Honest guy or idiot?

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by widgeon13

Good man, he did what was correct.

He certainly isn't going to make it as a politician but he is definitely an honorable person.

Agree - w/both statements.

[Aerkuld]

I'd love to be able to say that I'd keep it, but to be honest I'm sure I'd turn it in. Something like that would eat me up. To be honest I've been in a vaguely similar situation;

When I was a kid, maybe 9 or 10, I was on a boat trip on the Thames in London, England and I saw the guy in the seat in front of me drop a fifty pound note (think $100 bill) from his pocket. Bear in mind my age and that this would have been about 1978/79 and that would have been a huge amount of money to me back then. Without hesitation I picked it up and handed it back to the guy telling him he had dropped it. He gave me five pounds ($10) in return.
I remember telling my Grandmother about it and her telling me "Honesty pays" and all I could think was that I could have been significantly better off if I'd kept the guys money so how can honesty pay. In the end though she was right and I wouldn't do anything different now. I guess that amount back then would be a bit like the $140k now. Well maybe not quite, but the outcome would still be the same.

[DARISC]

I'm honest! And I can't figure out why I'm frequently presented with freakin' circumstances where I'm tested!

Goes back years. Once, I'd moved into a new neighborhood and bought $100 of groceries in a supermarket I'd never been in, from a cashier I'd never seen before. When I was loading the bags into my car, there, on top of one, was the check I'd written. I'd chatted up the cashier and she hadn't picked it up. Took it back to her.

Awhile back, before I quit smoking, I'd bought some stuff and 2 packs cigs only to drive home and they weren't in the bag - so back to the drugstore (smoker's gotta have their cigs!) and the cashier who said "oh, I did put them in the bag". I was tired and uncharacteristically short with him (he was one of the store managers and I know sees me in there all the time) saying "NO, you didnt!" He gave me another two packs and as I turned to leave he said, "I put them in the bag". I was pissed but just left - only to drive home and find the first two packs had fallen out of the bag onto the floor of my car.

Several days later I was paying another cashier and saw the manager working in an aisle, so I bought 2 packs of cigs and approached him on the way out, saying "I apologize for being rude the other day. I found the cigs when I got home. Here" and handed him the cigs. He broke into a big smile and said, "No, no you keep them". Now whenever he sees me in the store it's "Hi, how's it going" and I'm as pleasant back to him. Amusingly, shortly after, one of the cashiers who knows me from coming in there for so many years asked "Was it you that returned the cigarettes?" Yeah, I said and she too gave me a big smile. Sheesh! Is basic honesty that rare?

Not three days ago I counted out $300 in $20s to give to the carpenter for materials he'd bought for my ongoing home improvement project. I'd already previously counted it out 3 times (I'm clerically challenged) but when he counted it he said "here, you gave me $20 too much". "Count it again" I said, he did, said "$320" and handed me a $20. So I took it and said "Hand me the money and let me count it again" There was $280 and I gave him back the $20.

So, on those 3 incidents alone I "lost" $130. But that wouldn't have nearly paid for the good feelings I had about having done the right thing.

But $140k? Man, that'd be a tough test!

[Tobra]

This is an honest guy, and I honestly don't know what I would do in the same situation, that is a lot of dough.

[HardDrive]

I would have turned the money in.

[berettafan]

Originally Posted by speeder

If you allowed me to work in your house and I stole so much as Red Bull out of your refrigerator I could not face myself. This bag of money, I would spend w/o a care in the world.

Ayup!

Although you would worry about the guys that lost it; would having it returned save their jobs?

[berettafan]

Originally Posted by widgeon13

Good man, he did what was correct.

He certainly isn't going to make it as a politician but he is definitely an honorable person.

Well a good politician would've kept the money, donated $10.00 to the local crack whore and gone on tv to raise more money for the crack whore cause she only got $10.00.

[snbush67]

Originally Posted by masraum

that would be really difficult to do

Karma (sp) can be a real *****.

Karma.......could'nt "Karma" be the reason he found the money? Maybey it was meant to be found by him and he effed it up.

[Joeaksa]

In your first scenario I would turn the money over to the Red Cross or another good charitable organization.

Second scenario... you are learning. Its not yours, so give it back.

This is not a difficult decision. If its not yours then give it back. Karma is either very good or a beyotch. I want it to be really good in my life and hopefully in yours as well.

Joe

PS Brinks should have given him more of a reward IMHO.

Originally Posted by speeder

I respect your morality, so let me pose you a (purely academic) question:

If you knew for a fact that a bag of $$ belonged to Mexican drug dealers or Taiwanese human traffickers, would you feel morally compelled to return it to them? How about Saddam Hussein's sons, if they were still alive?

Not saying that Brinks is in the same category as any of these examples, just wondering if there is any *line of demarcation* where you would not feel compelled to return the $$.

I have found wallets, noticed women leaving restaurants w/o their $5k LV handbags full of CCs and cash or found expensive cell phones and ipods and never once thought for a second about keeping them. No grey area for me there. Somehow the dropped Brinks bag has always been different to me, though. I think that a lot of what I consider to be good people would keep it.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by snbush67

Karma.......could'nt "Karma" be the reason he found the money? Maybey it was meant to be found by him and he effed it up.

