What would you do if you found money on a jobsite?

[TFP Admin]

Excerpt from: JOE MILICIA Associated Press Writer CLEVELAND—A contractor who found $182,000 in Depression-era currency hidden in a bathroom wall has ended up with only a few thousand dollars, but he feels some vindication. ... Kitts was tearing the bathroom walls out of an 83-year-old home near Lake Erie in 2006 when he discovered two green metal lockboxes suspended inside a wall below the medicine chest, hanging from a wire. Inside were white envelopes with the return address for "P. Dunne News Agency."

Read the full story: Cash found in Ohio house's walls becomes nightmare - TwinCities.com

What would you do if you found money stashed away, unknown to the owner of the home, while you were doing your job in preparation of installing new floorcovering? Seems like a very sticky and ethical situation to find yourself in. Would it be a dilemma for you, or would you know what to do without even thinking about it?

Jim

[Kman]

Belongs to the homeowner, no question about it.

So I'd have to raise my bill $182,000 to cover the extra 'materials' I needed.

I guess I don't understand the part where the contractor felt he was 'entitiled' to any of the money. Legally and morally, it belongs to the owner of the house. The judge's ruling made no sense to me. If he feels that the family of the money's original owner were entitled to the money, then following that line of logic, they would be responsible for any damage or shoddy workmanship that was done to the house that required the remodeling. Ridiculous.

Anyway, I'd give the money to the homeowner and forget about it. If they wanted to give me something for it, that's all well and good, but I wouldn't expect it. In these tough times, if I was the homeowner, I'd give something to the contractor for his honesty since he could've just kept the money and not told me, but he shouldn't expect to get what doesn't belong to him in the first place.

[Roland Thompson]

He did the right thing by telling the home owner but it is a shame that they where friends and this ended the friendship. Shows you what greed can do.

Roland

[Barry Carlton]

I remember when this was first posted here.

I always leave any money I find with the householder. (note I did not say the homeowner)

I have never found near that much, but whether it is a penney or a ten dollar bill it goes to the householder or on the window sill, never in my pocket!!!!


Heck, I was at a pay machine at Albertsons and found a 5 dollar bill on the ground, it was obviously dropped 'machine change' (brand new), I took it to the clerk in charge and told her which machine I found it at in case someone came to claim it. (I wish I could described the look she gave me..... 'disbelief' doesn't cover it)

These days you never know who may have needed it more than I.

And my conscience is clear before everyone.....especially the person in the mirror!!!!!!!


b

[Bill Watson]

If it's not in my way, I ignore it.
If it's in my way, it goes on a window sill or kitchen counter or whatever. EVERY TIME!!!
If it hasn't been noticed or picked up by the homeowner (House holder) before I leave, I'll let them know where I found it.

Just recently, my wife and I were walking down a sidewalk and found some folded bills along with a driver's license laying there. I picked them up and recognized the picture on the license as a man who had just passed us going the other way.
I yelled and whistled for him to stop, but he didn't hear me.
I wound up having to RUN about 6 blocks to catch up with him to return his dropped belongings. Not easy for an older guy. Although he just glanced at me, took his money and continued walking with no thanks or anything, I felt pretty pleased with myself as I hobbled back to where my wife was waiting.
I think if that ever happens again though, I'll just mail the stuff to the address on the license and forgo the sore bones!

[Floorguy]

I'm a crook!!!

Depends if it is someones home(hey, look what I found), or an unoccupied rental(finders-keepers!)

[Daris Mulkin]

I have found money stashed under rugs, stairway runners and each time it went back to the homeowner. Tough part was when working in Minnesota I found a couple grand under the stairway carpet. I gave it back to the homeowner and she says I knew the old fart was stashing money somewhere[he was dead]. I was making $65 a week at that time. Never got a thanks. But who knows it could have been a set up.

Daris

[Lo Down]

Daris Mulkin said I have found money stashed under rugs, stairway runners and each time it went back to the homeowner. Tough part was when working in Minnesota I found a couple grand under the stairway carpet. I gave it back to the homeowner and she says I knew the old fart was stashing money somewhere[he was dead]. I was making $65 a week at that time. Never got a thanks. But who knows it could have been a set up. Daris

When I work for new customers I have occasionally found what looks to be an obvious setup laying somewhere..........a couple bucks and some loose change laying folded up on the dresser or on the kitchen counter. They trust us blindly by allowing us in their homes all day, we owe them honesty. If I find a dusty nickle fly out from under a baseboard heater while pulling up some carpet, I put it in the window sill above it........ along with the paper clips, playing cards, melted crayon and 25 year old photo of the previous owners kid and dog.

[Country Flooring Direct]

I know from a store standpoint and from a helper standpoint it is the homeowners. I have had my guys blamed for taking something. . . everytime it turns up they just misplaced it both times. Pretty bad, you figure as a store owner i will fire you for stealling $10 worth of my pad. You would lose your at times lucrative job for a little cash found in a customers home. Thats is how I explain it to people when they ask me I tell them my guys make good money working for me, why would they steal from you? That would cost my guys the way they make a living. Most people understand after they call the police and look silly when they find thier purse behind the couch that wasnt supposed to be there that got moved 3 times. Id say we are invited as guests in the home to work and should treat it as such. It is not ours, we are there to do a job only. The money found most definitely is not ours.

