Yes id always try to reunite with the owner, stealing just feels wrong and id hate for it to happen to me, plus more importantly who wants a 2nd hand item?? If i found a phone in taxi bus or newsagent id probaly try and reunite the phone with the owner myself as i wouldnt really trust them to hand it in
If it was in a retail shop id give it to a sales assistant, someone behind the till
If i found a credit card id cut it in half cos they cant use it anyway
I dont know what id do if i found a purse, if i couldnt find an address maybe find them on facebook?? Or take it into a bank?
Id consider myself lucky the amount of times iv left my iphone in restaurants on seats, on the floor under the chair in cinemas and lecture halls, in the changing rooms when iv been trying stuff on, on the till counter when iv been paying for stuff, iv even thrown it in a bin accidentaly, I would say iv probaly lost my phone about 30 times and iv always managed to be reunited with it :)
i always hand it in to the police stuff like phones/wallets etc as if they cant find the owner then it becomes yours in theory if not claimed (more than likely gets used as a cheap xmas pressy for some coppers kid)
I always hand stuff in. My conscience would play havoc if I kept something that wasn't rightfully mine.
My brother once found a purse in the doorway to a newsagents.
It obviously belonged to an old lady judging by the pension book (this was a good few years back) and the meagre amount of money in it. Luckily it had an address, so he drove to the address later that day and handed it to her.
Right enough it was an old girl who didn't even know she had dropped it. Unknown to her my brother stuck £20 in the purse - he's one of life's big softies.
I'm sure the same people who would keep it for themselves would never dream of stealing from a mate or shoplifting from a high street store.
It's no different.
True enough, but stealing from a shop could have repercussions if they're caught. The only repercussion of keeping something they find is moral. Morals seem to be thin on the ground with people who keep something that they find.
True enough, but stealing from a shop could have repercussions if they're caught. The only repercussion of keeping something they find is moral. Morals seem to be thin on the ground with people who keep something that they find.
Sadly, I think you've hit the nail on the head. A lot of people stick to the law for fear of getting caught as opposed to the reason the law exists in the first place. Like drink driving. How many times do you hear people say they won't have another drink because they don't want to lose their licence, as opposed to they don't want another drink because they don't want to cause an accident.
About 12-15 years ago Readers Digest did an experiment where they went to different countries and left a wallet with money in easy to find places. The scenario was always the same, the wallet had clear and easy identity information. They recorded the return rates as well as some observations (ie watching people and what they did on discovering the wallet). Some wallets were returned intact, others returned without the money, and of course, some never came back. Where possible, RD would speak to the returners (ie if they called in) to find out why they did it.
I do remember the top countries for honesty were Scandinavian. The next group (but still the top ten if I remember correctly) were countries that were on the poor end and rather surprising (ie Ecuador - not saying this one was there, just using it as an example). The US scored higher by quite a few than the UK. In fact, was interesting in that from the observations in the UK, many of the people who were seen picking up the wallet were visually well to do (ie one drove off in a Mercedes after picking up the wallet in a phone box). I think what stood out is the poorer countries that ranked higher than the US, the UK and some other western ones, who were in the middle of the scale. People from the 'honest' poor countries said the same thing often - that they knew how hard and long one would have to work to earn that much (it was $50 equivalent in each currency) so they didn't feel right taking it away from someone else.
This article fascinated me to no end, it's why I remember so much about it. A few years ago RD did a follow up (seem to think it was a ten years later thing) and the results were very different. I now think they do it more often but using cell / mobile phones. I do know in the ten year study the US and the UK were closer together, maybe 1-2 points apart.
I once had £50 quid in a birthday card dropped through my letter box. The address on it was completely wrong and appeared to be a mixture of 3 different places. Anyway, the sender had put a return address on it so i posted it back suggesting they check the address !!!
I left a pair of wellington boots in a carrier bag on the luggage rack (patterned, not yet much used) when dashing to make a connection from the first train to the next train at Manchester Piccadily.
Took me a while to realise they were missing cos I had loads of luggage with me anyway, but rang Transpenine's lost items number, they took all my details/description of item and promised to contact me again if found. Never did, so obviously somebody fancied them - they did look pretty new, not exactly caked in mud so I guess it's understandable.
