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Are you ABSOLUTELY honest?

(56 Posts)
Daddima Mon 10-Jul-17 10:32:17

We were having a discussion yesterday about finding money, and keeping it. If I remember correctly, nobody would hand in a pound to police, and only a couple would hand in five pounds ( I wasn't one of them!) . One of us said she would keep a large amount of used notes, if she was sure she wouldn't get caught!
I'd hand in ten pounds, in case it belonged to a poor person or child.
We then moved on to getting duplicate items we'd ordered online, and most agreed we'd keep the duplicate, and wait for the company to ask for it back!

There was nobody who could claim to be ABSOLUTELY honest, as they would keep quiet about things like being given too much change, items missing from restaurant bills, no conductor on train etc.

What do you say?

annsixty Mon 10-Jul-17 11:10:22

A family member had new garden furniture a few weeks ago and last week she had an e-mail to say it was arriving the next day. She rang the couriers who wanted no responsibility, they would still deliver. She rang the store, they had nothing on their computer showing an outstanding delivery. I told her just as above, you have notified them ,just let them discover their mistake and let them pick it up. As till today they have heard nothing.

M0nica Mon 10-Jul-17 11:57:11

I think it depends on the circumstances. I have certainly handed in a large sum of used notes(about £100) that I found on the ground. The loser rang the police station while I was there, was told that someone was in the station handing it in and didn't express a word of gratitude, just said they would be in to collect it and rang off. Even the policeman on the desk was taken aback by the lack of thanks.

On the other hand I once went to an office stationers, bought two desk chairs and a lot of other stationery and when the till bill seemed a bit low I queried it and asked the till clerk whether he had rung up that I had bought two chairs not one. He was quite rude to me, saying he knew his job and I had an accurate bill.

When I got to the car and the staff member with the trolley with the chairs had loaded them into my car and I had packed the rest of my purchases in I sat in the car seat and checked my bill and I was right, I had only been charged for one chair, I then drove off. I felt that I had drawn the till clerk's attention to the fact I thought I had been undercharged. He rebutted my suggestion that this had happened quite rudely, so I drove off, more in temper than anything, and I still feel uneasy about having done it.

rosesarered Mon 10-Jul-17 13:41:50

Yes, am honest as the next person, as probably most are ( ah, but how honest is the next person?) grin
I always hand in money or found objects, do as you would be done by ( not do others!)

gillybob Mon 10-Jul-17 13:54:30

Many years ago my (late) husband found a wallet containing a large (for the time) sum of money, lying close to a busy railway station. There was no name in the wallet and no means of identifying the owner. He handed the wallet into the station lost property. He was asked to sign a form which he happily did and was given a slip of paper suggesting he call back into the office after a given time (I think it was 28 days?). Anyway a month or so passed and he called back into the office and was told that the wallet had not been claimed. We weren't very well off and I can only imagine his face, thinking that his honestly had paid off and we could treat the children to something nice.

Imagine his dismay when he was told that he had (unwittingly) signed a form saying that if the wallet failed to be claimed then the contents became the property of GNER and he had no claim. He did try to say that he wasn't told what he was signing and it did call into question whether (on this occasion) honesty paid.

Teetime Mon 10-Jul-17 14:29:50

Yes I am honest as I believe that kind of behaviour only comes back to bite you another time -unless of course its golf related!!! grin

harrigran Mon 10-Jul-17 14:44:34

I am too honest, I was in a department store and found a five pound note on the floor so handed it to an assistant. When I got home I found a five pound note from my coat pocket was missing, I had placed it there to purchase a greetings card but hadn't found one I liked grin

M0nica Mon 10-Jul-17 14:52:57

I do not think anyone is absolutely honest. We all have our petty little dishonestys that I doubt if we even recognise.

