Honesty!

[britainswomble]

Do you ever wish you weren't so honest?..............

 

Bit of a story with this one. Recently I was driving one of our tankers and came up to a roundabout, and a dropside van passed in front of me. I just happened to notice that it had a pack of fencing timber in the back. It roared off into the distance and I thought no more of it.

 

     About a mile up the road I saw something lying in the road and thought **** me (Goodness me!), that was a Dewalt battery drill. I reversed up the road only to see an artic thundering towards it. I waved and pointed to the drill in the road and he stopped for me to pick it up. I drove on up the road with my trophy, having ascertained that it was in full working order. I then saw the van coming from the opposite direction and wondered if he'd lost it. I made a note of the name on the van and carried on to my next delivery. Coming back from that I again saw them coming from the opposite direction .

 

     The Poirot in me made me think that he probably came from the fencing company near the roundabout where I originally saw the van, so I rang them and asked if this van had been in to them. They said it had. I asked them to contact the firm, and ask them if they had lost something. I said, "Don't tell them what I've found; just ask them to tell you what they lost." and gave them my phone number.

 

     The following day I had a call from the fencing contractor asking if I had found their drill. I said yes and arranged to meet them and return it. They took it off me explaining that their side locker was always coming open; said thank you, literally threw it in the back of their pickup and drove off.

 

     Two things stick in my mind............ one, if that had been my £150:00 ish drill after about a 1000 to one chance of ever getting it back again; I would happily have given someone £20:00 as a thank you. Secondly, I wondered just how many people would have been as stupid (Is that the word?) as me and tracked down the real owners. 

 

     I really wanted that drill, but thought how I would have felt, had someone known it could have been mine, and not returned it. Sometimes I just wish I wasn't so honest!!!!!!! Doooh!

 

[tractorbob]

i would have done the same..fair play to you..

[robbo]

What price your integrity though?

 

My Niece's boyfriend, (who is only 28), has got Multiple Sclerosis which is now quite advanced and he has a tendency to drop things. A couple of weeks ago he lost his wallet which contained his disability benefit which is a large part of their income for that week. The following day there was a knock on their door and there stood a man with his wallet, still containing all the cash, it would appear he had traced them via some papers with his address on that had been in the wallet.

 

Nice to know there are still some honest people in the World, well done.

[Barry]

Fair play to you William, you went out of your way to get them there drill back to them, and got a thank you in return

 

Next time you find their drill, keep it!!! 

[britainswomble]

My honesty also got me in the poo, big time!

 

I once found a wallet on the road, and a number of other items scattered along the road nearby. Being the good citizen, I returned it to the address on some of the information in the wallet.

 

     When I arrived at the house, it was crawling with police. Someone had recently reported a burglary! I spent the rest of the afternoon in Caterham Police Station, having my fingerprints taken and making a statement. ........ just to eliminate me from their enquiries of course!!  

[powerrabbit]

Honesty in the context of this discussion has to cut both ways, on the one side honesty such as William has demonstrated in this case is comendable and without question. It's the honesty on the other side that could be questionable as we are now in a social age where everyone regards everyone else with suspicion and mistrust. We would all like to think that others would treat us as we would treat them but unfortunateley life is not like that now. If anyone finds an item of value or that's been lost the right thing to do is to take it to the local Police station even if, in the case of a wallet and the like, it bears a name, address and/or phone number. I say this because if you make contact with the owner they are just as liable to say that you stole it, it's not been unknown, if you do return anything that's marked in this way you should contact the owner, ask them to identify the item by description and if all checks out invite them to come to you or for you to meet somewhere and make them sign a bit of paper for it confirming their receipt of the property from you as the finder, that way nothing can go wrong. I find it hard to trust anyone nowadays.

[MF-ROB]

I once found a snap on adjustable spaner laying on the road still have as I did see who owned it and just last week me a a few guys went out for a few pints there was bingo going on it the next room later on that night we where heading on and as I passed the bar on the way out I see the bundle of rolled up notes which look like a large some of money it was someone bingo winnings £2500 rolled up I was very temped to take it and walk on but it wasn't right so I told the bar man and handed over the money he thank me for be honest and said theres not many people like you out there

[HS.]

Depending on what it is, if its someone's wallet, watch phone or that sort of thing i would be heading straight to the police station, but tool wise I would probably keep them, as they will always come in handy... Anyone want an estwing claw hammer...

[Leakeyvale]

I always say honesty is the best policy and I have always returned found items if there is a way of tracing the owner or handed them in. 

 

I once found a silver bracelet made of double links and very pretty. This was in a London park so I delivered it to the park office saying where i had found it.  Six months later the chief park attendant saw me walking my dog and handed me the bracelet saying it had not been claimed so it was now mine.

 

Back in the seventies I picked up a wallet that flew off the roof of a car leaving a petrol station.  It contained a driving licence, several fuel bills and about £15 in cash.  As the owner lived in Ramsgate and I had no telephone number I sent it registered post to the owner with a note.  3 days later I received a letter from him saying how grateful he was for the return of his property as without the fuel bills he could not have reclaimed the cost never mind the loss of £15 (more than a week's wages to me at the time).  He enclosed a postal order with the letter which not only covered the cost of the registered letter but enough over to buy a three course lunch for three!  That was gratitude.

 

A pity your honesty was not similarly rewarded, William.

[ertlerik]

You did good

[Guest]

Well done to you -  i like you always hand stuff in but when i tell others what  i do they often say how they ev  kept the money & binned the wallet --  i point out that  one day it may be there wallet thats lost  & that makes them think on it a little more

[HS.]

I remember, well think it was 2003, outside a nightclub a young woman dropped her purse as she drunkingly made her trip home, being the gentleman in which I am, picked up said purse and attempted to run after her, I eventually caught up with her and handed her purse back, the rest of the story can't be told before 9 o'clock,

Also last year picked up a wallet containing a large amount of cash, credit and debit cards, it also contained a small address book which had the address to the owners house,which was only around the corner from where it was found, so I took it around and can't say I was as lucky as the night in 2003, I ended up in the local nick after being accused of stealing it,

As I said above i would probably keep the tools, but so far it's been the odd screw driver or claw hammer lying on pavements, the chances of finding a dewalt drill are slim as the local (non travelling) traveling community would have been of with it.