I found a wallet with 340 dollars in it tonight

[soleft]

My ex and were on our way to a party, I saw something in the street, it looked like a little red book. I said, what's this, and picked it up.

I was a wallet with 140 cash and 300 dollars worth of travelers checks, the name on the travellers checks was in Japanese characters and there was no ID in the wallet what so ever.

There was a hotel key card however, so we called the hotel and they said it was the only one in town - it was a Radison, that used that type of card.

So I went on to the party but my ex took the wallet to the hotel and gave it to the manager.

When we got home there was a call on the answering machine from a woman with a Japanese accent saying Thank you.

Isn't that a nice story? My ex is such a mensch.

[Ellen Forradalom]

1. That sure is a nice story.

I once found a wallet with $75 and scant identifying information. I had to do quite a bit of detective work to find its owner. He offered me a twenty from it, but I asked him for a beer instead.

[MrScorpio]

5. I've found two lost wallets before

Both times the owners offered me cash. I said no way. I just wanted the satisfaction of knowing that they got their wallets back.

It's a karma thing. I hope that someone does the same for me some day, if the shoe is on the other foot.

[Ellen Forradalom]

9. I did get my wallet back once

I lost it at a Todd Rundgren show and got it back in the mail a few days later!

Re: rewards: I figure if I ask for a beer, then I've have satisfied their urge to thank me at little cost. Plusl, it's a beer!

[populistmom]

14. Total Karma

I've never lost a wallet or found one either, but I've been uncharged numerous times at stores. I always say something, because otherwise, it just doesn't feel right in my gut.

[caledesi]

25. Same here. It's a Karma thing. eom

[soothsayer]

2. great story!

i love a happy ending

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

3. Happened to me once

outside a movie theater. The wallet, with ID, had a couple hundred bucks in it. I turned it in at the box office. They found the man who owned it, and he came up to me and shook my hand. The movie people were so impressed by the fact I had not taken the money from the wallet before turning it in, they let me see my movie for free that night.

Sometimes, doing the right thing IS the right thing to do!

[scarlet_owl]

4. Yay! If I ever lose my wallet,

I hope you two are the ones who find it!

[5thGenDemocrat]

6. Good for him

Why would you be an ex of a guy like that? Not that it's any of my business.
John
Honesty is its own reward, you know. And, yes, it's a very nice story.

[kayleybeth]

7. That is so nice!

Good for you and your ex! Great story, thanks for sharing :-)

[Interrobang]

8. I've got the other side of that story!

Before I started wearing my wallet on a chain clipped to my pants (no, that's not a fashion statement; it's a necessity!), I had lost my wallet three times, and got it back with all the money in it every time. Granted, I'm never in the habit of carrying much cash, so that's not earth-shattering news, though. ;-)

One time, I got a call from the police station saying that someone had turned in my wallet, and would I please come down and claim it. The constable apologised, saying, "It looks as though they took all your money, though," and I said, "Well, how much was left in it?" He answered, "About a buck twenty five," and I surprised him all to heck when I said, "No, that sounds about right for what was in it when I lost it. I'm not really in the habit of carrying cash." "No credit cards?" he asked, and I said, "Nope!"

[NJCher]

10. good for you

A couple weeks ago I dropped my small purse in the parking lot of Walgreen's and someone found it, took the money and threw it back on the pavement. A young woman found it and called me. I got all my credit cards, receipts and IDs back but was out $120 or so.

I'm taking her a poinsettia for Christmas. She was a sweetheart. Every few days or so I think about how I could be on the phone fighting identity theft if not for her goodness.


Cher

[Don_G]

11. I've Been Called A Mensch Before

The trouble is that I didn't know what it meant until I asked around DU and had to ask.

You're one and I'm another....

[ProudGerman]

12. I found a bank deposit envelope with almost 2 grand in it

It was while I was an electrician, doing a renovation in a bank. I was down underneath the teller counter, removing the receptacles and wiring. I found a really thick envelope, and it was dated for 8 months earlier. It had a name of a business on it that was located in the same shopping center. I opened it up, and counted up nearly 2 thousand dollars. I could of tossed it into my tool bag and none would have been the wiser. But I took it to the bank manager and turned it in. Didn't even get a thank you. I can think of at least 2 people who lost their job over that lost envelope, the teller and the person who took the envelope to the bank possibly.

Later that day, while I was up on a ladder, she left to go home. I looked down and was able to see into her purse as she walked by. The big wad of cash was laying in her purse. She probably went shopping that night.

I was hurting for money back then too.

[PinkTiger]

13. Wow

That must have taken a lot of nerve, for her to take that money.

My husband's wallet was stolen in Paris, on the Metro, last March. I told him not to wear it in his hip pocket, but he wasn't feeling all that well that night, and forgot.
The thieves, (we saw them and realized later it was them who got on and got off before the Metro moved) were two middle-eastern-looking men; obviously a gang. Larry lost more than $500 in cash and they used his credit card within 10 minutes to buy Metro tickets, $110 worth.
The wallet was never recovered; I'm sure they sold it; it was a designer wallet.

[alphafemale]

18. A gang of two...ehhh?

Oh that's right. Scary middle-eastener looking men. Even one of them is obviously a gang!

[Lefta Dissenter]

15. My husband set his wallet on the bumper of the car

while he was loading stuff into the trunk. Not a clever move! Of course, he forgot about it and drove off with the wallet still on the bumper. It fell off in the parking lot, and someone picked it up and followed my husband the 10 miles to our house, where he drove up the driveway and gave the wallet back to my hubby! There ARE good people out there (and absent-minded ones)!

