When Honesty pays dividends......

[Bron357]

Two stories, separate, if you like a good one (or two), read on.
Many years ago returning to my car in the car park, a car, leaving the car park went over a bump and right in front on me something fell off the roof. Before I could even pick it up, the car had left and was driving off down the street.
A Wallet. I quickly opened it, nothing inside except what looked like thousands of dollars.
OMG.
I ran back to my car, jumped in and drove like maniac after the green car it had fallen off. Being just in my local suburb I was lucky enough to spot the car off in the distance and I followed in hot pursuit. Catching up, I tooted my horn, no response. Tooted again, still no response. So I followed the car all the way to where the car drove down a driveway. I parked my car out front, got and and called out to the elderly lady now exiting her car.
Of course (didn’t think of it at the time) she was unstandably nervous at having been followed all the way home by some crazy person who had been honking at her.
“excuse me” I called out “but this wallet fell off the roof of your car when you left the car park”. “It just has money in it, no ID or anything so I had to chase after you to give it back”.
She literally burst into tears.
Turns out, and this is before ATMs and the like, she was going on holidays to see her grandchildren and had withdrawn $5,000 from the bank, in cash, to take with her for expenses and presents for the family.
Well I got thanked and blessed and hugged and declined any reward.
It was great being able to return such a huge sum of money to its rightful owner.
Fast forward many years.
We have a baby, about 6 months old, and we are going interstate for a weekend wedding and my mum and dad are minding our daughter for the weekend. We are packing the car, baby and all her food, clothing, stroller, portable cot etc plus our suitcases.
We get to Mum and dads house (20 minute drive) and drop Eloise and her items off. I go to get $50 out for mum from my wallet (just in case she need) and ????? Where is my handbag?
We search the car. Nothing.
I must have left it at home.
It has the plane tickets, cash and my “fancy jewellery” in it so we frantically drive back home. Time is ticking of course. I search the house, no handbag.
I’m in tears, literally, and frantic when my mobile rings. It’s my daughters childcare phoning me. They have had a phone call from a man who says he has found my handbag lying in the gutter. He was on his way to work, he knows my name but there’s no address or anything in the bag so he has found a payment slip in my bag for the childcare centre (I don’t carry my drivers license in my handbag, I keep it with my car keys) and phoned them. They then give me his mobile phone number.
Time is ticking, we are going to miss our flight!
I phone the man, yes, the handbag, I had accidentally left it on the roof (or boot?) of the car and as we drove off it had eventually fallen off and landed in the gutter almost a mile from our house!
We arrange a meeting in the City, man with blue suit and red tie standing on the sidewalk. There he is, there is my bag. I thank him profusely, still crying, and we rush to the airport to just make our flight.
I have more than $10,000 worth of jewellery in that bag and a kind man found it and returned it to me.
So that’s why honesty is the only policy so that good karma can come your way!

 

[OreoRosies86]

 

[Rubybrick]

