What would you have done?

Rocky_Dennis

Was in work on Sunday when a woman who regularly comes into the shop arrived at the till, she handed me 7 lotto tickets to put through the lotto machine to see if she had won anything.

As the shop was busy at the time, I asked her would she check them herself on the public ticket checker in the shop. She told me that she was in a rush, would I check them for her when I got a chance and she would call back later.

Put through a few of the tickets and the usual "not a winner" pops up on the screen. Anyway I get to the last ticket and scan it through, "this ticket is in excess of the amount of money that can be paid out here, please contact the national lottery".

So there I am with a lotto ticket in my hand, that potentially, could be worth millions of euro( it was a euromillions ticket) The woman is gone, I could easily tell her that she didn't win anything in her tickets.

So I print off the numbers for the particular draw to check and see how much she has won, turns out she is after winning 2 thousand euro. So at this stage I think to myself " do I say nothing and keep it (this crossed my mind for just a second as I'm sure it would with alot of people) or do the decent thing and give the ticket to the rightful owner"

So I finished my shift and decided to find out where the woman lived, had an idea of where she lived and knew her first name. Found the house and no-one at home, put a note in the door asking her to ring me, anyway, the following day, her son rings and tells me she is gone on holidays for 2 weeks. Pop over to him and give him the winning ticket, so it will be a nice surprise for his mother when she gets back from holidays


So my question to AHers is, would you have kept the ticket and said nothing or done the right thing and gave it back?

Aodan83

Give it back. Don't know if I would have gone through so much trouble over it though.

barbiegirl

Given it back definitely, there's no luck in keeping that kind of money. Your karma would have been ruined, plus you'd have been guilty.
But that's just me

Balfie

I would have gave it back.

smash

Deffo gave it back

There's no way I could even consider keeping it.

Hopefully the son actually does give it to her...

kmart6

He'll have it spent before she comes back...you woulda been better off keeping it!

Bipolar Joe

The guilt of keeping it would have destroyed me.

Eggy Baby!

Should have done the Irish thing and kept it.

hondasam

Andrewh1984 wrote: »

So my question to AHers is, would you have kept the ticket and said nothing or done the right thing and gave it back?

You did the right thing, it will bring you loads of luck in the long run.

cosmicfart

id have bought biscuits

--Kaiser--

Silly bitch for trusting a randomer in a shop, in fairness

petes

Why didn't you wait until she came back in to the shop? Seems a bit much to go around to her house etc.

DjFlin

I'd have kept it. Her son has probably spent it anyway.

Sykk

Make sure you ask her "Is she happy with the winnings" next time you see her. If she gets flashbacks of her son walking around with a pimp cane, fur coat and two females then she'll add two and two together

westies4ever

you did the right thing - after all she did put her trust in you.

foxyboxer

I remember a lottery company in the states were testing 7/11 stores where the same scenario was played out. i.e. the handful of tickets handed over by a plant.
One of them is worth $50,000. A few didn't say a word. And were promptly arrested!

Rocky_Dennis

Insurgent wrote: »

Why didn't you wait until she came back in to the shop? Seems a bit much to go around to her house etc.

She hadn't arrived back by the time I had finished my shift, I didn't want to leave the ticket in the shop because she had left the tickets with me and because she had won a resonable amount of money on the ticket, I didn't want to have it too long because if I misplaced the ticket, it wouldn't have looked good on me.

Radiotower

Are you 100% sure you dropped the note in the right house?
What if the guy wasn't her son but a neighbour in to feed the cat? He's 2000 better off now for feeding the cat...

dark crystal

You did the right thing for sure. If you had kept the ticket, she still could have checked it herself to make sure and then you would have been in real trouble!

You never know, she might even give you a little reward for being so honest

Sunnyisland

I would have kept it for her for when she got back from her holidays,then gave it to her or not :-)

IamtheWalrus

barbiegirl wrote: »

Given it back definitely, there's no luck in keeping that kind of money. Your karma would have been ruined, plus you'd have been guilty.
But that's just me

You believe in karma? :eek:

Rocky_Dennis

Radiotower wrote: »

Are you 100% sure you dropped the note in the right house?
What if the guy wasn't her son but a neighbour in to feed the cat? He's 2000 better off now for feeding the cat...

Funny you say that because when I called the first time, there was a cat hanging around the front door. Are you the guy I gave the ticket to?

100% sure it was the house, a girl working with me lives a few doors up from her as it turned out.

Abi

The son is gonna have a partaaay

thebigbiffo

2k: the guilt would have killed me
2m: i'd have killed the guilt (with margarita, on a cruise ship, in the med, with a hooker)

Mountjoy Mugger

She went on holidays because she knew she won 2000. It was a test.

CardBordWindow

I'd probably just start a thread on boards.....


Good call OP!

Tony10

fair play to you.good stuff.could have been a test?possible.But anyways, good to know there's still decent folk out there.cool.

bijapos

Andrewh1984 wrote: »

Put through a few of the tickets and the usual "not a winner" pops up on the screen. Anyway I get to the last ticket and scan it through, "this ticket is in excess of the amount of money that can be paid out here, please contact the national lottery".

Interesting, I always wondered what happened with a big winner with those scanners, I thought maybe a siren would go off and shower you with gold ticker tape like on TV.

Fair play for giving it back, though you should have waited till she came back. Telling the son to tell her to give you a bell when she gets back would have been better imo, better chance of a reward too.

Aoifey!

I'm not gonna lie, it probably would have crossed my mind to keep it, but I definitely would have given it back in the end.

