What are the ethics of accepting a windfall of cash at someone's expense? Employee accepts coworker's husband's trading card collection and sells it for profit, creates HR issue when he finds out and she demands it back: '[I told her] it's too late'

Advertisement
  • "So I kept the cards to [build a] deck, trade[d] some and sold a bunch of them at my local card shop for a couple hundred bucks."

    A man holds a collection of low value Magic: The Gathering cards
  • Early december, a coworker asked me if I wanted Magic the Gathering cards her husband wanted to get rid
  • I accepted and end up with 5 briefcases full of cards. Going through the cards, I found that they were a lot (and I mean a lot) of cards ranging from anywhere between 15$ and 80$.
  • I thought it was a little weird that her husband would just gifted away that many expensive cards, so I texted my coworker to ask if she was sure that her husband was giving everything to me.
  • Her response was "yes, he is sure. He doesn't play with them anymore. Enjoy". So I kept the cards to built deck, trade some and sold a bunch of them at my local card shop for a couple hundread of bucks.
  • Fast foward to yesterday. Coworker came to me during lunch to ask if I can give her back all the cards.
  • Turns out that she didn't ask her husband at all before giving everything to me and he's extremely pissed about it.
  • I told her that I could give back the cards I still own, but I've traded and sold a lot of them and didn't have them anymore.
  • She got pretty desperate when I told her that and then ask if I could also give her, in addition of the collection I still own, the money I made so her husband can buy the cards I trade/sold again.
  • I told her that I thought that I was already pretty nice to gave back some of her husband collection but it's to late for the card I've traded/solded and I'm keeping the money, so it's either that or I'm keeping everything.
  • She got very mad and when she started yelling at me to give everything, money included, back to fix this, I told her that's her problem and she stormed off.
  • She didn't talk to me since and I still have the cards. AITA? Edit: Just to clarify some thing, I did told my coworker that they were valuable cards in her husband collection when I text her to reconfirm.
  • The collection I was "gifted" wasn't just valuable cards, the majority of cards were pretty cheap (like under 1$).
  • It's just that with the amount of cards given, the number of valuable cards grow pretty quickly.
  • Also, I've read a lot of comment about keeping "stolen goods" for myself. I'm willing to give back the rest of the cards I have to her husband, but my coworker is the only way I have to gave it back to him.
  • Edit 2: This blew up way more than I thought so here's a quick late night update.
  • I have managed to spoke with my coworker's husband via messenger and showed him the screenshot of my discussion I had with her telling her about the value of some cards and if she was sure he was okay with giving me everything (as a lot of comments recommend me to do).
  • We're gonna meet tomorrow so I can give him back what I have left of his collection.
  • About the card I've sold or trade, he told me to not worry about it and keep everything because what's done is done.
  • He did ask though how much money I made by selling some of his cards because he fully intend to make my coworker pay him back the same amount of money I made (which is about 500$).
  • Overall, the dude was pretty chill with me and very thankful to get most of his collection back.
  • Sidenote: I wouldn't be surprised if my coworker announced next week that her husband as filled for divorce because he made it very clear during our conversation that he was completly done with her.
  • A collection of neatly stacked Magic the Gathering cards on a table
  • pottersquash NTA. This sucks though. Depending what lies shes telling, he might end up filing a police report. If you have text/emails about this, save them. Don't chat about it on phone or in person any longer. Make her put what she has to say in writing. Don't worry, your good but until her lies are revealed, this could get annoying.
  • ConfusedCat87 Original Poster's Reply I have text about this. We talked on messenger when I tried to confirm she was sure her husband was giving everything to me.
  • Odd_Prompt_6139 Info: When you asked her if she was sure he was giving you everything, did you mention that a lot of the cards were pretty valuable?
  • ConfusedCat87 Original Poster's Reply Yes, I did told her they were valuable cards in his collection. So when she confirmed it, I thought her husband just didn't want to go through his cards to check which one were valuable or not.
  • peachteahoney You're NTA but damn I feel for the husband here. Just try to imagine yourself in his place: someone close to you gave away your belongings and can't get them back. Like, you're under no obligation to return the cards/money, but it really sucks for him. So keep that in mind.
  • JazzyKnowsBest13 NTA. This is her problem to fix with her husband. I think you did the right thing by offering to return the cards you still have from his collection, but you should have left it with saying you traded/gave away others. Mentioning that you sold them was a mistake, because of course she would ask for the cash.
  • Rredhead926 NTA. She made a mistake - twice. First in giving you the cards, and then in not verifying with her husband when you asked if they were sure. I think giving her back the cards that you have is the right move here.
  • hin_inc ESH, anyone who plays any card games knows 5 briefcase worth and giving away means the wife hates his hobby and is sneaking to get rid of it. Any normal person would be selling the collection as that's a good 150k+ value if not way more. OP is simply playing dumb regarding the gift, knew and sold/traded anyway. Any reasonable person would have held on to everything knowing this would go to court eventually with stolen property. This is the equivalent of being given a boat full of cars by
  • Ravensong42 NTA, she is and having a FAFO moment. I see divorce in her future
  • NOTTHATKAREN1 Definitely NTA. She screwed up. However, the right thing to do would be to give her back whatever's left, as this was not her husband's fault & he should not have to pay for her mistake. As for the money? She can go suck an egg.
  • wesmorgan1 It isn't your problem that she gave away her husband's stuff without his knowledge and consent. It isn't your problem that she lied to you. You're being generous to offer to return the remaining cards. Forget about giving her the money from what you sold. NTA - and take/save a screenshot of the texts in which you asked (and she confirmed) that her husband agreed to give you the cards. You may need that evidence in the future.
  • CatsAndDogs314 NTA You asked her not once but twice if it was OK. It's been over a month since she gave them to you. You aren't a storage facility. Just because her husband found out she gave them away now is her problem. Maybe she should have thought of the consequences before lying and taking/giving away something that wasn't hers.

Tags

Scroll Down For The Next Article