Today's Ethical Quandry:

[Iceaxe]

You go to the library to snag the new Harry Potter book for your teen. All 8 copies are still out. You check with the desk attendant & you're next on the waiting list, so whatever walks in the door is yours. Oh, and 3 are due back today!

You decide to stay put for a bit. It's bitter cold outside, and the library is warm and sunny. Why, you'll catch up on the newspaper, and track down that book your SO has been talking about reading. Gee, you're a really swell person... how is it no one's ever dedicated a statue to you in town square? You find a comfy leather seat within the big, sunny reading room and relax. I should do this more often, you think. This is a nice break.

You read; you find; it's been a pleasant way to kill 90 minutes. You feel smart & well-informed AND you got that book your SO wanted, so you're a hero. Oh, and what's this? As you approach the checkout desk to ask about Harry Potter again, you see a library cart parked off to the side. It's loaded with books fresh from the Return Bin, waiting to be shelved. You spot 2 Harry Potters! You grab the one on the left, and get in line to checkout and get out. Back to the bitter cold, and your regularly-scheduled life!

It'll be a minute, apparently. There are 2 ahead of you, and a new desk helper just came back from break & is getting oriented. Boy, is she chatty. Yak, yak, yak. The two books in your hand grow heavy, especially the HP novel. Cripes, the thing weighs like a cinderblock. Someone should build a house out of Harry Potter books; by now, the older ones are probably cheaper than cinderblocks --- Hey, there's a list stuck in the book, like a page marker, and it has 'cinderblocks' written on it! Weird!

The book falls open in your hand, and it IS a list, a long scrawling list of building supplies: blocks, cement, 2x4s, sheathing... someone's putting on an addition, or a garden shed. There are some rough costs jotted down, as well as the phone number and hours for the Home Depot.

The checkout line advances. One chatty person down & one to go. You look back down to the list, and flip it over. Paperclipped to the back of the list are five $100 bills.

You sidestep out of line, just as it's your turn. The checkout lady looks up at you; the guy behind you hesitates, then snorts in derision and steps up into your spot. It's a mean world, you think, always ready to make you look foolish. But back to the book...

Discreetly, you reopen the Harry Potter book, to this most welcome of bookmarks. Yes, it's a list of building supplies, and yes, you miscounted the paperclipped money. It's ten $100 bills, not five. It's a thousand bucks, stuck in a returned book. Oh, crap... the book. You slip the building supply list & bills into the book for your SO, and step over to the library cart. Harry Potter goes back, next to it's returned mate, and suddenly there's a librarian there. She grips the handle on the return cart and rolls it away, to shelve the books. Soon, they'll check-in the book you've been waiting for, and they'll phone your house to inform you it's here, and your teen will be all excited, and you'll pretend to not have known... but for right now, you're standing in a library with a Home Depot list and a thousand bucks in cash, stuck within a self-help book your SO wanted to read. The Harry Potter book it all arrived in is gone, taken away, being shelved even as you wait...

You glance around. No one is paying the slightest attention to you. No one could connect you with the bound courier that brought you the money. It's a nice library; you really should drop by once in a while. Your tax dollars do pay for it. How long has it been since you stopped in last -- 5 years? You pay for all this, and the salaries of these librarians, and that comfy leather chair, and 8 copies of the new Harry Potter book, and all these newspapers... all those computers over there, too! And you expect nothing back from your tax dollars, really. Except today... it might be a small chance to even the score a bit...

It's found money, dropped in your lap. From a homeowner who can afford to build an addition, so he can afford to loose this seed money. He should have been more careful. Maybe it's from a contractor, and we know those guys are ALL crooks.

So what do you do?

:cool2:

[nelsonccc]

You go to the library to snag the new Harry Potter book for your teen. All 8 copies are still out. You check with the desk attendant & you're next on the waiting list, so whatever walks in the door is yours. Oh, and 3 are due back today!

