Taking stuff that isnt yours

[Guest2]

Yesterday on the bus I was with my mate and saw a Zara bag under a seat. I said "I wonder whats in that bag"

My mate then said "You still havent learned to not take things that arn't yours. You learn that when you are about 5"

Cue an discussion/argument about the fact I would find stuff and keep it when he would hand it in. (Even though he found someone credit card and tried to get £70 cash back on it and was caught and got done for fraud when he was drunk!)

I said you learn from your experiences and i have lost a lot of things that have not been returned to me, phones, cameras, wallets etc. I also found a purse when i was about 10 and all my mates told me to keep the money in it (£20) and chuck the other stuff away. I did the right thing and returned it to an old woman who took it off me and didnt even say thank you.

Whenever I find something like a Camera, Phone or anything really, I will keep it as it makes up for the things I have lost, even though it may not be the 'right' thing to do in other peoples eyes. E.g. When i was travelling I lost a number of cameras and 2 phones and had my towel stolen off a washing line. I took someone elses towel in return and ended up finding a new Camera.

Would you generally keep things or hand them in that you find?

 

[Guest2]

How is it theft it its in the middle of the street? Im not theiving it from anyone or a house. I have posted a couple of wallets back to their owners before that just had their cards in.

Just saying things like an ipod in the street or when there was some speakers near some binns. We ended up using them for 2 years and they were ok

 

[Guest2]

My girlfriend and I found a wallet once in a the cathedral grounds.

We remembered seeing a couple walking away from the spot we just got to, girlfriend sprinted the whole length of the grounds to catch up to them (£35 in there too).

Not even a thanks.

Its exactly this sort of thing that makes me think 'Next time FU, its mine'

Like what i did when i was younger, walked all the way to the address shown in the wallet then got a door in my face for my troubles

 

[Guest2]

It would be interesting to do a survey on this. Say go down a very busy street like Briggate in Leeds, drop and iphone or ipod touch and watch what happens to it then wait to see if anyone trys to return it

My guess is that the percentage rate of it being returned is about 20

 

[Guest2]

So you're trying to justify your immoral actions by saying that everyone does it?

I despair

No, because I dont know that every would do it. My guess is that they would though (not hand an ipod touch in to the police station)

 

[Guest2]

I have done the same with a wallet, returned the wallet with all cards minus the tenner that was in it. Same happened to me when i lost one in a taxi

 

[Guest2]

In the UK, I'd hand pretty much anything I found into the police.

Over here Czech Police are so corrupt handing stuff in to them would deprive the original owner as much as me keeping it would, I'd probably try to contact the owner direct if there are any contact details in the property, if not I'd put a poster up where I found it.

A bit different in Czech republic as I know. In Prague a few years ago we got a taxi back from a club and asked the driver how much it would be. He said 20 euros and all was fine. Then when we got to our hotel he demanded 40, mates tried to get out without paying and he pulled a gun on one of them! He then kept him in the car until we went and got 40 euros.

Thats proper theft!

 

[Guest2]

So you're a thief and a coward. A thief because you steal and a coward because you don't even stand behind your thieving.

A thief maybe (for picking up things in the street and not handing them in) but certainly not a coward. I saw a woman getting mugged once and ran to help, luckily the mugger ran. I could have been injured or worse.
Same thing when some chavs were picking on a guy on the bus, everyone was stood/sat around not doing anything as they were wacking him over the head, just ignoring it. I was the only one who said/did anything or seemed to even care!

I got mugged once, by some random stranger. Does that mean it's OK for me to punch a random stranger in the face and steal their wallet?

No, of course its not. I have never mugged anyone. What you should have done was punched the random mugger in the face.

If something isn't mine, I don't keep it. Other people's dishonesty is not an excuse for being dishonest.

Thats a fair point, but my feeling would be that someone else would only find it and keep it instead. Maybe I just have a duller view on human nature than people on here, or have grown up around people who would keep what they find