Just the other month my father lost his wallet near the local Sainbury's. He searched high and low for it but couldn't find it anywhere! A week later a guy who lived in the village knocked on our day and handed in the drenched-out wallet, he had found it while on his way to the shop. Everything was there apart from some cash. It is most likely someone found the wallet soon after it was dropped, took the cash, and then threw it to one side, hence why it was so soggy and smelly.
My son left his A'Level DT coursework on the bus on the final day for handing it in!:eek:
We had a major panic as the office said they couldn't do anything until all the buses came in at the end of the day, by which time it would have been too late :rolleyes:
I was in work and couldn't leave so I told him to go and hang around the bus station and try and find the driver. He was incredibly lucky as he spotted the driver, who checked the bus and found it!
I can understand someone leaving a small bag on a bus but this was an A1 folder, hard to miss and very important!
I always hand stuff in. My conscience would play havoc if I kept something that wasn't rightfully mine.
My brother once found a purse in the doorway to a newsagents.
It obviously belonged to an old lady judging by the pension book (this was a good few years back) and the meagre amount of money in it. Luckily it had an address, so he drove to the address later that day and handed it to her.
Right enough it was an old girl who didn't even know she had dropped it. Unknown to her my brother stuck £20 in the purse - he's one of life's big softies.
Awww that was so kind of your brother.
I would always return anything I found but I'm not nice enough to do that!
I once lost my wallet on a bus and the driver of the bus phoned me up around 11pm to tell me he'd handed it in at lost and found, I thought that was really nice of him.
I always hand stuff in. My conscience would play havoc if I kept something that wasn't rightfully mine.
My brother once found a purse in the doorway to a newsagents.
It obviously belonged to an old lady judging by the pension book (this was a good few years back) and the meagre amount of money in it. Luckily it had an address, so he drove to the address later that day and handed it to her.
Right enough it was an old girl who didn't even know she had dropped it. Unknown to her my brother stuck £20 in the purse - he's one of life's big softies.
That was really kind of him.
I would hand in anything I found.
My conscience wouldn't let me do anything else.
I would definitely hand something in if I found it.
I would hate to loose something and have the thought of never getting it back.
I once found a wallet while out shopping, it had no money but had credit cards and a Bolton Wanderers Season ticket. I brought it home, looked at the name on his student card and found him on Facebook. I couldn't message him so I went on his friends list and found an older man with the same surname, his profile was public so I found his number and rang him. It was his dad. He said he would come to collect it and reward me.
He came that evening, tuck his wallet and went. No thank you, no nothing.
After a night out last year my cousin, one of her friends and myself decided to get a taxi, but her friend left her purse in the taxi, which included her ID and money. The next day me and my cousin were walking down the street and the taxi driver - out of nowhere - pulled over and gave us her friend's purse! I still to this day am surprised that not only was he honest enough to return it, but coincidentally drove past us the following day and actually managed to recognise us!
So, if the angry, inconvenienced owner of an ipad you've co-opted for yourself were to track you down, do you think he would be justified in teaching you a lesson about taking things that don't belong to you with a punch in the face?
Ok, i'm back
If the owner of the iPad did subsequently track me down to my home, I would simply hand it back telling him (or her) that i'd waited for them to find me for that reason, rather than handing it in.
But I would probably leave it switched off for a period of time I imagine.
Are you going to the Police station to see if anyone has handed in your moral compass?
My moral compass has been defective for many years i'm afraid. Selective morals is, as I said, a fair statement. It's not something I purposely set out to do, or to become, it's just happened that way.
The level of detachment I can reach does concern me slightly from time to time, but then I've tried talking to my GP about it and she doesn't want to know.
I wouldn't purposely go out and steal something because I know it's against the law and it's wrong. But if I found something then I would probably keep it 90% of the time.
Definite future husband material there eh ladies ? :rolleyes:
Comments
Thanks for the warning!
Hear that everyone? Hold on to your iphones!
If it was in a retail shop id give it to a sales assistant, someone behind the till
If i found a credit card id cut it in half cos they cant use it anyway
I dont know what id do if i found a purse, if i couldnt find an address maybe find them on facebook?? Or take it into a bank?
Id consider myself lucky the amount of times iv left my iphone in restaurants on seats, on the floor under the chair in cinemas and lecture halls, in the changing rooms when iv been trying stuff on, on the till counter when iv been paying for stuff, iv even thrown it in a bin accidentaly, I would say iv probaly lost my phone about 30 times and iv always managed to be reunited with it
My brother once found a purse in the doorway to a newsagents.
