BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: SINSULL
Date: 13 Jan 09 - 07:59 PM

And I got a hug from a big handsome 20 something. He was very grateful.

You are all on double secret probation!

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Jeri
Date: 13 Jan 09 - 05:37 PM

I just got a phone message from Mary about the laptop. Apparently the phone is having some sort of WTF-itis. I'm glad there was a happy ending and the guy got his laptop back.

Tami, I have an idea. Will PM.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: ranger1
Date: 13 Jan 09 - 05:03 PM

Sigh. I am not responsible for limeys who pick up other peoples' luggage in cafes, be they laptops or suitcases. And how the hell would I have noticed one more item amongst all the bags Micca had? He bought out the wine shop, fer cryin' out loud!

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: SINSULL
Date: 13 Jan 09 - 08:28 AM

The young man kept thanking me for returning his computer. I feel lucky he didn't call the cops on me.

Tami - you owe me big time. AND your Micca privileges are revoked. Apparently the three of you need a keeper. The world is upside down - I am now the voice of reason. SIGH!

I could accept a luggage mix up at the bus terminal but picking up the kid's laptop at the Crooked Mile - something is very wrong there. Although I can see the three of you all babbling at once. You over poison ivy, Micca over wine. And Jacqui over the lack of proper tea. Just imagine if he had caught you on the way out the door with the laptop...

Bryn, I feel the same way about jewelry. Most of mine was stolen. If it were ever returned I wouldn't want it. Jewelry, like instruments, take on a part of the user. Plus I put a curse on all of it.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 13 Jan 09 - 07:37 AM

I wasn't going to comment on the "finder's" character - most of you have done so already. However - I am very superstitious about rings. I would never try on someone else's ring, and I would never

let anyone else try my rings on.

This will only bring him wafeti bokt. What kind of piker would give the ring of another to his future missis, as an engagement ring ? It defies understanding, for me.

In England & Wales (and for all I know, the other two Jurisdictions of the UK) this is stealing by finding, a section 1 Theft Act 1968 offence.

Were the artefact to be handed over to the bogies - and a receipt obtained - then, if the ring were not claimed within a given period of time, ownership would vest in the finder.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 11:50 PM

Oh, Spaw, I think Alice in MT is pickier about where she actually pees and I don't think she has a thing for suitcases at all!*bg*

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: ranger1
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 11:50 PM

I go out of state to visit the relatives and peek in on Mudcat and what do I find? False accusations smearing my good name! As if I would stoop to stealing a laptop, especially an apple product at that! Hmph! See if I ever give you a nice Christmas present ever again!

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 11:20 PM

No, Alice is Alice (Flynn) from Montana........As the result of a monstrous urinary tract infection, Alice lost any ability to control her whizz and now accidentally wets down any object lying about. On a visit to the White House, she turned the Blue Room yellow. She cannot be trusted for more than a brief moment before she soaks down your favorite slippers which you were wearing at the time.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: meself
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 11:09 PM

"READ THIS CAREFULLY. I really don't care if Alice peed on your suitcase. You were warned."

Alice is a cat - right?

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Alice
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 09:51 PM

Related to the whole issue of having a laptop lost or stolen...

I signed up for a free account at Mozy www.mozy.com and regularly backup my files to mozy, because I work and travel with a laptop.

One of the testimonials on Mozy.com is from a man who had his laptop stolen.

Because he used Mozy, he could access his account there online and saw that his laptop was being used by the people who stole it and the files were being auto-saved at mozy, so he was able to identify and find who was using his computer. He turned the info over to the police and got his computer back.

Whether your computer crashes or is lost, having mozy to backup files is great. The home version is free.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Jeri
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 08:55 PM

So it was stolen from a bus station then stolen from a restaurant by Tami? Did she steal it from the thief or did somebody just forget it? Need the whole sordid story, before lawyers get involved.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 08:25 PM

Update - it was stolen from a local restaurant by that ne'er do well....Tami!

Innocent eyes - HAH!

