Taking stuff that isnt yours

[ChrisJSY]

i'd keep money any tech stuff but i'd hand in wallet.
bye find something is different to stealing.2. Usually, stealings. something that is stolen

What? English?

How is stealing something an item you take that is already stolen? Sense make no.
If you knowingly take items from someones wallet when you can easily return it to them via I.D, you're a filthy swine.

Some people here, you make me sick of society trying to justify all this.

 

[Slime]

No, for two reasons:

i) I am not a thief.
ii) I know that staff are held responsible for cash handling mistakes. Maybe she was subject to the company's disciplinary procedure because of you. If she'd made other mistakes, maybe she lost her job because of it.

I hate to sound harsh and maybe this is a little over the top, but if this wasn't the first time that this had happened, then she shouldn't be doing the job. I took advantage of her mistake, I would't class it as thieving as she handed me the money. I didn't deceive her or take the money without her knowing.

If I'd have walked out of there and only realised I had the money once I'd got home, would I still be a thief?

 

[gambitt]

Personally, I don't know if I'd trust the police to actually do something about it.

I agree. As I said earlier my accident damaged car was towed without any notification as the presumed it was stolen and abandonded. It took 2 days and many phone calls to find out where it was and when I was told which officer had arranged for it to be towed I had to wait for him to return from annual leave to speak to him personally. No one else could deal with it.

When my garage was broken into and 3 bikes were stolen the police just gave me a crime number and didn't even bother turning up to have a look or take fingerprints.

Once again we are back to the grey area. Not everything in life is as easy as internet forums make out.

 

[DJMK4]

My general conses is that if someone looses an item, its obvious that the registered keeper is not fit enough to own the item.

Therefore all guilt goes away.

 

[RDM]

What? English?

You think that is bad, wait till you see his maths...

 

[kylew]

I hate to sound harsh and maybe this is a little over the top, but if this wasn't the first time that this had happened, then she shouldn't be doing the job. I took advantage of her mistake, I would't class it as thieving as she handed me the money. I didn't deceive her or take the money without her knowing.

If I'd have walked out of there and only realised I had the money once I'd got home, would I still be a thief?

I'd say morally you're perfectly right, especially when you consider that a lot of shops state "we cannot rectify money problems after you have left the store".

So while they're happy to keep your money if you've paid too much, they've got an issue when it's not in their favour?

Some people here are high level keyboard warriors really.

People need to calm down with "scum" as well, it's got to be one of the most overused words I've seen lately and its usage has quite a range of situations attributed to it.

 

[KNiVES]

I handed a wallet with £120 in a few months ago. Police officer looked surprised, and asked for my details (I hand in lost things all the time, and this is the first time they asked for my info, must be because it was valuable stuff). A couple of weeks later, I got a letter in the post from the owner thanking me and it also had £20 attached. That made my week.

 

[kylew]

I agree. As I said earlier my accident damaged car was towed without any notification as the presumed it was stolen and abandonded. It took 2 days and many phone calls to find out where it was and when I was told which officer had arranged for it to be towed I had to wait for him to return from annual leave to speak to him personally. No one else could deal with it.

When my garage was broken into and 3 bikes were stolen the police just gave me a crime number and didn't even bother turning up to have a look or take fingerprints.

Once again we are back to the grey area. Not everything in life is as easy as internet forums make out.

Of course, some people on here think everyone else's life is an exact replica of their own though.

Too many people on this forum live in disneyland and use mickeydollars as their currency.

 

[mrk]

My general conses is that if someone looses an item, its obvious that the registered keeper is not fit enough to own the item.

Therefore all guilt goes away.

You don't register to keep your wallet, it either gets lost or is on your person.

Having something go lost doesn't mean the owner is a dunce automagically, that would be absurd.

 

[kylew]

You don't register to keep your wallet, it either gets lost or is on your person.

Having something go lost doesn't mean the owner is a dunce automagically, that would be absurd.

I very rarely lose things my self, though I don't think people who do lose things are stupid, it's just something that happens.

Also, "automagically" should be illegal and come with a custodial sentence.

 

[DJMK4]

You don't register to keep your wallet, it either gets lost or is on your person.

Having something go lost doesn't mean the owner is a dunce automagically, that would be absurd.

Why is it? if I was carrying a wallet with £200 inside I certainly wouldnt treat it like a packet of chewing gum or a lighter in my pocket..

 

[Fire Wizard]

jakeke, I don't have a problem with what you did. Many posters on here only think in black and white only. Good or bad. Finding an ipod in a busy street is entirely different to finding a wallet with ID or a phone that can be traced back to the owner.

Weather the item can be traced back to the owner or not is irreverent. If you find an item then you should hand it into the police. The fact that it's unlikely the item you found can be traced back to the owner is just a very poor excuse to try and justify keeping it for yourself.

If you don't have the time to go the police station the day you found an item then you should keep it until you can. If you won't ever be able to get to a police station for whatever reason, keep the item for yourself. However, don't try and convince yourself that is the right thing to do.

Don't let the OcUK do-gooder crowd get you down, they don't understand the grayness of the human condition.

