We seem to agree that this is not a black and white world so if we just happened to find a sum of money while shopping we would know it isn’t ours and would return it, right? Are we absolutely sure? Imagine this scenario.
You are shopping at a thrift shop and you remove a pair of pants from the rack and take it to a dressing room try it on. While you are in the dressing room you notice there is something in the back pocket of the pants so you unsnap the pocket flap to investigate and pull out a handful of one-hundred dollar bills. Thirty, to be exact; three thousand dollars! What do you do?
Options: you can give the money to the cashier or you can pocket the money and go home three thousand dollars richer. Not a bad “find” at a thrift shop!
You stop to think about it. Someone donated those pants to this establishment. Maybe it was a parent who collected their teen’s pants from the back of a drawer because he or she had not been wearing them. But what was the money doing there in the first place and wouldn’t someone be missing that much cash? What if it was illegally-gained money – you know – drug money? Maybe the pants were a clever hiding place.
And if you did return the money, how would you know the cashier wouldn’t just put it in his or her own pocket?
Nobody knows there are three thousand dollars in the pocket of the pants – except you. You could simply take the money, return the pants to the rack and leave the store. Or could you?
What would you do?
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That is a good one! Seems like most folks would return the money if there was a way to do so. I might not hand the money over to the clerk, but like others, I would investigate to see if there is some way to notify the owner or to at least put the information somewhere that the owner might find it. If there is no way to return the money, then there are still options--give part to charity, and use part to do something special for yourself or your family, be a secret Santa at this time of year, hmm, lots of ideas.....
@galenpearl Hi Galen! Secret Santa Galen! Wow - lots of great minds coming to this beautiful response. Now I wanna find $3000.00 somewhere! ;-)
For starters I would feel excited. But then I would check to see if the thrift store knows who donates things. If not I would consider the money a gift from life. I would then donate some of the money to some people who i randomly see struggling at this time of year. I would save some of the money and spend some of the money on myself.
HI Andree! That sounds like a FUN thing to do with the money - the sharing it with random people I mean! Imagine having $3000.00 to share as we approach Christmas! You could be a Secret Santa, dropping money all over the place - in the malls, on the streets, in friends mailboxes.
Welcome to Life, for instance Andree!
Ha Lori,
You are a pixie aren't you?
Sorry, I have not read most of the comments as usual but i tell you the term "easy come, easy go" comes to mind. So, to be perfectly honest it's not that i wouldn't trust a sales clerk at a thrift store but it's cash. It's so easy to do the wrong thing.
Personally, I would keep it.......
........and donate it to a local charity. There is always someone in need more than I and while I have a hard time giving up my own hard earned income in this particular scenario knowing that there is little likelihood that the rightful owner of that money will ever see it again the best thing for me to do is to donate it. That way I am assured to goes to a good place.
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@rdopping Oooh Ralph - you haven't checked out what the others have said and yet you've offered another (different) option! Taking no risk that the cashier would keep the money, and still wanting it to go to charity, you would donate it personally. Impressive good thinking ;-)
Hi Lori,
I think there is an answer in your story itself. $3000 is really a large amount. But no matter what , I will try to find the rightful owner of the money. Probably by checking security cameras I can find who tried the clothes before I did. If he is in the store, I will definitely try to too search him. If not then I will leave my contact details with the security.
Taking it with me is not a great idea because a) It could be fake money( there is plenty in circulation, here) b) Taking it to police is not a great option here in India.LOL
So i guess I will take it with me, wait for the call for a few days and then probably take a call after that.
@blogaks Hi Ashvini! It sounds like a good plan you had. You would wait until it was claimed by the rightful owner. Would you conceal the amount of the money and just leave word that "a sum of" money was found? I guess finders-keepers refers to you because if the staff had found it, it would be their issue to address.
Do you wonder how tempting it would be to hold onto the money? We can only imagine it from this story. Putting our money where our mouth may take on a different significance when it's not OUR money! But, no, I think I'm with you. I couldn't keep the money - even if the rightful owner never showed up to claim it because the thrift shop is supporting a charity and the money could be well-spent there.