Karma made him walk away $2000 richer when he had nothing and a lot of publicity about being an honest man. Nothing wrong with that even if Brinks should have given him more of a reward.

[slodave]

Heh, reminds me of this thread .

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=378533&highlight=laundry

[speeder]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Karma made him walk away $2000 richer when he had nothing and a lot of publicity about being an honest man. Nothing wrong with that even if Brinks should have given him more of a reward.

I thought about that, I wonder if he calculated the amount of publicity he would get for his struggling business for returning it. Not saying that he isn't an extremely honest person and knew that he had to return it because his conscience would not let him keep it, but I wonder if the decision was made easier when he factored-in the type of advertising that *money can't buy* for doing it. I bet he gets $100k worth of business right away that he would not have gotten, that would be kharma for sure.

I think that I came off wrong in this thread, I do not really think that he's an idiot. I'm sure that he's a great person. And my parents are idiots if he is, they would have returned the bag w/o hesitation. My own definition of honesty in this scenario is being honest in admitting that I would keep the $$ if it belonged to a bank w/ billions in assets that charges me $245 in overdraft fees in one day last week due to some very creative accounting practices. (not saying that I did not eff-up, but the way that they arrange charges for maximum OD fees would make Al Capone blush).

If a guy in front of me at Starbucks who just pulled up in a new AMG Benz drops a C-note out of his pocket and I'm broke, I pick it up and tap him on the shoulder, no hesitation. If a store clerk gives me too much change, I correct their mistake. If even the most difficult client miscalculates what they owe me at the end of a job and is about to over-pay me, I correct them. (I would not let them short me, so fair is fair). All of these situations happen regularly in my life.

I consider myself pretty honest, but not perfectly honest. Large banks are in the same category as the "Escalade rolling on 22"s" in my book.

[berettafan]

i think the mental process is that you don't know whose money it is so it's okay. it doesn't belong to the bank or the drivers so it's easier to do. FDIC insurance just makes it even easier to pull the personal aspect out of it.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

....Karma is either very good or a beyotch. I want it to be really good in my life .....

Joe

Considering your profession I'm sure your co-workers and clients would appreciate that as well, especially at 30,000 ft over the middle of the ocean.

[sammyg2]

I'd like to sew a poll on this subject, including party affiliation and age bracket.

Informally I've noticed a trend in this thread, people who seem to be a little left of center have rationalized keeping it, and people to the right of center tend say they'd turn it in because keeping it would be theft regardless of who it belongs to.

Do the more liberal of us tend to be less honest (thiefs), or are the more conservative on this board full of BS and would keep it even though they say they wouldn't?
I already have an opinion on the subject, interested to see what others might say.

[sammyg2]

[QUOTE=speeder;3882413]

My own definition of honesty in this scenario is being honest in admitting that I would keep the $$ if it belonged to a bank w/ billions in assets that charges me $245 in overdraft fees in one day last week due to some very creative accounting practices. (not saying that I did not eff-up, but the way that they arrange charges for maximum OD fees would make Al Capone blush).

Huh? An honest thief? Stealing is stealing and a thief is a thief, no matter who you steal from or why.

EDIT I also should admit something. That much money is not enough to change my life significantly in any way shape or fashion. Everyone has his price, fortunately mine is much higher than a couple of hundred grand.

But .... if I were flat broke and couldn't work and my kids were starving, then I would probably sacrifice my own morals and self-respect and become a thief and keep the money if it meant they wouldn't go hungry or homeless.
I wouldn't keep it for myself but in the right circumstances I might keep it to help take care of someone I love if I had no other way to do so.

[DARISC]

I'd also like to see a poll on this subject, including party affiliation and age bracket.

Informally I've noticed a trend in this thread, people who seem to be a little right of center have rationalized keeping it, and people to the left of center tend say they'd turn it in because keeping it would be theft regardless of who it belongs to.

Do the more conservative of us tend to be less honest (thiefs), or are the more liberal on this board full of BS and would keep it even though they say they wouldn't?
I already have an opinion on the subject, interested to see what others might say.

[snbush67]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Karma made him walk away $2000 richer when he had nothing and a lot of publicity about being an honest man. Nothing wrong with that even if Brinks should have given him more of a reward.

Great point, thats kind of like being a contestant in a million dollar game show and walking away after you used all your phone a friends, who cares why risk it, you still come away with more than you had.

In this case got a monetary reward and can sleep peacefully at night.

[sammyg2]

I just counted.
13 said they would not keep the money, no matter who it belonged to. Some of these folks are liberal, but I'd say the majority lean to the right at least a little.

6 either said it depends on who the money belonged to or it wasn't really clear if they were serious or not. Mixed bag as far as political beliefs.

7 said they would keep it. At least 4 out of the 7 who said they'd keep the money have strongly taken the more liberal side of political arguments on this board more than once. A few have even came right out and admitted to being liberal, believe it or not

There were a couple of surprises though; some people said they wouldn't keep the money but I would have expected the opposite.

So back to the original question, are liberals more inclined to keep money that doesn't belong to them (as the responses here so far would indicate), or are conservatives just less likely to admit it?
Maybe a little of both?

[speeder]

OK, so if it was $20 million w/ zero chance of getting caught and the party who lost it was not really hurt by the loss, would you keep it, Sammy?

Or would 20 large not change your life?