So, does it pay to be honest?

[illini]

My son and I went to Best Buy this afternoon to spend a couple gift cards he had. On the way in I noticed a gift card in the parking lot. I did not pick it up thinking it was trash. While I was in there I got to thinking. When you redeem a gift card they keep it so there was probably money on it. So on the way back out I picked it up, called the # and there was $25 on it. I have to admit I was kind of excited like I had found money. So I hold for an operator thinking maybe they have a way of tracking who it belongs to and if not I am going to go shopping. I tell her the situation and she was like ok hold on. Then she came back and said ok you can cut it up now we deactivated it!
So flame away at me for being a bad person but I feel like i just lost $25! (Also I took my son to the dentist and that was $175 so I was still in shock from that!)

 

[dreamcometrue]

I probably would have kept it and used it!

 

[justaquestion]

My son and I went to Best Buy this afternoon to spend a couple gift cards he had. On the way in I noticed a gift card in the parking lot. I did not pick it up thinking it was trash. While I was in there I got to thinking. When you redeem a gift card they keep it so there was probably money on it. So on the way back out I picked it up, called the # and there was $25 on it. I have to admit I was kind of excited like I had found money. So I hold for an operator thinking maybe they have a way of tracking who it belongs to and if not I am going to go shopping. I tell her the situation and she was like ok hold on. Then she came back and said ok you can cut it up now we deactivated it!
So flame away at me for being a bad person but I feel like i just lost $25! (Also I took my son to the dentist and that was $175 so I was still in shock from that!)

I know the feeling!

I was walking past a bank ATM and it was beeping. The screen said "do you need more time?" I push no and the card came out. It had the lady's picture on it. We waited a bit to see if she came back, but she didn't.

I really don't know what I was supposed to do, but we decided to just cut it up, figuring she'd notice and get a new card.

Happens that in the store we walked in, she was there!!!
We gave her the card and she starts yelling at us that we should have went to the police station and how does she know we didn't charge anything!!

She's lucky, 'cause if I was the same person I was in my younger days.... This was the Friday before Christmas too!

And who the heck goes to the police station when finding a bank card??

 

[arielsleepingbeauty]

Well listen to this. A few days after christmas my DH and I were in Walmart trying to get some after Christmas sales. He waited for me while i went into a crowded isle. When i came out he said that he had seen someone drop a gift card and the woman behind him picked it up and gave it back to the person. He was actually mad at the woman for seeing it and giving it back. He said that it would have been ours if it had been him. I was appalled. It would have been different if it had been lying there and he didn't see who dropped it. But he watched the guy drop it. I couldn't beleive that he would have actually kept it even though he saw who dropped it. After 16 years i am learnign this about my DH. I was disappointed. I hope he hasn't been teaching my children this behavior. That is truly wrong.

On the other hand i would have kept the Best Buy card seeing as though i didn't know who dropped it.

I know that sounds hypocritical.

 

[poohluvrs]

Wow, couldnt Best Buy just let ya keep it? ItS not like they replace them if you loose them, so they pocketed $25!

ps - Im glad I saw your dentist comment, Im taking my 2 kids tomorrow, & am expecting a $300 bill...glad Im not the only one!

 

[Mermaid02]

Hopefully the person who lost the card had a receipt and can get another- I know our mall cards will do that. If not, that was nasty of Best Buy- they saved themselves $25.

 

[illini]

Wow, couldnt Best Buy just let ya keep it? ItS not like they replace them if you loose them, so they pocketed $25!

ps - Im glad I saw your dentist comment, Im taking my 2 kids tomorrow, & am expecting a $300 bill...glad Im not the only one!

Yes he had 2 fillings!!! That's why I took him to Best Buy I felt so sorry for him!

 

[christineann]

Does it pay? You can't put a price on your self respect, so I would have to say it does pay to be honest.

 

[nhrenee]

I won't even eat an apple from the "pick your own, orchard" My family thinks I'm ridiculous.

So, yeah. I think you should be honest but I'm not sure it always "pays".

 

[AKL_Megs]

I would have kept it! Finders keepers, and in most cases, like you mentioned, they DO deactivate them... more money for them! So rather than NOBODY using someone's hard earned cash, why not keep it for yourself?!

 

[Toby'sFriend]

well I can beat that --

last week I found a leather Coach wallet/purse thing (looked like a real Coach to me but what do I know?) out in the parking lot at the Grocery Store. Inside -- I counted over $400 in cash, about 10 credit cards, a couple of Gas Station cards, 2 Gold and Diamond rings just lying on the bottom ... and on and on. There was a driver's license in there, so it shouldn't have been difficult to locate the owner.

