[RunDownHouse]

This morning I went to Bank of America to take care of some things. I parked, got out and turned towards the building. Almost exactly halfway between the door and my truck was what looked like a wad of $100s and $20s. It was seriously a pile of money, sitting there and soaking up the rain. I rushed over to pick it up and looked around. The parking lot was fairly full, but there wasn't anyone around. The bills were relatively dry, so they couldn't have been there for long. I hurriedly gathered the money together and realized that there were only two $100 bills, which were on top, but a ton of $20s.

At this point, I had no idea what to do, so I kind of folded up the money in my hands and went inside. I was the first in line for the two tellers, but they were having computer problems, and the line started to grow behind me. I really kept the money hidden in my hands. I didn't want someone behind me in line to say, "Hey, that's my cash! I dropped it!"

When one of the tellers was free - an older blonde, maybe 40, with a hell of a smile - I walked up and had to make my decision. I just put the money on the counter and sort of whispered, "I found this in the parking lot. I think its about $640." I didn't want to talk very loudly for the same reason I kept the money out of sight when I picked it up. "What do I do now?" I asked her, still hushed. Really, I was hoping she would say they can't really hold on to it and that it was mine.

Instead, she took it, put it in an envelope with my name and number and said that if anybody came in and named the amount, they could claim it. Otherwise, she'd have her manager call me on Monday.

My salary is pretty low - ridiculously low, actually, some students on stipends get more than I do - so over $600 is by no means a trivial sum to me. And while I was waiting in line, I was thinking that nobody would know it wasn't my money unless whoever dropped it came in almost right behind me. Still, I decided to turn it over.

Now I'm just waiting until I get that call on Monday. But I keep wondering how I'd feel if I had just kept the cash.