If You Found $7,000, Would You Keep It?
A woman found an envelope full of cash outside Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and turned it over to authorities. Would you have done the same thing? Tell us how you would’ve handled the situation.
A find outside Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport could have made a woman thousands of dollars richer.
WSB TV reported Tuesday that Pamela North Hollowaay found an envelope full of cash outside a parking deck at the airport. The woman, who works at the airport, immediately turned her find over to her supervisor, who then contacted police to pick it up.
It was later discovered that the envelope contained $7,000—all in $100 bills. Authorities handed over that money to a man who was able to identify how the bills had been wrapped and what was written on the envelope that contained them.
Here’s what we’d like your take on: Would you have turned the money over to authorities, or would you have kept it? Would your decision change if this situation were different in some way? And lastly, if you kept the money, how would you spend it?
Share what’s on your mind with us, and then return here to see what your neighbors in Cobb, Douglas and Paulding counties have said.
Pam J
9:01 am on Wednesday, March 6, 2013
First, I don't understand how you lose an envelope with $7,000 in it. How does that happen? And I think we all hope we would do the right thing in a situation like this, but would we. I found a wallet outside the South Cobb Library last month. It had credit cards and the guy's social security card in it. I honestly don't think it ever occurred to me to keep it. I marched right into the library and gave it to one of the employees. Only afterwards did I think about what I could have done with the credit cards and the social security card. If you are a good person, even if you kept the money and spent it, I don't think you would ever feel good about it.
J
3:38 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013
If I found a social security card and credit card I would feel good about turning it in. I'm a victim of identity theft and I know how it feels. I would be relieved that those items were found and returned back to the person. I'v done it before, I dont see how someone would not feel good about it.
Pam J
4:44 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013
I went back into the library a few days later and they said the guy had picked it up. They said that he didn't even say "thank you". But I'm still glad I did it.
Jacqueline Mcgarity
11:41 am on Wednesday, March 6, 2013
I found $1,000 on the floor at the airport when in transit. I was going to turn it in to the flight attendants but I figured they would keep it so I boarded my flight and kept the money. Is it wrong that I kept it?!? It was on the floor... No wallet... no envelope..
Renee Booker
1:53 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013
nope
Greg
3:11 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013
And did you feel good about yourself spending the money? I think I would have looked around and see if anyone looked frantic searching for something they lost and asked them.
Pam J
4:48 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Did you check to make sure it wasn't counterfeit? I probably wouldn't have given to a flight attendant either, but I would have called the airport when I got to my destination and asked if anybody had reported losing the money. I did find a $20 bill laying on the floor in Target last year. I went to the service desk and told them, but they said to just keep it. I gave them my name and phone number, but they never called. So I spent the money. I guess it just depends on the circumstances and the amount of money involved.
JACQUE
11:34 am on Thursday, March 7, 2013
Found a wallet laying on a table at the post office one day and called the guy at work based on his business cards I found in the wallet. Asked if he lost something. He said yes he had lost his wallet. I told him I had it and would bring it over in a few minutes after he described it to me. When I got there he was on the phone and instructed his secretary to have me leave it for him. I could see him yapping away on the phone through the window of his office and he waved at me so I did. I left my business card tucked in the wallet sticking out. I never even got a polite thank you and there was over $800.00 in his wallet as well as several credit cards. No good deed goes unpunished I guess.
J
12:51 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
While it is nice to have a thank you or some kind of politeness or appreciation from doing a good deed, I think what's most important is our conscience. We cant control how other people respond to what we do when we do good things. I do believe in karma. When someone doesnt appreciate any good deed that I do, I brush it off and know some good energy will come back to me and I know at the end of the day I have a clear conscience. Some people are just ungrateful and unappreciative and sadly enough we can't control that. I continue on this path, because I do hope it becomes a ripple effect.
Karen
2:38 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
Doing the right thing is always right when it comes to finding a large amount of money. You always have to ask yourself if that had been you that lost the money, wouldn't you want that person to do all they could to make sure it was returned to to you? There will always be jerks out there who never show appreciation for good deeds. Shame on the man who did not take the time to personally thank you. You proved you are a better person than him.
Charles Schwable
8:37 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
Some people that have been down and out and on the streets have found large sums of money to turn it in have been blessed either by God or the person who lost or misplaced the money with a job or other needs they have prayed for so honesty is the best policy! I used to work with a elderly grandmother in the 90's at Shoney's restaurant on Thornton Rd who struggled to raise her grandchildren because her daughter was on drugs and had custody of her grandchildren and customers who come up to her and hand her hundred dollar bills and tell her the Lord told them to do this when she didn't have a way to keep those kids either clothed, fed, or a roof over there head so you never know if that money dropped on ground was a test from God or honest mistake.