OK Lori, I've got a story on this one. I was pinched for money. I walked into the convenience store and bought two items, each about $50. When the cashier rang me up, he only charged for one. I didn't realize it right away and by the time I did, I was already long gone. I thought, maybe it was a gift from the universe because I was seriously skint, needed the items, and had been praying for money. Then some months later I was REALLY broke, walked into the same store which was undergoing a change in corporate ownership, bought the same two items, and the regular cashier behind the register was so flustered with the mob of new management people behind the counter that he did the same thing. THIS time I realized it and told him right away. You know how I knew the first time was a "test" and not a gift? Because I had a series of events in my own business where people stole, went back on their word, lied etc, all of which caused me to lose money that I needed. Obviously these things DO work that way. I think the "energy" behind the exchange is the same whether the amount is small or large, but the larger it is, the more of a test it is.
@Julie | A Clear Sign That's amazing Julie! The same thing happened twice!?! It's interesting that you saw it as a test the second time. So you believe the energy is the important factor and it doesn't matter if someone is watching because the energy of what you do attracts the same back to you? Yikes! It doesn't matter if there are hidden cameras - karma or your energy attracting matching energetic events are taking note and responding.
If I came across a small amount (say, $20 or so), I would hand it over to the store clerk to hold in case someone comes back looking for it. It's not mine, so keeping it is not a question to me. If it was a large sum, certainly the $3,000, I would take it to the police. I've heard that if the money is not claimed within a certain time period, the police will contact you and give you the money. But true or not, it's not mine. Besides, what would I want someone to do with my money? Give it back, of course.
There was one time I went to an ice skating show with my wife and was soon slumped in my seat, fast asleep. And sure enough, my wallet was pushed out the back onto the floor. The next day I get a call from my credit card company asking if they could give my personal information to the boy who found it. I said they could, of course, and his dad drove him down (some 40 minutes away!) to hand-deliver the wallet.
Now THAT's character. I only hope I would do likewise.
@Ken Wert Hi Ken,
Taking it to the police is something I hadn't thought of. I wonder if the hypothetical person who stowed the money in the pants pocket would have thought of that.
That's great that you got your wallet back. It was a young boy who discovered it? Nice.
You raise the golden rule here for the first time. If I put $3000.00 in the pocket of a pair of pants and then discovered they were missing I bet my UNhappiness would be as great as the happiness of the one who discovered them at the thrift shop. The golden rule is a good one to live by, (especially if you believe in karma. ;-)
@Lori Yeah, it was the boy who found the wallet. They called the credit card company too to report having found it as a way to contact me. So grateful someone with those values found it.
I think the world would work better and we would be happier if we all lived with the Golden Rule in mind. Sometimes we just do the right thing because it's the right thing. It's not my money and someone may need it. I remember finding a $20 bill at Target. No one would ever go to the police to report having lost so small an amount of cash. So I gave it to the customer service clerk and asked her to log it. Even if I didn't trust the clerk, I would still give it to someone in the store and leave it between them, their conscience and God to do the right thing. I just don't think I should do something with someone else's money just because someone else may not do the right thing.
@Ken Wert "I just don't think I should do something with someone else's money just because someone else may not do the right thing." That's a valid way of looking at this Ken. It seems to depend on what settles the individual's conscience.Playing Secret Santa or giving the money (assuming it was untraceable) to another charity can do that as well. I knew this wasn't an easy question but I'm surprised at the variety of answers to it that make sense!
I have most certainly found these little "gifts" from the universe before...though never $3000! However, those few times I have, I've always let my intuition - and the circumstances - guide my actions.
For example, if there were a way to reliably find the owner - such as a dropped bill on the ground (those times I asked everyone around - did you drop money?) - then I would try my best to return it.
But in your case, I have donated way too much clothes to know that the receiving area of any second hand shop is unable to keep track of who donated what...so there really is no way of finding that owner reliably and I would accept that money as a gift!
