Honestly, waitress returned $2,000

USA Today ^ | 09/19/03 | Staff Writer

[bedolido]

HANNIBAL, Mo. (AP)

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Goodness and honesty bump!

[TADSLOS]

I hope that an offer of appreciation in the form of a generous tip was extended.

[Rennes Templar]

Appreciative? I would've given the waitress a ten percent reward.

[Lunatic Fringe]

A nice story of honesty... but a sad testament to the state of our society that this is newsworthy.

[joesnuffy]

Must be related to that other famous Cassidy
with the white hat
at least in spirit

[MineralMan]

"Appreciative? I would've given the waitress a ten percent reward."

And if I were the waitress, I wouldn't have accepted it.

[TopQuark]

"She could not believe she dropped it," Cassidy said.

But she did. If I were in her shoes, I would reach into the envelope and hand a few bills to the waitress.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Would that be the "wing em in the gun hand" Cassidy ?

[Sender]

There was a study a few years back where researchers dropped wallets on the sidewalk in several major US cites, full of cash and with IDs from a nearby address, just to see if anyone would do the right thing.

As I remember it, only 1 or 2 wallets got returned, one of them without the cash. The vast majority of people took the cash and dumped the wallets in the trash. Sad.

[sockmonkey]

I had a friend who found a wallet (sans money) outside of a local grocery store. She looked at the driver's license, found the woman's # in the phone book, and called her.

The lady came to pick it up.When she saw the money was gone, she yelled and screamed at my friend, and accused her of stealing the money out of it.
My friend said if she ever saw another wallet lying somewhere she would just ignore it.

I wanted to whack the old biddie up aside the head. She was so nasty and ungrateful to someone was trying to do the right thing.

[vin-one]

lost my wallet once, the lady knew my mother in law and returned to her,
I got a call did you lose something,
I also found a wallet and calle the person, with money and returned it
I also found a $20.00 in the street out side of a bar,
had a great time......

[quark]

That was a Readers Digest investigation. Actually, the results were better than you indicate, but not as good as they should have been. Depending on the city, "honesty" rates could be as high as 70-80%. Others of course were much lower.

[quark]

If they were to be a next time, your friend should just turn it in to the police.

[ffusco]

I found a briefcase outside 43rd and 3rd in NYC. The BMW driving jerk who came by to pick it up treated me like I stole it. Obviosly no reward was forthcoming.I should have took a crap in it.

[Protagoras]

"You might as well congratulate a man for not robbing a bank."..Bob Jones

[Protagoras]

My friend said if she ever saw another wallet lying somewhere she would just ignore it.

It would be a perfect example of one jerk changing someone else's kindness.

I'll bet someone like your friend won't just leave it lie next time either. Good people remain good regardless of others shortcomings.

[steveo]

Aye Cassidy, an honest wench ye be. A seat at the captain's table for ye to-night.

[MalcolmS]

I have read that in Saudi Arabia, where the penalty for theft is amputation of a hand, when one finds a wallet one leaves it on the ground and calls the police, as possession may be misinterpreted.

[agrace]

HA! Speaking of mothers-in-law, my husband left his wallet in the backseat of a cab in Manhattan a few years ago (we lived there at the time) and a day or so later my mom got a call from the guy who found it - hers was the first number he came across inside it. She called us and said the same thing to my husband. He was embarassed but oh so grateful - it was completely intact. Imagine the odds.