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 08:01 PM

The mystery may be solved and when I get my hands on the addle-headed guest who picked up someone else's luggage at the bus terminal...

I emptied the case and found some receipts. A bit of Googling turned up the owner who (unbelievable) is a folkie fiddler.

I can only pray he doesn't have me arrested for stealing the damn thing.



You guys are a lot of work!

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Jeri
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 05:05 PM

Mary, if you turn the computer on, you may be able to access stuff like an e-mail account or other personal things. It's like looking in a wallet to find out whose it is. Just leave their porn alone.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 04:43 PM

You're joking, right? He left a fleece coat at my house and some other stuff at Jacqui's (formerly, Kendall's house lol). I haven't been upstairs yet.
But he also left a bottle of Taittinger's, some incredible single malts and a warm glow.

Wonder if he took his shoes???????

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 04:36 PM

You mean Micca DIDN'T leave anything this time?! Blimey, that's a first!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 03:40 PM

I do clean occasionally, Jeri. All of the furniture was moved for the Gordon Bok concert and later returned to its proper place. So the laptop arrived during the ice storm at the earliest.
HARUMPH!
Everyone has been heard from except Becca. Hopefully it is hers. Otherwise, I am rally confused - but that's par for the course.
M

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Jeri
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 03:28 PM

So Mary says, 'I think you're full of crap.'

I'm WOUNDED to the very soul!!!

Seriously, where did you find it and when. It might not have been that recent. I'd try to guess who might be Mac geek and like amethyst and backpacks, but I don't know. ClaireBear, Lisa Null, Cindy/Grey, Peter/Joanne. If a persons moving around a lot, they might not notice the computer's gone or they might not know where they lost it or they might think it had been stolen elsewere.

Or maybe Alice peed on it.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 02:43 PM

Or to quote Chico Marx: "Why a duck? Why a no chicken?"

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 02:38 PM

They have been coming and going like a bad case of fleas for two months now. The last left on Wednesday. But no one is missing a laptop. Go figure.

Consider yourself invited, meself. Clean towels are in a bin at the bottom of the stairs.
Two house rules:

1. The cats can do anything.
READ THIS CAREFULLY. I really don't care if Alice peed on your suitcase. You were warned.

2. I do not snore.

Maybe this laptop is my SecretSanta gift??? But why a Mac?

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: meself
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 02:28 PM

Jeesh - how many "houseguests" did you have? How big is your house, anyway? What was going on? And most importantly - why wasn't I invited?

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 02:07 PM

I think you're full of crap.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Jeri
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 01:08 PM

I think the laptop's mine. You can keep the crystal.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 01:00 PM

Too late - I tossed it. Wonder what Apple laptops are going for on ebay?

How long do I have to wait before it's mine?

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Bill D
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 12:26 PM

dibs on the cinnamon bun!

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 12:01 PM

Well, my house guests have outdone themselves this time. While straightening up the post-holiday mess, I found a laptop in a back pack (along with a rough amethyst crystal and a stale cinnamon bun). How could anyone be without a laptop for over a week and not notice?

Anyway - who belongs to this thing?

I still haven't mailed out the leavings from the Gordon Bok concert.
SIGH

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: meself
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 07:09 PM

Once I found an accordian on my property ...

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 07:46 PM

Wait a minute. There's another possibility that never occurred to me till now. Maybe the stuff was worthless junk that the owner wanted to get rid of! I never turned on the boom box, or plugged in the hedge trimmer, so I'll never know!

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 07:41 PM

While I don't approve of automatically keeping something so valuable, I wouldn't necessarily recommend handing it over to the police.

I once found some tools on my property that didn't belong to me. I remember there was an electric hedge trimmer, a boom box, a pair of gloves, and I don't remember what else. They were spattered with flecks of paint, which made me think they probably belonged to a house painter or handyman. I suspected they had been stolen off a truck or off a work site and then abandoned by the thief who either didn't want them or got scared while trying to carry them away. I figured, even if the stuff wasn't very valuable, it might be useful as evidence.