[Blade]

16. I like that...I'm glad your honest...

when I found a wallet once, I took the money that was in it and left it sit. That was when I was in my early teens and did a lot of stupid shit.

[salin]

17. This makes me smile

:thumbsup:

[Exultant Democracy]

19. well done

[Bucky]

20. Hey. I lost my wallet!

Some Japanese chick stole it from me. Can anybody help?

[Guaranteed]

21. That is awesome.

You're a saint for doing that. So many people would have kept it. You made those peoples' MONTH. They were probably scared shitless, and you saved them.

GOOD FOR YOU. :yourock:

[scucci]

22. Your ex did the right thing.

If you're ever in Japan, I hope they'd do the same for you.

[Awsi Dooger]

23. Great choice, I'm glad I turned in the wallet with $4700

That I found downstairs at a Caesar's Palace pay phone in '96 or '97, at 6:45 AM on the first Saturday of college football season. I was making a lengthy (15 minute) phone call and noticed the wallet one phone away. It was obviously stuffed, and I kept rooting for the owner to retrieve it before my call ended. When that did not happen, I picked up the wallet and opened it while ascending the escalator. Virtually nothing but hundred dollar bills.

I was admittedly tempted, but turned it in to security without leaving my name. Years later , I told the story to a friend, who immediately recognized it. An elderly former military man had told him of leaving a wallet with $4700 downstairs at Caesar's Palace on a Saturday morning, only to be stunned when he returned hours later and it had been turned in to security, money intact. Unfortunately, the man had moved out of town and I never got to meet him.

Years earlier, someone had done the same for me when I left my wallet in a Circus Circus bathroom, my case rent money inside. I can't describe the relief when the security guard nonchalantly handed it to me, and I opened the wallet with everything there.

However, I did have one absurd experience after turning in a wallet that I found in a Stardust bathroom. It had very little cash, maybe 20 bucks, but there was a packet of white powder also, obviously drugs. About five minutes after I turned it in, three security guards surrounded me in the Stardust sportsbook and took me to the security office. I was grilled for at least 15 minutes, insinuations that the drugs were mine. Yeah, right, I stole someone else's wallet, placed my own drugs inside and brainstormed that the proper masochistic solution was to turn in the whole bundle to security. They actually seemed to believe that for a while.

[laura888]

24. I lost my wallet recently at a McDonalds

I went back the next day and the manager had it behind the counter.

It made my day!

[NJCher]

26. karma and wallets

I now think there is a kind of karma that goes along with finding wallets because the $120 loss I spoke of above brings to $200 I've lost by dropping my pocketbook somewhere.

But at the same time, on two separate occasions I've found $100. Once I found a hundred in a grocery store parking lot and another time I found a $100 bill stuck to the side of a building, near the ground. It was weathered but still clearly a $100 and I had no trouble getting anyone to take it as legal tender.

Story of my life. I always come out even.


Cher

[randr]

27. Thank You!

You have made us all richer.

[amazona]

28. when i found a wallet

It was crammed with cash, credit cards, etc. It was in the seat at a movie theater. I brought it out front and gave it to the manager. My companion scolded me and assured me that the manager would just keep the money himself.

Actually, it was even worse. A few days later, I saw that a local TV station had been doing a program on, how honest are the people in the greater New Orleans area? They were leaving wallets full of money and fake cards in, yeah, you guessed it, movie theaters to test whether people returned them or not.

So I could have kept the money and no one would have been hurt. The only thing that would have happened is that someone would say something nasty about me on local TV. It would have been well worth the money, because we were really struggling financially at that time.

No good deed goes unpunished. I still feel bad about it.

[buddhamama]

29. such a nice story!

you've made my day,soleft.
thank you for sharing.

[Deja Q]

30. You know, Bertha Venation could have used that money...

:evilgrin:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=531951

[thom1102]

31. I was just gonna say "is that where Bertha's money went?"

[Deja Q]

33. LOL!

:D

Cool!

[sexybomber]

32. You've done wonders for your karma. (nt)

[Crewleader]

34. Good Deed ! Good Woman!

:thumbsup:

[proud patriot]

35. Yay !

Way to go ! I'm so glad an honest person found it .

Now let's wait and see if The RW talk show host
tell their listeners about this post .

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Still waiting
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Still Waiting
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Oh well

[Zuni]

36. that is my wallet

just send me the $$ and will be even.

[Hand]

37. Hey, waaait a minute here...

340 dollars, you say....

BUT "140 cash and 300 dollars worth of traveller's checks..." Lessee... do the math... Damn if that don't come out to $440. AHA! YER BUSTED! YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE SENT TO GITMO!

Just kidding... ;)

[ibegurpard]

38. What a great story.

Just think of how grateful that person must have been.

[soleft]

39. Update - the woman who the wallet belonged to called again

She was from Japan visiting in NY, and someone was right, it was actually 440 not 340. I was planning to follow up with the manager of the hotel to make sure that it got to the owner - because even if the the hotel card key hadn't identified the owner, they could have called American Express and had them trace the numbers on the travellers checks.

My ex, and even tho he's my ex he's still my best friend, you can see why - said that she said when she gets back to Japan she's going to send him something, he said just a card would be nice. Who knows - maybe he has a new friend now. And good karma.

It is kind of funny that we were on our to a place called Japas for Karaoke when we found the wallet, and I was bringing with me a pinata in the shape of Hello Kitty. We were destined to find that wallet.