Perhaps I would also share that gift - because what fun is having something you can't share? I remember finding $20 on the ground once and then walking over to a gentleman collecting donations outside of the supermarket and putting it into his pot...granted that was just $20, so perhaps I would keep some of the $3000... :)
@Sabrina at MyMiBoSo It's true, it's unlikely the store would ever trace the money back to the owner. They'd face the same dilemma if it were possible.
I like the idea of receiving "gifts" from the universe. Maybe we better ask for ours in "things" rather than money, something not so morally engaging, and more clear ;-)
I understand there is a man somewhere - I saw it on the news - who is going around giving away $100.00 bills leading up to the holidays. I think he just goes up to people in the malls. Imagine the difference if he dropped the money rather than handing it to someone. I'm glad he's not invoking this issue with his generousity but is just giving it outright!
This happened to me when I was a student in London.
I picked up an envelope from the side of the road and it had £250 in it. (A lot of money, back then.) At first I wondered what to do but then handed it in to the police. It was claimed by someone who'd been saving for a new piece of furniture so they were placed to have it back. To my disappointment, there was no reward, not even a note...
@LindaMHewett Aw! £250! That's the chance you take. Surprising that someone wouldn't be grateful but maybe they didn't have any money to spare? Once my son lost a wallet at the mall and it had a few dollars in it. The Reader's Digest had just named our city as the most honest city in Canada and he wasn't worried (he was only eight or so) because of this. Sure enough, when we called the mall we learned someone had turned in the wallet and the money was all in it! It was nice to have that affirmed for him!
Would you have turned in the $3000.00? I'm guessing yes.
It happened to me once. Not exactly the same scenario but when I tried on a jacket at a store I found some cash in it. I kept it, asked the store people what they normally would do if they found cash in pockets like that, they said "Finders Keepers". So, I kept it and told my mom about it. She said, it could be put to better use. So I dropped it all in a charity box.
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@Hajra It happened to you!? Nice staff giving it to you! I wonder if it had been 300.00 (I'm assuming it was much less) if they would have said that. Imagine you ran the store - how would you feel???
Ah, but your "find" went to charity anyway.
What do you think about what @Carmelo asked - are we held to higher standards when we feel we're being watched?
@Lori @Carmelo It was way lesser but still considerable enough - enough to treat myself to fancy ice cream a couple of times!
We do behave differently when we are watched - we call it the Observer Effect in psychology.
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@Hajra @Carmelo The Observer Effect! Sounds very interesting! Hmmmm... I wonder if there is a Saturday post in that ;-)
Oops, sorry to post again, am I hogging?
Here's another angle. What if it was Christmas? What if I was short of money for all the things I wanted to do for my friends and family in real need? What if that morning, I had prayed or visualized and imagined finding a big sum of money (from the Universe/God) so that I could help people with it?
And what If I really believed in manifesting things from my thoughts and went about my day in complete confidence that I would be blessed with some miracle? Upon finding the pants in the store and discovering the money, how would I react then? Would I consider it a gift?
Would my conscience and actions depend upon whether I believed it was a gift from God or a manifestation out of thin air make a difference? I think it would!
Knowing me like I do, even if I thought it was my manifestation, I think I'd tell the store/authorities and let the chips fall where they may. But, I can't be 100% sure how I'd do it. How deeply did I believe in my "creation of this money?"
@Carmelo Those are good questions Carmelo. I'm going to step away to go for my walk in the (snowy) woods. Maybe someone else has answers ;-)
I would buy the pants, take them home, call the store and let them know that I found something in the item I bought, and if anyone comes in saying they "lost" something, identify to the store exactly what it was, and I'd return it to the individual if they could do so.. I wouldn't leave contact information for the individual to contact me directly. I'd work through the store. If someone could identify to the store what they'd lost, in what item, I'd return it. Otherwise...finders keepers:) Cheers! Kaarina
@KDillabough Finders keepers and Merry Christmas LOL. Good plan Kaarina. This doesn't force you to make a decision - right or wrong, keep or return. Moral obligation addressed, conscience assuaged, and a potential early Christmas gift at the ready! :-)
@Lori :)))) Merry Christmas to you Lori.
I think my first reaction would be: "Yay! I'm going to be on that hidden camera TV show!" My second reaction would be: "Crap! I don't have any pants on!"