The Scientician

Did she not call back?

gargleblaster

Definitely give it back. Can't imagine even considering keeping it.

Not for any woo woo like luck or karma, but just because it's right.

ScumLord

hondasam wrote: »

You did the right thing, it will bring you loads of luck in the long run.

No it won't.

You would have ended up in court and quite likely you would have lost your job. I don't think you could really have hidden something like that, alarm bells would have rang as soon as you started dressing like a pimp.

humanji

Would the powers that be not have found out that you'd stole the money? Isn't that what happened to some girl recently, who tried to take a winning lotto ticket for herself?

hidinginthebush

humanji wrote: »

Would the powers that be not have found out that you'd stole the money? Isn't that what happened to some girl recently, who tried to take a winning lotto ticket for herself?

Eh, she didn't try to steal it, she clearly wrote a sad smiley face on it, to indicate that, though she had mistakenly issued it, she intended to pay for the ticket herself at a later date :rolleyes: :pac: :pac:

revell

what if the woman wins the jackpot?

theparish

From personal experience those scanners do not always work.
I won a couple of scratchcards even though the scanner came up with no winner!

Interceptor

you should have waited for her to come back - that way if she forgot you'd have to claim the money and give some of it to charity to ease your conscience.

<EDIT> Did it not dawn on you to check lotto.ie and see what the potential winnings were? I call shenanigans...

'cptr

jonnyfingers

I would have kept it and asked for all the money to be paid out in 1 cent coins. i would then bathe in my stolen coin money laughing hysterically!

Interceptor

Interceptor wrote: »

<EDIT> Did it not dawn on you to check lotto.ie and see what the potential winnings were? I call shenanigans...

why would he have checked the internet when the machine printed out the winning amounts for him?

I wouldn't have gone to all that trouble OP but I definitely wouldn't have kept the money. Although if you hadn't called to her house you probably would have assumed after 10 days that she wasn't going to come back and then kept it!

dsmythy

Aodan83 wrote: »

Give it back. Don't know if I would have gone through so much trouble over it though.

barbiegirl wrote: »

Given it back definitely, there's no luck in keeping that kind of money. Your karma would have been ruined, plus you'd have been guilty.
But that's just me

Balfie wrote: »

I would have gave it back.

smash wrote: »

Deffo gave it back

bluewolf wrote: »

There's no way I could even consider keeping it.

Hopefully the son actually does give it to her...

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

The guilt of keeping it would have destroyed me.

---

Eggy Baby! wrote: »

Should have done the Irish thing and kept it.

You know the Irish way!

Plazaman

I would have given it back but handed to the lady personally whilst keep my hand out and clearing my throat.

The scenario now is, woman comes back from holiday and as she does the same numbers all the time she decides to randomly check and sees she's won two grand. Rushes down to the shop excitedly...

"But I gave the ticket to your son" you'll say
"No Mammy he didn't give me any ticket" says son
"I trust my son quicker than I trust you ya thievin little bollíx" says woman

As you are being led away in handcuffs, son waves at you whilst smoking a cuban cigar, wearing a new suit and linking bítches on each arm.

Immaculate Pasta

You did the right thing and I would have done the same.

Besides even if you were of the sinister mind, the risk of doing that is far greater than the potential reward. You could lose your job trying a trick like that and you'd struggle to get a job elsewhere if employers found out you were caught stealing off customers, let alone the possibility of a criminal record. Besides €2000 is not that much money, definitely not worth the risk of those repercussions.

Sky King

Be fare funny if the son denys all knowledge. Then ur fcukered.

Did you get him to sign for it?

Dravokivich

She was in too much of a rush to check at the little scanner yoke herself?

I wouldn't have even taken the slips off her, for her to come back later.

Interceptor

Deleted User wrote: »

why would he have checked the internet when the machine printed out the winning amounts for him?

OP's post edited:

Andrewh1984 wrote: »

Anyway I get to the last ticket and scan it through, "this ticket is in excess of the amount of money that can be paid out here, please contact the national lottery".

So there I am with a lotto ticket in my hand, that potentially, could be worth millions of euro( it was a euromillions ticket)

No, he didn't know what it was worth. I'm sorry, but for tens of millions of Euro I might be inclined to check before handing the ticket to some 'son'.

'cptr

hondasam

ScumLord wrote: »

No it won't.

You would have ended up in court and quite likely you would have lost your job. I don't think you could really have hidden something like that, alarm bells would have rang as soon as you started dressing like a pimp.

I meant something good will happen for him because he was honest.

A Primal Nut

Interceptor wrote: »

OP's post edited:




No, he didn't know what it was worth. I'm sorry, but for tens of millions of Euro I might be inclined to check before handing the ticket to some 'son'.

'cptr

Read the whole post. He did check how much it was worth, before handing it to the son.

So I print off the numbers for the particular draw to check and see how much she has won, turns out she is after winning 2 thousand euro.

Thats in the fifth paragraph. In the sixth paragraph he gives it to the son.

hondasam

bluewolf wrote: »

Hopefully the son actually does give it to her...

Why would you even think he wouldn't give it to her?

hondasam

hondasam wrote: »

Why would you even think he wouldn't give it to her?

Why would the OP think we wouldn't give it to her?

I'm just saying, the son could keep it. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility :rolleyes:

RoboRat

Wouldn't have gone to the trouble you went to without giving it to her directly. Personally I would have held onto the ticket and given it to her when she came back... in front of the manager.