I wanted to do the right thing, so I called police. When they came to pick up the stuff, I could tell by the careless way they handled it that they weren't planning to dust it for fingerprints. (I had been careful not to touch it myself.)

I asked what would happen if nobody claimed it. They said the stuff would be auctioned off and the money would go to the police retirement fund!

They didn't even give me a receipt!

I was rather disgusted. I could have used that hedge trimmer!

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: GUEST,caitlín
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 01:15 PM

Hmmmm yeah, I see your point. Pearls. Worth a bit. He might keep them.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 11:11 AM

And have him discover Mudcat? That would be casting pearls before swine. . .

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: GUEST,caitlín
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 08:57 AM

Ever think of showing him this thread?

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 04 Jun 08 - 11:41 PM

Sins -- I am shocked about the office's reaction -- what a bummer -- I still believe heart and soul in karma - what goes around, comes around.....

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Slag
Date: 04 Jun 08 - 05:52 PM

If the amount of money is nondescript you don't announce the amount or the location, just that money was found. The police usually handle this aspect of the search. If it is a common bill, like a twenty (then) or maybe a hundred (now) you wait for someone to come seeking. If no one seeks it out then it may be an amount they didn't mind losing or perhaps the don't have the imagination to consider that the police may have it. At any rate you have taken reasonable steps to locate the owner. No more can be asked of you than that.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 04 Jun 08 - 05:30 PM

I'm not exactly sure of the sense of trying to return money in small denominations or any singular amount of money unless it was part of the contents of another package. Unless that owner is plainly obvious.
How do you actually determine the rightful owner of something that almost everyone would have on them from day to day? Ask them for the serial number?
I can see it for a large amount that the authorities could then ask the person exactly how much they lost but after working at the mall I know people that will come to lost and found every few days and ask if a ten, twenty, etc. was found.
I also find the instance of the authorities charging the finding party who honestly turned something in a percentage to claim it after the owner failed to do so pretty crappy!

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Jun 08 - 11:51 AM

I suspect that taking this farther than the discussion going on in the office is too far. He has to live with himself, he hasn't murdered someone, the stone is apparently faux, life will go on. Enough time has been spent mulling this lapse in judgement.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 04 Jun 08 - 09:17 AM

Hmmm,I can't help thinking "One Ring to bind the pair"...

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Paul Burke
Date: 04 Jun 08 - 04:23 AM

She has a right to know the kind of guy she is marrying

I suspect she's probably cut from the same cloth. They'll go far together.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: GUEST,dianavan
Date: 04 Jun 08 - 03:19 AM

Bonnie has a point.

The bride to be should be told. She has a right to know the kind of guy she is marrying. This gets down to basic honesty and integrity.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: maeve
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 10:54 PM

Sinsull dear, you absolutely are thinking straight. By pointing out the poor choice your friend has made you are being a real friend.

And I'd give that Peace person a Jujube, but that request is a red herring; he secretly craves a skelp, and that's Megan's department.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 10:36 PM

I will say that I disagreed with a family friend who made my daughter turn in a $10 bill she found in a parking lot at an arcade restaurant establishment. It was exciting for my daughter but the friend made no provision for her to claim it if no one asked, and it most certainly became a windfall for the employee who took it from her.

That friend is a bit of a ditz, so it simply didn't occur to her, but for a small child, the thing should have been thought out a little better.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: SINSULL
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 10:12 PM

Actually this thread is a relief to me. No one in my office agreed with me - in fact they find it funny I was so upset. I do tend to overthink things and thought maybe I was off base but I didn't honestly see how. Thank you for restoring my faith in human nature. And someone give that man a JuJube.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Peace
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 08:32 PM

OK. It's a tough job BUT, someone's gotta do it.





















FIRST, I want some jujubes.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: meself
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 08:20 PM

Isn't anyone going to come onto this thread and rationalize the keeping of the ring, and give us a big lecture on what a self-righteous bunch of hypocrites we all are? ... What is Mudcat coming to?!