With a sum like that you have to wonder so many things. Is this some kind of sting ... either by the store or the police? Is this a gift from the Universe? I remember Wayne Dyer said he had a big glass jar that he filled with money he found on his daily morning runs. He considered them gifts. But those were usually $10 or less. What's the cut-off?
Then, Robert Schienfeld (SP?) share's in his book "Busting Loose from the Money Game" that he's still waiting for the time that the Universe "sends" him $50,000 (or some similar amount.) How? By finding a bag of money somewhere. He does NOT indicate he would return it or turn it in at all.
So, who's right? Is it a matter of right and wrong? Is it just consciousness and sin or the Bible that's involved? We'd have to consider the law too as John also pointed out. What would I do? Well, I'd quickly put my pants on first and then I'd ask for management and to call the police. Because I'm a good guy? No, not really. I'd just feel that there was a pretty important "story" behind the $3000. Now, $10 ... I might just say thank you and appreciate the gift or I may mention it to the store clerk and ask about their policy. I honestly can't say for sure as I've done different things in different situations.
@Carmelo "Where's the cut-off?" exactly Carmelo. Some sums would end up costing you time and money (maybe more than it's worth) to return it.
I never even considered the hidden camera aspect. Do you think reality TV (not so new since the show "Candid Camera" was on years ago) have made us more - er- moral?
Funny, too, we'd accept money from the Universe in a few different ways, but just finding it makes us suspicious!
@Lori Yes, that's a good question. Does knowing we could be seen make us more moral, more honest, more conscientious? Why do we need others to see us when there we are ... seeing ourselves? Does transparency lead to higher consciousness or does it require the scrutiny of our inner eye?
@Carmelo @Lori cool
@johncharlesowens @Lori Exactly Lori and John. The "inner eye" from which we can see things is just that - love. Love doesn't need anything and isn't attached to anyone or thing so there's no loss ever perceived.
I know that when I'm being "watched" by the love within me I act and react much differently than when I'm simply being human. Man, it's not easy to come from that space of love all the time! I'm often such a putz. :(
@Carmelo @Lori I think we first half to have something to look for and then we need to want to look for it or love to want to look for it. Need and love are two very different motivations if we need then it is self centered and fear based (fear of the loss of relationship) if we do it out of love then it is for the benefit of the other person with no strings attached.
@Carmelo Well I don't know but I imagine it makes us take a bit longer to think about it, or it takes away all the choice and makes us do the "right" thing, though there are a few versions of the right thing already mentioned here! What do you think?
I had a similar experience a few years ago.
I parked my car outside of a state park because the gate was closed, and 3 of my children and I walked the 1/2 mile to the beach. My son reached down in the path and picked up a watch, a nice one, and said, "Mommy, here. You said you needd a watch."
Instead I told him that the watch wasn't mine and we'd have to find the owner or a lost and found to deposit it for safe-keeping.
"But there's nobody here!" He was right. It was a desolate and cold Autumn day in a locked-down park. But I'd made up my mind and a few minutes later, out of the blue, a park ranger approached us and I handed her the watch (she thought I was nuts, too) as she asked, "Is that your car parked at the gate? I think you and the kids had better let me give you a ride back to it. Get in my car."
I found out that someone has smashed the car window in and had stolen my purse.
My immediate thought was, "So much for doing the right thing." (I know, I'm so human!)
But then I looked under the gear shift and right there, in full view, was my wallet. Nothing was missing.
Turns out they got away with a diaper bag!
@BetsyKCross If I didn't know you better (and I DO - and I know you're an amazing story-teller too!) I'd think you made this up!! what a story! What did your kids think of how events transpired? Could you turn that into a lesson, even though the window-smasher only took a diaper bag (please tell me there were dirty diapers in it! ;-)
@Lori Yup, there were dirty diapers, my scriptures, and a bag of candy. I had to laugh about that combination of loot and the look on the thief's face when he/she made the discovery!
@Carmelo @BetsyKCross You make me think of him examining the contents and trying to decipher the meaning in them! But then again if he (why he!?) left the wallet in plain sight...
