How often do you find money?

[JackBeck]

I've got quite a record. And I'm not talking about the occasional duckets hanging out in your jeans or coat pocket. I'm referring to random cash materializing at your feet.

A few weeks ago, I found an nicely folded $20 bill when walking down the stairs in my condo. And that's what got me thinking about this post. About a year ago, I found $100 bill on the ground while in line to buy my lunch; twice found $100 on the floor when working at Starbucks; and one of the perks of bartending were not only the tips, but finding cash on the floor after kicking everyone out at the end of your shift.

And the Mr.? He was in Miami for business, thought he saw a few dollars in the street, scooped it up, and it turns out he walked away with around $120. And one of the $50 bills had "Have fun in New York" written on it...and we lived in NY at the time!

So what has your luck been, DU Lounge?

[Tektonik]

1. I've had an amazing streak the past couple of weeks

Last week I found a 5, decided to test my luck and buy a mix of scratchers and lotto tickets, and one of the scratchers won me 4 bucks, so I need to go buy some lotto tickets w/ that 4 bucks some time to see if my luck extends :P

The week before I was walking to work, and between a freeway offramp and an office building near the Mormon temple in La Jolla/UTC, I saw what seemed to be a broken (the bracelet was separated at one of the links) ordinary watch on the ground. I walked passed it, but I decided to go back and pick it up. And to my suprise it was a Tissot Seastar 1000 in near perfect condition except for some scratches on the clasp, and the separated bracelet. I went to Sears after work and got it repaired for 5 bucks, then called a couple of retailers, and to buy it new would cost someone $595. I was enthused to say the least.

[JackBeck]

2. Now that's what I'm talking about.

Random situations that give you that extra boost.

Congrats on your find!

[BarenakedLady]

3. Never!

:cry:

[JackBeck]

4. Or as I'd like to look at it:

Not Yet...

You never know when it's gonna happen. It's totally random.

:hug:

[EnviroBat]

35. Awww, sweetie...

It'll happen to ya!

[skygazer]

5. Not often enough!

But I have had some lucky finds. I found $100 on the floor at a racetrack once and that was cool. Another time, a friend of mine was appearing in a local theater production and I didn't have the money for a ticket - I stopped by hoping I could just see her to wish her well and found $20 in a snowbank near the door! So I got to see the play. :)

[JackBeck]

13. It always seems to work out that way.

When you most need it.

:hi:

[Alexander]

6. I found $200 on the floor of a Boston Market in Phoenix...

Turned it in, said "someone may be missing this" and gave the manager my number in case no one claimed it.

The customer behind me said "That's a really nice thing you did!" and made me blush.

I gave them a week. Nobody claimed it, so I turned out to be $200 richer, and probably got some good karma to boot. :-)

[JackBeck]

14. The first time I found $100 when working at Starbucks

I did the same thing. After a week no one had claimed it, so I split it with the shift leader at the time. Second time, put it aside for a week and took home the booty.

[BlooInBloo]

7. Never. It's always my friends.

[JackBeck]

15. It could happen to you.

Never say never.

[StarryNite]

8. I just found a purse today.

It was left in a shopping cart in the parking lot of a grocery store. I grabbed it and took it into customer service. I never opened it. It could have had lots and lots of money in it. Or maybe it didn't have a dime. I'll never know. :shrug:

[JackBeck]

16. That's the right thing to do.

And I'd hope we'd all do the same.

Your example is different that what I'm referencing. I'm recalling all the times that I've seem random cash just lying on the ground with no identifiable characteristics of who the owner could be.

:hi:

[StarryNite]

17. In that case...

not often enough. I usually just see pennies and of course it's bad luck to pick them up if they are tails up.

[Divine Discontent]

21. I did the same thing you did, twenty years ago

(good Lord, it's been a long time) and I got YELLED AT because I was going to take it up to my boss in his office because the service desk was swamped, and the head cashier saw me and screamed at me, I was just a teen then, so I didn't yell back, but I said, politely, "if I wanted to steal it I wouldn't have brought it BACK inside Carolyn!" Made me so mad, the BITCH (sorry) who owned it, looked through her purse wadded with cash, and said THANKS to CAROLYN!

people....