I don't understand why you are attaching names to people that actually do the right thing.

 

[fendi]

I haven't had much luck with finding things but i've heard stories from guys I know at uni.

Once at uni in the library he sees an external hard drive on a chair tucked under a table. Two people were near it but he went over to them and asked them if it was theirs. After them saying no, he took it, without them questioning it, and hooked it up to his laptop. He could clearly see from the folders of the person it belonged to because of the S.I.D of various essays, and number of photos. He formatted it, and stuck it on ebay! 320gb!!

Another time one was walking home and found a nice bicycle lock with keys in it. He took the key to the lock off the keyring, kept the lock, and handed the rest into the police station.

It just goes to show what society is like these days. Luckily I haven't lost anything of value. Nothing would be worse than losing a wallet! Whoever finds it can keep the money, I would just wants the contents back!!

 

[Freefaller]

Good post.

I have a very similar viewpoint to your own - I will always go out of my way to do something decent to aid another. Sadly, I think some people are just fundamentally different from others in their values and morals.

Yes. People need to make time to look after one another - so what if it puts you out of your way? Do the right thing.

See my post above regarding the quick poll I took in my office. If you do the same I'm sure the results will be similar even among civilised human beings.

Some people simply put more value on material goods than others. Someone who has saved for months to buy an ipod would care more about it than someone who earns say £40k a year who would probably chose to purchase a new one because a few hours of their time is more valuable than a used ipod.

The "lost item model" that someone described would not work in this society. People do not simply have time to spend 1-2 hours helping each other when they can be fired for returning to work late from a lunch break spent shopping around town. What will they tell their boss? "It's ok, I was busy handing in a £50 ipod belonging to a complete stranger so please disregard the hundreds of pounds I cost the company this afternoon."

You're being a little ridiculous. My boss wouldn't reprimand me or my staff wouldn't get reprimanded for something like that, furthermore you can always hand it in at another time if you work in such a harsh industry/environment.

Even if were to take 1-2hrs (which it wouldn't) it's not exactly a lot of time.. I work at least 10hrs a day, yet still have time for the gym, spend time with friends, and have a life, yet have still managed to hand things in. It's not a big effort.

People SHOULD be making the effort "in this day and age" - I just don't buy the "modern lifestyle" as an excuse. It is just that, an excuse because people are too lazy to do the right thing. It's not about getting praise or reward, it's about being a good human being.

No one is or should be too busy to help another person out.

I handed a wallet with £120 in a few months ago. Police officer looked surprised, and asked for my details (I hand in lost things all the time, and this is the first time they asked for my info, must be because it was valuable stuff). A couple of weeks later, I got a letter in the post from the owner thanking me and it also had £20 attached. That made my week.

Feels good I never really got any thanks or praise, but it didn't bother me, though I did have to give my details which is fair enough.

 

[Freefaller]

Weather the item can be traced back to the owner or not is irreverent. If you find an item then you should hand it into the police. The fact that it's unlikely the item you found can be traced back to the owner is just a very poor excuse to try and justify keeping it for yourself.

If you don't have the time to go the police station the day you found an item then you should keep it until you can. If you won't ever be able to get to a police station for whatever reason, keep the item for yourself. However, don't try and convince yourself that is the right thing to do.



I don't understand why you are attaching names to people that actually do the right thing.

Bang on.

 

[mrk]

1. automagically 5229 up, 1650 down love it hate it

November 10, 2009 Urban Word of the Day
buy automagically mugs, tshirts and magnets
adv. Something that happens automatically, but that also has some mysterious, "magical" element to it. "Smart" appliances, features, etc. that do intelligent things with less help than you might expect.
I installed Windows, and it screwed up my system automagically!

Why is it? if I was carrying a wallet with £200 inside I certainly wouldnt treat it like a packet of chewing gum or a lighter in my pocket..

Nobody has lost a wallet with £200 in on these forums or anyone I know IRL so that's not a matter.What you've just said is a hypothetical example of what possibly could happen but rarely does.

A wallet going missing = common.
A wallet going missing with £200 inside = uncommon and most likely theft.

 

[jakeke]

If you don't have the time to go the police station the day you found an item then you should keep it until you can. If you won't ever be able to get to a police station for whatever reason, keep the item for yourself. However, don't try and convince yourself that is the right thing to do.

I admitted that the right thing to do was go to the police station (but I was too lazy/tired/had an irritated gf/in an unfamiliar place etc.) and I didn't want anything to do with the ipod in the first place, I still got an earful!

 

[SexyGreyFox]

Let's turn this thread on it's head -

If I lost a phone would I expect to get it back? - no
If I lost my IPOD would I expect to get it back? - no
If I lost £500 in a wallet would I expect to get it back? - no

Of course if I got that unexpected phone call I would give a reward but common sense says I would never get it.

 

[Deleted member 651465]

The fact that people feel it's ok to go routing through someone's purse/wallet looking for money is disturbing.

If I find a purse or wallet I have a look for ID or some way to contact the original owner. I'd never dream about going through looking for money, but then everyone is different as proven in this thread.

If you don't have the time or motivation to hand it in to the police, leave it alone.

 

[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