What would you do?

[mrsmere]

I would have kept the money and given it to the daughter.  Anytime I find money, I keep it.

[countrygirl12]

I think you did the right thing.  You're reward will certainly be more than $20 too.  The lesson you taught your daughter was certainly worth a lifetime of what doesn't belong to us isn't meant for us to call our own.  Hopefully the employee that popped it in there pocket later filed it with the rest of the office monies.  Often there is a donation of some sort that X corporation contributes to.  Who knows?  You allocated the loose cash where it should have gone... now it's up to a supervisor to do the next best thing.

Not really.  When you post on social media and tell the world a good thing you done you already got your reward.

I would think the waitress deserved it more than the "office monies".  You have to account for where the money came from.  So if she turned it in to them likely it would be kept by a manager.  I have seen that happen. 

You still do not know if maybe the waitress was the one who dropped the money.  Maybe she was showing the other employee because she was saying hey this guy turned in the $20 I dropped.  I have waited tables before and often when they needed change we would cash in our ones and other smaller bills for a larger one (a $20 or two).  So maybe, just maybe, this waitress had dropped her entire shifts tips in the form of a $20 she had received for cashing in her ones and then she dropped it.  And now it was returned to her.

It amazes me at how judgmental people are when they do not have the whole story.

You could also have an establishment that says if you find money in your station then it belongs to you unless someone reports they lost that exact amount.  If that is their rules then she was in her rights to pocket the money.  If the OP wanted the money he should have just kept it to start with.  Not turn it in and then get upset because it was not returned to him when no one had said they lost a $20 bill.

[UGetPaid]

Just to be clear - I may not have been earlier. This was a fast food restaurant and the worker who pocketed the $20 was not a waitress and was not outside of the food prep area where the money was lost/dropped.  It definitely came from another customer in the front counter food ordering area.


And it is not about ME wanting the money in a finders keepers mentality. It was about trying to find the person who lost it and asking the cashier if she might have known who lost it. NOT to just have another worker who clearly DID NOT lose it - pocket it instead.

[countrygirl12]

Just to be clear - I may not have been earlier. This was a fast food restaurant and the worker who pocketed the $20 was not a waitress and was not outside of the food prep area where the money was lost/dropped.  It definitely came from another customer in the front counter food ordering area.


And it is not about ME wanting the money in a finders keepers mentality. It was about trying to find the person who lost it and asking the cashier if she might have known who lost it. NOT to just have another worker who clearly DID NOT lose it - pocket it instead.

I def thought it was a place where there was a wait staff.  I would have turned it in to management not just the cashier.  But just for the record you do not KNOW that the person who put the money in her pocket is not the one who dropped it.  You clearly do not KNOW she did not lose the money.  She could have.

One of our Dollar General stores the manager was given found money in the floor.  All found money if not claimed was suppose to be donated to the literacy fund.  They had a log of how much they donated to that every week.  The cashiers have to ask you to donate your change.  Anyway. The assistant manager kept waiting for the money to be added to that and it never was.  The store manager, who had money, put it in his pocket.

The same thing happens at most of these places.  And employee keeps the money.  That is why you may as well keep it yourself.  I have found cash in the floor before.  Yes, I picked it up and kept it.  If I knew who lost it I would give it back but as far as turning in cash that there is no way to prove whose it is - no I would not.

I also found a Walmart gift card laying in the parking lot at Walmart once.  My mom said it is likely an empty card.  I called the number on the back and the card had $14.  Yep, I used the card.  Put gas in my car.  No way to prove whose it was and Walmart would have just kept it.

I found a food stamp card once on the side walk outside Walmart and I took that inside and gave it to a person at the service desk.  What they done with it after that I have no idea.  Don't care.  I would like to think they called the food stamp office but I assume it was either thrown away or just tossed aside and never thought of again.

[makeblessed]

In a crowded situation and if it's not obviously easy to say who it belongs to; I probably would pick it up and keep it.

[bremer51]

I probably would have kept it, but would not use it for myself. I'd give it to someone in need or a charitable organization.

[debidoo]

Yes there is a big dilemma between being honest and teaching our children to be honest and kind of being taken advantage of ................... I guess I would look at it like maybe the employee needed it more.  My son found a $10 at the circus one time and I told him it was ok to keep it because it would likely never get to the person who lost it but along with that I gave him a discussion that night on honesty and doing the best you can to be honest.  I told him if we go up to the ticket booth and hear someone asking if anyone found or turned in a $10 it was going straight to them.

[mrisha]

If you and your daughter found the money, then it belongs to you.  It was wrong of the other server to just put it in her pocket.  You find all kinds.

[jenniferhoder]

I would  have let my daughter keep it too; too many people would "claim" it was theirs if you had asked around you. It's a shame that we have to teach our kids like that.

[countrygirl12]

If you and your daughter found the money, then it belongs to you.  It was wrong of the other server to just put it in her pocket.  You find all kinds.

No it doesn't belong to them.  They would have been within their rights to keep it.  But he gave it freely to the employee.  So he no longer had any rights to it.

You also do not know the whole story.  Maybe since it was turned in to X employee the deal is if no one comes in asking about a $20 bill that is lost you can keep it.  But if someone comes in and says I think I lost $20 here then you have to give it to them.  There is a lot of speculation when you do not have all the facts.  It amazes me at how judgmental people are.  This girl has been thrown to the dogs and talked about like she is horrible and oh she will get what's coming to her.  Well so will those who are judging you.  Hopefully someday you will be judged just as harshly.

I would  have let my daughter keep it too; too many people would "claim" it was theirs if you had asked around you. It's a shame that we have to teach our kids like that.

I probably would have just kept the money.  Like I said before I would give it to the person if someone said they dropped it.  But you have to be careful there too because you are going to be talked about and accused of stealing it so there is really no way to win.

If you turn it over to employees it will go in somebody's pocket.  Maybe the OP did not know that.  I have worked in retail, fast food, and with the public.  I know how it works.

[ghunter]

If noone around was looking for it I would let her keep it.  Finder's keeper, but if someone was at the cashier and looking for their money I would give it to them.

[linderlizzie]

In general, I agree with the keepers mentality. You could have sat there long enough to see if you could tell someone lost money, e.g., looking around on the floor. But I would suppose that the money would be picked up and kept by someone else other than you had you not picked it up first.

You tried to be honest and I applaud that. But IMO it kind of depends on the situation to know if the rightful owner could get it back or not. In lieu of that, I would keep the money.

BTW, you are the better person for having done what you did. You're a good man, Charlie Brown. 

[tjshorty]

that's sad.   I know I would have pocketed the money.  But if I was the one working  and that happened it would have gone to a safe spot waiting for someone other than an employee to claim it.  The restaurants that I have worked at people loose their jobs for stuff like that.  In your case maybe the co-worker did put it back waiting for someone to claim it.