@BetsyKCross @Lori lol ... that's awesome, Betsy. Hey, maybe it changed his life!
Hi Lori
Well their is the simple scenario where you just give the money to the store and it is over.
Then their is I want to keep the money.
Mathew 13:44
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
Their is a legal president contained in this parable. That would apply to this case. The store owns the paints and whatever is in the paints. Now if you buy the paints you now own the paints and what is in them . That is the real legal point of view according to common law and the bible. Now from a moral point of view I would buy 4 pairs of paints and after purchasing the paints I would tell the teller that I have found something of value in one of these pair of paints if someone comes to you looking for something that they have left if a pair of paints have them call me and if they can identify the paints and what was in them I will give what I have found to them. Obviously I would leave my number.
I have a bible verse for everything hey LoL could not help myself.
@johncharlesowens LOL John! Do you have a E-version of your bible with a concordance to boot? HOW do you do it ;-)
Your logic sounds uncannily familiar. This story is based on something that actually happened though the details are changed. My husband, the one who suggested it could have been drug money and likely was a hiding place, also suggested that you report "a sum of" money was found and allow the one who lost it to claim it specifically. The idea of buying four pair of pants is a nice touch!
I wondered when I wrote this whether it would have made a difference if the sum had been $5 or $10,000. Is our moral obligation to do "the right thing" influenced by the size of the cache discovered!?
If it was a $5 then I would not have much hope that someone is going to come looking for it I think the sum has to be unusual. The bible says that sin is sin if you believe that it is sin in other words even if it is legally not sin if you believe that it is then it is and you will be violating your good conscious and will suffer in your mind so bottom line is do not violate your good conscious love your conscious and respect it. Their is a love conscious and a fear conscious I am talking about love.
sin definition = to miss the mark (literal translation)
@Lori I am not a law unto myself, I am not self centered, self righteous or self seeking the law that I follow is.
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
@Lori I am cumming at it from a christian point view. Their is the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. In order to properly apply the letter of the law to any given situation you have to here from the spirit of the law as a christian I believe that the spirit that wrought the law is available to me if I wish to ask him that being the person of the holy spirit and so you have to have both the law and the spirit working together in order to know the truth.
John 16:13
"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
Another cool bible story on this point is
Matthew 4
New King James Version (NKJV)
Satan Tempts Jesus
4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
Their is the face value explanation and then their is the symbolic definition which makes more sense to me.
In the story the stones represent the ten commandments written on stone tablets so the devil is saying turn the ten commandments into the bread of life which no man up until this point had been able to do and Jesus replies the law is good but you have to here from god the rhema word (and rhema means face to face in the present moment)
You see Jesus came to reveal a higher Law that being the law of mercy which is greater then the law of sin and death the letter of the law.
The holy ghost made me do it LOL
@johncharlesowens I'm confused. I thought you said "sin is sin if you believe that it is sin" . What did you mean then? What if an act doesn't violate your good conscious? What if you truly believed the money was a gift from God? Would it still be a sin to keep it?
@Lori One thing that I want to make clear is I believe that their is a right and wrong so believing something is right that is wrong is still wrong. Their is a truth to be known and it does not come by rationalization.
@Lori @johncharlesowens lol ... I was writing the story above when you were writing this I think. Some DO believe money falls from the sky or is manifested. I mentioned how Schienfeld completely believes that things are manifested (so do many others!) According to his book, he might just take the $3,000 (but I'd have to let him answer that!)
@johncharlesowens "sin is sin if you believe that it is sin" Yes. So our answers don't really reflect our moral make-up so much as our definition of right and wrong. For instance, if it was drub money and you take that money out of circulation it's not a bad thing, but then you could do that by returning it to the cashier.
One could consider the cash a gift from the Universe - no matter how much money it is. We wouldn't take time and energy to find the person who dropped the $5 bill. We may look around to see if someone is walking away from it with a wallet hanging open, but that's about it. Our definition of right and wrong is more challenged when it's Christmas time and the sum of money is greater. Money doesn't just fall from the sky and into our laps, or into the pocket of pants we're buying for 3.50, or does it? ;-0