Money Moral Dilemma. Would you keep the lottery ticket?

bradhadair

right now in my financial situation i'm afraid i have to say i'd keep it... i'd like to think that i'd give it back but right now even a tenner would buy my electricity for the next week instead of going into emergency or going to (shudder) my father...

in an ideal world we can live ideally... in the real world... i wonder how many people who said they'd give it back actually would at that time... not being nasty but still...

oh yeah and if it had happened to me i'd grumble moan and shout and scream for a bit but its my own fault for losing it and if it was a big win or a small win it doesnt matter, tis still my own fault and curse the person who found it but then wished them happiness with it... besides if i was a couple of million i'd emigrate to thailand better financial stability and a much better place to live...

ConsumerWarrior

Well you say "you notice the ticket has fallen from her bag" Hows that? You actually see the ticket falling or are you only guessing that it fell from her bag? If you see it falling you'd point it out, right?

I once did a paper-round as a kid and found £10 on the front lawn of an old lady's house, I knocked on her door and handed it to her, she thanked me and was about to close the door when I asked "excuse me, was it yours?" she replied "no dear, thank you and shut the door.
Once bitten ..twice shy.

quick-smart

I think technicalities like "if I actually saw it fall from her bag, then that's different to just finding it on the floor" (even if that bit of floor just happened to be underneath her handbag, and you'd overheard the conversation indicating she had mislaid a lottery ticket) is trying a teensy bit too hard to justify taking the ticket. Not that there's anything wrong with taking it, as if it's on the floor it's not "technically" stealing.

However, personally I'm a great believer in what goes around comes around. Hence, why every single time in the last 10 years that I've dropped my purse on the bus and not noticed, lost my handbag in a nightclub, left shopping in a taxi etc, and my property has been returned to me intact, I've been reminded how the actions of one good samaritan can have such a huge impact on another. :kisses3:

I work on the principle that I would be devastated if it ever happened to me, and I just wouldn't be able to enjoy spending it, even if it was for food or electric. I might not be that well off, but I have no way of knowing if the woman who dropped the ticket is worse off, and I don't want to be responsible for possibly taking away that one lucky break that she's been dreaming about for months. Sometimes it's those one-off lucky breaks that keep us going.
It's not money I ever had to begin with, so I'd be financially no worse off for handing it back, but I know I'd feel like a cr£p human being if I kept it.

Imagine, opening the paper the next day to an emotional plea from a woman who won the lottery but then lost her ticket, and it was her last chance to save her house/pay for her mother's care home/stave off bankruptcy! Of course, that might not be the case at all, but the point is I'd only be guessing and I really don't want to take that chance.

Shaz x

Brisbaneroad

No, I would try to give it back - but how would she know she won if she can't find the ticket?

merlin48

If I was unable to return it to her directly, lift doors close and there is no sign of her when I return to that floor, I would hand it in to the nearest police station as property found. Then if she claimed it, job done! If she did not claim it I would be allowed to claim it myself after a period of time, therefore being entitled to the ticket LEGALLY!!!!

brightonman123

in current circumstances, i would be tempted to take the ticket..

but my conscience would get better of me, so would go after the woman. would ask if she needed help registering claim, etc.

just to make it clear she would have NOWT if i took the ticket!

therichnessinside

Yes I'd give it back. It would be straightforward theft really otherwise -
:cool::cool: But also, I personally believe that what goes around comes around, so in the long run I'd be the loser if I kept the ticket. So it'd be the 'wisely selfish' thing to do!!. But I'm no saint! - So I'd do my very best to really persuade her to give me a good little Reward for my assistance - I believe 10% is a ballpark figure for lost prop returns.... Fair's fair after all... :cool::cool::cool:

DR.B.J_TUFFLIPS

If I ever was in a position to own a winning lottery ticket i would staple it to my chest for safe keeping. The woman in question obviously is flush in the cash department and has therefore dropped it on purpose for someone to pick up. That someone is me! and I'm running down to lottery H.Q, wearing just a smile and singing "the only way is up " by Yazz and the plastic population. oooooooo yeah!

matimage

therichnessinside wrote: »

Yes I'd give it back. It would be straightforward theft really otherwise -
:cool::cool: But also, I personally believe that what goes around comes around, so in the long run I'd be the loser if I kept the ticket.

Hmm, this goes around comes around / karma thing can work the other way you know... Maybe she had previously found someones dropped ticket and kept it so now its her turn to experience that...

marco1com

Instead of chasing after her I would hand it into the lottery office, knowing they can't claim it, photocopy it and get a receipt and if the woman did not claim it within 6 months then by having already handed it into the office I would be entitled to the winnings, fairly. It's all about luck isn't it?
:beer: :money: :beer: