Last night at the grocery store, as I was cruising up the soda pop aisle I noticed what looked like some folded paper money on the floor. I picked it up and unfolded it and - holy crap! It was a $100 bill.
My first thought was “Score!” But that only lasted for a second. My next thought was “Better turn it in… Someone is going to be looking for it.” So I headed over to the customer service counter, where I waited for about 10 minutes for anyone to even notice I was there. (Even though a guy who appeared to be a manager walked past several times.) Finally one of the checkout girls came over, I handed her the cash and told her where I found it, and wandered off to continue my shopping.
It wasn’t until later that it clicked with me that they didn’t take my name and phone number. Which means if nobody comes back to claim it, the grocery store is up $100. Which makes me feel pretty stupid about how I handled it.
It would have been good to leave contact info in case no one claimed it, but I don’t know what the odds really are that the store would have called you back in to hand it over. I suppose there’s a chance the person who lost it would have been willing to share some or all of it with you.
I guess I would have done something similar to what you did, but maybe would have tried really hard to make sure it was a manager I handed over the money to. may or may not have made a difference.
But you are certainly not an idiot for turning it in.
I find it odd that the employee did not ask you for your personal info. The policy is that if no one comes for the money it is returned to the finder. I would follow up with the manger on this.
The same thing happened to me, I found a hundred dollar bill at the grocery store. I carried it around as I continued to shop, my guts churning as I tried to decide what to do. I kept a sharp eye out for anyone who seemed to have lost anything, or was having difficulty at the checkout. Finally I took the thing out of my pocket and unfolded it…to find that it was a religious tract printed to look like a folded hundred dollar bill. I have never been further from Jesus than I was at that moment.
Now, if I was you, I’d go right back to the store, go to the customer service counter and ask, “Did anybody turn in a hundy? I think I dropped one here.”
Yeah, probably not a bad idea to go back, talk to a manager, give them my name and phone number, see if anyone claimed it, and most importantly, make sure the employee didn’t just pocket it herself.
We constantly have found money at the store. If no one claims it after 30 days, it is donated to charity. There have been many times where someone who has lost the money has been able to get it back. Sometimes honest action leads to good results.
I figure that in such a situation, the employee to whom the money is turned in pockets it, and if asked later, explains that someone came by to claim it.
Years ago I turned in a $20 bill I found on a supermarket floor and later felt like an idiot for having done so.
Last year I found a $10 bill under similar circumstances and kept it.
These things work in mysterious ways.
The OP could console him/herself with the thought that the $100 probably was full of cocaine residue and would’ve triggered the dog at a security checkpoint and led to detention, a full-body/cavity search and other unpleasantness. Besides, virtue is its own reward. :dubious::smack:
Store cashier here. I am being videotaped at all times. We are not allowed to touch any personal items whatsoever. If we find cash, credit cards, etc. we call a manager over and let them pick up and decide what to do with it.
When I find money in a public place, I generally look around for someone who has lost it. Most of the time, within a few minutes, I notice someone clearly looking on the ground (or through their pockets) for something, and then I ask them if they lost something, and if they tell me they lost the amount I found, then I give it to them.
This works for other valuables, too. And you can always tell the store manager: I found something of value. If someone lost something and describes it to me, I’ll give it back. You can give a bit more info for other things.
This gets things back to their owners if they show up and avoids the issue of it being pocketed by staff.
I am fortunate enough that $100 is not going to make or break me, but whoever lost it might, so I’d turn it in. Even if the store employee just puts it in their pocket, I’m certain they need it more than me anyways.
I’d have told a manager I found it & gave them my contact info. If I didn’t hear back in some reasonable amount of time then it’s mine.
Call me cynical, but even if I gave it to the manager with my contact info, I highly doubt I’d ever see it again, even if it wasn’t returned to the person who lost it.
Is it really true that it would go to you if unclaimed? I’m not sure if that’s the case about things you find on private property. I think it is the case if you find something in a public place (like the sidewalk). If you turn it into the police and no one claims it, you can have it. But I think in this case, it’s actually up to the store since it was found in the store. Legally speaking, should the store turn found items over to the police?
Integrity is never stupid. If you return to the store to leave your info and end up getting the money, great. If you don’t, you’re no poorer than you were.
I agree it’s a pain to wait at customer service. I’ve gone back when I found stores didn’t charge me for an item, and it’s always involved a wait. It’s frustrating, but I’d rather be frustrated than dishonest.
If you’re an idiot, I’m one too. I found about $60-80 bucks in the change receptacle of self-service checkout machine. I held it for about 5 seconds, thinking about what to do with it, until I felt like I was being watched and this was a character test. There was no going back from that – I would not have been comfortable pocketing the money. There was no attendant nearby, so I left it with the security guard near the front door.