You decide to stay put for a bit. It's bitter cold outside, and the library is warm and sunny. Why, you'll catch up on the newspaper, and track down that book your SO has been talking about reading. Gee, you're a really swell person... how is it no one's ever dedicated a statue to you in town square? You find a comfy leather seat within the big, sunny reading room and relax. I should do this more often, you think. This is a nice break.

You read; you find; it's been a pleasant way to kill 90 minutes. You feel smart & well-informed AND you got that book your SO wanted, so you're a hero. Oh, and what's this? As you approach the checkout desk to ask about Harry Potter again, you see a library cart parked off to the side. It's loaded with books fresh from the Return Bin, waiting to be shelved. You spot 2 Harry Potters! You grab the one on the left, and get in line to checkout and get out. Back to the bitter cold, and your regularly-scheduled life!

It'll be a minute, apparently. There are 2 ahead of you, and a new desk helper just came back from break & is getting oriented. Boy, is she chatty. Yak, yak, yak. The two books in your hand grow heavy, especially the HP novel. Cripes, the thing weighs like a cinderblock. Someone should build a house out of Harry Potter books; by now, the older ones are probably cheaper than cinderblocks --- Hey, there's a list stuck in the book, like a page marker, and it has 'cinderblocks' written on it! Weird!

The book falls open in your hand, and it IS a list, a long scrawling list of building supplies: blocks, cement, 2x4s, sheathing... someone's putting on an addition, or a garden shed. There are some rough costs jotted down, as well as the phone number and hours for the Home Depot.

The checkout line advances. One chatty person down & one to go. You look back down to the list, and flip it over. Paperclipped to the back of the list are five $100 bills.

You sidestep out of line, just as it's your turn. The checkout lady looks up at you; the guy behind you hesitates, then snorts in derision and steps up into your spot. It's a mean world, you think, always ready to make you look foolish. But back to the book...

Discreetly, you reopen the Harry Potter book, to this most welcome of bookmarks. Yes, it's a list of building supplies, and yes, you miscounted the paperclipped money. It's ten $100 bills, not five. It's a thousand bucks, stuck in a returned book. Oh, crap... the book. You slip the building supply list & bills into the book for your SO, and step over to the library cart. Harry Potter goes back, next to it's returned mate, and suddenly there's a librarian there. She grips the handle on the return cart and rolls it away, to shelve the books. Soon, they'll check-in the book you've been waiting for, and they'll phone your house to inform you it's here, and your teen will be all excited, and you'll pretend to not have known... but for right now, you're standing in a library with a Home Depot list and a thousand bucks in cash, stuck within a self-help book your SO wanted to read. The Harry Potter book it all arrived in is gone, taken away, being shelved even as you wait...

You glance around. No one is paying the slightest attention to you. No one could connect you with the bound courier that brought you the money. It's a nice library; you really should drop by once in a while. Your tax dollars do pay for it. How long has it been since you stopped in last -- 5 years? You pay for all this, and the salaries of these librarians, and that comfy leather chair, and 8 copies of the new Harry Potter book, and all these newspapers... all those computers over there, too! And you expect nothing back from your tax dollars, really. Except today... it might be a small chance to even the score a bit...

It's found money, dropped in your lap. From a homeowner who can afford to build an addition, so he can afford to loose this seed money. He should have been more careful. Maybe it's from a contractor, and we know those guys are ALL crooks.

So what do you do?

:cool2:

Head to the sportsbook and double the money. Then call the library and return the original $1000. Buy the hary potter series for $100 and spend the rest at Jaguars, the local nudie bar.

[CarpeyBiggs]

Come now, don't leave us in suspense. What would YOU do?

On a side note, I once found about $125 in cash laying in a cupholder in a movie theatre. As a policy, the theatre will hold the money for 2 weeks to see if the person who lost it will claim it. If not, they give the money to the person who found it. After 2 weeks, they called me up and gave it to me. Free money, no guilt. I donated it all to SUWA. :2thumbs:

[DirkHammergate]

Finders Keepers

[Iceaxe]

I donated it all to SUWA. :2thumbs:

CarpeyBiggs donating MONEY!!!!

