posted
I was wondering what katharina would think. She is often very proper and often agrees with Mrs. M on points of etiquette, while my manners are probably abominable.
(ahh she responded to my off-hatrack question above, before I had a chance to explain why I asked her!)
posted
I suspect Katie has found the closest thing to an in-between on the issues that can exist. While perhaps not quite as formal as what Mrs. M had in mind, I'm wondering if she would also see this as a somewhat reasonable comprimise in the hypothetical.
(I'm not saying this is what Tom should or shouldn't do, I think everyone has to respond to a situation as their character and conscience dictates)
posted
On the generic "How do I return lost property" question, without the suicide note complication, I think taking reasonable steps to identify and contact the true owner is a good thing to do. This assumes such a course of action is legal, which I make no comment about one way or the other. It saves public resources, reinforces the idea of community responsibility rather than delegating common citizenship tasks to government, and it probably results in faster return of lost items. Of course, one needs to turn it over quickly if one can't find the identity of the owner, either to a lost and found or main office at the facility where the item was found or the police.
In the specific case at hand, turning it over to the police would most likely have resulted in it not getting returned to the owner.
The law of most states makes a distinction between lost and misplaced property. Lost property is property found in a place where it was not put by the owner. Misplaced property is property left in a the place it was found by the owner.
Of course, one can't always tell which a particular piece of property is, but there are good indicators. A credit card on a table in a restaurant was most likely misplaced. A credit card in the parking lot was most likely lost.
The distinction is important because, under the common law, the finder of a lost object held it against all the world except the rightful owner. A misplaced object was held by the owner of where it was found, because it was more likely the owner would show up there looking for it.
Now many states have a "register the item for X days and, if not claimed, it's yours" law. That's good for establishing ownership and can be helpful for marshaling self-interest to get items returned to their rightful owner. However, in cases where the law doesn't require turning over found property immediately and the goal of the finder is return of the object, other methods work, too.
It should also be noted for those who would prefer the police rather than a stranger have one's personal items that the stranger had possession in both instances. The question of which course of action to prefer presumes a finder with good intentions.
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posted
Well, I returned it and went out for a coffee with the guy for about half an hour. Without going into too much detail, I think he's okay; he's just going through a bad patch. He and John don't know each other, but I think I'm probably going to introduce them. They actually have quite a lot in common, and John's looking for a D&D player and a mediocre bass player, and this guy is both.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Everyone in John's band is over 40, pudgy, and -- while good enough to get the occasional gig -- not particularly gifted. They're a mediocre cover band, and mainly get together to jam for fun; if they get paid for it, that's just frosting. So their last bass player, who really wanted to be GREAT, kept trying to make them into a great band -- and they didn't WANT to be a great band. What they want is a bass player who's just good enough to not be bad, and knows it.
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posted
That's a fine distinction to know -- *smile* -- and a very nice gesture on your part. I'm glad you went for coffee, as opposed to beer.
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posted
As much as I appreciate the compliments, I need to point out that a) I didn't exactly do much, here; and b) there's still no knowing how it actually winds up. It's entirely possible that I've read him completely incorrectly. But I don't think so, and am much relieved.
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