Last Saturday night a jewelry dealer from Texas was here with an associate.
They took a cab back to a hotel room. They left a bag with jewels in a cab estimated at 250,000.
The cab driver didn't see it till he cleaned the cab's trunk on Sunday.
Took it home. He said he didn't know if it was valuable or not. But figured it was. Said he couldn't sleep with the stuff in his house.
He saw a name on it and e-mailed the gentleman.
He gave it back and was rewarded with an undisclosed amount in a check and earrings with stones from his former Country India.
The guy from Texas said he couldn't remember the name of the Cab company but had called police in Chicago.
They really had nothing to go on to find this cab.
The man from Texas thought it was gone for good.
He and his associate went back to Texas and they got a call telling them the jewels were returned.
The cab driver said he couldn't keep them because he would be afraid what goes around comes around and something bad would happen.
I like knowing there are some really honest people out there today. When there are so many out of jobs and this cabbie could of made a lot of money.
I know this is an unusual incident when the things found are really valuable but would you if say a teller gave you back a 100.00 too much keep it or return it?
Would you feel like the cabbie that bad things would happen to him or his famlity if he kept it?

I would certainly return it. I don't think we're as short on honest people as mass media leads us to believe.

I can honestly say I would return it since a similar instance (though on a smaller scale) has happened to me before. Eating at a restaurant I looked at the tab and realized they had forgotten to charge me for the second dinner (was with someone).

I thought to myself, "Hmm, that's nice of them, but I had better check to make sure." Turns out they had forgotten to charge me. Was hoping for a freebie for my honesty but they immediately corrected the error... ah well, a clean conscience tastes better than the most deliciously prepared ill-gotten meal.

And they say us agnostics have no morals!

honestly, if I were too find 250,000 worth in jewels and jewelry, and knew or at least figured, I wouldn't get caught, I likely wouldn't return it. if I knew or reasonable thought that I would get in trouble, I WOULD return it. and no, I wouldn't think that something bad would happen to me, in fact, I would think something good had JUST happened to me. I would figure that it was my good karma coming back to me.

as for vic's scenario (a bank teller giving me an extra 100$) I would think it was my lucky day, and get a quarter of kind bud. again, no, I wouldn't worry that something bad happened, and figured karma was coming back at me in a good way.

I'm of the opinion that the vast majority of people are honest, hard-working and deserve better than they get.

This is based on feedback from an ethics lecture I wrote about a year or so ago regarding a similar story of money returned. The person returning the money was at first conflicted, but then gave it back. No thanks, no reward, nothing.

So was it worth the effort?

You'd be amazed at how many people have stories of their own and how many feel that returning the money was the right thing to do, regardless of no thanks or reward.

Regarding the bank teller, it might help knowing that the teller would have to pay the $100 back out of his or her own pocket when making that ethical decision.

Id be too scared not to return it! Although I would say it was tempting....but then how to you shift jewels? I have no idea. Yes I'd pee my pants then return them. If I found a bag full og money that would set me up for life, then that might be a different story.

Sounds nasty I know. Its hard to tell unless you are in the situation. I like to think im honest, but can't deny the fact that I want to look after no only number 1, but my family and friends as well. If I thought I could make my family and friends safe for the rest of their lives at the cost of me being dishonest, then I just dont know

Ah... this is a good question... If I found a quarter of a million dollars worth of diamonds, then yes I'd return them...

But if I found a quarter of a million dollars worth in bills...

I don't know, and I really hope I never fall into such a moral dilemma!

First, I want to know what two guys were doing in a cab with 250,000 worth of jewels...don't ya think they would rather use a rental car or limo or something, if only because most people probably don't think of cabbies as nice, honest, folks (I don't have that opinion, but my impression is that most people do)....seems odd to me, in which case I would call the police before trying to contact the people who left the jewels. I definitely consider myself an honest person. I've never stolen anything ever in my life...with ONE exception (which was indirect, I must add) and this ties in well with the question at hand.

In college, I was making a deposit at my bank's automatic teller machine and also withdrawing money at the same time. For some reason the ATM didn't record the withdrawal ($100 for books, it was a few days before clases started and I was buying the books I knew I would need before hand), but recorded the deposit (my financial aid check). I didn't do anything or say anything, partly because it was a machine's error and there would be no one to get in trouble for it, partly because I REALLY needed the money and, like unabomber, took at as a *sign*...I was not even supposed to be at the university that year because my mom and step-dad had made too much money to get the maximum grant money and we couldn't afford to get loans (they couldn't because of bankruptcy, I couldn't because I was worried about repayment)...I got a loan in the end and this definitely seemed like a sign to me at the time - "hey, K...you made the right decision to come back even though you really can't afford it...here's a little something for ya" LOL - It also helped that 2 years prior, my mother had made an ATM deposit and the machine lost the check and there was apparently nothing the bank could do, so there went over $500 of her money...so I felt this was kind of a repayment (since half of that $500 was actually MY money from a job we'd done together).

Oh and when my daughter was a newborn, our military store had photo processing inside the store (near customer service)...you could pay at the back or if you had other purchases, you could pay at the front. We had other purchases so we were going to pay up front. Well I stuck the pictures in the stroller (since we didn't have a cart, just the stroller) and they fell in between a crease at the top where the raincover is...didn't realize till we got home. I didn't feel bad about it though because they are ripping us off here BIG time. It costs $15.25 for ONE ROLL of double prints here and we really don't have any other options (the only English-speaking photo place I know of). I figure one $15.25 roll woudn't hurt them that much...they process all of the photos there so it's not like they're paying an outside company to do it...but those are the only two things I've ever stolen in my life and I'm very proud of that

btw, with that extra $100, I went and bought myself groceries that I badly needed and saved the rest for groceries throughout the year.

My mother-in-law is the most honest person I've ever met in my life, though. She would return a penny if the cashier gave her $.01 more than she was owed...and I've seen her do it (she's returned nickels anyway, not sure about pennies).

I have no doubt I would return them. I bought two huge $10 pumpkins at the grocery this past Saturday and as I sat in my truck going over the receipt, I noticed they only charged me for one. I went back inside, told the clerk at customer service what happened. She called the manager to see how to handle it and the manager gave me the pumpkin because of my honesty.

Sometimes doing the right thing has it's rewards.

I would return it also, whether jewels or cash. I am still of the naive believe that one should be able to lay their wallet, full of cash, down in the street, and be able to come back later that day to either retrieve it or have it returned to you. I have heard that this would actually be the case in many countries. I think that, not too long ago, it would have been the case here in the US, but today, I would find it surprising rather than expected to have the wallet returned. I found such a wallet many years ago, when I was about 7. It was just laying on the sidewalk when I was walking down the street. Full of $20 bills--a small fortune for a 7 year old, especially at that time. I took it home, and my Dad called the guy saying we'd found the wallet. I still remember the look of shock on his face when he opened it as he was getting back into the car, expecting, of course, to find the money gone but seeing that it was all there. Being 7, I was a little miffed at not being rewarded for returning it, but that look of shock on his face is still with me, all these years later (which also explains the 'lack' of any reward). However, I myself am not as consistently honest in this now as I would like to be--I have had numerous items stolen from me over the years, and have become a bit jaded....

As I do believe in a higher power other than myself , I feel that as I go through life's journey, this higher power lays before me...tests. "thou shall not steal," being one of the more important tenets handed down to me by this higher power at a very early age has instilled in me that if something does not belong to me, it is not mine to have.

Any adverse effects that losing a wallet, the jewels or possessions a person may feel having lost these things immediately trumps, for me, any imagined benefits I may reap in having found them. For me, they become karmic "hot potatoes." So my reaction would be to return them as sound as possible.

I honestly think that the vast majority of people would return the jewels. Honest folks would do it out of honesty, while dishonest folks would worry about being caught, think it's a trick, etc...

Personally, I would return anything like that.... because I have a horrifying sense of guilt, a razor-thin margin of self-worth, and I would probably kill myself for doing something that dishonest...
I agree with Hobbes on this. You -should- be able to lay a wallet with, say, $10.000 in it on a table in a bar... come back in 6 hours... and retrieve an unmolested wallet.
My father, from North Korea, repeatedly told me that it couldn't happen, and that folk in the US are amazingly honest.
My mother, from Okinawa, repeatedly disagreed with him, recalling her past experiences in Naha... and told me that folk in the US, as a whole, are less honest than most other nations she's been in.
Having never left the country in my life, I can only speculate.
Are people as honest as they should be?
Is a socially repressed culture, like Japan's, actually beneficial to honesty?
Does the crisis in DPRK spawn dishonesty?
At this point.... I just don't know.

kimsouthern, these were 2 guys from Texas that deal with selling jewelery to celebs and they were in Chi-town showing what they had at different stores.
I threw in the question also if a teller accidentely gave you $100 would you return that?
Well I am a teller supervisor. These tellers have to balance. If they gave anyone $100 too much they are automatically written up. That write up is for 3 months. They have up to a 10.00 a month difference allowed. If they have a 100 and now 10 more they can be terminated.
So I find it interesting that some people would keep the 100 but not the 250,000 worth of jewels.
I have had before working as a teller been given too much back at a bank and grocery store and I have always gave it back.
I do think for the most part we have a lot of honest people.
Interesting replies.

