Finders Keepers = Moral?

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Well, how do you know the person didn't leave it on purpose? Maybe they left it specifically in that place so your friend would find it. Maybe it was an impromptu present from someone who has a dozen similar scarfs. Maybe the person couldn't be bothered to find a bin and just left it there, making your friend a good Samaritan for cleaning up garbage Point is, you don't know why that scarf was left there, and you're only presuming it's because they accidentally forgot to take it with them. I don't think it matters either way, since it's likely been a while since you left the theater and now can't (practically) look for the original owner. Also, it's just a scarf, would you care that much if it was your scarf that somebody else picked up? If it were me I'd be glad someone else could find a use for it, and I'd try not to allow the same thing to happen again. I really don't think your friend did anything all that wrong. Possession is 9/10th's of the law, as they say

 

I would have kept it if it tickled my fancy.

Had it been something important like personal information, a purse/wallet, or money of more than a couple bucks, I would have turned it in.

Then again, I could just have questionable morals when it comes to things like this. However, if someone ever claimed ownership of something I found (and it was reasonable to assume it was theirs), I'd give it back.

 

There have been numerous times when I forgot something and returned a few minutes later to retrieve it. I would be pretty irritated to find that someone else had claimed it in that time period. A scarf, while not hugely expensive, is plenty inconvenient to lose, and few people are so wealthy that they let those things go lightly.

 

No offense, but it is your own responsibility to look after your items. I've left things lying around too and have had them taken, so I know what it feels like, but I still think the onus is on owners to make sure their property is safe. If someone else picks it up in their absence, it is largely their own fault. It's a different case if the items were stolen.

 

Yep, but then, you can always beat the shit out of them, or steal their car, or trash their car, or similar.

 

I think she shouldn't have taken the scarf. She doesn't have any idea who it belonged to: a teenager, an old woman, someone disabled, or just an absent-minded person who loved it or needed it. I would have taken it to lost & found.

I wouldn't have judged her over it though ... the owner may have never bothered to come back for it. At least someone who likes the scarf gets to have it. It could be sitting in a box somewhere.

 

I think it depends on the context. If you see the owner leaving and notice they've left something behind, then you probably have the moral obligation to give the item back to them. But say, it's been hours and the owner is long gone, and there's no place you can hand the item in such as a "lost and found" box, then I think it's OK to keep it. It really depends on how far you're willing to go to take the alternative option.

 

Since noone's going to ask me what I mean...

Society is maintained by a rather rigid respect towards personal and private property. If you don't respect other peoples, they've no responsibility to respect yours. I've left my N95 in countless bathrooms, and I've come back 6 - 30 minutes later and found it precisely there. This is a good thing, because otherwise I'd be looking at destroying a few peoples cars. Damn thing cost me an expensive plan, and it's more than a grands worth of phone.

 

I've been in this position so many times, because I have a difficult time keeping track of my belongings ... I always have. And there have been times I've left things I really loved or needed and rushed back and found them taken. It sucks.

But when I've found the item still there:

 

There are some cases when I would allow such behavior - for example if that scarf was lying in the middle of Sahara desert with no one around in a hundred miles. Otherwise I would be bothered by claiming.

 

Yes it is, if that person reports their item as missing to the police then (assuming the police track down the person who picked it up) if the person who found it refuses to give that item back to its original owner then under the law it's considered theft.

This is why there's usually a legal time limit for recovering or reclaiming lost items, you hand something you found to the police, they give the owner X amount of time to reclaim it, and if they don't then it's yours to keep.

So basically, by not handing in the scarf or otherwise making an effort to find its true owner then in the eyes of the law your friend is a thief.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost,_mislaid,_and_abandoned_property

 

Eh, I've found a lot of things lying around, especially thumbdrives, at work around the open computer lab. Can't stand the thought that someone may be alarmed at losing it, or have important documents on it, so I've usually run it to the office and let the lost and found areas of the school know a full description of the item. Most of the items end up back in the hands of the party that lost them, which is a great feeling.

I sort of suck at sternness with folks though over what may have accidentally been left behind. Most likely because I myself have had an awful time with my head being in the clouds and completely forgetting that I had something on me. Not to mention my inability to lose things in sensical places. I, in all honesty, found a photograph I had lost and given up hope on wedged between ketchup and chocolate syrup in the refrigerator.

I dunno. If finders keepers meant anything to me, I'd certainly have a good number of car keys in tow, haha.