callgirl1 Mon 10-Jul-17 18:44:51

We picked a £10 note up from the floor of a fish and chip restaurant in St. Andrews a few years back, and handed it to the proprietor, a friend said we were daft, that the bloke would have probably pocketed it. Many years ago, one of my daughters, then aged 9, found a purse on the funfair at Skegness. We took it to the police station, they opened it, there was only a 2p piece inside, but there was a return train ticket for that evening, plus a school library card, so I was picturing some young girl being stranded in Skeggie without her train ticket home. He took our name and address, and a few weeks later my daughter had a letter of thanks from the owner, aged 13, plus a £1 reward, which was a fortune to our Dawn, she only got a few pence a week pocket money. On the other side of the coin, she found a wallet in town a few months later, containing £120, handed it in, the police said it was claimed, but never a word of thanks.

WilmaKnickersfit Mon 10-Jul-17 19:03:59

I always think about lost money possibly being really important to the loser and hand it in somewhere if I can (usually a shop nearby or something like that). When you've not got much money, losing your last £10 can feel like the last straw. I wouldn't expect to hear about it again though.

Duplicate goods are a bit different though. In the past I've even rung up about them and they've still never been collected. Now I would hang on to them and see what happens.

Welshwife Mon 10-Jul-17 19:27:46

We have had the same about duplicate goods being delivered - must be too difficult to fill in the paperwork!

A couple of weeks ago we had a bill for our French lessons. Often it is wrong and we are charged too much so I put a cheque for the correct amount and a message telling why - it is never questioned. This time it was still wrong but it was short of a lesson - so therefore two fees. I put a note on the bill to tell them this and put in a cheque for the correct amount. I HAD to do that or I would have felt guilty for months!

Maggiemaybe Mon 10-Jul-17 20:30:02

I'm very honest, but... When self-service tills were first cropping up I was frogmarched to one by a jobsworth in Asda, carrying a big foam hand on a stick pointing to the darn thing and laughing at my insisting I didn't like them on principle as I thought they would eventually mean fewer jobs in store. I stood there visibly fuming while she did it all for me, with some difficulty, to show me "how easy it is" (even for little old ladies like you, was the sub-text). When I got outside and found the box of chocolates I'd bought hadn't been put through, there was no way on this earth I would have gone back in.

Deedaa Mon 10-Jul-17 20:45:24

Maggiemaybe Back in the 90s I was with DH when he was driving a lorry down to Italy. We had to go through Switzerland, and because they aren't in the EU (Hello Brexiteers) it meant an awful lot of paperwork and fees to pay. I was doing the best I could with my school French and the snooty clerk was getting very impatient with me. In the end he shoved everything back to me very rudely and told me to go. When I checked all the paperwork I found he had undercharged me by about £20 and no I didn't go back!

ElaineI Mon 10-Jul-17 22:18:25

I think if someone delivers something to you which you haven't ordered and you tell them then it is their responsibility to uplift it - I think that is the law!

Chewbacca Mon 10-Jul-17 22:47:04

Earlier this year, as I was walking back to my car in a multi store car park, I found a ladies purse by the parking ticket machine. There was £160 in it; some coins and several credit and debit cards. I asked several people if it belonged to them but, when nobody seemed to know who it belonged to, I started to walk back towards Debenhams to hand it in to their customer services. Just as I reached the door, a woman came charging towards me and said that the purse was hers. She stood in front of me and counted every note in the wallet and every card to make sure nothing was missing and then she turned on her heel and marched off. With not one word of thanks.

Maggiemaybe Tue 11-Jul-17 08:50:44

Chewbacca angry. I hope you at least threw "You're welcome!" at her back. If there wasn't a big clod of mud handy, that is.

ninathenana Tue 11-Jul-17 09:05:51

I consider myself honest regarding finding money etc.
However, I'm not above telling the odd fib shock I have led a friend to believe something other than the facts (on going) simply because I don't want to hear her strong opinions on the truth of the matter regarding a family member.
That probably makes me a bad friend.

