Annnnddddd this is why he's homeless.

Just kidding- I've turned in money I've found before- but if I was on the streets... don't know that I would have.

If that were America, the cops would've beat and arrested him and then skimmed the cash.

I wouldn't either, though he may have figured that had he started spending it, he'd be instantly accused of being a thief. Maybe three hots and a cot isn't so nice over there.

Change? I heard that California is super-cool to the homeless.

\Just don't try and jump over them.

cgraves67: If that were America, the cops would've beat and arrested him and then skimmed the cash.

So you're saying he would have found €7000 and the cops would have beat him up and taken the €5000 to the station where the clerk would have put the €3000 in the inventory where a notice would go out stating that €1000 was found?

Good money decisions

He should have spent it on lottery tickets.

Not sure if Austria is like England, but there could be a "theft by finding" law that compelled him to turn it in.

Stupid people make Jesus do a facepalm. He goes through the effort of having money almost land in their lap, and the dumbasses keep turning it over to the police.

Katolu: Not sure if Austria is like England, but there could be a "theft by finding" law that compelled him to turn it in.

England is a land chock full of stupid that makes common sense a capital crime.

How much is that in Earth-monies?

pute kisses like a man: he was a recovering alcoholic. he may have feared that he would have blown the money on booze.

he was in a shelter getting food and treatment. It may be the case that he was where he thought he needed to be. money doesn't solve all problems, sometimes it can feed your problems.

not to mention, he did the moral and legal thing to do. found money is not yours by law.

I do believe you're forgetting about the Finders-Keepers act of 1921...

You know where the money went, don't you? Often the best thing to do is to burn it, and leave that which is lost, lost. Regardless how you look at this story, maybe a "Hubris" tag should be invented.

Did the police find the owner of the €500?

In the Dallas / Ft Worth metroplex the rules vary. In Ft. Worth if you find cash and hand it over to the cops they'll try to find the owners and return it to you if they can't find the owner.

In Dallas they just pocket the cash.

pute kisses like a man: In america, the law requires that you turn it in.

Assuming the law ever finds out that you had it.

That's why you don't go out shopping for diamonds and cars if you find a money stash. Don't bring attention to yourself and just spend it in small amounts over time.

Didn't anyone ever watch "Goodfellas"?

Idiot.

In most parts of Europe there's the 'year and a day' rule when it comes to lost property, where property reported becomes that of the finder if it's not claimed within a year and a day.
If the lost property was not sufficiently advertised as such, then there is also an argument for de facto unsolicited goods, the catch being that the property could neither be used nor damaged for the period required for declaration of ownership.

All of that aside, Austrians are generally a quite law-abiding and respectful people. Must be all the sun, surf and shrimp on the bar-b...

groovykindahate: In most parts of Europe there's the 'year and a day' rule when it comes to lost property, where property reported becomes that of the finder if it's not claimed within a year and a day.
If the lost property was not sufficiently advertised as such, then there is also an argument for de facto unsolicited goods, the catch being that the property could neither be used nor damaged for the period required for declaration of ownership.

All of that aside, Austrians are generally a quite law-abiding and respectful people. Must be all the sun, surf and shrimp on the bar-b...

Sees what you did there:

/hot

When Ive found wallets I have gone to return them to the rightful owners. Now if I was out for a walk and found a bag full of money then you all would be invited to the Groppet crack party! Naaa Id probably just get my bathroom fixed up.

Link (new window)

(language NSFW)

The good part of me says "Return the money to the owner."

The logical part of me says "Take the money and use it to build a life."



By the way, how do the police decide if somebody's report that they're missing a certain amount of money is valid or not? I'm just thinking maybe if I reported that I lost $10,000, they'd eventually find that amount of money and just "return" it to me.

TV's Vinnie: pute kisses like a man: In america, the law requires that you turn it in.

Assuming the law ever finds out that you had it.

That's why you don't go out shopping for diamonds and cars if you find a money stash. Don't bring attention to yourself and just spend it in small amounts over time.

Didn't anyone ever watch "Goodfellas"?

[amgar.blog.processalimentaire.com image 300x225]



WTF, Mexico! We told everyone, no spending the Space Cash right away!

Damn that was funny- who would they even buy these water parks from? Everyone's got an equal share of this stuff of perceived value, yet no one knows how much it's worth or even why it's valuable.

