Ethics question

[sexdrugsmoney]

You're in the carpark of a small shopping plaza waiting for a ride from someone you know.

You're standing on a small ramp in that carpark that leads to automated doors to the small shopping plaza.

From out of the automated doors, leaving the plaza, comes a woman in her 50's pushing a trolley down the ramp you are standing on, with her wallet open and she drops two coins - one the least amount of the currency in circulation, the other the most amount of the currency in circulation.

The lesser coin falls near her feet, the higher amount coin rolls down the ramp.

You do nothing and say nothing, but simply 'observe' her bend down and pick up the lesser coin, assuming her next action will be to proceed a few steps down the ramp and reclaim the other coin also.

But she doesn't.

She goes down the ramp, and across the carpark down another ramp (lower level) and disappears to her car.

You observe at the end of the ramp you are standing on, a shiny object, and move closer.

It is the 2nd coin that was dropped, that she was unaware of, but you had knowledge it would end up down there somewhere.

Do you:

a) Pick it up, run down the ramp she went down and give it to her.
b) Pick it up and put it in your wallet. (to eventually be spent)
c) Pick it up and give it away (eg - to a family member or donate it to charity)
d) Leave it on the floor and let someone else pick it up.

Given that it is impossible to go back and intervene when you had the chance, please say what you would currently do now, and why.

Cheers,
SDM

A combo of b and c, I would pick it up to keep it, but have no plans for it. Because this make would me feel best.

Ooh boy am I a good Samaritan,

I wouldn't have let her go down the ramp to pick up the second coin. As soon as it fell I would have said "oh, I'll get that for you ma'am". Your ignoring the old cripled woman dropping coins leads me to believe that your apathy has flooded your life and has affected your ability to make simple moral judgements. Now that she's already to her car and it's just a coin, my apathy and laziness prevents me from going all the way to her car to return the coin so I choose d). Hey, I'm a lazy scumbag too. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]