Reward...or Not?

[Torper]

Thanks everyone, as I anticipated your views accord 100% with our own  Friend is not as bad as some would make out, but she is notoriously tightfisted, possibly due to hard times she went through in her youth. Anyway, my wife will be phoning her today and will pass on some of the comments made here - I'd like to think that she'll end up doing the right thing.

 

As to amount of reward, £20 was my suggestion - I suppose I think of it as an expression of gratitude rather than a bounty or finders fee.

 

DT

[Nick C]

17 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

At the very least a thank you. I'm inclined to think you friend consider cleaners "little people" who deserve no consideration from one as grand as herself. I'm hoping karma responds.

I hate those kind of people. Those on low-paid jobs are just as important to society as the highly paid executives, if not more so. Someone once pointed out that in any office, the cleaners are the second most important people of all - the security guards being first, as without them no-one can even get in...

[Tim V]

1 hour ago, Torper said:

Thanks everyone, as I anticipated your views accord 100% with our own  Friend is not as bad as some would make out, but she is notoriously tightfisted, possibly due to hard times she went through in her youth. Anyway, my wife will be phoning her today and will pass on some of the comments made here - I'd like to think that she'll end up doing the right thing.

 

As to amount of reward, £20 was my suggestion - I suppose I think of it as an expression of gratitude rather than a bounty or finders fee.

 

DT

So your friend knows what being on a low income is like - and the temptations that might have come her way. Remind her of those times, did she find a 'valuable' item that instead of handing in she took to the pawn shop.

 

That bracelet was worth probably more than the cleaner took home in a month.  As a poor person, £100 (for that is more like a reasonable reward) would make her day. And would be the equivalent of what the pawn shop would have given her, had it been taken there.

[big jim]

My lad found a watch when he was About 10 years old while out shopping with his mum and took it to the police station, gave his details etc then a few days later he got a thank you card through the post from an elderly woman who had dropped it after taking it for a new battery, included in the card was a £10 m&s gift voucher which went on Percy pig sweets! 

 

As for the OP, yes a reward would be a nice for the cleaner, £20 is a dip in the ocean compared to a £1300 piece of Lizzie duke, must admit though if it was me and I had a wearable item that was sentimental and valuable (I consider £1300 to be more than ‘fairly’ valuable) I’d leave it at home and only get it out on special occasions not on clothes shopping trips
 

 

[ikks]

When I was coming home from the Wolf Cubs(many, many, many years ago) I found a very nice new looking briefcase on the pavement about a hundred yards from my house, so I picked it up and took it home. It was locked and my dad took it up to Mr. Fellows( our local policeman) who lived about ten doors away. I never gave it another thought until a few evenings later when we got a knock at the door, dad opened it and there was this bloke carrying that briefcase, he was invited in for a cuppa. It turned out he was a Jehovah's Witness and for the next hour or so lectured us about the sect, my "reward" was half a dozen or so copies of the Watchtower. After he had gone, dad said, if you ever see anything like that on the pavement again..........just bl00dy leave it there(smile on his face!!)

 

A couple of months ago, I was in  the Shopping Centre and went to the Auto Teller to get some cash, as I approached it, a bloke was walking away. Got to the teller and there was a hundred dollars sitting there, pulled it out and turned around and he was about thirty metres away so I yelled out, he turned around and I gestured to him to come back, he didn't look too happy and as he got close he said what's wrong mate?. I said I think you left this in the machine Bud...........Well talk about sudden change, he was so grateful and told me that was just about all he had in the account......made me feel good too!!

 

Mike

[Brit70053]

Offering a reward is the only civilised thing your friend can do in these circumstances. 

[spikey]

During my time as a wedding photographer, I once left my camera bag in the back of a black cab in London in late one night, the worst part being that half that day's wedding photos were on cards in that bag.  The cabbie's next fare spotted it as soon as she got in, told the cabbie, he opened it and found some of my business cards, took his fare to her destination, phoned me and delivered the bag to me at the car park where I was quietly whimpering in a corner.

 

For that, he got my heartfelt thanks and, despite his protests, all the cash I had in my wallet, which IIRC was £130.

[beast66606]

Many years ago I was in Stafford for a railway auction and while killing time in the high street found a purse, with lots of cash and a cash card with the number written down (!) - I handed the lot into the issuing bank of the cash card and the teller asked me for my name and address as she was sure the owner would want to drop me a "thank you". Never heard a dickie bird, even though I could easily have withdrawn (this was many years ago before cameras on ATMs) as much money as her (it was a Mrs doodah) account or card would allow and certainly pocketed the cash - the lack of thanks left a very bad taste.

 

To the OP - I had a poor upbringing (sounds of Yerkshire miners chatting in the background) often our Xmas presents were a toy (one), a tangerine and a shiny coin, we only had a few of childhood holidays and most of them were at a cottage in Wales owned by a friend of my Dads  - ie cheap but very cheerful. Later in life I was so skint that a friend in work brought her leftover family meal in for me to eat as I only just had enough money to pay for the bus to work for a couple of months BUT I would always hand precious items in and more importantly, I would always thank someone who did the same for me - for your friend to even consider saying "she was just doing her job" beggars belief.

[MJI]

Bunch of flowers or bottle of wine seem appropriate

[Torper]

I'm pleased to say that my wife duly phoned friend this afternoon and the advice as to a reward was accepted with good grace.  Friend admitted that after thinking further about the matter she had realised that her initial remarks had been mean and stupid and she had therefore decided to give an award in any event.  So she's not really all that bad (actually she's normally quite nice), and I'm pleased that she is able to admit her mistakes.