I did get blessed last year, I found a GANDALF staff in the trash, worth 500 bucks! Sold it locally. :)
www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable <<<--- top '08 stickers & antibush stuff

[StarryNite]

31. Your story reminds me of the old saying

'no good deed goes unpunished'. Maybe that Carolyn is a DU member and hopefully she will see your comment and feel guilty! Naw, she was probably a Republican.

Actually today was the second time I found a purse left in a shopping cart in a parking lot. And both times the thought crossed my mind that the owner might come back just as I'm heading into the store with her purse. It's also a pet peeve of mine to see a woman with her purse in the cart. They are so busy looking on the shelves that it just wouldn't be that difficult for somebody to walk past and snatch the purse. I always carry mine on my shoulder to reduce the risk of having it snatched or me forgetting it in the cart.

[Divine Discontent]

32. ha.. good pet peeve, but you're right, and I like that old saying, thanks! n/t

[SmokingJacket]

9. I find change and $1 bills pretty often.

Once I found a $50 bill in a parking lot, but then I reached in my pocket and found that my own $50 was missing. :blush:

I once found a twenty in a snowbank, and kept it thinking that I had to find the perfect way to invest it. I kept it about three months, then got caught short at lunch one day and had to spend it.

[JackBeck]

19. Finding random money can help at just the right moment.

Looks like that twenty came at such a great time.

[lost-in-nj]

10. Not often enough!!

I find money in the washer machine
but I know whose it is!!!!



lost

[JackBeck]

20. You're into money laundering.

It now all makes sense.

:rofl:

:pals:

[foreigncorrespondent]

11. When I was a kid...

...walking to school one morning I saw a HUGE wad of cash on the ground in a persons driveway. I picked it up took a look at it, estimated there would have been around $10k easily all rolled up, so I returned it to the person in the house. What did I get for my trouble? $1.00 reward.

Over the years I have found money, and also lost money. I once saw a guy on a motor bike take off from a set of traffic lights on a quiet street. As he took off his wallet fell out of his pants, so I figured I would grab his wallet take a gander in side for some sort of I.D. and return it, unfortunately there was no I.D. in it at all, and around $300. I handed it to the local police station, no one claimed it, so after a waiting period of three months, they police called me and I received the money.

Working in the security industry, we see a lot of money, and do handle a lot of money. One of my ex supervisors asked me once, what would I do if I found a brief case with no I.D. to be found, around $5k in cash, and three grand final football tickets. Would I hand it into the police, keep it, or try to find the owner? I answered that I would hand it in. He was pretty impressed by that, because he was in a situation where he had found himself in that exact situation, and for one hour he pondered about what he should do about it.

Whilst at work once, I found a passport with over $1000 in it, while doing my patrol of the mall where I worked. I handed it into the customer service area, because they had a safe there. The woman was so thankful, because it was her ticket money for a vacation that she brought the entire security team a heap of pizzas for dinner one night.

When I seriously think about it, finding money for me is unusual. If I don't need the money, I usually find it with some form of I.D. but if I am going through a rather difficult time financially and find money, I usually can't find the I.D. so I consider this to be a gift from the Gods that be.

Interesting thread topic Beck! :)

[JackBeck]

22. Jeebus!

Your stories beat mine by a mile.

You've definitely been presented with scenarios where you did the right thing. Mine are simply money at my feet when there is no rightful owner.

Keep up the great work, fc!

[bikebloke]

12. About 50 Dutch guilders

In Holland, of course. Besides some bushes, sodden with rain. But dried out, they worked just fine. Dank U Nederland.

[JackBeck]

23. I'm a believer in that it comes to you for a reason.

When you're not able to pay that month's rent, and then you find some on the ground...someone out there is taking care of you.