It obviously belonged to an old lady judging by the pension book (this was a good few years back) and the meagre amount of money in it. Luckily it had an address, so he drove to the address later that day and handed it to her.
Right enough it was an old girl who didn't even know she had dropped it. Unknown to her my brother stuck £20 in the purse - he's one of life's big softies.
It's no different.
True enough, but stealing from a shop could have repercussions if they're caught. The only repercussion of keeping something they find is moral. Morals seem to be thin on the ground with people who keep something that they find.
Make sure you've got a valid train ticket! And don't lose any possesions...
Sadly, I think you've hit the nail on the head. A lot of people stick to the law for fear of getting caught as opposed to the reason the law exists in the first place. Like drink driving. How many times do you hear people say they won't have another drink because they don't want to lose their licence, as opposed to they don't want another drink because they don't want to cause an accident.
I do remember the top countries for honesty were Scandinavian. The next group (but still the top ten if I remember correctly) were countries that were on the poor end and rather surprising (ie Ecuador - not saying this one was there, just using it as an example). The US scored higher by quite a few than the UK. In fact, was interesting in that from the observations in the UK, many of the people who were seen picking up the wallet were visually well to do (ie one drove off in a Mercedes after picking up the wallet in a phone box). I think what stood out is the poorer countries that ranked higher than the US, the UK and some other western ones, who were in the middle of the scale. People from the 'honest' poor countries said the same thing often - that they knew how hard and long one would have to work to earn that much (it was $50 equivalent in each currency) so they didn't feel right taking it away from someone else.
This article fascinated me to no end, it's why I remember so much about it. A few years ago RD did a follow up (seem to think it was a ten years later thing) and the results were very different. I now think they do it more often but using cell / mobile phones. I do know in the ten year study the US and the UK were closer together, maybe 1-2 points apart.
Here is a link about the study http://www.rdasia.com/the_reader_s_digest_global_phone_test/
I suspect that this is a half-remembered quotation.
The original :
Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking.
H. L. Mencken
My parents found an iPhone in Florida, tried to get the owner but nothing, they tried to hand it in, but they were told just to keep it!
Took me a while to realise they were missing cos I had loads of luggage with me anyway, but rang Transpenine's lost items number, they took all my details/description of item and promised to contact me again if found. Never did, so obviously somebody fancied them - they did look pretty new, not exactly caked in mud so I guess it's understandable.
My Nan Left a bag at the bus stop so we got off like 5 seconds after getting on the bs to go and get it nothing important in it just our Lunch.
I was making it my own, in case I am I am ever in the Quote Championships
We had a major panic as the office said they couldn't do anything until all the buses came in at the end of the day, by which time it would have been too late :rolleyes:
I was in work and couldn't leave so I told him to go and hang around the bus station and try and find the driver. He was incredibly lucky as he spotted the driver, who checked the bus and found it!
I can understand someone leaving a small bag on a bus but this was an A1 folder, hard to miss and very important!
Awww that was so kind of your brother.
I would always return anything I found but I'm not nice enough to do that!
That was really kind of him.
I would hand in anything I found.
My conscience wouldn't let me do anything else.
I would hate to loose something and have the thought of never getting it back.
I once found a wallet while out shopping, it had no money but had credit cards and a Bolton Wanderers Season ticket. I brought it home, looked at the name on his student card and found him on Facebook. I couldn't message him so I went on his friends list and found an older man with the same surname, his profile was public so I found his number and rang him. It was his dad. He said he would come to collect it and reward me.
He came that evening, tuck his wallet and went. No thank you, no nothing.
Ok, i'm back
If the owner of the iPad did subsequently track me down to my home, I would simply hand it back telling him (or her) that i'd waited for them to find me for that reason, rather than handing it in.
But I would probably leave it switched off for a period of time I imagine.
That's a fair statement, but i'll address that down there .. *glances towards bottom of post*
I always do get a valid train ticket after my run-in with a "creatively minded" ticket inspector many years ago.
My moral compass has been defective for many years i'm afraid. Selective morals is, as I said, a fair statement. It's not something I purposely set out to do, or to become, it's just happened that way.
The level of detachment I can reach does concern me slightly from time to time, but then I've tried talking to my GP about it and she doesn't want to know.
I wouldn't purposely go out and steal something because I know it's against the law and it's wrong. But if I found something then I would probably keep it 90% of the time.
Definite future husband material there eh ladies ? :rolleyes: