# You buy something. In the car you find the clerk gave you a 50 instead of a 10. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 24, 2005, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775 "2005-02-24T22:30:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/81 "2005-02-25T22:01:42Z")
Wow, I too am surprised by the number of “keep it” people. I might be TEMPTED to keep it, but I don’t think I ever could. It’s not my money. It’s dishonest to keep it. It could hurt someone else if I keep it. I wouldn’t want someone to do that to me, so why would I do that to them? I don’t see how it can be justified. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/82 "2005-02-25T22:05:22Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > At what amount do you draw the line? Someone certainly would be fired over a $100 or $500 mistake. When do you consider taking something that’s not yours stealing and when do you consider taking something that’s not yours a gift? > I always give it back. If you know it’s not yours and you keep it, it’s a form of stealing. I would actually draw the line at £10. If I paid with a £10 and got change for a £20 (£10 too much) and I had walked out of the shop with it. It would seem too late to go back in and correct the error. I answered the OP based on experience. I was overchanged as a kid and I kept it. Felt no guilt doing so either (especially as the shop in question is notorius for short-changing). £10 to a kid is like £100 to an adult. In my culture right and wrong is less significant. The issue of it being wrong to keep the money almost doesn’t come into it. It’s wrong, so what? > [@](#): > > If you know it’s not yours and you keep it, it’s a form of stealing. As I stated earlier, if it is not illegal in my country to keep the change then there is only the question of morality left. And since the consequences are a telling off for the clerk/shop assistant, then maybe he/she will be more careful in future. As an adult, with a wage, I would return the money. As a kid I wouldn’t have. But it’s a hypothetical situation. I check my change before I leave the shop, almost subconsciously. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/83 "2005-02-25T22:07:56Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > **Lobsang** said the same thing and when I asked for a cite admitted he had made it up. Actually, he said that once you were \*out the door \* the money was yours. Now it’s “once you depart the checkout.” Respectfully, this makes so little sense to me that I will have to ask for a cite. Any UK legal type Dopers want to chime in? I made it up. but it wasn’t a complete lie. It was something I am confident is true. I too would like to have a UK legal type doper confirm or refute it. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/84 "2005-02-25T22:22:58Z")
> [@](#): > > In my culture right and wrong is less significant. The issue of it being wrong to keep the money almost doesn’t come into it. It’s wrong, so what? I have to say that I find that to be a really strange statement. I’ve always been a little bit of a British-Isles-ophile, and am kind of hoping that most UK citizens would not agree with the statement. How can you have a healthy culture that does not place value on right and wrong? Taken in a broader context, how long can a society survive when right and wrong do not matter a whole lot? Any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/85 "2005-02-25T22:27:14Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > In my culture right and wrong is less significant. The issue of it being wrong to keep the money almost doesn’t come into it. It’s wrong, so what? Pfft. Maybe if you’re talking about the Culture of Lobsang. I have a really hard time believing that the other 75,000 or so people on the Isle of Man would take such a flippant, “oh well” view of right and wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/86 "2005-02-25T22:29:08Z")
We have a sense of right and wrong. And we put value on it. But it is not as significant as it seems to be in America. (mainly middle-America) It also varies in specific ways as well as in value. The average brit will not consider Gay sex or Gay Marriage wrong. The average middle-American would. (do you disagree? Am I stereotyping?) A British sense of right and wrong is based on what does harm and what doesn’t. It’s just totally different. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/87 "2005-02-25T22:33:30Z")
> [@Abbie Carmichael](#): > > Pfft. Maybe if you’re talking about the Culture of Lobsang. I have a really hard time believing that the other 75,000 or so people on the Isle of Man would take such a flippant, “oh well” view of right and wrong. No. Not at all. They just wouldn’t beat themselves up about keeping £10 after they left the shop. They wouldn’t feel the sense of Religious guilt that seems to be coming across in this thread or the statement ‘It’s wrong, It’s stealing’. If it’s wrong and it’s stealing, would you return $10? Would you return $1? Would you return $0.1? To me it’s just not that big a deal. Life is more important than clerical mistakes and guilt. ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/88 "2005-02-25T22:51:56Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > They wouldn’t feel the sense of Religious guilt that seems to be coming across in this thread or the statement ‘It’s wrong, It’s stealing’. So one has to be religious to do the right thing, or to know that stealing is wrong? I know lots of non-religious people that would beg to differ. > [@](#): > > If it’s wrong and it’s stealing, would you return $10? Would you return $1? Would you return $0.1? $10, yes, same as I would $1. Returning 1 _cent_, however, is a pointless question because who is going to notice they were given an extra cent? Most people are interested solely in the number of bills they get back, not the coins. Also, most cash registers in the US have machines on them that count out the actual coin change automatically. If you get back too much money, it will most likely be in bill form, thus easier to notice. > [@](#): > > To me it’s just not that big a deal. Life is more important than clerical mistakes and guilt. You mean _your_ life is more important that clerical mistakes and guilt. How it affects someone else’s life, I suppose, is their problem. At any rate, I still don’t believe this is a British/Isle of Man thing. There are honest people everywhere, as there are dishonest people. I refuse to believe, though, that there is an island full of dishonest people. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/89 "2005-02-25T23:06:05Z")
> [@Abbie Carmichael](#): > > So one has to be religious to do the right thing, or to know that stealing is wrong? I know lots of non-religious people that would beg to differ. As usual, that’s not what I meant. Being religious and attaching high importance to right and wrong are linked. That’s not the same as ‘one has to be religious to do the right thing’. > [@](#): > > $10, yes, same as I would $1. > > Returning 1 _cent_, however, is a pointless question because who is going to notice they were given an extra cent? Who is going to check their change so late after leaving the shop? > [@](#): > > You mean _your_ life is more important that clerical mistakes and guilt. How it affects someone else’s life, I suppose, is their problem. Please stop trying to accuse me of self-importantce. Life, in general, does not fall apart if small errors are made during the day to day task of living it. The life of the clerk who made the error is hardly likely to change for the worst if I don’t return the £10. If anything the error will result in extra care in the future > [@](#): > > At any rate, I still don’t believe this is a British/Isle of Man thing. There are honest people everywhere, as there are dishonest people. I refuse to believe, though, that there is an island full of dishonest people. That’s not what I said. I meant, in the british culture (which is basically the same as the Isle of Man) we attach _less_ importance to small-time wrongs. Not _no_ importance, just less of it. There exists a sense of social decency and morality, it just has it’s boundaries. One of us might not go out of our way to return £10 if he/she has got as far as the car. And if so he/she is not going to have their day ruined by guilt. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/90 "2005-02-25T23:16:52Z")
I am clearly painting myself into a corner. I tried to point out that the right or wrong argument is meaningless because not returning the single dollar or even the cent is still technically wrong. But who in their right mind would get back out of their car, and all the way back, disturb the clerk from his duties to return **ONE MEASLY DOLLAR?** ANd May I also remind you that I reconsidered and said I would return it, because my first answer was based on childhood experience. As a child ten pounds means a lot, and right and wrong mean less. As a child I’d keep it. As an adult I’ll return it. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/91 "2005-02-25T23:20:59Z")
I would like to call bullshit on at least half of you who said you’d return it. I don’t doubt that some of you who said you’d return it actually would, but I’m not buying that all of you would. You’d giggle to yourself “Hee Hee! Forty bucks!” and figure out how to spend it. I consider myself a decent guy, but I’m certainly not the angel that this thread seems to be attracting. OP’s situation happens to me, and we goin’ to Sizzler. I’ve lost a few bucks here and there, and in some of those cases, I know someone saw me drop it. Sometimes it was a buck or two, sometimes it was a twenty or larger. I never got any of it back. Must be nice to live in a place where everyone always says and does The Right Thing. Do you get a lot of rain there on the weekends? ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/92 "2005-02-25T23:46:20Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > I’ve lost a few bucks here and there, and in some of those cases, I know someone saw me drop it. Sometimes it was a buck or two, sometimes it was a twenty or larger. I never got any of it back. Must be nice to live in a place where everyone always says and does The Right Thing. Do you get a lot of rain there on the weekends? I would think that, because you’ve been screwed over in the past, you would be even more likely to return the money, because you know what it’s like. Since when should one’s actions be determined based on whether or not Everyone Else Is Doing It? If you live in a village of 100 people (including yourself), and 99 wouldn’t return the money, who would you rather be? The 100th person who goes with the crowd and does the same thing, or the 1 person that goes against the flow and does what is right anyway? ---