Keep on Keeping on.

[Floorguy]

If someone will steal on a jobsite, they are definitely not making good enough money to keep them from taking something that is not theirs.

[Country Flooring Direct]

And I have never had a guy steal off of a jobsite, I have been blamed for stealing but it always turns out that in the moving of furniture from room to room the homeowner misplaced thier purse or whatever. I did have a lady accuse my guys of taking her jewlery box after we installed like 200 yards of carpet in her home. She called and spoke with us I assured her we would not take it but if she really thought that she should and call the authorities. After doing so and my guys speaking to the officer and the officer doing a full report the next day she found her jewlery box. She called and spoke to the salesperson very sad she accused us.

I am just saying Floor man that we are there not to profit from anything other than the floor we have been asked to put in. If we find money on the job it isnt ours its thiers, So as a helper and I know my guys feel this way we leave it. I have seen my carpet guy give a few hundred dollar bills to my neighbor, the bills fell out of his truck as he was getting out. My neighbor was very appreciative.

[mcbrides]

Last year we were doing a full upper re & re with furniture for a nice retired couple. As my wife disassembled the bed in the guest room, she found a wad of cash stashed between the boxed spring and mattress. She immediately sought out our customer on the main floor and gave it to her.

Niether she, nor her husband knew it was there; the room is used from time to time by their disabled son. He has a short-term memory problem as a result of a workplace accident and is on a disability pension. They were so grateful, as their son had obviously stashed the proceeds of a newly-cashed cheque and then promptly forgot where he put it. It was obvious from their reaction that the lad really needed it. We both got hugged for that one.

We are all entrusted with our customers' homes and belongings on a daily basis. I've only ever heard of one installer ever stealing from a customer's home in the 30 years I've been in this trade. I caught him after being partnered up for a day, reported him to the retailer and never used him again (he ripped off a new bottle of Crown Royal, then later offered me a drink out of it ...).

Dave

[Darren Ramey]

My dad hit the brakes one day and a gun slid out from under the passenger seat. His help said it was his gun, but dad recognized it from the job they just left. Not only did the guy get his gun back, but he also got the name and address of the helper to give to the cops.

As far as I know I've never had helper steal from a job. If I'm working someone new I make sure they know that the legal issues if they got caught would be nothing compared to what I would do to them.

When I was working for my uncle roughly 25 years ago in Ca. I was accused of stealing a Polaroid camera from a job. My uncle asked me about it, I denied it and thought it was over. A day or two later he went through my truck and room (I was living at his house at the time) looking for the camera and I have to say that hurt. I found out after he even gave the homeowner $50 for it. 6 months or more later the homeowner sent the money back and told him he had found it in one of the kitchen cabinets, and that he was sorry he accused us. The homeowner was a dick (not just for the camera), but I have to say that was a stand up thing to do.

[mcbrides]

We did a stint for a decorator who had been a pretty successful flooring salesperson who started up her own store. She ordered in some supplies for us to use, and other supplies we bought on our own, like adhesives and seam sealers, we stored in her warehouse.

Another installer loaded a job one morning before we had arrived, and had taken one of our pails of glue with him. I had the secretary call the installer to have him return the glue, but all he told her was that it was inconvenient. We further dealt with this, but it wasn't the point I wanted to make here.

We then removed all the supplies from where they were kept and stashed everything somewhere else in the store.

That evening, the decorator/retailer shows up at our home with another store manager (a wannabe Wesley Snipes), accusing us of ripping off the inventory. After a thorough tour of the entire house, garden shed and truck contents, we told her to go back to the store and check the spare, unused office.

Suffice it to say we never got an apology out of her. Didn't work for her for long, after that. We had done so much to try to help her get up and running, and just got crapped on.

Some things never change.

D&D

[Kman]

Floorguy said If someone will steal on a jobsite, they are definitely not making good enough money to keep them from taking something that is not theirs.

I've seen people steal things they didn't need and definitely would have no use for. Some people do it because they thing they can get away with it. They don't need a reason to steal, they just do.

I worked on a house several years ago where the tile was stacked in the garage, which was open 24/7. A concrete finisher came to the house one evening after I was gone to cut a trench in the slab for an electrical wire to the island in the kitchen. When he was done, he started loading the tile on his trailer. The old man next door stood there and watched while he did it. The concrete finisher didn't know that the old man was the homeowner's grandfather. When he left with about 80 square feet of tile, the grandfather called the homeowner, who called the builder, who called the owner of the concrete company. The owner was on a plane at the time on his way to vacation. Needless to say, he was not happy about being bothered because one of his employees was out stealing on company time.

He called the finisher and told him to take the tile back to the house, then call him back. When the finisher called the owner back, the owner asked if he had returned the tile. When he confirmed it was all returned, he said, "Good. You're fired".

The finisher went back to the old man's house and turned on an outside spigot and left the water running all night long, just to pay him back for being a snitch, I guess. The old man said, "Oh well. Five dollars worth of water is worth getting $200 worth of tile back."

I'm working on a house now where the homeowner's have given me a key to come and go as I please. I can't think of a single job where the homeowner hasn't given me a key to the house. I sure don't want to lose someone's trust over a few dollars. Nothing on a job site is worth losing your job and integrity.