Money Lying on the Ground

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Would you believe that tonight I found a hundred-dollar bill lying on the ground? This is actually the second time in my life that this has happened to me, and both cases were right here in this poky little 12,000-person suburb of Los Angeles that is Sierra Madre. And jeez, who even carries hundred-dollar bills? You can't spend them!

You can deposit them, though. So I ordered NWN through the banner ad.

Have you ever found money? (I have often lost money, but all but once it was in my purse and came back to me undiminished.).

 

At the risk of sounding opportunistic, if she can cash it in does it matter?

How come you can't spend $100 bills?

 

I once found a REAL NONE COUNTERFEIT 500kr bill (around 80$) i used them the same day.

 

Hate to get up on the soapbox here, but did it ever occur to you to, oh I dunno, give it to charity? Take out the local homeless for a decent meal? Mail it anonymously to someone you *know* really needs it? Donate it to the public library? Soup kitchens? The Salvation Army? Cancer research?

Enjoy your new games.

 

£20 and £5, separate occasions.

 

No, it didn't occur to me that it would be counterfeit; I don't see how it being on the ground makes it more likely to be so. I doubt anyone put it there on purpose!

You can't spend hundred-dollar bills at most retail stores and casual restaurants because they too worry about counterfeiting -- the largest bill most will accept is a $20, which is also the only bill one can get from a cash machine. So you have to go out of your way to get one, and out of your way to spend one, so few are seen.

It probably has traces of cocaine on it. Or maybe it fell from a stripper's thong. Or out of an envelope Tony Soprano passed to the mayor of Sierra Madre. Sure, all this in the park where I walk my dogs. Anyway those are the leading theories.

...And at the risk of sounding defensive, Gonzago:

Pthfffffffft!

 

I once found 20 kr (2,5 $ i think) and won a pair of socks! And once I was in germany I found 1000 kr (120 $) and spent it on coke.

 

"Have you ever found money?"

Yes. But not quite like you did.

One of the classic moments was at a Toll Plaza for one of the Interstates (think Autobaun for the US, except with a speed limit). Anyways, you have to pay $1 to go through the toll booth, or these 'automatic' cameras take a picture of your vehicle license and send you a $80+ ticket in the mail. The catch here is that the $1 has to be in coins, not bills, so the automatic change counter will register it. You cannot insert pennies ($.01), but anything else is good ($.05/.10/.25/.50/$1) and will register in the machine. There's a change machine about 10 feet from the collector that will spit out $1 Pochatas coins at you if you put in dollar bills, so you're not stuck if you don't have change. Some poor schmoe was driving a truck through ahead of us, and obviously had never been through a toll road in the US before. He went on through, the alarms immediately sounded and I'm sure the cameras were popping off shots at him. As I pulled up to the coin collector, I saw he had shoved about $3 in bills into the collector chute, which properly account for his 3 axles and 10 tires. That same $3 were blocking my ability to properly put in my coins. I removed the $3, and dropped in my coins.

 

The poor guy -- now he's out $83.

All this has started me thinking about all the free money I have found over the years. Once an out-of-order cash machine just spat out $60 while I was using the one next to it. Needless to say, I waited awhile, but that was all it gave. I have found $10 and $20, on separate occaisons, on the street. There was the other time I found $100 bill -- though that later turned out to have been planted by my friend who had stolen it from her father, and I did not keep it.

And my favorite -- My two kids (maybe 4 and 5 then) and I were at the movies and I lost my wallet. We had taken the bus there, so we could not get home without money. It's late, it's dark, it's not a wonderfully safe part of town. No one has turned it in at the front desk. So I am searching the theater floor and I find -- someone else's wallet but not mine. Ack! So do I take only enough to get us home before turning it in, or not? I decide to do that -- three lousy dollars, right? -- and hide the wallet and go into a bathroom stall to take the $3 so my kids wouldn't see -- then I realize, I'm about to do something I don't want my kids to see me do? Hm. So, deep breath -- I guess I have to call a friend to come get us, and I go turn in the wallet, money intact. And get mine in return, money intact! -- apparently someone had turned it in while I was agonizing over the other one. It is a little too neat to have really happened, but it did.

I think I have amassed the most of these pennies from Heaven so far.

 

I work in a movie theatre; the highlight of the job is occasionally finding money that careless people have dropped. I've amassed a total of around $40, but some new guy found 65 his first day.

I hate new guys.

 

two years ago I went to the cash mashine to get some money and some people just left when I entered. They had forgotten about 200 Deutschmarks in the mashine and I called them back to take it. Bastards , didn't even give me a tip (next time I'll demand the honest finders fee - 10% )

However, when I checked my account the next time my bank had transferred me 100 Deutschmarks reward Kinda spooky though - they must have cross-checked the video with the account logs of the cash mashine ...

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited June 18, 2002).]

 

I have never once found anything more than £1, but if I did I would do the following things:

£1-£4 - give to a street entertainer
£5-£19 - Buy something at oxfam, then give it to a charity shop
£20-£49 - split into £1 coins, and give one to every homeless guy selling the Big Issue I see
£50+ hand over to the police, and tell them where I found it

 

Well...i found a penny once

 

the largest I have found was a $50 dollar bill. I have found some 5, 10 and 20.

 

/me dries spittle off face...

Thank you, Sir Yerril...nice to know there's still an honest man out there..

 

I found $20 before, but that's it.

 

Biggest pile of cash I ever found was outside the restaraunt I used to work at. I found a stained bank bag while taking out the trash. I had known that banks put dye markers into them so identification would be possible later. I left it alone and I reported it to the PD., not knowing it was what was left from a bank heist that occured earlier in the day not too far away. I was informed that there were 1500 assorted stained bills in there, but they wouldn't tell me how much it was worth. The bank gave me a $100 reward. Honesty does pay, but I wonder...