man returns a strangers wallet and is rewarded...would you reward?

[tdarko]

yesterday i was at the mall doing some christmas shopping, at around lunchtime i went to the corner bakery to eat some soup and since i was by myself i decided to sit out on their patio area to people watch (i sometimes like to do this).

half-way through my soup i notice one man (well dressed) walking toward the corner bakery and another man running up behind him. the man behind him says, "you dropped your wallet back there (pointing behind him)." the man with the wallet gives a look of total relief and says, "oh my, thank you so so much. here..."

then he rummages through his wallet and since this is happening right in front of me i can see that he has quite a bit of money in that wallet...my guess is probably a grand in $100's and a couple hundred in $20's (i guess he christmas shops w/ cash?).

anyway he takes out a $20 and hands it to the guy and tells him "thank you for returning the wallet." the guy looks at him strangely and declines, he insists on giving the money again and after a back and forth match the money is finally accepted.

my question to OOT: if you had this amount of money in your wallet and you drop it and a stranger returns it, do you give him any money? if so, how much? explain why you would or wouldn't give him any money.

[Slow Play Ray]

No - clearly someone who would return the wallet is only interested in being a good samaritan. If they wanted money, they would keep the wallet.

I, for one, would probably find it a little insulting if someone tried to reward me for returning their wallet to them. The satisfaction of knowing I helped someone not get screwed out of a bunch of money would reward enough to me.

[Scotch78]

[ QUOTE ]

Clearly someone who would return the wallet is only interested in being a good samaritan. If they wanted money, they would keep the wallet. I, for one, would probably find it a little insulting if someone tried to reward me for returning their wallet to them. The satisfaction of knowing you helped someone not get screwed out of a bunch of money would reward enough to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. When the person rejects the cash the first time, I would offer to buy them a cup of coffee/beer/whatever. If they declined then, I would let it drop.

Scott

I'd take the wallet if I didn't see who's pocket it came out of.. but If I saw himdrop it, I'd return it.

[jaxUp]

I would probably not give anything just because it just wouldn't occur to me right away. Afterwards I would feel like a dick, but now that I think about it, I'm not really sure why I feel I should give him money. I am curious to hear responses.

[highlife]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd take the wallet if I didn't see who's pocket it came out of.. but If I saw himdrop it, I'd return it.

[/ QUOTE ]

wallets tend to often have identification in them, so this isn't really a valid excuse.

[offTopic]

I'd offer as a reflex, figuring he'd at least saved me the time/trouble/expense of getting a new driver's license, stopping CC's, etc.

If anyone finds my wallet, returns it, and thinks I'm being a dick by offering some money, I apologize in advance. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Edited to add: Incidentally, this did happen a long time ago...a kid found the wallet and his dad called my house. I was either recently out of college and penniless or still in college and penniless, but I still offered him $10. The kid wanted to accept it, the father didn't want him to, but after I assured both of them it was OK, the kid accepted.

[PokerBob]

weird spot. i would feel insulted if someone offered me $$$ if i returned their wallet. but at the same time many people would expect something.

[astroglide]

i think it would be retarded to actually TAKE OFFENSE if somebody offered you money

[B Dids]

I wouldn't take offense, but I wouldn't take their money either.

I wouldn't offer a reward either, but then I'm also far too ocd to actually drop my wallet.

I thank him and offer to take him out to lunch.

[NotInchoateHand1]

I had strangers get off a bus at the next stop, and literally chase me down three blocks away to return my wallet. I had no cash on me anyway, and a small "reward" seems insulting, so I just thanked them profusely. I felt especially bad because they were people to whom the bus fare they just lost probably actually meant something.

Actually a small reward is more psychologically rewarding than a large one. btw

[Yeti]

I got off a bus a few weeks ago and a hot chick dropped her phone behind her. I have no idea how she didn't hear it drop, but anyways, I tap her on the shoulder and return it. She just quickly grunts thanks and hurries off.

WTF? I was left wanting more.

[mostsmooth]

[ QUOTE ]
No - clearly someone who would return the wallet is only interested in being a good samaritan. If they wanted money, they would keep the wallet.

[/ QUOTE ]
i think people return wallets to do the right thing with the idea theyre probably in line for a little money from the owner. i think if we stop giving those rewards, we will sotp seeing wallets returned as frequently

[correia]

I certainly wouldn't be offended if he offered me money. Had I been the person who dropped the wallet I would have thanked the person and offered him $20-$50 or a free lunch.