 

DT

[Paul13]

1 hour ago, MJI said:

Bunch of flowers or bottle of wine seem appropriate

I agree, I think it actually is more personal than just giving some cash and would be appreciated just as much if not more.

 

On this subject of showing thanks a few months ago I chased off someone who was trying to break into my neighbour 's house (with hindsight possibly not the best idea), never got so much as a thank you. Still waiting...

[Torper]

2 hours ago, MJI said:

Bunch of flowers or bottle of wine seem appropriate

 

And cheaper!  But in this case she doesn't know the cleaner - she doesn't even know his or her gender (I suspect that we're not now allowed to assume female).  He or she may be teetotal, in which case wine would not be appropriate.  Or may be diabetic or dairy free or on a diet, in which case no chox.  May not lke flowers much.  So in this instance, I still think that cash is the most appropriate reward.

 

DT

Edited January 5, 2020 by Torper
Grammar!

[Phil Parker]

13 minutes ago, Torper said:

 

And cheaper!  But in this case she doesn't know the cleaner - she doesn't even know his or her gender (I suspect that we're not now allowed to assume female).  He or she may be teetotal, in which case wine would not be appropriate.  Or may be diabetic or dairy free or on a diet, in which case no chox.  May not lke flowers much.  So in this instance, I still think that cash is the most appropriate reward.

 

DT

 

It's not what the reward is, it's the thought that counts. I'm sure we've all been given stuff as thank-yous that doesn't work for us, but that isn't the point. To be honest, giving cash simply puts a value on the gratitude which can be awkward. After all, the chances are that unwanted booze or chocs can be passed on to the rest of the family.

[NittenDormer]

This takes me back to all those Beano and Dandy strips, although at that time, the standard reward was only a fiver.

[polybear]

10 hours ago, Tim V said:

That bracelet was worth probably more than the cleaner took home in a month.  As a poor person, £100 (for that is more like a reasonable reward) would make her day. And would be the equivalent of what the pawn shop would have given her, had it been taken there.

 

True - It might have cost £1300, but in reality it's monetary value would most likely be a fraction of that.

 

6 hours ago, ikks said:

A couple of months ago, I was in  the Shopping Centre and went to the Auto Teller to get some cash, as I approached it, a bloke was walking away. Got to the teller and there was a hundred dollars sitting there, pulled it out and turned around and he was about thirty metres away so I yelled out, he turned around and I gestured to him to come back, he didn't look too happy and as he got close he said what's wrong mate?. I said I think you left this in the machine Bud...........Well talk about sudden change, he was so grateful and told me that was just about all he had in the account......made me feel good too!!

 

Mike

 

I've also found money sitting in the slot is a cash machine twice (once in UK, once in Italy) and been able to return it to the owner who was walking up the street.  In particular the recipient in Italy (who was actually French) was more than a bit taken aback that someone had handed it back.

 

2 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

 

It's not what the reward is, it's the thought that counts. I'm sure we've all been given stuff as thank-yous that doesn't work for us, but that isn't the point. To be honest, giving cash simply puts a value on the gratitude which can be awkward. After all, the chances are that unwanted booze or chocs can be passed on to the rest of the family.

 

Not sure I'd agree with that one - someone earning very little will find a financial reward far more useful than a twenty quid bunch of flowers that lasts 3 days, however nice a gesture.

As regards cleaners, they're some of the nicer people where I work.  One of them asked my OH (she used to be a secretary there) if she could type a letter for her, as she didn't have access to a computer.  All done in a few minutes, in the firm's time.  The cleaner presented my OH with a decent (and pretty costly, by their appearance) bunch of flowers the following day, which probably cost her a couple of hours' earnings.

[Adrian Stevenson]

We had a situation at work where a colleague of mine found a coin in a bureau with a secret drawer. He brought it to me and I confirmed it was Gold and worth about £1000. Called the vendor who naturally had no idea it was in there. It was sold at auction and made just over £1000. The bureau sold above estimate too due to the story. What did he get? A box of Milk Tray....

 

Cheers, Ade.

[PaulCheffus]

7 hours ago, ikks said:

A couple of months ago, I was in  the Shopping Centre and went to the Auto Teller to get some cash, as I approached it, a bloke was walking away. Got to the teller and there was a hundred dollars sitting there, pulled it out and turned around and he was about thirty metres away so I yelled out, he turned around and I gestured to him to come back, he didn't look too happy and as he got close he said what's wrong mate?. I said I think you left this in the machine Bud...........Well talk about sudden change, he was so grateful and told me that was just about all he had in the account......made me feel good too!!

 

Mike

Hi

 

A few years ago a similar thing happened to me in our local supermarket. I went to use the ATM and there was a pile of notes already in the cash tray. I handed it in to the supermarket and a couple of days later I got a phone call from a relative who told me it was their grandma’s pension money. They had become ill during the transaction and forgot to pick up the money.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[chris p bacon]

1 hour ago, PaulCheffus said:

A few years ago a similar thing happened to me in our local supermarket. I went to use the ATM and there was a pile of notes already in the cash tray.

 

 

As I understand it, if the money isn't taken within a short time period it is taken back into the machine and the transaction cancelled . So It's possible that if no one is waiting to use the ATM the money my not be lost.

 

[kevinlms]

5 hours ago, chris p bacon said:

 

 

As I understand it, if the money isn't taken within a short time period it is taken back into the machine and the transaction cancelled . So It's possible that if no one is waiting to use the ATM the money my not be lost.

 

Unless someone comes along and says I'll have that.