I'm really enjoying this thread as it has really made me think. I consider myself to be a good person, which is down to my amazing Mum who goes out of her way for anyone and i also like to think karma, if i'm having a bad day i can think i did a good thing so hopefully something good will happen to me and it cheers me up.
However, i'm not as good as a lot of the people on this thread. I would not keep anything i saw somebody lose, i would return it. I would take items to a police station and if i found a purse/handbag i wouldn't take anything out of it other than check the ID.
However, if i found a pound note on the floor with nobody around i would smile and put it in my pocket. If it were a large sum i'd go to the police but £20 or less i wouldn't. I've lost money in the past and thought i bet the person that finds that will be happy, lol. I probably wouldn't go back if i realised that Tesco had undercharged me for something when i get home, but now i'm having cause to rethink my ethics. I suppose i've always assumed i've not been hurting anyone, but maybe i'm wrong.
I remember my Mum used to own a taxi company and worked in the office. One night as she was closing a young girl with a baby asked for a cab and she didn't have any but said she would drop this girl off herself. She did it for free and afterwards realised that this girl had taken all the money out of my Mum's handbag...the entire week's takings. She was really upset, but didn't go to the police and likes to think that girl must have really been desperate to do that. I hope so because she needed that money herself.
She's such a great role model and helps me to put myself in someone else's shoes to decide what is moral and ethical to me. I like to think i'm good, but now i think i could be better xx