Lost and Found

What do you normally do when you see money on the street and you didn't see anyone drop it?  Do you keep it, or do you take it and then donate it to some sort of charity?  I know a lot of us would answer that we'd keep it!  I'd do the same.

So the question has a little twist to it now, what would you do if you were to get into a taxi (it's a taxi where the driver owns the car, you can tell because there's no thick plastic divider) and see that right under the center console there's $10 sitting there?  

For me it gets a little complicated because you're not sure if this is a passenger that dropped the money, or if it's the driver who dropped the money.  So you start to wonder, well I started to wonder what to do.  First thought was to pick up the $10 bill discretely and use it to pay for the fair, and give the entire $10 to him.  Then I looked over to the drivers side door and there were all these $20 and $10 bill in the little compartments on the door so I figured that it must be the drivers and he just dropped it.

So the good little boy that I am, I asked him if he dropped any money under the center console.  He said he probably did because he has MS (multiple sclurosis) in his right arm and can't feel it when things are either in his hand or not.  I gave him the $10 and some post it notes that were there too.  

He was really greatful for me giving him the $10 that was on the floor and told me he'd give me a discount on the fare.  Well this opened up the conversation and he started telling me about all the celebrities he's driven around NYC and the list was long with huge names!  He did say that most celebs take the cabs to stay out of the lime light with the limo's and such.  He's also going to be writing a book called The English Speaking Taxi Driver which I think I might be interested in, he's going to include stories that he's picked up from his passengers for the past 32 years he's been driving.

So instead of me taking the free taxi ride with the $10 on the floor, it was good that I gave it to him because I got some good conversation out of it, and I also found out why he would have dropped it on the floor.  That was my good deed for the day, week.  I think I'm going to check that book out once it gets published, and he gave me a good discount on the fare too, I was giving him a tip but he refused and thanked me again for returning the $10 he unknowingly dropped.

+ mon