Money Moral Dilemma: Should I return the money I found in a chair I bought?

primrose_penguin

Whoever put the chair up for sale obviously did not know there was anything down the back of it as they didn't check. You bought the chair in good faith as it stands, if it is bothering you I would give what you found to a local charity and I am sure the previous owner would approve of you doing that too. If it had been a lot of money then I would have got in touch with the owner to return it, but it wasn't so I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

meknowalot-51

Found a mobile some years ago and phoned the "parent" who met up with us and said what a nice christian thing to do,made us feel great.Other times we've found various amounts of cash on the streets,5's and 10's,even 20 euro's floating in the pool at a waterpark in ibiza.The best by far was on a weekend away some years ago,i was taking some images and the wife walked up to me and said,

"don't make a scene but i've found some money".I calmly looked at her and said how much,she said i don't know,then discretely handed me a bundle of notes wrapped in an elastic band.The note on the outside was a fifty,never seen one before and never seen one since,put it in my pocket,packed up and headed back to our room.We could have handed it in to the police...money on the floor,pick it up and walk on.If it was in a wallet with a name attached then i would have given it back,just like the phone.As for the change in a chair,you can't return it to it's owner as no-one will know who lost the money,it could have been there for 10 or 20 years with hundreds of people using it.

Murphybear

I bought a nice wool jacket from a big car boot/Sunday market a few years ago, from a trader who sold everything for £1.  I wore the jacket the following day when we went out for a drive and when we searched for money for the car park I found nearly £3 of change in the pocket.  Best bargain I’ve had for years. 

The trader wasn’t there the next few times I went. 

Torry_Quine

keithyno.1 said:

BobTheNailer said:

Wow, I'm obviously a lot more dishonest than I thought I was, it would never occur to me to take the money back to the seller!

What do you people do if you buy a 2nd hand car and find a £1 coin under the seat, take it back?!

Absolutely bizarre.

This exactly. There are so many sanctimonious, holier-than-thou people who comment on these MMD’s each week, it’s nearly stomach churning. It’s as if they’re in training for the sainthood most of the time. 

I'm    certainly not sanctimonious. It just seems like the right thing to do. 

I've pointed out items missing on a restaurant bill and gone back to a shop when a book hadn't been charged for. 

Cinde

You're clearly someone who has a conscience. Just obey your conscience, my brother. Whatever your conscience tells you to do,  do it.  

honestcove

How easily can you attribute the cash to the previous owner of the chair?
There is a moral difference between a serendipitous find of cash on a street with no knowledge of the rightful owner or any ability to find that person, to picking up cash you’ve just seen slip out of someone’s pocket.
The cash in the chair could be the cash of the person you got the chair off, or it could have been an earlier chair owner or a visitor to the house etc.
Where on the spectrum do you think this falls?

fenwick458

this discussion (regarding such a small sum) is pretty pointless IMO.

make the amount found £500 and it'd be worthy of a discussion

and anyway, if the seller couldn't be bothered to check the item they were selling then it's their loss

Ivrytwr3

meknowalot-51 said:

The best by far was on a weekend away some years ago,i was taking some images and the wife walked up to me and said,

"don't make a scene but i've found some money".I calmly looked at her and said how much,she said i don't know,then discretely handed me a bundle of notes wrapped in an elastic band.The note on the outside was a fifty,never seen one before and never seen one since,put it in my pocket,packed up and headed back to our room.

That's one of the scummiest things i've read here. "The best"? The best find you've had?

Somebody has obviously lost a significant sum and you and your wifes eyes lit up, "don't make a scene" - so there was obviously never any intention to return it, but to profit from someone elses misfortune. You and your wife are made for each other.

I'm no angel, but that's pretty low.

meknowalot-51

Ivrytwr3 said:

meknowalot-51 said:

The best by far was on a weekend away some years ago,i was taking some images and the wife walked up to me and said,

"don't make a scene but i've found some money".I calmly looked at her and said how much,she said i don't know,then discretely handed me a bundle of notes wrapped in an elastic band.The note on the outside was a fifty,never seen one before and never seen one since,put it in my pocket,packed up and headed back to our room.

That's one of the scummiest things i've read here. "The best"? The best find you've had?

Somebody has obviously lost a significant sum and you and your wifes eyes lit up, "don't make a scene" - so there was obviously never any intention to return it, but to profit from someone elses misfortune. You and your wife are made for each other.

I'm no angel, but that's pretty low.

Height of summer in the middle of trafalger square with hundreds of people around,also no indication what so ever as to who it belonged to.Stop the insults and read fully a few times,why no coment on the phone?why no coment on the smaller amounts?I will stand by what i've said,if it's on the floor or floating pick it up.What do you mean when you say,"i'm no angel"?Have you run across a wheat field or heaven forbid,knocked on someones front door and ran away?

Ivrytwr3

meknowalot-51 said:

Ivrytwr3 said:

meknowalot-51 said:

The best by far was on a weekend away some years ago,i was taking some images and the wife walked up to me and said,

"don't make a scene but i've found some money".I calmly looked at her and said how much,she said i don't know,then discretely handed me a bundle of notes wrapped in an elastic band.The note on the outside was a fifty,never seen one before and never seen one since,put it in my pocket,packed up and headed back to our room.

That's one of the scummiest things i've read here. "The best"? The best find you've had?

Somebody has obviously lost a significant sum and you and your wifes eyes lit up, "don't make a scene" - so there was obviously never any intention to return it, but to profit from someone elses misfortune. You and your wife are made for each other.

I'm no angel, but that's pretty low.

Height of summer in the middle of trafalger square with hundreds of people around,also no indication what so ever as to who it belonged to.Stop the insults and read fully a few times,why no coment on the phone?why no coment on the smaller amounts?I will stand by what i've said,if it's on the floor or floating pick it up.What do you mean when you say,"i'm no angel"?Have you run across a wheat field or heaven forbid,knocked on someones front door and ran away?

Hand it into local police station? If it was such an amount someone would most likely be gutted. Could be somebody's entire holiday money or somebodys essential bill money. You'll never know because all you and your wife saw were the £££'s.

If somebody hadn't claimed it, you would have been able to claim the money legally.

No comment on anything else, as we've already seen you and your wife's standards.