I would have kept the $100... until you told me that. And I would keep the jewels, if I oculd guarantee not getting caught when I exchanged them for cash. Being something of a misanthropist, and never having really had much money, I'd help myself. I can only feel guilty when I'm completely aware that my actions would be exploiting a person. I'd never pilfer from a wallet, because the awareness that I'm robbing from someone's very own pocket is drilled home.

Hi and welcome Shinwa,

that is really interesting that your mother, who I assume is Japanese and maybe steeped in Shinto religion?
Do you think or would she think it is the absence of "spirituality" or religion in the US that makes her suspect americans to be dishonest or might it be something else?

just curious

Yes, she is Shinto (I am too, for that matter, but I don't practice it aggressively... that's my major difference with my mother)...
And she lived in Naha until she was 30. She says she trusted everyone she say in the city... even the American soldiers (something which has been compromised by the recent binge of rapes) with her life. Nothing ever got stolen, no crime, nothing. Then she came to Chicago, and discovered that the world as a whole isnt that nice. I think she was probably just shocked by the cultural differences, largely. Naha and Chicago are like day and night, when you compare the people, the culture, the... general amount of trust people place in eachother.
I, personally, think everyone is inherently honest. Some, however, lose this path....

I'd return to the jewels. I'd be too worried that I was on a hidden camera show and would like an *** NOTICE: THIS WORD IS AGAINST THE RULES. FAILURE TO REMOVE IT WILL RESULT IN A STRIKE. *** if I didn't return them.

I have had instances where cashiers give me back too much change. The one I remember in particular where they gave me back more than I gave. I gave the inattentive and disinterested cashier a twenty and they handed back twenty-six and some odd change. I didn't notice until I was outside the store. I rolled my eyes and muttered, "What an idiot," and kept on going.

On the flipside, the last few times I have been to McD's, my total has come to $5.01. (I order the same thing.) I never carry change so I'm handing either two fives or a five and a one to the cashier. Every time they hand back the extra bill. It's probably because it's just easier for them but I express my gratitude and I'm keeping track. Right now, I owe McD's three cents.

M L Iserman

I'm of the point-of-view that stealing, regardless of the
justifications one can come up with for doing it, IS WRONG.

If you are shopping at a store that overcharges for their items,
do not shop there. You know the price before you are going to buy it,
so you have the choice.

People seem to find "good reasons" for their dishonest actions.
"It wasn't hurting anybody," "the store charges too much,"
"it was the only place where I could get my film developed",
"it was God's way of paying me back for earlier losses", etc.

It all goes back to lessons learned as a child. I was taught that stealing
(in any form) is wrong. My grandparents, and my mom were excellent
role models in that regard.

The question to ask is this: What would you want to happen to you?

Would you want someone to not pay for an item they got from your place
of business? If you lost your wallet would you want it returned? etc.


What goes around will eventually make its way back around (good or bad).

Plus, our children learn from the examples we set. It's our responsibility
and duty to show them the value of being honest.

This reminds me of something I heard recently. A friend of mine has just been to California, along with several mutual aquaintences.
During the trip, they made some money, and one of the guys (lets call him Jack) had some 30,000 kroner in his wallet as they drove around in the hills outside of Los Angeles. 30,000 kroner is 4,756.30 US dollars.

After they had driven around for two days they returned to the city, and were driving along when suddenly Jack discovered he had lost his wallet.

Having no faith in Americans what so ever he almost didn't bother to search for the money, but they drove all the way back to the hills, and entered a bar where they had stopped for a while.

The Bar keeper had found the money and in the mean time had called the rental car company. Jack was forced to re-evaluate his opinions of Americans...

Actually, you owe three of their other customers the $.03. Inside, at the counters, they have a little tray, like at the convenience stores. If you have a few extra cents you don't want in your pocket, drop it in the tray. If somebody else needs a penny or two, it comes out of the tray. Next time you go by and you have $5.05 for your $5.01 meal, tell them to keep the change. Somebody else might need an extra penny.

As for the cabby, he did the right thing. I always remembered hearing from my grand parents as I grew up, "Having morals is not what you do when in public, it's what you do when no one else is watching."