‘I should've pocketed the money’: Employee finds envelope with $5000 at work and hands it to manager, who refuses to give it back after nobody claims the money

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Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
May 28, 2024 5:00 PM EDT

Finding money on the street might be one of the best feelings to ever exist in human history. No matter who you are and where you are from, there is no beating that lucky feeling of finding something that could improve your life even by just a small percentage, even by just buying yourself a cup of coffee.

Of course, what I mean by 'finding money on the street' only applies to situations in which the money you found is unclaimed and has no way of being returned to the owner, much like what happened in this Reddit story. OP (original poster) is an employee in a retail store, and they found an envelope with almost $5000 that later turns out a customer has dropped. After finding the money, OP did what they thought was right, and told the manager about it, and they decided to put the money in a safe to see if the customer would come back to claim it. Months later, the money is still unclaimed, but it remains unclear who has the right to keep the money.

Keep scrolling to read the full story. After you are done, click here for a story about a girl who bought a concert ticket from a coworker, only for them to demand it back.

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  • 01
    FEDERAL "I should've pocketed the money without telling anyone" VEN
    via Canva
  • 02
    Should I get to keep the large amount of money I found?
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 03
    I (20) am a full-time college student and have a part-time job working 35 hours a week at a large retail chain. I do good work, and I pride myself on that. I work hard to pay for college, my apartment, groceries, etc. My goal is to have paid off my student loans by
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 04
    the time I'm 26 so I can start a family without a bunch of debt hanging over my head. Anyways, about 5 months ago I was at work and was walking the sales floor while it was slow when I noticed an envelope on the ground. I thought
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 05
    about how much I hated it when people just left their trash on the floor, rolled my eyes a bit, and picked it up. When I picked it up, I realized there was obviously something inside. Something pretty thick. So, I opened
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 06
    it, saw a $100 bill, and thought "My god, it's my lucky day!" and then realized there were MANY MORE BEHIND IT. I counted it out and it totaled $4,470. I'm not kidding. I looked around, expecting someone to
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 07
    come running up saying they had just dropped it. I was also looking for cameras, to be honest, because I couldn't believe this was happening and figured I must be part of some kind of social experiment YouTube video. There was almost nobody in the
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 08
    store. I went to the back and counted it again and checked all the bills to make sure they were real. And they were. I thought about stuffing it in my pocket and never speaking of it, but then I thought about the possibility of seeing a YouTube video titled,
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 09
    "SELFISH 20-YEAR-OLD STEALS $4,470 DURING SOCIAL EXPERIMENT!" and I decided to turn it in. I sheepishly went to my manager and handed him the envelope. He was as shocked as I was.
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 10
    There was absolutely no writing on the envelope. He checked the cameras and saw a man had dropped it about an hour before I found it, and dozens of people had walked right by it and even pushed their carts directly over it. I asked him what we would do with
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 11
    it, and he said we would keep it in the safe because someone would surely come looking for it, and when they did, we would return it. Feeling proud but a little mad at myself for turning it in, I walked away. I asked him several weeks later what we would do if no
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 12
    one ever showed up to claim it. He said that if after 90 days no one had claimed it, I would get to keep it as it is the store policy. I began counting down the days subconsciously, and at the three- month mark, I asked him about it, and
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 13
    he said someone had claimed it and had picked it up a couple weeks earlier. I was sad that I didn't get the money obviously, but I was happy that the person had gotten back the money I'm sure they worked hard for.
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 14
    Last week, I was on the closing shift and when one of my other managers opened the safe, I saw that the envelope was still in there. I asked her about it and mentioned that our store manager had told me it had been
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 15
    claimed already, and she told me she didn't know anything about it and to talk to him next time I saw him. I worked with him yesterday and I asked him, "Hey, didn't you say that someone had come and claimed that huge envelope of money?" To which
