I’d return it. That’s what I’ve done before.
I’d return it, secretly hoping I’d be rewarded for my good deed. I must admit though, times are tough and I’d be very tempted to take the money… but the guilt would stop me.
Max
I’d try to contact the owner and return the credit cards and cash. I would most likely be sorely tempted to hang on to the cash, even just $50 or $100, but in the end, I’d likely return it all. Sure there may be platimum credit cards in there and the guy may be a lawyer, implicating a high income, but he may also have expenses I’m not aware of and that $500 may be cash on the way to the bank to cover bills or pulled out of the bank to buy little Janey a birthday present or something. In the end, I wouldn’t be able to keep any cash I’d want to pilfer.
I have found a wallet stuffed with cash. It felt creepy even going through the thing just trying to find ID. The difference here is that I was a vendor at a small music festival, and the owner had left it on a table in my booth. Pretty hard to empty the wallet anonymously under those circumstances. 
We found the grateful owner after about 15 minutes of sleuthing.
I have also found and returned several purses left in shopping carts, on park benches, etc. I hate even touching other people’s valuables, even when I am trying to reunite them with their owners.
In the hypothetical example, I’d have to say that a clear conscience is worth a LOT more to me than $500. The lawyer gets his/her money back if I find it.
I’d take all of the items, including cash, out of the wallet and put in an envelope. Then I’d wait 2 months. Then I’d send the envelope to owner. But I’d keep the wallet.
Well, that’s what happened to me when I lost my wallet. And the only thing I wanted back was the wallet itself, since it was a gift.
I would be like most of the people here. I’d stare longingly at the cash and be somewhat tempted but in the end I’d find the owner and give it all back.
Return as is.
samarm, you didn’t tell us what you’d do.
Is there a high percentage of honest people here or are the dishonest people simply not checking in? Do you suppose this is indicative of the general population?
Wait a sec… that’s $500 American, right?
In Canadian dollars that’s almost enough to put a down payment on a house. That’s tough.
Find the owner and give it back. It’s what I’ve done the 2 times I’ve found a wallet. Like an earlier poster, I felt guilty just digging around trying to find some sort of address or phone number to call.
I’d feel guilty if I didn’t, and I really enjoy the look of mingled gratitude and surprise when I hand it over.
I’ve worked in a lost and found before. I don’t have any hang-ups about looking through a lost wallet or purse. Check for ID is the first thing. THen you have to hope that tehy’ve got a ph# on something. Most people DON"T.
You should always put a contact phone number in with your wallet. people are willing to call you, but not so many are willing to go through the trouble of driving to your house.
An employee of a lost and found department certainly won’t. They also won’t call long distance- so if you’re out of town you might want to provide a local number of some sort , (hotel’s front desk), so that a good samaritan can call you today while you are still* in the city where you lost your wallet.*
Most wallets and purses came in intact. The most commonly missing item was cash. Just the cash.
Usually, for me, the cash would be the smallest hassle to replace.
You’d be suprised at how many honest people there are. But you need to help them be honest.
MAKE IT EASY FOR PEOPLE TO DO THE RIGHT THING.
The easier it is for someone to get your wallet back to you, the more likely it is to happen.
OK here is what I would do:
I’d call the number on the card anonymously and tell the owner of the wallet that all the contents are intact. If he/she sounds grateful or offers a reward, then I would agree to meet them at their workplace to hand it over. If they say something like “OK, just mail it to me at xxxxxxx” then I’d probably keep the cash and mail the rest back.
The main reason I would have for not keeping the cash regardless is giult. If I did that then it would be like having a huge guilt stone attached to my leg for weeks afterwards. I think its interesting to see that guilt is the main motivation behind honesty in this thread. I don’t see many people saying its their sense of morality that prevents them from keeping the money.
I think there are plenty of people who have viewed this thread and thought “Well, I’d just take the money definately, but I’m not going to post that!”.
I admire the honesty of the posters who have said that they would do something different to returing everything “as is”.
What? If a sense of morality isn’t the cause of guilt in the above situation, what is?
You may be correct, but I suppose I could best describe the difference like this:
The guilt comes more from a sense of selfishness; You do not want to subject yourself to mental anguish.
Moral guilt comes from a sense that there are funamental, unspoken, rights and wrongs, and that certain actions are so morally wrong that your concience will eat away at you for making the wrong decision.
If there’s just one business card in there, the lawyer is probably not the owner of the wallet. He’d probably keep a bunch of business cards in there, to hand out as needed. (if it’s the same name as on the credit cards, though…)
Anyway, so what if it’s $500. I’ve carried $500 in cash around temporarily before, and I am by no means rich. Losing $500 would be a big deal to me. I’m not going to assume that just because someone has $500 in cash that he/she is rich and can afford to lose it. And being a lawyer doesn’t mean someone can afford to lost $500 either.
I’d return it. (Naturally, I’d hope for a reward.)
Me, too. I’d hope for, but not expect, a reward. If I didn’t get one, oh, well.
Well, I’m sorry to be the first holier-then-thou poster, but I think the thankfully few of you that said you’d keep the money should be ashamed. Especially samarm who feels he’s entitled to a reward for doing the right thing, and if the owner won’t give it to him, he’ll take it himself.
I’ve had a wallet returned a few times, and I’ve returned wallets a few times. Maybe it’s just luck, but everything has always been intact (in both directions), and I’ve always assumed that people are generally good.
Hoping for a reward is reasonable, expected even. Taking money isn’t a reward.
I left my wallet in a phone box one night before Christmas. It contained all the money I had in the world. Five minutes later when I returned to the phone box it contained nothing. I consoled myself with the thought that whoever got the money needed it more than me but I would have liked that dough. So I would return it intact.
My first thought was “keep the money and turn the wallet in to the police,” but as I thought about it, $500 isn’t really that much. I’d probably turn it into the police and let them contact the owner. If I were in dire financial straits, or the amount of cash were significantly larger (say $10,000+), though, I’d strongly consider keeping the cash. Using the cards, though, would be right out.
I find rewards kind of awkward, and don’t think I’d want one.
There’s something of a karmic element to this: a while back I left my ATM card sitting on the machine and someone turned it in at a nearby police box. The police called the bank and the bank called me, so I have no idea who the good samaritan was.
And not wanting this seething, crawling, gnawing moral guilt is different from not wanting your run-of-the-mill, sulking, surly, somewhat-peckish-if-you-happen-to-be-making-a-sandwich-just-now guilt how?
Of course I’d feel guilty if I didn’t return the wallet. It’s the morals that would make me feel guilty.
Does doing something selfless for someone because I enjoy the warm fuzzy feeling I get make me selfish?