Sivad wrote:It would be shitty not to try to find who it belongs to and return it. That could be some single mother's rent or grocery money, you could really fuck up someone's life by just keeping it. If you knew it belonged to some rich asshole I'd say keep it, but if you don't know you have to at least try to find out.
Who lost it is immaterial. If it's right to return it in one instance, it's right to return it in all instances.
The issue becomes one of likelihood. Are you likely to find the owner?
I was in Ireland in 2018 and in my room safe (on the floor in the closet), pushed all the way to the back, I found a women's wallet. It had identification and about £400 in cash. I took the wallet down to the front desk and turned it in. The woman who'd lost it had stayed in that same room about six weeks prior. The receptionist asked if she could give the owner my name and e-mail, if requested for a thank you, etc. I said yes.
After being home for three days, I got an e-mail from the woman, thanking me profusely for turning in not only the wallet, but all of the contents, as well. She said when she reached around inside the safe she couldn't feel it, so she assumed she'd lost it elsewhere. The safes are so low you really can't see too far into them. She was very appreciative.
Now, had it been merely £400 in cash, it would've been a very different story. There would've been no way to ascertain who the owner was unless that person had already reported losing £400. In that case, I would've asked the receptionist if anyone had reported losing that much cash. If so, I'd definitely turn it over. If not, I'm not so sure I would.
I think the right thing to do is make at least
some effort to determine who the cash belongs to and, if you can determine that, you return it...
Courage is knowing that something will hurt and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same thing. That's why life is hard...