Chris Walsh (chris_walsh) wrote,
Chris Walsh
chris_walsh

About a buck

Today, I learned something: markets can log if customers left behind change, in case customers come back telling them "I left behind change."

Someone, it looks like, left behind change.

I was in self-checkout at the Fred Meyer nearest my place, making a small purchase (three items, $2.15 total) so that I could also get cash back, my main aim. I was wrapping up the transaction when I looked down, waiting for the money to be dispensed.

Money was already there. A nice crisp $1 bill. Huh.

Reader, I did due diligence. The person who'd used the station right before me had not taken their receipt, so my receipt had come out with that other one attached. I read it. No change on that purchase. So, likely, someone before that someone had left behind that dollar. (Or the dispenser had randomly sent out a one, but that's...unlikely.)

I pulled aside a Freddy's employee and let him know, and I gave him both the bill and the errant receipt, even though that purchase likely had nothing to do with the $1 bill coming out.

Someone's owed that $1. Not me. Technically not the store, either, and I know a buck is not a big amount in the scheme of things, but at least whomever should get it still stands a chance of getting it. Trust me, I considered keeping it — finder's keepers, loser's weepers — but that didn't seem fair. And I told myself someone else may need that dollar more than me.

But as I left the Freddy's I still picked up a penny left on the floor, because I'm me. Hey, coins on the floor and the ground are fair game.
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