I didn't feel comfortable handing it in at the Grocery Store and the Police Station was just a couple of blocks away so I drove it down there. The guy at the desk took it from me and filled out a piece of paper and had me give my name and address and sign it.

I never heard back from the owner at all. Geeze, a thank you note would have been nice.

 

[ZipaDeeDooDah]

I believe what goes around, comes around. If you are honest, it will come back to bless you someday, somehow!

 

[AKL_Megs]

well I can beat that --

last week I found a leather Coach wallet/purse thing (looked like a real Coach to me but what do I know?) out in the parking lot at the Grocery Store. Inside -- I counted over $400 in cash, about 10 credit cards, a couple of Gas Station cards, 2 Gold and Diamond rings just lying on the bottom ... and on and on. There was a driver's license in there, so it shouldn't have been difficult to locate the owner.

I didn't feel comfortable handing it in at the Grocery Store and the Police Station was just a couple of blocks away so I drove it down there. The guy at the desk took it from me and filled out a piece of paper and had me give my name and address and sign it.

I never heard back from the owner at all. Geeze, a thank you note would have been nice.

You know, you should keep tabs with the PD... it's usually something like 90 days, but if they don't come to claim it in that time, you are entitled to it. But they won't tell you that. You should call and check it out.

 

[terri01p]

My son and I went to Best Buy this afternoon to spend a couple gift cards he had. On the way in I noticed a gift card in the parking lot. I did not pick it up thinking it was trash. While I was in there I got to thinking. When you redeem a gift card they keep it so there was probably money on it. So on the way back out I picked it up, called the # and there was $25 on it. I have to admit I was kind of excited like I had found money. So I hold for an operator thinking maybe they have a way of tracking who it belongs to and if not I am going to go shopping. I tell her the situation and she was like ok hold on. Then she came back and said ok you can cut it up now we deactivated it!
So flame away at me for being a bad person but I feel like i just lost $25! (Also I took my son to the dentist and that was $175 so I was still in shock from that!)

It does pay to be honest, but that was really stinky...she should have told you to keep it..that was sad.

 

[SwedishMeatball]

Does it pay? You can't put a price on your self respect, so I would have to say it does pay to be honest.

I believe what goes around, comes around. If you are honest, it will come back to bless you someday, somehow!

 

[PrincessMom2002]

If I had been the one to lose the card, I'd rather like to think that somebody found it and got a thrill out of a "lucky" find rather than the &@$# store pocketing $25.00. At least you still have your integrity!

 

[Enchanted Tiki Bird]

Yes you did the right thing and there's good reason that they de-activated. Basically, when you buy a gift card, you are given a receipt with it. If you lose that gift card, you can get a new one when you show the receipt so long as the original had not been activated. So, in essence, you could have very likely gave that $25 back to the rightful owner. Of course, Best Buy saves the $25 if the real owner doesn't come forward but I can still understand the policy.

 

[1Prince2Princesses]

Yes you did the right thing and there's good reason that they de-activated. Basically, when you buy a gift card, you are given a receipt with it. If you lose that gift card, you can get a new one when you show the receipt so long as the original had not been activated. So, in essence, you could have very likely gave that $25 back to the rightful owner. Of course, Best Buy saves the $25 if the real owner doesn't come forward but I can still understand the policy.

The voice of reason. Thank you for pointing that out.

(I still would have spent it, though)

 

[va32h]

Of course it pays to be honest.

My daughter left her wallet in the movie theater last year, shortly after her 10th birthday. We were so thrilled when we called the box office and someone had turned it in....

....minus all the cash and gift cards that were in it. Suddenly much less thrilled. She was devastated, not just that she had lost all that money, but that she lost what people had given her as gifts. She was afraid she'd be embarrassed when her grandmother asked her what she got with her Claire's gift card, for example, and she'd have to admit, nothing, because she lost it.

I know that sounds like a sappy, treacly story, but whenever you find something valuable, there is probably someone on the other end who is truly upset at what they lost.

 

[Acklander]

I know that sounds like a sappy, treacly story, but whenever you find something valuable, there is probably someone on the other end who is truly upset at what they lost.

True, but on the other end, when my lost purse was returned without the cash in it, I hope it went to someone who needed it. In my delusional world, I prefer to think it went to feed someone who was hungry, or saved someone from eviction; not just to some jerk who felt entitled.