Two stories, separate, if you like a good one (or two), read on.
Many years ago returning to my car in the car park, a car, leaving the car park went over a bump and right in front on me something fell off the roof. Before I could even pick it up, the car had left and was driving off down the street.
A Wallet. I quickly opened it, nothing inside except what looked like thousands of dollars.
OMG.
I ran back to my car, jumped in and drove like maniac after the green car it had fallen off. Being just in my local suburb I was lucky enough to spot the car off in the distance and I followed in hot pursuit. Catching up, I tooted my horn, no response. Tooted again, still no response. So I followed the car all the way to where the car drove down a driveway. I parked my car out front, got and and called out to the elderly lady now exiting her car.
Of course (didn’t think of it at the time) she was unstandably nervous at having been followed all the way home by some crazy person who had been honking at her.
“excuse me” I called out “but this wallet fell off the roof of your car when you left the car park”. “It just has money in it, no ID or anything so I had to chase after you to give it back”.
She literally burst into tears.
Turns out, and this is before ATMs and the like, she was going on holidays to see her grandchildren and had withdrawn $5,000 from the bank, in cash, to take with her for expenses and presents for the family.
Well I got thanked and blessed and hugged and declined any reward.
It was great being able to return such a huge sum of money to its rightful owner.
Fast forward many years.
We have a baby, about 6 months old, and we are going interstate for a weekend wedding and my mum and dad are minding our daughter for the weekend. We are packing the car, baby and all her food, clothing, stroller, portable cot etc plus our suitcases.
We get to Mum and dads house (20 minute drive) and drop Eloise and her items off. I go to get $50 out for mum from my wallet (just in case she need) and ????? Where is my handbag?
We search the car. Nothing.
I must have left it at home.
It has the plane tickets, cash and my “fancy jewellery” in it so we frantically drive back home. Time is ticking of course. I search the house, no handbag.
I’m in tears, literally, and frantic when my mobile rings. It’s my daughters childcare phoning me. They have had a phone call from a man who says he has found my handbag lying in the gutter. He was on his way to work, he knows my name but there’s no address or anything in the bag so he has found a payment slip in my bag for the childcare centre (I don’t carry my drivers license in my handbag, I keep it with my car keys) and phoned them. They then give me his mobile phone number.
Time is ticking, we are going to miss our flight!
I phone the man, yes, the handbag, I had accidentally left it on the roof (or boot?) of the car and as we drove off it had eventually fallen off and landed in the gutter almost a mile from our house!
We arrange a meeting in the City, man with blue suit and red tie standing on the sidewalk. There he is, there is my bag. I thank him profusely, still crying, and we rush to the airport to just make our flight.
I have more than $10,000 worth of jewellery in that bag and a kind man found it and returned it to me.
So that’s why honesty is the only policy so that good karma can come your way!

simply speechless! What two wonderful stories!

 

[MissGotRocks]

Truly great stories - karma is real!!

 

[Tekate]

What goes around DOES come around. Happy stories!

 

[stracci2000]

When I used to work in a grocery store, someone found a 1940's five diamond cluster ring, about .75 ct. total.
The store manager said that if no one claimed it, I could have it!
So I wore it back and forth to the store for about a week, getting used to the idea that it was mine.......
when the little old lady who lost it came asking if anyone found a diamond ring.
I was kinda crying a little when I discreetly pulled it off my finger and handed it to her.
I was in the customer service area, so she couldn't see that it was on my hand.
She was so happy, and I was so sad.

 

[nala]

I’m a believer!

 

[dkata]

I believe also in karma!
@Bron357 I found your story really touching!

 

[Missy]

Good for you @Bron357 and I couldn't agree more. Honesty is the best policy. Always and karma is real. So relieved it all happened the way it did and thank you for sharing. I love hearing heartwarming stories like these because there is so much sad and bad in the world and hearing the good is a much needed tonic. Thank you!

 

[doberman]

These stories are good to hear. Glad that it all turned out so well.

 

[tyty333]

Amazing stories of people with integrity and honesty Bron! There are plenty of decent people in this world we just dont get to hear the positive stories
often enough.

 

[arkieb1]

My ex partner found a wallet at a suburban supermarket in amongst the dairy goods in a less than desirable suburb of Sydney. We were fairly poor Uni students at the time but he walked to the front of the store and handed the wallet in. Up the front of the store were two women, one of whom saw him handing it over snatched it out of his hands and started abusing the hell out of us, and screaming that we had somehow magically taken this wallet. So a heap of security from the supermarket comes over and we tell them how we found it sitting in a fridge with the dairy. They pull the video and sure enough the two women left the wallet sitting in the freezer, my ex found it and handed it it. It had about $10 000+ cash in it, and one of the women was about to go overseas with it.

The two women abused us, the shop staff pretty well everyone in the supermarket. The manager forced them to thank us and when they left all the staff said in that area of Sydney no one would have given the wallet back they should thank their lucky stars and they all agree that they were such A-holes to everyone my ex should have kept it - not that we would have, but they were some of the rudest most ungrateful people I've ever met.

I dunno if it is Karma or not, but I'm glad you got your bag returned.