[NotInchoateHand1]

Good to know Bright. The situation was complicated by a few other "barriers," (my relative social station as a foriegner, ostensibly wealthy, etc. etc.) that extending any sum of money felt somehow wrong.

[tongni]

I lost my wallet today, some older woman found it. It had 103 dollars in it. She called me up and when I went to pick it up I offered her the hundred, and she refused. In terms of the time I would have to spend to get everything together, the wallet's probably worth a couple thousand. I tried to hand her the money but she ran away into her house. I felt kinda bad because she went through a lot of trouble to track me down. I'll probably leave something really nice at her house if I remember, but I'm really quite lazy so I don't know.

[NotInchoateHand1]

Oooo....the leaving something nice seems much cooler than the monetary reward. I'll remember that, I'm always losing things.

[tdarko]

to all,

some of your stories remind me of a time when my wallet was returned.

a few years back i was at the movies and was wearing some loose fitting fleece sweats, the pockets were kind of big and of course i wasn't thinking and had my wallet in there and obviously it fell out. now i keep cash on a money clip so there wasn't any money in there, but there was 3 credit cards, drivers license and some other important stuff in there as well.

i got home and i realized that i had lost my wallet and automatically assumed it had fallen out of my pocket at the movies (it was logical), so i went back up there and had the usher take me to where i had been seated and the wallet was gone. the theater did not have it either. i was out of luck. so i went home.

i was about to start canceling credit cards etc. (this was a few hours later) when my doorbell rang. it was a stranger with my wallet. they had drove to my house and returned it to me and said (exact words) "i know how awful it is to lose a wallet and i would have drove to oklahoma to return this (i am in texas)." i thanked her probably a million times and asked for her address to send her a "christmas card" as my way of saying thanks...she thought about it and thought it was strange but agreed.

3 weeks later (around christmas time) i sent their family a honeybaked ham and a christmas card that read: "since you saved me so much trouble i figured i would save you a day of trouble from the kitchen, so here's a ham. thank you for your kindess."

[lapoker17]

what is correct depends entirely on the age and apparent status of the preson who returns the wallet.

[lastchance]

I love the Christmas gift idea. Very psychologically rewarding.

[bwana devil]

i was downtown and found someone's driver's license on the street. the next day i mailed it to the address w/ a note that said "thought you might need this." i put a return address on the envelope in case they didnt live there but no name because i didnt want any recognition.

about a month goes by and i got a postcard in the mail from the woman in san franciso thanking me. she said she was leaving on a long trip the next week and she would need to rent cars and it would have been extremely difficult w/out that license.

i thought that postcard was way cooler than me mailing that license.

bwana

Yes I'd give about 20% of what I "routinely carry" in my wallet. This is about $15-$20 bucks. I think a minimum of $10 is necessary though.

[RandBriscoe]

It seems odd to me that anyone would suggest that they shouldn't offer money. This person is providing you a (presumably) very valuable service. I would start at $10 and increase commensurate with how much trouble it was to get it to me...

[DrSavage]

I would always offer a reward and accept anything offered.

[Oski]

[ QUOTE ]

3 weeks later (around christmas time) i sent their family a honeybaked ham and a christmas card that read: "since you saved me so much trouble i figured i would save you a day of trouble from the kitchen, so here's a ham. thank you for your kindess."

[/ QUOTE ]

Very classy. The world needs more like you.

I lost my wallet about 8 years ago in San Fran. Some lady mailed it to me. I called her up and thanked her and offered her a reward for being so kind (and I wanted to pay her back for the mail charges).

Well, she declined, but asked if I could make a donation to a specific charity in her name.

I shined that on, as I thought that was offensive. She was supposed to do what she did, yet I still figured it was the right thing to reward her good behavior. However, I felt she was out of line asking me to make the donation in her name. This just felt wrong to me.

I shined her on.

For the record, I have returned the two wallets I have found in the past by mailing them to the address found on the driver's license inside. However, before I did that, I called the person to 1) check to see if the address was still correct; 2) to let them know the wallet was found and that they would not have to cancel anything.

[gumpzilla]

I like this, I think this style of reward makes everybody feel good and seems a little less mercenary than cash. I agree it would be silly to get offended if somebody offered cash, and if I were returning somebody's wallet I wouldn't expect a reward.

[Duke]

It depends on the age of the returner. I'd give a little kid a lot more than I'd give an adult, as an attempt at showing them that they did the right thing and I thank them for it.

An adult would get a token offer out of appreciation.

~D