I graduated from high school too poor to continue with college and too young to work. My grades were respectable but not good enough for a scholarship, and this was before Pell Grants. I spent some time hitchhiking around the country. My hair reached the middle of my back at the time, so I stayed out of the scary Southern states, like Mississippi and Alabama, but traveled much of the United States. I carried only one full change of clothing, plus a pair of shorts and a tee-shirt. Since I didn't like smelling bad, I would often stop at laundromats, change into my shorts and tee-shirt, and wash the rest of my clothes. I was dropped off at some place in New Mexico or Arizona, I forget which. It was about three o'clock in the morning and there wasn't much traffic so I walked into town to find a laundromat. No one else was in the laundromat. When I went to the change machine to get some change, I noticed that it was standing open. I didn't want to touch it but I could see that it was filled with bills. I don't know where in the machine the change might be kept but that was probably accessible, as well. I didn't know anything about how change machines worked, and didn't want to be found with my hands in it if someone came in. For a moment, it crossed my mind to steal it and find another laundromat in another town. I only had about ten dollars to my name so it certainly would have come in handy, maybe even a hotel room for a night. Instead, I used my own dime to call the number on the machine to report that the change machine was open. A woman answered and said that she would be right there. About ten minutes later, this woman comes in, glares at me as if I were dirt. She walked over to the change machine, looks in it, and slams it shut. On her way out she said, "All you had to do was close the damned door, instead of getting me up at three o'clock in the f'ing morning!" I wished that I had stolen it.
When people act like that towards me I remind myself that I have no idea what they are going thru at the time. I may have been easy to steal the money at the time, it would have weighed on your mine because it was not the right thing for you to due at that time. I worked as a fast food restaurant manager many years back, a homeless man came into the restaurant looking for food, I had the clerk give him food at my cost. Instead of getting a thank you I got a good cursing out. I was taken aback because he was so rude and angry when I called myself helping. It never dawned on me that he was ashamed of his condition.
When I worked for a vending machine company, we had dollar bill changers in our large accounts. I don't recall how many times these were busted into and cleaned out. The same with the vending machines. Sometimes a candy, cigarette, etc. would vend the product as fast as you could pull the handle. We called this a jackpot machine and the maintenance dept had to be called to fix it. Looking back, this was in the 60 s, had I saved all the silver coins I handled, I could have retired on a sunny island with fancy coconut drinks.
You could just have asked her why did she not tell you on the phone to slam shut the door on the change machine if that is all it needed.
@Ken Anderson, sometimes we find ourselves trying to be honest and kind and good but our action backfires on us. Honestly, if I were in your shoes, hungry and no money, I would definitely be tempted to get that cash. Although it may not be true but I would convince myself that the money came from the heavens. It's one way of granting my wish. Ironically, instead of being treated a hero, that woman caretaker of the laundromat has even reprimanded you for disturbing her. I once had joined a forum that caters to cat lovers. When I joined the site, I eagerly posted comments on selected threads. From what I remember, I had posted 5 comments when I noticed the thread on rules. When I read the site's policy, it clearly stated that only cat owners are welcome. Huh, I didn't know that. I would have left just like that but out of courtesy, I messaged the admin for my mistake. And guess what I got for my honesty? Okay, no need to mention. But I am quite vindicated because the other day I received a message from that site's admin on the subject change of rules. So now they are allowing me in?
She could have told you that on the phone. Sometimes being the good guy is not a good thing. In situations like this I often feel like maybe it is some sort of test, you know like a moral test or an ethical test. Had it been me I don't think I would have left the changer open., but I am sure I would not have bothered to call. I would have just shut the thing and left. I have tried in my own life to do the right thing more then once and met with crazy resistance. One time it was to alert someone that they had already paid a bill and I returned the money only for them to argue the point. So I placed it on account what's a person to do? Someday sometime they will forget and it will be there. Another time a store owner left his keys in the outside lock of the door. I didn't touch them and told him and he looked at me like I did something terrible. I figured maybe it was easier for him to be mad at me for pointing it out then to feel embarrassed for being so forgetful.
Hi Ken, Wow, you did this lady a favor by not taking the money, if it would have been another person I bet you he/she would probably have stolen the money and this women would have been out of the cash. If the woman didn't want to show up in the middle of how she put it "f'ing morning!", all she had to do was to ask you if the money was still there and to please close it, and say thank you. I don't care what time of day it is, if someone is doing someone else a favor, be nice about it. That was so rude of her.
It's true, no one knows what someone is going through. Perhaps she had a husband that was angry about the phone ringing, or a sick child at home that she had to leave. Back in the day when I worked mall security, we'd find a lot of vehicles with their lights on. We would slim jim them open, turn off the lights, and leave them a note to let them know what we'd done. I'm sure that wouldn't be allowed these days, and wouldn't be necessary, since most if not all vehicle lights turn off automatically, but it was a nice feeling knowing the person wouldn't return to a vehicle with a dead battery. I can recall in the past being young and impatient, and wishing people on he road would just drive faster or get out of my way. Nowadays my car isn't in the best shape, and I can't drive it as fast as i'd like to, and I often imagine other drivers are saying the same things I used to say. But, I've learned to be more patient with other drivers, because I realize they know their vehicles better than I do, and perhaps they're driving slow for a reason.