:roflol: :roflol: :roflol:

Stop it.... Stop it please... your killing me....

:roflol: :roflol: :roflol:

[CarpeyBiggs]

I donated it all to SUWA. :2thumbs:

CarpeyBiggs donating MONEY!!!!
I know, it's hard for you to believe that there are actually people in this world who aren't motivated by just money and sex. Crazy, I know, but it's true.

Hey, I donated to your fantasy football pool, didn't I?

[Sombeech]

So what do you do?

Well, what I do is a bit different from what I should do. :haha:

There's an easy enough way to find out who the money came from. Maybe they're even doing a social experiment, and are going to beat the sh*t out of you once you step outside the library with their money....

Also, are the books really up for grabs if they're in the cart? Do they officially have to be put away before they're considered available? (I don't think there's a rule like that, but ethically....)

And, were those people ahead of you going to ask if Harry was in?

If there was a bookmark in the middle of the book, were they not finished reading? You could keep their money, and also call them up to spoil the ending of the book for them.

All of these questions would keep my mind occupied while on that drive out to Wendover.

[Jaxx]

I would just give it back. I would get the phone number of the person that returned it and call them myself. That way the dirty librarians won't keep it for a bonus.
I'm no saint but I try to put myself in others shoes. If that was my $1,000 I would be devastated if I lost it. Are we so screwed up that we would keep someone's money knowing how they feel after loosing it?

The other question is who get's $1,000 in cash and paperclips it to anything? Do these people not have a wallet/purse? Don't they have a checking account ?

[Cirrus2000]

I would just give it back. I would get the phone number of the person that returned it and call them myself. That way the dirty librarians won't keep it for a bonus.
I'm no saint but I try to put myself in others shoes. If that was my $1,000 I would be devastated if I lost it. Are we so screwed up that we would keep someone's money knowing how they feel after loosing it?

The other question is who get's $1,000 in cash and paperclips it to anything? Do these people not have a wallet/purse? Don't they have a checking account ?

Having just lost $500 worth of camera, case, batteries and cards by leaving them on an airplane - and never having them show up... yes putting oneself in others' shoes is a good thing. I don't think people need big drawn out moral codes here: the "golden rule" covers a lot of ground. I'm glad that Jebus invented it.

Good observation on the cash/paperclip thing. I usually keep mine tucked into my thong - pretty safe there...

[CarpeyBiggs]

the "golden rule" covers a lot of ground. I'm glad that Jebus invented it.
Good observation on the cash/paperclip thing. I usually keep mine tucked into my thong - pretty safe there...
:roflol:

[packfish]

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:45 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I would just give it back. I would get the phone number of the person that returned it and call them myself. That way the dirty librarians won't keep it for a bonus.
I'm no saint but I try to put myself in others shoes. If that was my $1,000 I would be devastated if I lost it. Are we so screwed up that we would keep someone's money knowing how they feel after loosing it?

The other question is who get's $1,000 in cash and paperclips it to anything? Do these people not have a wallet/purse? Don't they have a checking account ?

EXACTLY

[rockgremlin]

I would just give it back. I would get the phone number of the person that returned it and call them myself. That way the dirty librarians won't keep it for a bonus.
I'm no saint but I try to put myself in others shoes. If that was my $1,000 I would be devastated if I lost it. Are we so screwed up that we would keep someone's money knowing how they feel after loosing it?




ditto

[Randi]

It's found money, dropped in your lap. From a homeowner who can afford to build an addition, so he can afford to loose this seed money. He should have been more careful. Maybe it's from a contractor, and we know those guys are ALL crooks.

So what do you do?

:cool2:

Even if it was a crooked contractor. It wouldn't make me less of a crook if I stole from anyone, regardless.

There's absolutly no way I'd be OK with stealing it!
But, I'd probably not feel comfortable giving it to the librarians either.

I'd probably leave a note with the library saying that "money and a construction list "was found. Leave my number and wait to see if anyone claimed it. I'd check back with the library for a couple of weeks, and then decide what to do from there. Or even better tha nthat, find out who checked out that particular book, and have the library give this person my number. I'd definately return the money.