:hug:

[femmocrat]

18. I find pennies all the time....

and I do pick them up! If they are supposed to be good luck... why don't I find some real money instead!

"Find a penny and pick it up; All the day, you'll have good luck."

It doesn't even rhyme...

:shrug:

[JackBeck]

25. All in good time.

It's totally random, so you never know when it will happen.

[InvisibleTouch]

24. I find pennies constantly.

I take them as "gifts from the Universe," kind-of a message saying "You're on the right path, things will turn out okay."

I was walking with a friend once, and he was just amazed that I found about 6 cents in pennies just during our brief stroll. Another friend used to get contemptuous and claimed it wasn't even worth picking up a penny - but I once found enough to pay for a stamp.

Sadly it's almost always pennies, though, and nothing more. I think the most I ever found at once was $8 outside the post office, on a cold winter night shortly before Christmas. I definitely have the "knack," or the correct search image - I just wish I could turn up the volume a bit! :)

[JackBeck]

26. Every little bit helps.

:toast:

[stuntcat]

27. $5, once :\

The funny thing about this thread is just yesterday another online friend just told about laying his bank envelope holding $300 on the top of his car and then driving off.
So either I need to be careful or keep an eye out for lost money.

[Omphaloskepsis]

28. I found a 50$ on the street one time..

When I worked at a movie theater I would find about 5$ per day when it was slow. And about 30$ on the weekends. We made 4.25$ per hour so this really helped out. And of course those are guesstimates. Some nights I would find a couple hundred, sometimes I would find two quarters. I found a lot of weed too. Those seats are made to have things fall out of pants pockets. You would be amazed at how many purses and wallets get left behind. Some employees would steal the cash from them and put them in the garbage.

[Nevernose]

29. Is NO ONE going to freak out over the spelling of "ducat?"

No one? Not one?

DU, I am ashamed.

(Don't talk to me. I'm pouting.)

(Nope. Still pouting, still feeling pretentious.)

(Okay, still pretentious, but the pouting is fading now, a bit.)

[mitchum]

30. I saw a $100 bill on the sidewalk last week, but didn't pick it up

C'mon, I'm no fool. Everyone knows that only found pennies are lucky. Geez...
:)

[pagerbear]

33. Once in an ATM

It had one of those dispensers that is like a tray. Some of my cash had gotten stuck in the chute, so I reached in and found my cash plus I think about $80 of someone else's! I wasn't quite sure what to do--the ATM was in a fast-food restaurant, and frankly I had no faith the restaurant management wouldn't keep it if I turned it over to them. I made a quick note of the financial institution that owned the ATM with the intention of returning the cash to them, but one thing led to another and it never happened. That was a pretty crummy thing to do, and I feel pretty bad about it.

[stuntcat]

36. do not feel bad

Few people would've even thought of how to return it. Whoever left it just made the mistake of not checking the money they took out.

[EnviroBat]

34. I was pulling into my apartment parking lot on sunny day last summer.

I see this little green-ish piece of paper, so I stop and it's a 20! I grab it and look around some more. About 30 feet away, there's another wad of twenties. So I'm up $120.00 at this point. The following day I stop by my mail-box on my way to take a little road trip. There's a round trash-can next to the mailboxes, and as I'm about to throw away the junk mail, I see a 100 dollar bill right on the top of the trash in the can! So I snatched that up too. not a bad two days at the apartment complex. I still wonder why someone wound throw money in the trash, but hey, what-ever gets you chubby!

[stuntcat]

37. Wierd..

You are Lucky! :headbang:

[EnviroBat]

39. Yeah, I know. I was wondering if someone had been running from the police.

And decided to "ditch" evedencial cash or something. There are quite a few dullards in the place where I live, so anything is possible

[dysfunctional press]

38. i probably average $80-$100 per year...

i have a spinal condition that has my head bent/fused pitched downward, so i'm pretty much constantly looking at the ground in front of me when i walk- i tend to find a lot of...interesting things...but then, i also haven't stepped in dog shit in years.