7,000 euros (8,850 good ol' U.S. of A. bucks) would pay my house taxes, the dentist, new glasses (desperately needed) for one of my kids, and maybe even fix the car. Turn it in? Wow, that'd be a VERY hard one to do. I think I'd consider it manna from heaven.

The guy who lost the money hasn't even so much as thanked him. The money was in 500 euro denominations, meaning that wasn't the money of an average joe. For both those reasons, he deserves it more than the arsehat who lost it.

What a good man. I can't imagine losing those 250 euros.

CSB time:

Many years ago my wife and I were visiting Carmel and the 17-Mile Drive (new window) in California. We were at the "Lone Cypress" (new window) and when we got to the large observation deck, we noticed a large purse lying on a bench. We sat next to it for several minutes as the various tour busses and other tourists came and went.

After nobody claimed the purse after about 20 minutes, we took it up to our car to see if we could track down who owned it. We found passports, hotel reservations, a VISA card and about $4,000 in $20 and $100 bills in a manila envelope. Apparently the purse belonged to a young woman from Austria on her honeymoon. We took the purse to one of the 17-Mile Drive entrance points, and were in the process of writing down an inventory with the ranger when he got a call from another ranger inquiring about the purse. The other ranger sent the Austrian couple over to where we were to pick it up. Neither of them spoke much English, but the young man was very grateful that we turned the purse in. No doubt they would have been royally screwed without their passports and money. He repeatedly offered to pay us some kind of reward, which we refused. The Austrian wife gave me a big hug (she was hawt!) and they went on their way. My wife and I felt tremendous satisfaction that we could help them, and hoped that they would go back to Austria and say that not Americans are jerks or thieves.

Just as we pulled out of the ranger station to head back on our way, an uninsured drunk driver T-boned our car. My wife and I wound up in the hospital for almost two weeks with major injuries and our car (needless to say) was completely totaled. Plus, we were several hundred miles from home with no family to be able to call upon to assist.

TL;DR version: Karma doesn't exist.

The correct answer is...: CSB time:

Many years ago my wife and I were visiting Carmel... Karma doesn't exist.

Jesus! Definitely not a CSB (well, the first part is). Have you thought of looking them up on FB?

Maybe they'll buy you a Foster's

This points out something not everyone realizes about the societies of this world: truly good people rarely do well here. This world is set up to make it easier for liars, thieves, politicians (redundant, I know), etc to do well. The more that a person truly cares about the well being of others, of society as a whole, and so on, the harder it is for them to get anywhere in this world.

Even the people we know got their wealth through somewhat legitimate means, like Bill Gates, really got it through theft. He stole the entire idea and much of the software from Apple (look it up if you don't know), and Microsoft has a history of being ruthless in crushing competitors via unethical and illegal practices. This is just one example. It's a pervasive problem here.

it was his big break and he didn't want it.

unless he thought turning in the money would somehow become a big break.
good luck with that.

The correct answer is...: CSB time:

Many years ago my wife and I were visiting Carmel and the 17-Mile Drive (new window) in California. We were at the "Lone Cypress" (new window) and when we got to the large observation deck, we noticed a large purse lying on a bench. We sat next to it for several minutes as the various tour busses and other tourists came and went.

After nobody claimed the purse after about 20 minutes, we took it up to our car to see if we could track down who owned it. We found passports, hotel reservations, a VISA card and about $4,000 in $20 and $100 bills in a manila envelope. Apparently the purse belonged to a young woman from Austria on her honeymoon. We took the purse to one of the 17-Mile Drive entrance points, and were in the process of writing down an inventory with the ranger when he got a call from another ranger inquiring about the purse. The other ranger sent the Austrian couple over to where we were to pick it up. Neither of them spoke much English, but the young man was very grateful that we turned the purse in. No doubt they would have been royally screwed without their passports and money. He repeatedly offered to pay us some kind of reward, which we refused. The Austrian wife gave me a big hug (she was hawt!) and they went on their way. My wife and I felt tremendous satisfaction that we could help them, and hoped that they would go back to Austria and say that not Americans are jerks or thieves.

Just as we pulled out of the ranger station to head back on our way, an uninsured drunk driver T-boned our car. My wife and I wound up in the hospital for almost two weeks with major injuries and our car (needless to say) was completely totaled. Plus, we were several hundred miles from home with no family to be able to call upon to assist.

TL;DR version: Karma doesn't exist.

I may jumping to conclusions but did you not get an insurance settlement?