**Author:** ![neisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4bbf92/32.png) [@neisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neisha)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/93 "2005-02-26T00:24:52Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Returning the money is unquestionably the only thing I’d do. > > I got two $50s stuck together in change from taking my worldly wealth of a $100 bill and buying some ramen at Kroger’s, in a year where I was making very little, and was desperately poor. > > I admit that I stared at that bill for several minutes before going back and returning it. That $50 would have filled my refrigerator and let me sleep easier for a couple of weeks. I was tempted, I admit. > > But then I thought of every meal I’d eat, and how it would taste, knowing it was stolen… I’m proud of you. That was a hard test to pass. It’s easy to return it, when we’re doing well. But, when you really need the money, and still give it back, says you have a lot of integrity. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/94 "2005-02-26T00:37:32Z")
Because I may have been separated from a sum of money in the past, I am not to consider it “karma evening out” to be reunited with a similar sum in the future? I don’t know if I believe in karma so much as I believe things work out in the end. Someone picks up and keeps that twenty that fell out of my pocket while I was walking down the block? Well, there goes that pizza and a movie rental tomorrow night. I wind up with $20 extra in my change after a trip to the supermarket? Woo hoo! Free gas! ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/95 "2005-02-26T01:00:05Z")
> [@neisha](#): > > I’m proud of you. That was a hard test to pass. It’s easy to return it, when we’re doing well. But, when you really need the money, and still give it back, says you have a lot of integrity. Who’s testing? ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/96 "2005-02-26T01:21:47Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > I would like to call bullshit on at least half of you who said you’d return it. > > I don’t doubt that some of you who said you’d return it actually would, but I’m not buying that all of you would. You’d giggle to yourself “Hee Hee! Forty bucks!” and figure out how to spend it. > > I consider myself a decent guy, but I’m certainly not the angel that this thread seems to be attracting. OP’s situation happens to me, and we goin’ to Sizzler. > > I’ve lost a few bucks here and there, and in some of those cases, I know someone saw me drop it. Sometimes it was a buck or two, sometimes it was a twenty or larger. I never got any of it back. Must be nice to live in a place where everyone always says and does The Right Thing. Do you get a lot of rain there on the weekends? For me, it isn’t bullshit-in fact it doesn’t involve conscious thought. After the lessons of my Dad (previous post) I worked for an international bank equipment company and serviced ATMs, night depositories, automated cash handling equipment, and vault doors. I was the guy who opened safe deposit boxes when rent was overdue. In my truck are keys to numerous homes and businesses where I’ve installed burglary and fire alarm systems. None are labeled-I keep it all in my head along with passcodes for said systems. Perhaps it’s my conditioning-your property never causes a blip on my radar. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/97 "2005-02-26T01:29:26Z")
In none of my previous cashier positions would I have ever been fired for an incorrect cash out, nor would I have had to pay out of my own pocket. Would I have been reprimanded? Absolutely. Should I be reprimanded if I can’t manage to properly count out change to customers when that is my primary responsibility? Certainly. /Ms Cyros Once again, as a customer, I would correct an error I noticed at the cash (and I have) but would not bother to return to a store after the fact. It’s a hassle and it’s not my responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/98 "2005-02-26T02:09:10Z")
I return it. Even small amounts. Once on a trip I stopped at a McD’s and went through the drive through. I ordered and pulled up to the window to pay. The girl was chatting and she turned to me, gave me 11 cents and said thanks, please pull forward. I told her that she hadn’t taken my money yet and I returned the 11 cents. It was the right thing to do, but I think she could have at the least thanked me for being honest. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/99 "2005-02-26T02:12:51Z")
I’d take it and run so to speak, but partially because I wouldn’t understand why I got the fifty back and figure if I ask I’d loose it. (yes I’m serious) ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775/100 "2005-02-26T03:03:32Z")
I’d return it. I’m no saint and hardly claim to be, but I do have a strong sense of morals. (I’m not religious at all.) I’ve worked as a cashier before and I understand how easy it is to get things mixed up, especially when you are working in a fast-paced environment. In all of my jobs, if any money was mising, I either had to pay for it or it came from the tip jar. Either way, I was directly responsible for it. One time an individual stole $200 from me and my boss took the difference out of my paycheck. Most people working as cashiers are not wealthy. That money could mean a lot more to them than it does to you. $40 might not seem like a lot, but I used to feed myself on that per month. And since this isn’t the pit, I will stop now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-buy-something-in-the-car-you-find-the-clerk-gave-you-a-50-instead-of-a-10/291775.md?page=6)