MinniesMum Tue 11-Jul-17 10:26:40

Monica - that was dreadful! How can people be so mean. When I was 12 I was late home from school due to hockey practice. As I ran up the High Street I found a sealed envelope on the pavement. I was very annoyed as I was late for tea already but ran back to the police station and handed it in. They took my name and address and I ran all the way home still grumpy as was my mother when I was so late.
The next day the butcher came to our house very early and said that I had rescued his week's takings! Mum got a lovely piece of beef and I got £3 to go into my savings account. The day after that Mum and I and the butcher had our photos in the local paper. When we went to Church on Sunday I was led up to the front and everyone clapped. I discovered the true meaning of embarrassment as I was quite shy.

Ramblingrose22 Tue 11-Jul-17 10:31:36

This isn't very logical but I have kept relatively small amounts (coins up to value of £1) I have found on the pavement or in the ladies but I'd feel guilty keeping a large amount!

On the other hand, I was once under-charged for some curtains. I had not realised that I had been charged for only one one of the pair of curtains. The company realised but had to stick to the price as I had accepted their written quotation so it was effectively a contract.

I would always hand in a lost item (not necessarily money) as I once took a skirt (part of a suit) to a store to match up with a top and left it in the changing room. I was so grateful that it was handed in!

Kim19 Tue 11-Jul-17 10:33:30

Many years ago when a fiver was a fortune I was given change of £10 rather than the 5 I had handed over for petrol (pretty full tank at that!!). As I reapproached the window, the lady cashier put up her hand prohibitively and said rather unpleasantly 'sorry mistakes will not be considered once you have moved away from the pay point'. Okay...thanks....... Self service had never been heard of then.

wondergran Tue 11-Jul-17 10:34:38

I used to always hand things into the police station but not sure I'd bother nowadays. It's hard to find a police station even open and if you do then you have to queue for ages to get seen.

maryhoffman37 Tue 11-Jul-17 10:49:02

I have just had my flight reimbursed for the second time by an Italian literary festival. There was s ore temptation to say nothing, especially since I have to pay £7 every time I receive an automated payment in Euros. but i emailed them last night, as I knew it was a mistake.

Teddy123 Tue 11-Jul-17 10:57:36

Found an iPhone recently. Rang the owner. He turned up 10 mins later soooooo relieved and handed me a decent bottle of champagne.

I'm averagely honest! When we were kids we found a ten shilling note whilst out for a walk. Ran back home to our literally poor mother so happy that we could help her.

I wouldn't hand in jewellery .... I've lost quite a few pieces over the years and never ever has one single item been handed in.

Maggiemaybe Tue 11-Jul-17 11:18:08

I lost a silver chain and pendant and only noticed a few days later. Of course I knew the clasp was dodgy, so was cross with myself for wearing it. Over a week later I found it sitting on a low wall on DD1's road - it must have dropped off when I took DGS2 for a walk. It had sat there in full view all that time on a busy street, so there must be a lot of honest people out there.

On the other hand my new eternity ring vanished within two minutes when I left it by the sink in the ladies'. The same happened to my mum's engagement ring way back in the 1940s.

mazgoli Tue 11-Jul-17 11:19:53

I like to think that I'm honest and would hand in an item I'd found to the police station, or say if I thought I'd been undercharged. However, I would hesitate to hand something 'over the counter' if I'd found it in a shop. A few years ago I found a substantial amount of money in a wallet on a petrol forecourt, and handed it straight in to the person behind the till. Later, my husband called and asked whether a wallet had been handed in and was told "no". Someone had decided to keep it for themselves. Another time I saw a bicycle leaning up against a hedge and thought that it looked as though it may have been stolen and abandoned, half an hour later it was still there so I struggled to get it into my saloon car (awful lot of pushing and shoving, taking out, putting back in etc) and took it straight to the police station. The following day I had a visit from a police officer to say that someone had watched me stealing a bicycle. I was mortified! Imagine I had taken it home first to take to the police station the next day when actually it would have been more convenient? I would have looked like a thief.