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 16
    he said "Yes, the gentleman came and picked it up a few months ago." After this, I told him that I had seen the envelope in the safe a few nights prior and that I knew it was the same envelope because it was green, and you never see green envelopes. He
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 17
    told me that in fact, NO ONE had claimed it, but that, "since it was over $1,000, we're required to hold onto it until someone claims it," and the only reason he had told me that it had been claimed was because corporate had directed him not to inform
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 18
    anyone we still had it. I asked him for a timeframe again for how long we had to wait, and he said, "until the person who dropped it shows up to claim it, even if it takes 20 years." I talked to a few of my coworkers about it and asked if they had ever heard the
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 19
    "over $1,000" rule and none of them had. They all agreed that I deserve the money since I am the one who found it, and they think he is trying to keep it for himself, if he hasn't already. I had even offered to give each of my coworkers a bit of the money if I ever got it back, since we all work very hard.
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 20
    I am at a loss. Do I go to corporate, or will they just laugh in my face if I say I deserve $4,470 because "finder's keepers"? Do I keep badgering my manager about it, hoping he just gives in? I kind of refuse to believe we are going to let that amount of money rot in the safe until the end of time if no one shows up to claim it.
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 21
    TL;DR: I found $4,470 in an envelope on the floor at my job and turned it in, and was told that if no one had come by to claim it after 90 days it would be mine. After 90 days, my manager told me that it had been claimed, but months later I saw that the envelope
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 22
    with the found money was still in the safe. When I questioned my manager about it, he said that the 90 day rule didn't apply because the amount was over $1,000 and we have to just keep it in the safe until the owner returns to claim it, "even if it takes 20 years," and he had lied to me that it was claimed because corporate told him not to tell anybody we still had it.
    via u/Remarkable-Camera-70
  • 23
    magicimagician · 1 day ago Contact corporate and find out what the real policy is.
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  • 24
    JustNKayce 18 hr. ago I'm guessing corporate will have no idea about this whole story and the manager is blowing smoke.
    via u/JustNKayce
  • 25
    Mental-Freedom3929 21 hr. ago I would go to the police and tell them the whole story. Let them deal with it. The store has no legal standing in a case like this.
    via u/Mental-Freedom3929
  • 26
    bibkel 19 hr. ago My thought is the manager "borrowed" from that envelope after no one came in and it's no longer 4470.
    via u/bibkel
  • 27
    OldWalt9 23 hr. ago Maybe have a "friend" come in and tell the manager that he lost an envelope full of money a few months ago.?
    via u/OldWalt9
  • 28
    • MysteriousBug132 · 23 hr. ago I wouldn't do this - they looked back on the CCTV and saw which man dropped it. Now, maybe they could get a female friend to say her "husband" dropped it. That could work but I'm not sure they'd just hand a randomer the money without proof.
    via u/MysteriousBug132
  • 29
    OldWalt9. 22 hr. ago He dropped $4470 in a green envelope. That's pretty specific. What sort of "proof" would they want? Like maybe the serial numbers on the bills?
    via u/OldWalt9
  • 30
    Longjumping_West_907 · 23 hr. ago Your manager is planning on stealing it from you.
    via u/Longjumping_West_907
  • 31
    FreakCell 20 hr. ago I am surprised neither of you tried to track down the man in the security footage or check with the police to see if anyone had. reported the money missing.
    via u/FreakCell
  • 32
    Look into the laws in your area. What would have happened if you had turned it into the police and nobody claimed it? How long would it be before the money was turned over to you? If they're not following the law, consult a good lawyer and get the police and the courts involved if it's warranted and worth it.
    via u/FreakCell
  • 33
    ELEN .• Tmumsy 1 day ago Yes, you deserve the money. All of it Especially, for being honest & turning it in You didn't have to.
    via u/Tmumsy
  • 34
    EspressoReelSurf · 1 day ago I'm cringing on your behalf. After not seeing the cameras you should've pocketed the money. Even if they fired you, you would've had 4,470 to fall back on and they wouldn't have been able to do Imao. Finders keepers only applies when corporate isn't involved.
    via u/EspressoReelSurf

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boss corporate workplace-stories employee drama manager job retail tales-from-the-workplace retail worker coworkers reddit story workplace Reddit weird money
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