~Randi

[double moo]

Beer run!

[Iceaxe]

Wow.... driving home from the stripper bar this afternoon I started to have feelings of guilt about the money. I mean really

[Alex]

What goes around, comes around.... I am a strong believer in that saying.

[sparker1]

I would find out who last had the book and give them $2000, assuming that it must have happened previously and the poor guy needs some help.

Incidentally, I just finished a book called "Windfall". A guy finds $8 million (drug money) but his paranoia ruins his life. He gradually spills the beans in an effort to get the money laundered, but the guy steals all of it and tells the druggies who found their money. They are not happy when he can't return the $8 mil, beat the crap out of him but he manages to get a gun and kill the head druggie and chase the others away. The snitch writes from the boonies and informs him any search will be fruitless, but here's a few bucks to help get over it. Of course, you couldn't put $8 million in a Harry Potter book ($4 million tops).

[Sombeech]

Reminds me of the movie "No Country for Old Men". I haven't seen it, but it's supposed to be very good.

[nelsonccc]

I donated it all to SUWA. :2thumbs:

CarpeyBiggs donating MONEY!!!!
I know, it's hard for you to believe that there are actually people in this world who aren't motivated by just money and sex. Crazy, I know, but it's true.

Hey, I donated to your fantasy football pool, didn't I?

Yeah thanks for that. I'll remember you when I donate it to USA All.

[moabfool]

...you should give it back, aside from the fact that it's not your money and it's the right thing to do.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=333&sid=2234958

I found somebody's checkbook while 4-wheeling on Poison Spider Mesa. It was way more than a checkbook. It had their (yes, their) driver's licenses, credit cards, check book, etc.... I just drove it to their address (they were from Price) and stuck it inside their door. Karma is real and I need all the good karma I can get.


I would find out who last had the book and give them $2000, assuming that it must have happened previously and the poor guy needs some help.

Incidentally, I just finished a book called "Windfall". A guy finds $8 million (drug money) but his paranoia ruins his life. He gradually spills the beans in an effort to get the money laundered, but the guy steals all of it and tells the druggies who found their money. They are not happy when he can't return the $8 mil, beat the crap out of him but he manages to get a gun and kill the head druggie and chase the others away. The snitch writes from the boonies and informs him any search will be fruitless, but here's a few bucks to help get over it. Of course, you couldn't put $8 million in a Harry Potter book ($4 million tops).

If you ever find a big bag of drug money just take it to the police and say "I found this." If they can't connect it to drugs they can't sieze it. If the money hasn't been claimed in 30 days it's yours (minus Uncle Sam and the Governor's chunk of course). The druggies wouldn't dare come after you if the money is on the cop's radar, and there's no need to launder the money since it's legally yours. Buying a gun and a dog with some of the proceeds wouldn't be a bad plan either.

[savanna3313]

Karma is real and I need all the good karma I can get.



I agree. I've had cashiers/bank tellers etc. give back too much cash many times. I've always handed it back knowing they would have to make up the difference if their shift came up short. Twice in my life I've left my wallet in the seat of a grocery buggy only to have it turned in to the store mgr who in turn called me to come get it. Each time, everything was intact with nothing missing. Yep - Karma. :hippy:

[Brian in SLC]

Library won't give you the person's name (privacy). What you could do is inform the library that you found something of a personal nature in the book, and leave the library a permission note to give you a jingle. Then just leave the list.

I was a poor student way back when and worked at a gas station. A truck driver stopped to use the pay phone, pretty late at night, and when he pulled out, I glanced over and saw his wallet on top of the phone booth. Grabbed it, glanced inside quickly (gasped) and ran the guy down...all the way up the on ramp to a major freeway. He saw me and pulled over. I waived his wallet and the look on his face was priceless. "Thanks, you know there was well over a 1000 bucks in here?" I says, "have a good night". And we both did.

Karma. Yeah, I dunno...

-Brian in SLC