Yesterday my wife texted me at work. She was walking through a bank parking lot and came across some loose currency: two two-dollar bills and two hundreds.
We both agreed she should call the bank (she was back at work at this point) and notify them that she found money but not give the specific denominations.
The bank called her back yesterday afternoon to say they have identified the person who dropped the money and they gave her the man’s contact info. Mrs. Mustard called him and they agreed to meet today at the bank so she could return his money.
So, she just texted me again. The guy is an older gentleman who drives a beat-up car. He was very appreciative and insisted she accept a couple fast food gift cards for her trouble.
This feels much, much better than keeping the money would have.
mmm
However, for your wife’s safety, the bank shouldn’t have given her the man’s info, or given him her info, they should just set up The Meet in their lobby for The Hand-off so neither party gets The Sting.
We’ve had similar things happen at my business, but I am always overly cautious about giving anyone’s contact information to anyone else. I get a little more cynical each day.
This happened to me outside a large supermarket. Just a bare $100. I took it into the store, picked out the cashier who looked like she’d been there since it opened, and gave it to her. She was very leery about taking it from me. But as it turned out (there was a little drama to do with the store manager chewing me out for expecting them to handle it), the guy who lost it showed up, a very young man for whom it was a big loss, and who didn’t hold out much hope (of course) of getting it returned. He was overjoyed.
I had something similar happen about a year ago… I found a folded up bill on the floor in the grocery store as I was cruising down the soda pop aisle. I thought it was a $10 bill at first, until I unfolded it and saw an extra zero on there. I wound up taking it to customer service and leaving it with the employee (not a manager) behind the counter. In my case, I have no idea whether it was ever actually returned to the rightful owner. My guess is that either the employee or the store wound up with an extra $100. I should have done like the OP’s wife – told them I found some money, but not how much, and given them my contact info in case anyone came back looking for it.
At the store I cashier for, a child about five years old picked up and gave me a wallet he found on the floor. That made my day, the idea that even very young children are being taught to do the right thing.
The man who came back to get the wallet gave me $3, but the chilo’s actions were worth a million dollars.