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Slag
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 07:55 PM

When I was about 10 years old I found a twenty dollar bill. Wow! I was one rich kid. I spent it in riotous living and luxury. Money was no object. When I finally told my parent the source of my new found wealth they asked me if I thought it was right, what I did. Why sure I responded. They then pointed out that that may have been some one's only money for the week, money that someone needed and depended on but if I thought it was right, well OK.

What ever I spent that money on is gone and long forgotten but I have a memory of guilt and regret. I'm not sure, I never asked but I think my folks tried to find the loser of the money. I never kept another thing of any great value that I have found since without making a good faith effort to find the owner. I have returned wallets, a few, and other items. One day of revelry, forty years of remembering but a good lesson in the event.

Common decency, self respect and the law all agree that every reasonable effort should be made to return a found item of worth. When you hand someone back their personal information, photos and money or a precious keepsake such as a ring what a great reward just to see worry vanish from their face and gratitude replace it. You can't buy that!

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 07:14 PM

I think the name "Fruitloopz" says it all.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 06:41 PM

Wish they were all as nice as you, Chief. My grandmother had an antique gold family-heirloom wristwatch which she always wore - it was not absurdly valuable except for sentimental reasons because of its age and history.

One day she went out to the shops and the watchband must have broken or something because she came home without it, but it was some time before she noticed her bare wrist. She had a pretty good idea where she'd lost it, so she contacted the shop and put a classified ad in the local paper offering a reward and giving her phone number.

Sure enough, before long the phone rang. It was the person who had found her watch, and from the detailed description she knew the call was genuine. He wanted to know how much she was offering as a reward so she told him the figure and there was a moment's silence. Then he said, "Forget it. I can get more than that for this watch so I'm keeping it" and he hung up in her ear, without even giving her a chance to up the offer. She never saw her heirloom watch again. Losers weepers indeed. For the whole family.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 05:41 PM

This guy is definitely worng for oh so many reasons!

I once found a little girl's plastic purse while walking along the park (on the Potomac). Knowing that the park police would be too busy for something so minor and that the parents might not have the time to come back and look for it, I managed to track down the possible owner and phoned her to ask where it should be returned. There were a few little items that might be precious to a little girl but otherwise it was empty. I asked the mother's permission and filled it with lollipops and other candy that we keep in the office for our cravings.
I didn't hear back from the mother but I can picture the little girl getting her purse back and finding it filled with candy.
That is more rewarding than anything monitary that I can think of.

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 05:28 PM

Do you suppose this new Mudcatter "Fruitloopz" will read this thread and understand it? In case not, or in case the rest didn't see it, this fellow claims to have found the lost property of Zantzinger, the same fellow in Dylan's song. That thread was closed after he gushed that he just couldn't stand to return the camera, that he wanted to splash Zantzinger's life all over because of what he'd done.

Fruitloopz isn't the judge or jury in this, he found an identifiable item, contacted the owner, so to withhold it is patently dishonest. Dylan did his artistic best to bring this matter to light, he won't want the camera. To smear photos of Zantzinger's family across the web could possibly be criminal--copyright rests with the person who took the photos and even if they went missing, you know who took them and you don't have his permission to use them, let alone make a mockery of the rest of his family for your delight.

At least the schmuck who found the ring and won't report it is just your garden variety low-life.

Let's hope if this is all that this guy has to offer Mudcat that he's a two-post wonder and goodbye.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Finders Keepers Losers Weepers??
From: Bee
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 11:34 AM

Chiming in with 'the guy's a loser and has the morals of a thief'. And I don't need a Bible to tell me it's wrong to keep something that doesn't belong to you. It is understandable to covet something valuable that you have found, but thinking of how the person who lost it might feel should encourage any decent person to hand the item in right away.

It doesn't matter how small it is, either. The worst-feeling theft I experienced in my life was only twelve dollars, but in the situation I was in at the time, that twelve dollars was as meaningful as twelve hundred. I went hungry because of that theft.