As I left work today, I walked through a little outdoor plaza by the main hospital entrance. On one of the tables was this pile of stuff; a disc man, headphones, and a small utility bag, maybe a camera bag. No one was anywhere near the stuff. I even asked a girl who’d just gotten into her car (the plaza in in the middle of a horseshoe driveway) if she’d forgotten her stuff. She said no and drove away.
S I waited a bit, not much, maybe 30 seconds to a minute or so, and then decided to bring all the stuff back inside to the lost and found department. It didn’t seem right to just leave it out, as I know there are occasional thefts at the hospital. I brought it in, told the woman at the reception desk to keep an eye out for people looking around for lost stuff, walked down the hall and turned it in to the woman who keeps the big box of lost stuff.
As I’m going back toward the entrance, I can see through the windows that the owners seemed to have reappeared. Two little kids and an adult woman, and one of the kids was gesturing at the table where all the stuff had been.
And I walk out, go up to them, and say, “Did you lose some stuff?” The woman replies, “Yes, a CD player and a bag.” And I say, “I turned it in to Lost and Found. Go in and to the right.”
And the woman says, “Why did you have to take their stuff? The kids were right here.” I say, “There was no one in sight.” She says, “Asshole”, right in front of her kids.
That’s it, from now on when I see unattended valuables in a public place I’m just going to steal them. If people are going to try and make me feel bad about doing them a favor I might as well just feel bad about stealing and keep the profits.
You might not like what I have to say hereabouts, but it is impossible to politely communicate what is so very intensely repulsive about the scenario you described.
Heh, this reminds me of a New Years Eve train ride we took one year. We were headed home from massive partying and we were the only ones on the train. There was a briefcase on the seat in front of us. My husband picked it up and went to the conductor to turn it in. The conductor started screaming at him not to touch things that don’t belong to him. Husband, drunk little reveler that he was, threatened to throw the conductor off the train if he didn’t change his attitude. BOY! I woulda loved to see that little fucker flailing through the air!