 

[LJsapphire]

Wow, that's amazing. The old lady was lucky you were there, and karma was definitely on your side.

I took my parents to Liverpool a few years ago for the Beatles Magical Mystery tour. Dropped my (quite new) iphone outside the train station. Phoned it and a lady answered, luckily she met us outside the train station so I could collect it.

 

[anne_h]

Great story Bron!! I'm so glad that stranger was the one who found your bag!

Here are my small 'lost item' contributions to humanity:

- While out walking, I found a wallet with credit & debit cards in it. Googled the name on one of the cards, found a phone number and called it. Lady was so thankful since she had already lost her wallet once prior and had just replaced everything.
- While out trick-or-treating with my kids one year, I found an iPhone dropped in some grass near an apartment building. I held onto the phone until someone called it. It was a teenager's mother trying to help her daughter find the phone. We arranged for her to pick it up. She was appreciative.
- While out with my kids, we saw an iPad left on the ground outside the doorway of a closed shop. We waited a few minutes to protect it and see if the owner would return. I had just called a local municipal body to report it, and then a young woman came running over looking for it. We returned it to her and she thanked us.
- While shopping, I found what appeared to be someone's laptop bag near the ladies' shoe section. I waited by the bag for ~10 minutes to see if the owner would return. When no one came, I turned it into store security. On a future trip, the security officer told me a young woman had left it behind, and was very grateful for it, as it was her work computer.

So far, I have not lost anything myself and had it returned. I *have* had an iPod stolen out of my backpack years ago on the subway. Did not enjoy that so much...

Anne

 

[tyty333]

My ex partner found a wallet at a suburban supermarket in amongst the dairy goods in a less than desirable suburb of Sydney. We were fairly poor Uni students at the time but he walked to the front of the store and handed the wallet in. Up the front of the store were two women, one of whom saw him handing it over snatched it out of his hands and started abusing the hell out of us, and screaming that we had somehow magically taken this wallet. So a heap of security from the supermarket comes over and we tell them how we found it sitting in a fridge with the dairy. They pull the video and sure enough the two women left the wallet sitting in the freezer, my ex found it and handed it it. It had about $10 000+ cash in it, and one of the women was about to go overseas with it.

The two women abused us, the shop staff pretty well everyone in the supermarket. The manager forced them to thank us and when they left all the staff said in that area of Sydney no one would have given the wallet back they should thank their lucky stars and they all agree that they were such A-holes to everyone my ex should have kept it - not that we would have, but they were some of the rudest most ungrateful people I've ever met.

I dunno if it is Karma or not, but I'm glad you got your bag returned.

Wow, arkieb! Those are the most ungrateful people I can imagine! If I had know how it would have played out I would have wanted to keep it and donate the
money to an animal shelter. Sorry your good deeds turned into a tongue lashing. I'm sure Karma will come back to visit their ungrateful souls!

 

[luv2sparkle]

What great stories Bron! So happy you were able to get everything back safe and sound!

When my kids were young, we found a wallet in a Costco parking lot. We were really struggling at the time and the wallet had about 75 dollars in it. Had just a brief second of wishing we could keep it. We found the drivers license and drove to the house-and it was quite a ways away. This was way before cell phones and gps, we had to use a map book. It was not easy. When I knocked on the door and told the person what I had found ( I can't remember if it was a woman or man who answered the door), they grabbed it out of my hand and slammed the door in my face-not even a thank you! Lol it is funny now, but at the time, we were hoping for a lesson in doing the right thing for our kids. In spite of everything it did turn out that way. If any of them ever finds anything they always find a way to return it to the rightful owner.

 

[LLJsmom]

Lovely stories. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Bron357]

Cheers everyone.
And the time I was at a kiosk buying hot chips for my daughter.
I placed my order with a rather surly man behind the counter and handed him my $20 note.
He came back with my order and almost “threw” my change at me.
“Excuse me” I politely said.
WHAT NOW ! He snarled with nasty look on his face. Ugh!
“Never mind” I said and walked away with change from a $50 note, not the $20 I had given him.