in 1ps, 2ps and 5ps - just the change that was rattling round my purse).
I pressed the button for assistance and when the guy came over he had a look at the machine and then said "yeah, it won't work as you've put too much cash in". When I looked there was probably a good £60 worth of £1 coins and 50p coins in the coin return section. First thing out of my mouth was "ooh that's not mine!" The guy scooped it all out and took it away and went behind the scenes to try and get the machine working again while I waited with my piddly £1 in change. When he came back he'd obviously fixed it because a load more coins dropped down. Probably about £20 worth, with a few of my pennies and 5ps mixed with it. The guy told me he wasn't able to tell which was my money, so I just took out the 1ps and 5ps. He told me that they wouldn't be able to find out who'd left the money! Apparently, if unclaimed, it will sit in a holding account and would "probably" eventually go to charity.
Was I a fool for being honest?! I could really have done with that money and actually he would've been none the wiser I'd laid claim to it. Could never have done that though. Will my honesty bring about some good karma and land a hefty sum of cash into my lap?!!
What would you have done?
I pressed the button for assistance and when the guy came over he had a look at the machine and then said "yeah, it won't work as you've put too much cash in". When I looked there was probably a good £60 worth of £1 coins and 50p coins in the coin return section. First thing out of my mouth was "ooh that's not mine!" The guy scooped it all out and took it away and went behind the scenes to try and get the machine working again while I waited with my piddly £1 in change. When he came back he'd obviously fixed it because a load more coins dropped down. Probably about £20 worth, with a few of my pennies and 5ps mixed with it. The guy told me he wasn't able to tell which was my money, so I just took out the 1ps and 5ps. He told me that they wouldn't be able to find out who'd left the money! Apparently, if unclaimed, it will sit in a holding account and would "probably" eventually go to charity.
Was I a fool for being honest?! I could really have done with that money and actually he would've been none the wiser I'd laid claim to it. Could never have done that though. Will my honesty bring about some good karma and land a hefty sum of cash into my lap?!!
What would you have done?
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Comments
But to answer your thread title - I really don't like the idea of karma. I know it's nice to think that bad things will happen to bad people - but it also implies that when bad things happen to good people, they must have done something to deserve it.
That's a very good point. I hadn't thought of that.
It would be nice to believe that if you're a "good" person then good things will happen to you!
Yeah, probably best not to believe everything you see on fakebook, eh?
Believe me I'm not one of those people! I just feel like I always try and do the right thing and I'm starting to wonder if shady underhand little devils do better out of life.
If you're nice to people they are more likely to be nice back but that's as far as karma goes tbh
Yep. This.
The way I always think about it is 'what would anybody else do if this was my money?'
Answer: they'd probably just take it.
Fiver in the street is a different matter though
Have to echo this as i'd feel the same and take the money. "Karma" wouldn't be an issue as there's no such thing IMO.
If it did there would be an awful lot of dead functioning psychopaths in this world.
Karma as a reward-and-punishment system doesn't make sense, anyway. How do you calculate karma if you killed a person who's been strangling another person whom you were trying to save? Taking a life is 'bad karma', but saving a life is 'good karma' so how does that work in this case?
It'll be on cctv, they know the amount so they just need to hold it and wait for someone to come back in and say the money wasn't paid into their account.
If the people in the bank look at the record of deposits using the machine they'll know when the person used it and at what time so now they just need to look at the cctv and identify them.
I suppose the thread should have really been more about doing the right thing. Is there any point? And I find myself wondering whether the only thing that stopped me claiming the money as my own was the fear of being found out. And that's not exactly selfless! Perhaps I'd be a happier, richer person if I just looked out for number one a bit more.
As for Karma I really hope it's true for many people I have come across.:D
Some of the bastards I have known would be dead!
I don't think that's the case at all, and 'being robbed' isn't the same as losing/forgetting money.
If I lost £40 in cash and never found it I'd blame nobody but myself for being so stupid.
I would expect whoever found it to most likely keep it, therefore I'd do the same.
While that's probably true I find it sad that we'd expect others to be dishonest.
That fact shouldn't stop anyone from being honest.
(BTW, I once found 70 quid on the floor and kept it, so I'm not trying to paint myself all saintly here).
The universe does not have a sense of justice.
Try telling that to capitalism.
Our whole economy and way of living is driven by personal greed and wealth acquisition.
When legitimate businesses and politics are clearly run in very dishonest ways it shouldn't be a suprise.
Ask yourself what you think 'the system' would do with your cash if it found it. Would it make every effort to return it to you? Or would it be pocketed by the government/bank/company concerned?
Why would anyone else's dishonesty justify me being dishonest? There are a whole lot of crimes that others commit. I don't intend to follow suit.
Then congratulations on your concrete integrity I guess.
I just think it means you will be more likely to be more 'disadvantaged' in life as others will take advantage and you wont.