Was Good Samaritan a suspect?

applecruncher

applecruncher

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Location
Ohio USA
A friend who is retiring soon called me yesterday and told me about an incident that happened last week.

She works at an office in the downtown area. At about 1:00 she decided to take a lunch break and went to a nearby cafe. She sat down to eat and noticed a small purse on one of the chairs at another table. Continuing to eat, she assumed someone would come get it, but they didn't. She picked up the purse, looked inside...there were business cards and when compared with the ID and name on a credit card it appeared the purse belonged to an attorney at a law firm which was close to the office where friend works.

She kind of assessed the counter area/staff and, for whatever reason, decided to take the purse back and call the woman. She thought it was strange that someone would accidentally leave their purse someplace and not come back for it right away or at least call and ask someone to look and hold it at the register.

So when friend got back to work she called the woman, and asked her to describe the purse and wallat, and the woman said she would be right over, and mentioned she had about $70 in her wallet. Friend said credit card was there but no cash.

The young atty came over a few minutes later, took her purse, said "Thanks" and that was it. Friend felt she acted rather 'cool'. Friend says she thinks woman suspects she took the $70.

Maybe. I guess if I had been the purse owner I would have been very relieved, very grateful, and maybe offered to take friend/purse finder to lunch the next day or at least gotten her a flower or gift card or something other than a brief "Thanks". Maybe the purse owner is scatterbrained or not particularly effusive.

But a person who swiped the $70 probably wouldn't bother going to the trouble of returning the purse. JMHO

Thoughts?
 

The whole thing sounds suspicious to me. What woman would get back to work and not miss her purse? I know I wouldn't. Plus, if anyone was going to steal the cash they would also have stolen the credit card or at least that's what they usually do. This just makes me wonder what the lady that left the purse was up to. I could be wrong but I do wonder.
 
I left a purse in the bathroom of a McDonald's once year ago. When I got home and realized it was gone, I called the McDonald's (which was two hours away). They verified that they had the purse and that the credit cards were still in my wallet.

Unfortunately, I also had 3 $20 bills and 3 $1 bills in the wallet. The 20's were gone but the 1's had been left behind. I guess the thief wanted me to be able to get a coke and some fries, at least......
 

Back in the day I left my wallet on a city bus and didn't realize it. Few minutes after I got home a woman called me from a payphone (remember those?) and said she found it, and waited for me to come to meet her. The $40 was still there. I offered her something but she refused to accept (this was a few days before (Christmas). That $40 meant a lot to me. :)
 
Aunt Bea said:
I gave that some thought but if the money was missing when the folks at the diner returned it to the woman I would still be one of the suspects.
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Oh, I wouldn't have touched it at all. If I saw it on the bench, I'd have just told someone and let it go. If they want to "suspect" me that's their problem.
 
I would be suspicious as well...how can the finder be certain the person had cash in purse? I probably would have turned it in to the restaurant manager and NOT looked inside. But that is just me.
 
People are getting creepier all the time. Makes me wonder if she was trying to scam any finder out of $70. No way of knowing if the credit card that was there was even valid or not. Makes me think if I come across any seemingly lost object I'm just going to go the other way fast.
 
I'd probably turn it in to restaurant manager. If that person or someone else steals ID, money, credit card it's not my responsibility.

Friend said people working at counter and register didn't look trustworthy, but how would you know?

If purse owner had $70 cash, I'm not sure when it was taken or by whom. Could be another customer, could be an employee.

Be a good John Quinones "What Would You do?" segment, eh? :laugh:
 
Geezerette said:
People are getting creepier all the time. Makes me wonder if she was trying to scam any finder out of $70. No way of knowing if the credit card that was there was even valid or not. Makes me think if I come across any seemingly lost object I'm just going to go the other way fast.
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While i agree the situation was strange, I don't think a six figure atty was trying to scam $70 from some stranger. I asked what she looked like and friend said attractive, early 30s, well-dressed, but kind of snobby. But leaving your purse, wallet, credit card, and ID in a restaurant isn't a good way to gain money.
 
applecruncher said:
decided to take the purse back and call the woman.

Thoughts?
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I’d have;
Not touched the purse
Notified the mgr how long I saw that purse unattended
…and be done with it

Carrying a lost (or stolen) purse around causes the carrier to be a suspect
Could’a been much more than $70

Years ago watched an elderly neighbor lady drive by the house, smiling, waving... with her purse on the roof of her car
Left a msg on her phone
She called that evening, was a bit distraught
My boys found the purse a few months later in a ditch
They took it to her
The lady’s son had helped her replace everything, but she was still relieved

Bottom line, I’d still do the good deed
Just be a bit judicious about it
 
I think some people might find a wallet and remove the cash before attempting to return it, I think in the good old days, if you found a wallet you could just put it in a US mailbox and they were supposed to return it to its rightful owner. Who knows how many sticky fingers it would come in contact with? :)

If I was the woman, I'd be happy that someone returned my purse and all my important papers and credit cards were still there the way I left them. Maybe she thought she had $70 dollars in the purse, but remembered later on that she was mistaken, she might have spent it on something or removed it herself. Guess if that happened she wouldn't have made an effort to contact the finder.

I think I'd have to give at least a small reward of some kind to someone who went out of their way to return my property.
 

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