Years ago I worked a register at a grocery store. One busy day I somehow was short around $100. Turns out the amount I was short equalled one customer’s order. I stupidly didn’t get paid for the order. It cost me my job.
Take the money back! What if she had shorted you? You’d go back then, wouldn’t you?
For those who say “It depends on how much time and trouble it is for you to take it back”:
You can always call the store, ask to speak to a manager or the cashier person, tell them that you’ll bring it back next time you’re in the store. Write down the name of the person to which you speak so you can talk to them when you bring back the money.
Add me to the growing chorus of former cashiers urging you to take it back. $30 may not sound like much, but when I worked in a supermarket we were picked up if our till was as short as $5. $30 would have been close to a sacking offense.
No! No! Wait 'til it starts to snow and it’s really windy and cold outside. Then WALK back to the store BAREFOOT to return the money!
(Yeah, I think you should return the money, too. It’s the right thing to do. However, the thread title is “What would you do?” Being a bad person, I’d probably keep the 17 bucks. And I’d betcha that a good percentage of the persons counselling you here to return it would keep it, too. Okay, maybe not Gaudere.)